USCIS’ policy of tolling unlawful presence while an application is pending protects applicants from being forced to abandon pending applications upon the expiration of their status. Due to equitable tolling, applicants may remain in the U.S. legally for the duration of the application process, even after their previously approved status has expired.

This fact sheet focuses on the requirements for filing a late initial registration application for Temporary Protected Status (TPS). Background The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) extended TPS for 18 months, through Jan. 5, 2012, to eligible nationals of Honduras and Nicaragua (and people having no nationality who last habitually resided in these countries). This [...]

These Questions & Answers address the automatic extension of F-1 student status in the United States for certain students with pending or approved H-1B petitions (indicating a request for change of status from F-1 to H-1B) for an employment start date of Oct. 1, 2010 under the Fiscal Year (FY) 2011 H-1B cap.

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has announced today it would allow F-1 students, whose H-1B petitions have been selected for fiscal year (FY) 2009, to request a change of status in lieu of consular notification. This is a short-term measure taken to accommodate the changes introduced by the recent Interim final rule on F1 [...]

Update as per USCIS “Letter of Guidance” In a “Letter of Guidance” issued recently, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has clarified that if a person travels abroad while his change of status to H1 request is still pending, he or she will by default abandon the request for the change of status. This [...]