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This alert has been provided by the BAL U.S. Practice Group.
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It’s Feb. 23, and this is your BAL Immigration Report.
“It will help cut down cost in traveling to and from a third country to apply for a visa, but it should also help alleviate other concerns or challenges that companies, their employees and their family members may have.”
—Tiffany Derentz, BAL Senior Counsel
The Department of Homeland Security has extended the public comment period for its proposal to raise U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services fees. DHS will accept comments through March 13. The previous deadline was March 6. The comment period was extended because of a technical issue with the government’s rulemaking web portal.
Under the proposal, USCIS fees would increase by a weighted average of 40% — and more for most high-skilled classifications. The State Department is also moving to raise fees, though not as substantially as USCIS.
The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has agreed to rehear a case that implicates Temporary Protected Status designations of six countries — El Salvador, Haiti, Honduras, Nepal, Nicaragua and Sudan. In 2020, a three-judge panel ruled 2-1 to overturn an injunction that blocked the Trump administration from ending the TPS designations. The plaintiffs asked for a rehearing. Earlier this month, the full Ninth Circuit granted it and voted to vacate the 2020 ruling.
DHS extended the TPS designations for the six countries in November. The decision to rehear the case will have no immediate impact on TPS beneficiaries from the countries in question.
A conversation with Tiffany Derentz: the State Department’s plan to revive domestic visa renewals.
BAL Immigration Report: For nearly 20 years, visa holders have had to travel to an embassy or consulate abroad to have their visas renewed. Earlier this month, Bloomberg Law reported that the State Department is preparing to pilot a stateside renewals program at some point this year. Tiffany Derentz, BAL senior counsel, who previously worked as a deputy chief in the State Department’s Visa Office, joined us to discuss how this would help.
Derentz: The State Department reviving the domestic visa renewal program means that employees will be able to apply to renew their visa in the United States rather than going abroad to a U.S. embassy or consulate. This will help cut down costs in traveling to and from a third country to apply for a visa, but it should also help alleviate other concerns or challenges that companies, their employees and their family members may have.
For example, by applying in the United States, applicants don’t have to worry about getting stuck in another country for months at a time, which is something we’ve seen regularly during COVID. Employees will also be able to continue working in the United States while their visa applications are being processed. And I know that we’ve seen a number of foreign nationals that have had to take time off or switch to a different office because the visa processing has kept them abroad for lengthy periods of time.
BAL: During COVID-19, pandemic-related funding and staffing issues led to major visa backlogs. While processing capacity has improved, some posts remain delayed. Domestic visa renewals could help change the equation — and not just for current visa holders.
Derentz: Domestic visa renewal will also indirectly benefit applicants abroad because shifting the work to the United States should open capacity at the U.S. embassies and consulates. This will allow consulate officers to focus on applications that are filed abroad, including B-1/B-2 visa applications, which still face extremely long wait times at many posts.
BAL: Details about how the pilot program would work are largely unavailable at this time. The State Department has indicated it will initially apply to certain H and L visa holders before eventually being expanded. Visa renewals have not been available in the U.S. since 2004, when a post-9/11 regulation made the practice difficult for the State Department.
Derentz: If you look back at the regulation, what the State Department referenced was increased interview requirements and new biometric requirements, which means they had to start taking fingerprints and they didn’t have any of those on file. So for nearly two decades, the State Department has only been able to issue diplomatic and official visas — meaning your visas for foreign government officials, employees of designated international organizations like the United Nations and the World Bank and IMF, and NATO visas. In the United States, they hadn’t issued any work visas for nearly 20 years now.
Many have expressed that this is long overdue, and I understand it’s something that would have been very helpful during COVID for some of the challenges I mentioned previously. One of the biggest challenges in bringing back domestic visa renewals comes down to resources. Since the State Department has not provided for domestic renewals since 2004, bringing back this program means that they need to set up an entire office and team to process these applications, and this includes finding a space for them to do so. One thing about visa processing is that these offices are handling passports and visa foils, and we don’t want those to get in the hands of the wrong people. They need a secure space be able to do this, and they need to hire and train team members to process, as well as set up a method for payment.
BAL: On March 7, Derentz will be joined by Julie Stufft, the State Department official who announced the domestic renewals program, for a BAL Community event on visa backlogs and delays. For more information about this event, visit community.BAL.com.
Australia announced it will grant permanent visas to certain refugees who hold a temporary protection visa or safe haven enterprise visa. Last year’s change in government led the new center-left coalition to enact the policy change, which makes more than 19,000 refugees — whose status has been “in limbo,” in the words of Immigration Minister Andrew Giles — eligible for permanent visas to live and work in the country. Ineligible groups include refugees whose temporary visas have been canceled or refused and who will be asked to depart Australia voluntarily, as well as refugees who traveled to the country by boat after Jan. 1, 2014.
China has resumed issuing new short-term visitor visas to Japanese and South Korean nationals. These travelers are also again eligible for port visas and 72/144-hour visa-free travel to China. China suspended issuance of short-term visitor visas to nationals of Japan and South Korea on Jan. 11. Chinese authorities stated that they were taking “reciprocal measures” on the two countries after both imposed COVID-19 entry requirements on travelers from China. The Japanese and South Korean governments have since lifted those requirements, prompting China’s change in policy.
The Canadian government announced that its Temporary Foreign Worker Program, or TFWP, will soon only accept online applications. Beginning April 3, employers must apply for the TFWP using the government’s Labor Market Impact Assessment online portal. Processing times will vary depending on the number of applications received. Authorities are moving TFWP applications online to help reduce processing times and address key labor shortages in Canada.
Follow us on X, and sign up for daily immigration updates. We’ll be back next week with more news from the world of corporate immigration.
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