In light of the recent natural catastrophes in Chile, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) reminds Chileans of U.S. immigration benefits available to eligible Chilean nationals upon request.

USCIS understands that a natural catastrophe can affect an individual’s ability to establish or maintain lawful immigration status. Temporary relief measures available to nationals of Chile may include:

• The grant of an application for change or extension of nonimmigrant status on behalf of a Chilean national who is currently in the United States, even in cases where the request is submitted after the individual’s authorized period of admission has expired;
• Re-parole of individuals granted parole by USCIS;
• Extension of certain grants of advance parole, expedited processing of advance parole requests;
• Expedited adjudication and approval, where possible, of requests for off-campus employment authorization due to severe economic hardship for F-1 students;
• Expedited processing of immigrant petitions for immediate relative(s) of U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents (LPRs);
• Expedited issuance of employment authorization where appropriate; and
• Assistance to LPRs stranded overseas without documents in coordination with the Department of State.

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced that it will not extend the period in which it temporarily accepted H-1B petitions filed with uncertified Labor Condition Applications (LCAs).

Due to processing delays associated with Department of Labor’s (DOL) “iCERT” system, USCIS responded to requests from the public and temporarily allowed H-1B petitions to be filed with uncertified LCAs. This temporary measure went into effect on November 5, 2009 and expired on March 9, 2010.

As of March 10, 2010, USCIS will reject any H-1B petition filed without an LCA certified by DOL. 

After the publication of the H-2A Final Rule addressing the Temporary Agricultural Employment of H-2A Aliens in the United States, the Department's Office of Foreign Labor Certification has reopened its H-2A Regulations mailbox for public inquiries. The interested public should direct all general inquiries regarding the H-2A program to the H-2A [dot] Regulations [at] dol [dot] gov mailbox. However, any case specific inquiries should be directed to the Chicago National Processing Center mailbox at TLC [dot] Chicago [at] dol [dot] gov