Securities:
September Visa Bulletin Includes DV-2024 Results, Employment-Based Visa Availability, and Numerical Limit Determination for Immigrants – The Department of State’s September Visa Bulletin includes 2024 Diversity Visa Lottery results, September employment visa availability, and determination of the FY 2023 immigrant numerical limit.
USCIS Reminds Employers of New Alternative I-9 Procedure – U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services reminded employers that the new version of Form I-9, Employment Eligibility Verification, is now available. Among other changes, the new version incorporates an alternative procedure for E-Verify employers to review employee documents remotely.
CBP mobile app facilitates more than 170,000 appointments in six months – The CBP One app is free and accessible to migrants in central and northern Mexico to schedule an appointment and present themselves at a port of entry along the southwest border with the United States.
State Department Releases Fact Sheet on Reunification Parole with Work Authorization – The State Department released a fact sheet on new family reunification parole processes for people from El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Colombia, and updated processes for people from Cuba and Haiti. Eligible individuals released on parole to the United States through these processes may apply for work authorization.
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September Visa Bulletin Includes DV-2024 Results, Employment-Based Visa Availability, and Numerical Limit Determination for Immigrants
The Department of State’s (DOS) September Visa Bulletin includes the results of the 2024 Diversity Visa Lottery (DV-2024), the availability of employment-based visas in September, and the determination of the immigrant numerical limit for fiscal year (FY) 2023.
Diversity Visa Lottery Results
The bulletin states that the Kentucky Consular Center in Williamsburg, Kentucky, has registered and notified selected individuals eligible to participate in the DV-2024 program. Participants enrolled in the DV-2024 program were randomly selected from 22,185,619 qualified applications. The numbers of the selected candidates for each country are listed in the bulletin.
During the visa interview, principal applicants must provide proof of a high school diploma or its equivalent, or two years of work experience in an occupation that requires at least two years of training or experience over the last five years. “Those selected will be required to promptly respond to their immigrant visa applications,” the bulletin states. Around 143,000 potential candidates (selected and their spouses and children) were registered. Once all 55,000 visa numbers have been used, the FY 2024 program will end. Selected individuals who have not received a visa or status by September 30, 2024 will no longer benefit from their DV-2024 registration, the bulletin indicates.
The DOS said dates for the DV-2025 program enrollment period will be widely published in the coming months.
Availability of employment-based visas
The bulletin explains that the use of employment-based numbers by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) and the DOS has been stable this fiscal year. As a result, most of the employment-based preference category caps and/or the overall employment-based preference cap for FY 2023 are expected to be reached sometime in September. If the annual limit is reached, the preferential category will immediately become unavailable.
Determination of the numerical limit for immigrants
The DOS has determined that the numerical employment preference limit for FY 2023 is 197,091. For FY 2023, the per country limit is 29,616. The annual dependent area limit is 2%, or 8,462.
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USCIS Reminds Employers of New Alternative I-9 Procedure
The United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) reminded employers that the new version of Form I-9, Employment Eligibility Verification, is now available. The new version incorporates an alternative procedure for E-Verify employers to review employee documents remotely. Other changes include shortening the form to one page and reducing the instructions to eight pages.
Employers can use the form immediately, USCIS said. Form I-9 dated “10/19/2019” may continue to be used until October 31, 2023. The version date can be found in the lower left corner of the form. As of November 1, 2023, only the new Form I-9 dated “01/08/23” can be used.
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CBP mobile app facilitates more than 170,000 appointments in six months
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced on August 3, 2023 that the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) mobile application, CBP One, has facilitated more than 170,000 appointments in six month.
The CBP One app is free and available for migrants from central and northern Mexico to schedule appointments to report to a port of entry (POE) along the southwest border with the United States. United. People who appear at any of the eight ports of entry (Nogales, Brownsville, Eagle Pass, Hidalgo, El Paso, Calexico and San Ysidro) with CBP One appointments along the southwest border are screened and processed. The process includes a biographic and biometric security check and background check, DHS said.
DHS said the number of available appointments has increased to 1,450 per day, an increase of nearly 50% from 1,000 appointments per day on May 12, 2023, when the process began.
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State Department Releases Fact Sheet on Reunification Parole with Work Authorization
The Department of State (DOS) released a fact sheet on August 7, 2023, on the new family reunification parole processes for individuals from El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Colombia, and the updated processes. day for people from Cuba and Haiti. Nationals of these countries may be considered for parole on a case-by-case basis for up to three years while they apply to become a lawful permanent resident pursuant to their approved I-130 application.
The DOS said these processes “will allow selected individuals whose family petitions have been approved to be paroled into the United States on a case-by-case basis.” Eligible individuals released on parole to the United States through these processes may apply for work authorization.
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