Starting February16, 2016, the USCIS will make life much easier for H-1B1, CW-1 and E-3 visastatus holders thanks to a newregulation that has just been posted to the Federal Register. The originalproposed regulation was published in April 2015.
The new regulationwill grant extended work authorization to these visa status holders who timelyfile their visa status extension petitions. These changes will bring these three categories into harmony withsimilar employment-based visa status programs, such as the H-1B and the L-1.
Allowing dualintent will remove an unnecessary legal headache when these visa status holdersapply for permanent residency. Currently, H-1B1, CW-1 and E-3 visa statusholders must be extremely careful when preparing their green card petitions orrisk running afoul of the immigrant intent rule. Strictly speaking, thesevisa status holders cannot intend to file for US Permanent Residency.
Granting extendedwork authorization is also a welcome for these visa status holders. Under the current interpretation these workerswere forced to stop working unless their visa status extension was approvedprior to the expiration of the initial visa status. When the new rule is effective, those inH-1B1, CW-1, and E-3 visa status will be allowed to work during the pendency oftheir visa status extension petition, even if the extension petition is notapproved before the expiration of the prior status. This workauthorization is for 240 days, per 8 CFR 274a.12(b)(20).
Allowing dualintent will remove an unnecessary legal headache when these visa status holdersapply for permanent residency. Currently, H-1B1, CW-1 and E-3 visa statusholders must be extremely careful when preparing their green card petitions orrisk running afoul of the immigrant intent rule. Strictly speaking, thesevisa status holders cannot intend to file for US Permanent Residency.
Granting extendedwork authorization is also a welcome for these visa status holders. Under the current interpretation these workerswere forced to stop working unless their visa status extension was approvedprior to the expiration of the initial visa status. When the new rule is effective, those inH-1B1, CW-1, and E-3 visa status will be allowed to work during the pendency oftheir visa status extension petition, even if the extension petition is notapproved before the expiration of the prior status. This workauthorization is for 240 days, per 8 CFR 274a.12(b)(20).
These visacategories were all established in the mid-2000s. The H-1B1 provides an H-1B-like visa statusfor Singaporean and Chilean nationals. The E-3 functions similarly for Australiannationals. These visas were approved byCongress when trade deals were struck with these three countries. The advantage of these visas is that they arenot subject to the H-1B cap. There arequotas for these categories, although none of the quotas have veer beenreached.