It can be hard to keep up with all of the changes happening in the immigration arena, so we’ve provided a summary here of recent changes put in place by the Biden Administration (as of February 9, 2021):
USCIS announcement dated Feb. 5, 2021, confirming the registration process for the H-1B cap lottery will be open from noon (ET) March 9 to noon (ET) March 25, 2021.
USCIS Memorandum dated Feb. 3, 2021, rescinding a memo that had rescinded a prior memo regarding H-1B qualification for computer roles. What does it mean? It means that H-1B is re-opened for many computer occupations that have struggled to qualify in the past few years.
Executive Order dated Feb. 2, 2021, rescinding the additional “public charge” requirements put in place by the prior administration that expanded the bases for denial of permanent residence and greatly increased the amount of paperwork required. However, the onerous Form I-944 appears to remain in place until formal rulemaking can remove it.
Executive order dated Jan. 25, 2021, revoking the “Buy American and Hire American” mandate, which had been applied broadly to reach record-high levels of H-1B and L-1 petition denials, in particular.
Regulatory freeze - which means that the H-1B lottery process will remain basically the same this year (rather than changing to a wage-based system).
Proclamation dated Jan. 25, 2021, expanding COVID-related travel restrictions to South Africa (as well as Schengen countries, UK, Ireland, Brazil, China, and Iran, which were already in place).
CDC order dated Jan. 12, 2021, requiring a negative COVID-19 test prior to entering the U.S.
Proclamation dated Jan. 25, 2021, revoking the Muslim and African travel bans.