Securities:
E-Verify will pilot a “next generation” service in spring 2024 – E-Verify+ will include streamlining the Form I-9 and employment eligibility verification process.
DOS signs memorandum of understanding with Germany on visitor exchange program – The State Department signed a memorandum of understanding with Germany to allow certain German leaders to come to the United States as J-1 exchange visitors.
Reminder: Premium processing fees will increase on February 26 – Fees for Form I-907, Request for Premium Processing, will increase on February 26, 2024. The increase varies depending on the type of petition.
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E-Verify will pilot a “next generation” service in spring 2024
E-Verify announced on February 22, 2024 that it would launch its “next generation” service, E-Verify+, on a pilot basis in spring 2024. E-Verify said that the “plus” of E-Verify+ represents the benefits that the new service will bring. offering employers and employees, including “increased efficiency” for employers and “more control over their personal information” for employees.
E-Verify+ will include streamlining the I-9 form and employment eligibility verification process. Feedback will be requested as part of the pilot process. Updates will be posted on E-Verify.gov.
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DOS signs memorandum of understanding with Germany on visitor exchange program
The Department of State (DOS) announced on February 20, 2024 that it had signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Federal Republic of Germany. The MOU waives certain regulatory provisions intended to establish an exchange of German principals to secondary schools supervised and financed by the German government in the United States.
Exchange visitors under the MoU are “experts in a field with specialized knowledge or skills.” Program participants must be German citizens, hold a valid German passport, and hold a secondary school teaching certificate or advanced degree equivalent to a master’s degree in educational administration or a similar field. Program participants are selected by the German Federal Foreign Office and its subordinate authority, the Central Agency for Schools Abroad. Participants are placed as directors of German schools in the United States, recognized and supervised by the Federal Foreign Office,” the notice states.
The DOS noted that a foreign national is eligible to participate in an exchange visitor program as a specialist if he or she is not holding a permanent or long-term position while in the United States.
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Reminder: Premium processing fees will increase on February 26
The Alliance of Business Immigration Lawyers reminds clients that fees for Form I-907, Request for Premium Processing, will increase on February 26, 2024. The table below summarizes the increases by request type.
| Form | Previous premium processing fees | New premium processing fees |
| Form I-129, Petition for Nonimmigrant Worker | $1,500 (H-2B or R-1 nonimmigrant status)
$2,500 (all other available classifications of Form I-129) |
$1,685 (H-2B or R-1 nonimmigrant status)
$2,805 (all other available classifications of Form I-129) |
| Form I-140, Immigration Petition for Foreign Worker | $2,500 (job-based classifications E11, E12, E21 (non-NIW), E31, E32, EW3, E13 and E21 (NIW)) | $2,805 (job-based classifications E11, E12, E21 (non-NIW), E31, E32, EW3, E13 and E21 (NIW)) |
| Form I-539, Application for Extension/Change of 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 Work Authorization | $1,500 (certain F-1 students in categories C03A, C03B, C03C) | $1,685 (certain F-1 students in categories C03A, C03B, C03C) |
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