Weekly Immigration Update: March 24–30, 2023

Schengen Area, March 30, 2023
Appointment Availability for Schengen Travel Limited

• Appointments for submitting Schengen C visa applications are extremely limited as the volume of applications has increased and will continue to increase approaching the peak tourist season in the Schengen Area from May to August.
• Additionally, many application centers have also been targeted by bots which are booking appointments as they become available.
• Travelers should plan in advance as much as possible for upcoming travel to the Schengen Area.

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South Africa, March 30, 2023
Automatic Visa and Waiver Extension Announced

• The Department of Home Affairs has extended the concession for pending long-term visa and waiver applications. Therefore, long-term visa holders who have applied for a visa waiver or have a visa application pending as of March 31, 2023 will be granted a temporary extension until December 31, 2023.
• Applicants who applied for short-term visas with a validity period of less than 90 days and have not received a visa extension outcome by March 31, 2023, must depart South Africa on or before April 30, 2023.

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United Kingdom, March 30, 2023
Hong Kong SAR Veterans Settlement Route Forthcoming

• The UK government announced a new scheme that will allow individuals from Hong Kong SAR who served in the British military prior to July 1, 1997 and their family members to apply for indefinite leave to enter, which offers the ability to live and work in the United Kingdom without restriction and puts them on a path to full British citizenship.
• The new scheme grants the same benefits as to other members of the British military who were also stationed in Hong Kong SAR.

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United States, March 28, 2023
New Consular Fees Take Effect May 30

• A revised State Department fee schedule that increases fees for nonimmigrant visa applications and border crossing cards will take effect on May 30.
• The fee increases are not as steep as those proposed by the agency in a December 2021 proposal.
• The fee for H, L, O, and P nonimmigrant visas will increase to $205, from $190.
• E visa application fees will increase to $315, from $205.

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United States, March 27, 2023
USCIS Completes FY 2024 H-1B Cap Selection Process

• The annual quota of 85,000 new H-1B cap registrations was met in the initial registration period for employment in FY 2024, according to USCIS. The precise number of cap registrations has not yet been disclosed.
• The agency has completed the regular and advanced-degree selection lotteries, and has notified employers of selection results. Employers will need to log into their H-1B cap registration accounts to learn which beneficiaries were selected.
• H-1B cap selection notices indicate an April 1 to June 30, 2023 petition filing period.
• If USCIS does not receive enough H-1B cap petitions during this filing period to meet the 85,000 H-1B annual limit, the agency may conduct one or more subsequent lottery selections to reach the limit.

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United Kingdom, March 27, 2023
Offshore Wind Worker Concession Ending, Creating New Immigration Obligations

• Effective April 30, 2023, the Offshore Wind Workers Immigration Rules Concession, (“the Concession”), which allowed workers considered essential to the construction and maintenance of wind farms in UK territorial waters to enter UK waters without any notification, will expire.
• As a result, individuals currently working pursuant to the Concession must depart the United Kingdom prior to May 1, 2023, and must make an application from a country where they have residency rights.
• Further, effective April 12, 2023, offshore workers (or their sponsor if they have one) will be required to notify the Home Office when they arrive in the United Kingdom (including UK waters for the purpose of undertaking work in those waters) and when they leave.
• Since many employers of these workers relying on the Concession do not currently have a UK sponsor license, employers should immediately begin the licensing process due to its lead time of approximately eight weeks, in order to mitigate disruption to their work.

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