News in Brief

The following additional items may be of interest to our readers:

Latest News on Using Premium Processing: The fee to premium process those cases that are eligible increased to $1,410 effective October 1, DHS has announced. USICS also announced that it was suspending premium processing for all H-1B cases until February 19, 2019, except renewals filed by the same employer.

Presidential Determination on Refugee Admissions for FY2019 is 30,000: The White House released a memo from the Secretary of State allowing for the admission of up to 30,000 refugees into the United States for FY2019. This is the lowest number of refugees to be allowed entry into the U.S. since the Refugee Act of 1980 was signed into law, and represents the administration’s abandonment of the country’s long-standing commitment of helping those fleeing war and persecution. There are now more displaced people in the world than there were at the end of World War II.

Proposed Rule Would Dismantle Flores Settlement Agreement to Permit Indefinite Detention of Children: The administration has proposed regulations that would dismantle the Flores Settlement Agreement, a decades-old court settlement put in place to ensure the safety and proper care of children in immigration detention, which if made final, would lead to the indefinite detention of children and families in federal immigration detention facilities.

Update on TPS for Somalia and Yemen; EADs Extended for TPS Beneficiaries from El Salvador: USCIS announced that current beneficiaries of TPS under Somalia’s designation who want to maintain their status through 3/17/2020 must re-register by 10/26/2018. Re-registration procedures, including how to renew EADs, have been published in the Federal Register. USCIS also announced the automatic extension of Employment Authorization Documents (EADs) for Somalia TPS recipients with an original expiration date of 9/17/2018 for 180 days, through 3/16/2019. Meanwhile, DHS extended the designation of Yemen for TPS for 18 months, from 9/4/2018 through 3/3/2020. And, USCIS announced it will automatically extend the validity of certain EADs through 3/4/2019 for TPS beneficiaries from El Salvador. Such beneficiaries will be mailed a Notice of Continued Evidence of Work Authorization for the additional 180-day automatic extension. (See also article, above, on injunction against termination of TPS.)

CBP Announces I-94 Website Update to Allow Group Payments: CBP will allow group payments for I-94 applications for travelers entering at land ports of entries. A traveler, family member, representative, travel agent, or other responsible party can now submit up to 25 applications up to seven days prior to entry and submit one payment for the total amount.