On September 16, 2022, NAFSA, as a member of the Compete America coalition, joined a letter to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services urging changes to allow O-1 workers of extraordinary ability and their family members to more easily travel outside of the United States after they have filed for green cards. The letter also urges allowing spouses in O-3 status to more easily obtain work authorization.

On September 15, 2022, NAFSA joined the Presidents' Alliance on Higher Education and Immigration and 13 other immigration and higher education organizations in a letter to the U.S. State Department's (DOS) Bureau of Consular Affairs, urging them to make permanent the temporary policies and processes that were instituted following the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic to improve visa processing efficiency. These include permanently maximizing alternatives to in-person visa interviews by providing waivers, virtual interviews, and extending visa eligibility waivers.

In a September 9, 2022 letter from NAFSA Executive Director and CEO, Dr. Esther Brimmer, NAFSA asked DHS to issue SSR for Pakistan, to address the dire situation caused by recent flooding in that country. SEVP acknowledged receipt of NAFSA's letter and said they will ensure that the appropriate entities see it and review the request.

On September 8, 2022, USCIS posted a set of Fiscal Year 2023 Employment-Based Adjustment of Status FAQs. USCIS states, "The employment-based (EB) annual limit for fiscal year (FY) 2023 will be higher than was typical before the pandemic, though lower than in FY 2021 and FY 2022. We are dedicated to ensuring we use as many available employment-based visas as possible in FY 2023, which ends on Sept. 30, 2023."

In Federal Register notices published on September 8, 2022, DHS extended the availability of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) and Special Student Relief (SSR) to eligible citizens of Venezuela. The prior Venezuela SSR notice expires on September 9. The new notice makes Venezuela SSR available until March 10, 2024. Read more about SSR on NAFSA's page, Special Student Relief For F-1 Students: Essential Concepts.

OFLC Administrator Brian Pasternak says, “By integrating the permanent labor certification process into the Foreign Labor Application Gateway... we will make it easier, faster, and cheaper for employers to access permanent labor certification services and create a more seamless immigrant visa processing experience." No timeline was mentioned.

The Department of State (DOS) informed Exchange Visitor Program sponsors in an email that it will soon issue a Federal Register notice describing the details of Special Student Relief (SSR) arrangements for eligible Ukrainian J-1 college and university students. NAFSA confirmed with the BridgeUSA Office of Private Sector Exchange Designation that sponsors must wait until the Federal Register notice is published before approving Special Student Relief benefits for eligible J-1 students. It is hoped that the Federal Register notice will be published in the next two or three weeks.

In a July 28, 2022 news alert, USCIS announced that it "has published additional online resources on uscis.gov to provide an overview of some of the temporary and permanent pathways for noncitizens to work in the United States in the fields of science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM). This guide also highlights some of the most important considerations for STEM professionals who want to work in the United States."

ICE's current Special Student Relief (SSR) notice for F-1 students from Syria is effective April 22, 2021 until September 30, 2022, for F-1 students who were in the United States as of April 22, 2021. A Federal Register notice scheduled to be published on August 1, 2022 will extend SSR until April 1, 2024, for Syrian F-1 students who will be in the United States as of August 1, 2022. DHS will also be extending Syrian Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for eligible individuals.

In a July 25, 2022 notice, USCIS stated: "In an effort to take the lessons learned from our pandemic posture, USCIS has been evaluating which flexibilities can and should be extended permanently. As a result of this evaluation, the reproduced signature flexibility announced in March, 2020, will become permanent policy on July 25, 2022."