Immigration Update – February 26, 2024
Headlines:
E-Verify to Pilot ‘Next Generation’ Service in Spring 2024 – E-Verify+ will include streamlining of Form I-9 and the employment eligibility verification process.
DOS Signs MOU With Germany on Exchange Visitor Program – The Department of State has signed a memorandum of understanding with Germany to allow certain German principals to come to the United States as J-1 exchange visitors.
Reminder: Premium Processing Fees Will Increase February 26 – Fees for Form I-907, Request for Premium Processing, will increase on February 26, 2024. The increase varies by type of petition.
Details:
E-Verify to Pilot ‘Next Generation’ Service in Spring 2024
E-Verify announced on February 22, 2024, that it will launch its “next generation” service, E-Verify+, as a pilot in spring 2024. E-Verify said the “plus” in E-Verify+ represents benefits the new service will provide to employers and employees, including “added efficiency” for employers and “more control over their personal information” for employees.
E-Verify+ will include streamlining of Form I-9 and the employment eligibility verification process. Feedback will be sought as part of the pilot process. Updates will be posted on E-Verify.gov.
Details:
- E-Verify notice (Feb. 22, 2024).
DOS Signs MOU With Germany on Exchange Visitor Program
The Department of State (DOS) announced on February 20, 2024, that it signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the Federal Republic of Germany. The MOU waives certain regulatory provisions to establish an exchange of German principals to secondary schools overseen and financed by the government of Germany in the United States.
Exchange visitors under the MOU are “experts in a field with specialized knowledge or skills. Program participants are required to be German citizens, hold a valid German passport, and have teaching certification for the secondary level or an advanced degree equivalent to a Master’s degree in school administration or a similar field. Program participants are selected by the Federal German Foreign Office and its subordinate authority, the Central Agency for Schools Abroad. Participants are placed as principals in German schools in the United States that are recognized and overseen by the Federal Foreign Office,” the notice states.
DOS noted that a foreign national is eligible to participate in an exchange visitor program as a specialist if that individual does not fill a permanent or long-term position of employment while in the United States.
Details:
- DOS notice, 89 Fed. Reg. 12937 (Feb. 20, 2024).
Reminder: Premium Processing Fees Will Increase February 26
The Alliance of Business Immigration Lawyers is reminding its clients that fees for Form I-907, Request for Premium Processing, will increase on February 26, 2024. The table below summarizes the increases by type of petition.
| Form | Previous Premium Processing Fee | New Premium Processing Fee |
| Form I-129, Petition for a Nonimmigrant Worker | $1,500 (H-2B or R-1 nonimmigrant status)
$2,500 (all other available Form I-129 classifications) |
$1,685 (H-2B or R-1 nonimmigrant status)
$2,805 (all other available Form I-129 classifications) |
| Form I-140, Immigrant Petition for Alien Worker | $2,500 (employment-based classifications E11, E12, E21 (non-NIW), E31, E32, EW3, E13 and E21 (NIW)) | $2,805 (employment-based classifications E11, E12, E21 (non-NIW), E31, E32, EW3, E13 and E21 (NIW)) |
| Form I-539, Application to Extend/Change Nonimmigrant Status | $1,750 (Form I-539 classifications F-1, F-2, M-1, M-2, J-1, J-2, E-1, E-2, E-3, L-2, H-4, O-3, P-4, and R-2) | $1,965 (Form I-539 classifications F-1, F-2, M-1, M-2, J-1, J-2, E-1, E-2, E-3, L-2, H-4, O-3, P-4, and R-2) |
| Form I-765, Application for Employment Authorization | $1,500 (certain F-1 students with categories C03A, C03B, C03C) | $1,685 (certain F-1 students with categories C03A, C03B, C03C) |
Details:
- USCIS alert (Dec. 27, 2023).
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