Business Immigration in a Minute by Honigman LLP

• The Department of State recently released the February 2022 Visa Bulletin.  In addition to the final action dates and dates for filing charts for employment-based immigrant visa and adjustment of status cases, it contains notes on the diversity visa category and DV-2022 results. Notably, EB-2 India final action dates will advance by nearly six months in February, whereas EB-3 India final action dates will remain unchanged. Additionally, the dates for filing in February will remain mostly unchanged from last month with the exception of EB-2 India, which will progress by approximately two months. All first employment-based preference countries of chargeability remain current for February. As of the date of this newsletter, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (“USCIS”) has not yet specified whether employment-based applicants must use the dates for filing chart or final action dates chart for adjustment of status applications.
  
  
• The Department of Labor (“DOL”) recently updated its processing times for permanent labor certification (“PERM”) applications and prevailing wage requests. As of December 31, 2021, DOL is adjudicating ETA 9089 PERM applications filed in or before July 2021 and processing PERM prevailing wage requests filed in or before April 2021.
  
  
• USCIS is hosting a listening session on Tuesday, January 25, 2022, from 2:00 – 3:30 PM ET for stakeholders to provide feedback on regulations governing I-129 L Petition adjudications, including evidence, definitions, program integrity, and more. This is part of a series of listening sessions that USCIS will host in the coming months to seek input on business and foreign worker-related policy considerations. To register, please visit the USCIS website here.
  
  
• In response to rising COVID-19 cases, USCIS announced that field offices might need to reschedule certain appointments, including interviews and naturalization ceremonies, based on local conditions. If USCIS must reschedule an appointment, it will send a notice to the applicant and petitioner, as applicable, with information on the rescheduled date. For more information, please see the USCIS Response to COVID-19 page and the USCIS Office Closings page.

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