US Immigration Updates for Jan 2022

The year marks the beginning with two new updates, which would be of great relief for people filling for extension of visa statuses and some who would be filling for new H1-B registration in the coming March 2022. Prashanthi, in the current episode, speaks in detail about those two updates The updates under this episode are: 

• The first update is around the visa interview waiver program, which is part of USCIS’s initiative to reduce the processing time as there is a lot of pendency due to COVID-19. The waiver would be solely on the discretion of the officer in charge and only applicable for extension based filling in visas falling under categories – H, O, P, L, Q and student visas. If one is a citizen of countries like Canada, the UK etc., who are already part of the Visa waiver program can take the benefits of this waiver even if they are applying for new registrations. 
• The second essential update by USCIS in Jan 2022 is of more significant benefits to new registrants of H1B visas. The update makes the lottery program-related H1B visa more equitable as it is again random. This new update replaces the rule brought during the Trump era, which promoted people with a higher wage for more opportunities. The law under the Trump government was to prioritize people falling under the Level 4 wage group first, and the preferences would follow the order. 

The year marks the beginning with two new updates, which would be of great relief for people filling for extension of visa statuses and some who would be filling for new H1-B registration in the coming March 2022. Prashanthi, in the current episode, speaks in detail about those two updates The updates under this episode are: 

• The first update is around the visa interview waiver program, which is part of USCIS’s initiative to reduce the processing time as there is a lot of pendency due to COVID-19. The waiver would be solely on the discretion of the officer in charge and only applicable for extension based filling in visas falling under categories – H, O, P, L, Q and student visas. If one is a citizen of countries like Canada, the UK etc., who are already part of the Visa waiver program can take the benefits of this waiver even if they are applying for new registrations. 
• The second essential update by USCIS in Jan 2022 is of more significant benefits to new registrants of H1B visas. The update makes the lottery program-related H1B visa more equitable as it is again random. This new update replaces the rule brought during the Trump era, which promoted people with a higher wage for more opportunities. The law under the Trump government was to prioritize people falling under the Level 4 wage group first, and the preferences would follow the order.