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The US will soon make online applications mandatory for immigration benefits such as green card, citizenship, and asylum, among others, in a bid to improve efficiency and reduce operational costs. The US Citizenship and Immigration Services, in a new rule published in the Federal Register on Monday, said it will now be mandatory to fill any form that has been available for e-filing for at least 180 days. It would also establish a process that allows the agency to make forms online-only after providing at least 60 days' notice. The rule could affect a wide range of immigration benefits, including green card applications and renewals, family-based petitions, citizenship requests, asylum claims, employment authorisation applications and Temporary Protected Status filings. Applicants will generally submit filings through a USCIS online account by either by completing the form online; or uploading a PDF version of the completed form and supporting evidence. The USCIS said the rule is .
The US on Monday published new rules that would require large employers to pay a fee of USD 4,000 for H-1B and USD 4,500 for L-1 applications for extension of visas of their employees. Earlier, these fees were applicable only for initial H-1B and L-1 petitions or if the applicants changed jobs. Major Indian IT services and consulting providers rely on a blended onshore-offshore staffing model, bringing them within the ambit of the changed rule. The 9-11 Response and Biometric Entry-Exit Fee, applicable to employers with 50 or more employees in the US if more than 50 per cent are in H-1B or L-1 nonimmigrant status, will come into effect from September 9, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said. The rule is likely to increase immigration sponsorship costs for technology companies; global consulting firms; IT services providers; multinational employers; and other organisations with a large number of H-1B and L-1 employees. Organisations filing routine extension requests for th
The North American Punjabi Association (NAPA) expressed concern on Sunday over the expanding immigration enforcement campaign in the United States, which includes the removal of Indian nationals and increasing denaturalisation proceedings involving naturalised US citizens. NAPA executive director Satnam Singh Chahal said the organisation respects the sovereign right of the US to enforce its immigration laws, but stressed that enforcement must be based on due process, equal protection, and individual assessment rather than nationality, ethnicity or community identity. "Individuals who violate immigration laws or are convicted of serious crimes must be held accountable through established legal procedures. However, enforcement should not result in collective punishment or discrimination against entire communities," Chahal said in a statement. He said there was also growing confusion between deportation and denaturalisation. A person facing deportation is not automatically a candidate
The USCIS has restored officers' discretion to deny immigration benefit requests if applicants submit incomplete applications or fail to provide the required documents to establish eligibility. The earlier policy gave applicants a 12-week period to respond to requests for further evidence made by immigration officers on applications for change or extension of immigration status, green cards, visa or naturalisation. It also added an additional 14 days to the response deadline when a Request for Evidence (RFE) or a Notice of Intent to Deny (NOID) was mailed outside the United States. "The burden is on the requestor to establish that he or she is eligible for the requested benefit at the time of filing the benefit request and that he or she continues to be eligible through adjudication," the USCIS said in a statement here on Wednesday. It said if a benefit requestor fails to demonstrate eligibility for a benefit or fails to provide all required initial evidence when filing an ...
Advocates warn that tens of thousands of migrant children who came to the United States alone could lose legal representation in immigration court and increase their risk of deportation as the Trump administration allows a contract with legal services providers to expire. Friday marked the last day of a contract under which the federal government pays for legal services for children who enter the US without a parent or guardian. The government contracts out those services to a network of nearly 100 legal groups across the country that provide services to roughly 20,000 children. The Trump administration did not immediately respond to a request for comment on why it was allowing the contract to expire. But it comes as the administration has redoubled its efforts to achieve its policy of mass deportations, and after migrant children became a target for removal from the country during the first year of President Donald Trump's second term in office. As part of the expiring contract, th
President Donald Trump signed a bill into law on Wednesday that gives his immigration and deportation agenda a nearly USD 70 billion boost for the rest of his time in the White House. The bill provides USD 38 billion for US Immigration and Customs Enforcement and USD 26 billion for the Border Patrol. An additional USD 5 billion would cover unforeseen costs, according to the White House. Trump signed the legislation in the Oval Office a day after House Republicans pushed the measure through by a 214-212 vote over the objections of Democrats. His signature ended a nearly six-month fight over Department of Homeland Security funding that began with shooting deaths of deaths of two US citizens, Alex Pretti and Renee Good, in January during federal immigration enforcement operations in Minneapolis. Democrats began demanding changes to immigration enforcement after the shootings, creating an impasse - and resulting in the longest agency in history - that ultimately led Republicans to go it
A bill to provide nearly USD 70 billion for immigration enforcement narrowly passed the House on Tuesday and now goes to President Donald Trump for his signature, fueling the administration's deportation agenda for the remainder of his time in the White House. Republicans used their majority to get the bill over the finish line, funding a pair of Homeland Security agencies through the next three years. The bill passed by a vote of 214-212, over the objections of Democrats. The White House says the bill will provide USD 38 billion for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), USD 26 billion for the Border Patrol and another USD 5 billion to cover unforeseen costs. It front-loads routine annual funding, ensuring a virtually uninterrupted flow of money as the Trump administration seeks to deport some 1 million people per year. Speaker Mike Johnson needed near-perfect attendance and unity on his side to complete weeks of action. The legislation got sidetracked over USD 1 billion for ..
A hardline Republican lawmaker has introduced a draft legislation in the US Congress seeking an overhaul of the H-1B visa programme, including ending its use as a pathway to permanent residency in the United States. Congressman Chip Roy introduced the American White-Collar Worker Jobs Act on Thursday. The proposed legislation also seeks to scrap the optional practical training (OPT) programme, which allows foreign students to work in the US for a limited period after graduation. "For its nearly forty-year history, the H-1B visa has been abused, allowing employers to routinely sideline American STEM workers in favour of cheap foreign labour, while masking layoffs and wage suppression as 'shortages.' "It's time to end this lottery-based pipeline and replace it with a system that prioritises merit, enforces real wage standards, and puts American white-collar workers first," said Roy, who represents the 21st district of Texas in Congress. The bill is backed by US Tech Workers, the ...
US lawmakers and immigration advocates have criticised sharply as "reckless and wrong," the Trump administration's new policy that requires green card seekers to make their applications from their home country. Democratic lawmakers said they will pursue every avenue to fight against the "reprehensible" decision of the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) and push for its reversal. The USCIS did not spell out which groups would be exempted, only suggesting that the policy may not apply to persons seeking asylum. In a statement late on Friday, USCIS spokesperson Zach Kahler said that people who "provide an economic benefit or otherwise are in the national interest will likely be able to continue on their current path." It was not immediately clear whether these exceptions would extend to skilled foreign workers on H-1B visas. "This puts 1.2 million Indian Americans and their families in limbo after they followed every law, paid taxes and waited legally for decades," Ajay
The US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) said it has identified 10,000 foreign students, including several from India, who claim to be working for highly suspect employers by misusing the Optional Practical Training (OPT) component of their visas. OPT allows foreign nationals who enter the United States on a student visa to work in the US for 12, or in some cases 24, months. It also allows students to transition to an H-1B visa sponsored by employers. Addressing a press conference on Tuesday, acting Director of ICE Todd Lyons said the OPT component of the student visa programme has "become a magnet for fraud" and has been the subject of many investigations by the Department of Homeland Security. "We've encountered cases involving espionage, biological threats, intellectual property theft, visa and employment fraud, and even scams targeting elderly Americans, all perpetrated by individuals abusing their status as students," Lyons said. "Our nation will not tolerate security
President Donald Trump's border czar has threatened to "flood the zone" with immigration agents if New York passes bills to limit local coordination with the federal government's crackdown. New York seems ready to do so anyway. "I don't take well to threats," New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said Thursday. "We're going to pass what we think is important to protect New Yorkers." Tensions are escalating as Democrats attempt to place guardrails around the Trump administration's immigration agenda following the Republican's often chaotic and violent deportation efforts. The proposals, which are not yet finalised, would bar state and local law enforcement from entering into agreements with US Immigration and Customs Enforcement or acting as civil immigration agents, and deny ICE from entering sensitive locations such as schools or hospitals without a judicial warrant. The governor, a Democrat, is also moving to ban federal, state and local law enforcement from wearing masks while on duty, al