The US visa will have a new image printed on its foil. It won’t be Lincoln anymore

 It’s the U.S. visa issued at all U.S. consulates and embassies across the world — and it is about to debut a new look.

As part of a standard secure document revision process, U.S. consulates and embassies will begin to issue a new visa foil in 2023.

A U.S. Customs and Border Protection notification from its Carrier Liaison Program, posted on the website of the American Immigration Lawyers Association, announced the replacement of the Lincoln visa foil for the Bridge visa foil. Read more at: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/the-us-visa-will-have-a-new-image-printed-on-its-foil-it-won-t-be-lincoln-anymore/ar-AA14SeYF

Contact Darren Heyman, immigration attorney, for more information.

US extends visa renewal waiver to 48 months

 The U.S. Mission has announced that it is expanding the eligibility period for nonimmigrant visa renewals from 24 months to 48 months.

Applicants whose previous U.S. visa expired within the last 48 months or will expire in the next three months now qualify to renew their visa without an interview.

The U.S. Mission says it is also opening thousands of visa renewal appointments to assist applicants who wish to renew their visas

A statement by the U.S. Mission on Friday, explained that applicants may be eligible for a visa renewal without an interview if their application is for a B1/B2, F, M, J (academic only), H, L or C1/D (combined only) visa. Read more at: https://businessday.ng/news/article/us-extends-visa-renewal-waiver-to-48-months/

Contact Darren Heyman, immigration attorney, for more information.

Certain Afghan and Ukrainian Parolees Are Employment Authorized Incident to Parole

 Congress has recently passed laws relating to certain Afghan and Ukrainian parolees that have included language providing that parolees covered by the legislation “…shall be eligible for resettlement assistance, entitlement programs, and other benefits available to refugees admitted under section 207 of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1157)....” Under DHS regulations, refugees are authorized employment incident to status, and under current USCIS policy and practice, refugees are not charged a fee by USCIS for their initial Form I-765, Employment Authorization Document (EAD). Parolees, however, are not employment authorized incident to status, and must pay a fee (currently $410) for their EAD, unless the fee is waived or exempted. Read more at: https://www.uscis.gov/newsroom/alerts/certain-afghan-and-ukrainian-parolees-are-employment-authorized-incident-to-parole

Contact Darren Heyman, immigration attorney, for more information.

USCIS Extends and Expands Fee Exemptions and Expedited Processing for Afghan Nationals

 Today, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services announced it is extending and expanding previously announced

 filing fee exemptions and expedited application processing for certain Afghan nationals. These actions will help Afghan nationals resettle, and in many cases reunite with family, in the United States by enabling USCIS to process their requests for work authorization, long-term status, status for immediate relatives, and associated services more quickly. We encourage you to use the webpages below to learn more about the eligibility details for each type of filing you may wish to pursue. Read more at: https://www.uscis.gov/newsroom/alerts/uscis-extends-and-expands-fee-exemptions-and-expedited-processing-for-afghan-nationals

Contact Darren Heyman, immigration attorney, for more information. 

10 things to do while waiting 400 days for US tourist visa

 US visa wait times now average a staggering 400+ days for first-time visitor visa applicants in the largest countries for inbound travel.

This creates a de facto travel ban that hurts potential visitors abroad and businesses here in the United States.

To put this burden into perspective, check out what travelers could do in the time it will take them to get a visa to visit the US:

1. Go to Mars…and back: It takes approximately seven months to travel the 300 million miles to Mars. In the time it takes to get a visa interview, a person could travel to the Red Planet and back before they could travel to the United States.
    
2. 
   
   Have a child: A child born on the day a visa request was submitted should be able to stand, walk and say a few simple words by the time the request is completed.
    
3. Learn to speak English: It takes about a year to learn English according to tutoring service Education First if one starts as a beginner and trains for five hours a day.
    
4. Go from vine to wine: From harvesting the grapes to appearing on a restaurant menu or store shelf, the process of making wine takes about a year.
    
5. Earn a degree: With some master’s programs taking as little as a year to complete, serious students could hit the books and earn an advanced degree before getting a visa interview.
    
6. Summit the tallest peaks: Climbing the Seven Summits, the tallest mountains on each continent, can be done in a little over a year if you have alpine climbing experience. Mountaineers from Brazil, India and Mexico will have to wait to get a visa to summit the tallest mountain in North America: Denali in Alaska.
    
7. Raise the Lombardi Trophy (twice): An NFL team could win back-to-back Super Bowls in the time it takes for some of their international fans to wait for a visa interview. 
    
8. Walk around the world, leisurely: Walking around the world at the equator (24,901 miles) at a walking pace of 3 mph would take you 346 days, leaving you with another two months to explore your favorite destinations. 
    
9. Get a tech upgrade or two: Apple creates, manufactures and releases a new generation of iPhone each year.
    
10. Become a (television) movie star: According to reports, a television movie takes about 122 days to write, shoot and edit. With that timeline, you could be responsible for 3 of the Hallmark Channel’s 40 Countdown to Christmas features.
    

Recommendations for Paper Filings to Avoid Scanning Delays

 As we move toward an increasing electronic environment, we now scan and upload many documents into electronic database systems. To avoid delays and improve scanning efficiency, we recommend that you do not:

• Hole punch, staple, paper clip, binder clip, or otherwise attach documents to one another.
• Include photos or documents smaller than 4x6 inches for evidentiary purposes. Provide photocopies of these items instead. The only exception is when we request a passport photo with the filing.
• Include anything that contains electronic chips and batteries (such as musical greeting cards) or any non-paper materials such as cassette tapes, CD-ROMs, DVDs, toys, action figures, or thumb drives. We will not accept these types of materials. However, we will accept photographs or photocopies of these items.
• Submit forms or evidence documents bound with a binding or spiral wire/plastic.

Read more at: https://www.uscis.gov/newsroom/alerts/recommendations-for-paper-filings-to-avoid-scanning-delays

Contact Darren Heyman, immigration attorney, for more information.

DHS Continues Temporary Protected Status and Related Documentation for Certain Beneficiaries of TPS

 On Nov. 10, 2022, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) posted a Federal Register Notice announcing the continuation of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) and certain related documents for beneficiaries under the TPS designations that remain subject to the court orders in the Ramos et al. v. Nielsen and Bhattarai et al. v. Nielsen et al. lawsuits.

TPS beneficiaries under the designations for El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Nepal, as well as the 2011 Haiti designation and the 2013 Sudan designation will retain their TPS while the preliminary injunction in Ramos and the stay of proceedings order in Bhattarai remain in effect, provided they continue to meet all the individual requirements for TPS eligibility. The automatic extension of TPS-related documentation includes specified Employment Authorization Documents (EADs) through June 30, 2024. Read more at: https://www.uscis.gov/newsroom/alerts/dhs-continues-temporary-protected-status-and-related-documentation-for-certain-beneficiaries-of-tps

Contact Darren Heyman, immigration attorney, for more information.