On August 10, 2021, U.S. Senator Alex Padilla (D-Calif.) led a group of 23 Senators in calling on Secretary of State Antony Blinken and the State Department to address the backlog of visas for international students, which grew significantly during the COVID-19 pandemic.

DHS/ICE will establish Special Student Relief for Haitian F-1 students in a Federal Register notice to be published on August 3, 2021, and effective on the day of publication through February 3, 2023. Benefits under the Haiti notice are not available before the effective date.

On July 29, 2021, USCIS posted an alert on its OPT filing flexibilities web page, to provide a very brief summary of the Consent Order issued by a U.S. District Court that expands the flexibilities for certain applicants filing Form I-765 for OPT. NAFSA has provided some helpful notes on the consent order.

USCIS announced that on July 28, 2021 it conducted a second random selection process on previously submitted electronic H-1B cap registrations that had not been selected in the first lottery. The H-1B petition filing period based on the July 28, 2021 random selection process will begin on August 2 and close on November 3, 2021.

In a Joint Statement of Principles, the Departments of State and Education announced their shared commitment to promoting international education and outlined the benefits of global academic engagement for all Americans. NAFSA Executive Director and CEO, Dr. Esther D. Brimmer, described the Joint Statement of Principles as "a welcome initiative that signals an exciting advancement in rebuilding and restoring U.S. engagement with the world."

On July 22, 2021, NAFSA Executive Director and CEO Esther D. Brimmer, DPhil, asked the Department of Homeland Security's Student and Exchange Visitor Program (SEVP) to facilitate a grant of Special Student Relief (SSR) to F-1 students from Haiti.

DHS/ICE will establish Special Student Relief for Somali F-1 students in a Federal Register notice to be published on July 21, 2021, but effective September 18, 2021 through March 17, 2023. Note the future effective date! Benefits under the Somalia notice are not available before the effective date.

Effective July 20, 2021, USCIS has eliminated its prior policy that had required applicants applying to change their status to F-1 student to file "bridge" applications while their change of status (COS) to F-1 applications were pending. NAFSA has requested elimination of the bridge application policy for years, most recently in its 2021 Recommendations to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. The revised policy has been codified in a new section of the USCIS Policy Manual.

On July 16, 2021, a U.S. District Court in Texas ruled that the 2012 DACA program begun by the Obama administration was unlawful, and vacated the June 15, 2012 DHS memorandum that created it. The court also issued a nationwide injunction prohibiting DHS from approving new DACA applications. However, the injunction does not affect DACA benefits already granted, or renewal of already granted DACA protection.

The physical mailing address of the Department of Labor's Atlanta National Processing Center (ANPC) will change beginning August 25, 2021, with the exception of mail associated with the processing of applications requesting permanent labor certification subject to supervised recruitment. On the Notice of Filing (NOF) that must be posted when employers file a Form ETA-9089, Application for Permanent Employment Certification, the correct new ANPC address must be used if the required 10-day posting period for a NOF commences after September 5, 2021.