Adviser's Manual 360 News Feed

The Student and Exchange Visitor Program (SEVP) GovDelivery distribution list is moving at the end of September 2024. Sign up for SEVP’s new GovDelivery Distribution List.

The Department of State announced that of September 9, 2024, all available visa slots in the Employment-Based Second Preference (EB-2) category for fiscal year 2024 have been issued. This category includes holders of advanced degrees and individuals of exceptional ability in the sciences, arts, or business. The numbers include EB-2 immigrant visas issued by DOS and EB-2 adjustment of status cases approved by USCIS. The new supply of EB-2 visa numbers becomes available on October 1, 2024, the first day of fiscal year 2025.

On September 13, 2024, NAFSA submitted comments to USCIS regarding the August 27, 2024 revisions to the F student content in the USCIS Policy Manual, including the revisions related to the 5-month rule and study abroad programs. Link to NAFSA's comments and USCIS source documents on NAFSA's page.

The Department of State announced that of August 27, 2024, all available visa slots in the Employment-Based First Preference (EB-1) category for fiscal year 2024 have been issued. This category, which is exempt from the individual labor certification requirement, includes EB-1A (Aliens of Extraordinary Ability), EB-1B (Outstanding Professors and Researchers), and EB-1C (Multinational Executives and Managers). The numbers include EB-1 immigrant visas issued by DOS and EB-1 adjustment of status cases approved by USCIS. The new supply of EB-1 visa numbers becomes available on October 1, 2024, the first day of fiscal year 2025.

On August 15, 2024 DOS updated the Foreign Affairs Manual to allow use of a J-1 visa with a prior program number following a standard program transfer. Under the policy prior to that change, an exchange visitor who traveled after transferring J programs needed a new J visa that reflected the transfer-in sponsor's program number before returning to the United States under the sponsorship of the transfer-in program. The new policy does not apply, however, to transfers involving a category change or to exits and new entries with a new sponsor under a different SEVIS ID.

Starting October 21, 2024, USCIS will accept only the 06/07/24 edition of Form I-140, Immigrant Petition for Alien Workers. Until then, you can also use the 04/01/24 edition. You can find the edition date at the bottom of the page on the form and instructions.

On August 12, 2024 the USCIS California Service Center moved to a new location in Tustin, California. CSC mailing addresses have been updated.

The Department of Labor Office of Foreign Labor Certification (OFLC) notified NAFSA that the legacy Permanent Online System will be decommissioned as of December 1, 2024 and OFLC will stop accepting new document uploads as of 7:00 PM EST on November 30, 2024. OFLC encourages users to download now all the documents they need from the legacy system, so there is time to address any challenges they may experience while trying to access their documents. See NAFSA's DOL PERM Modernization page for background on the shift from the legacy PERM system to FLAG.

USCIS announced it will conduct a second round of random selections of H-1B registrations already received during the initial H-1B cap registration period, in order to meet the FY 2025 regular cap allocation. They will not conduct a second selection for the advanced degree exemption as enough registrations were already selected to meet the master's cap.

DHS added one new field in the latest revision to the DHS STEM Designated Degree Program List, effective July 23, 2024. The field is Environmental/Natural Resource Economics (CIP Code 03.0204). Also, a reminder that this year's annual deadline for submitting proposed updates to the STEM OPT list is August 1, 2024.