Tag: passport

Are You Eligible for Passport Renewal Online?

In good news, the State Department has announced the roll-out of its new online passport renewal system. Eligible individuals can renew their 10-year passports online without having to mail in any documentation.

Be sure to plan ahead if you are using the online service because only routine service is available – no expedited processing.

Although applicants will not be required to turn in their “old” passport, that passport will be cancelled after the renewal application is submitted and will no longer be valid for international travel.

Eligibility requirements for online processing:

  • The old passport is a 10-year passport, and the applicant is at least 25 years of age;
  • The old passport was issued between 2009 and 2015, or more than 9 years but less than 15 years from the date the new application is submitted;
  • There is no request for change of name, gender, or place of date of birth;
  • The applicant is not travelling for at least 8 weeks from the application submission date;
  • The applicant is seeking a regular (tourist) passport, not a special issuance passport (such as diplomatic, official, or service [gray cover] passports);
  • The applicant lives in the United States, either in a state or territory (passports cannot be renewed online from a foreign country or using Army Post Office [APO] or Fleet Post Office [FPO]); and
  • The applicant is in possession of their current passport and it is not damaged or mutilated and it has not been reported as lost or stolen.

To renew online, the applicant must sign in or create an account on Home | MyTravelGov (state.gov) and follow the step-by-step directions. The applicant will have to:

  • Provide information about the passport they want to renew;
  • Choose whether to apply for a passport book or passport card or both;
  • Enter proposed travel dates;
  • Upload a digital photo;
  • “Sign” the application; and
  • Make the required payment by credit or debit card

Applicants can enroll to receive email updates regarding their applications.

Those not eligible to apply online may renew by mail if they meet the eligibility criteria. Those not eligible to renew by mail (such as children) must renew in person.

The State Department estimates that 5 million people will be eligible to use this new online service annually. Last year, a record 24 million passports were issued. The State Department hopes to continue to expand the online service to further optimize the passport renewal process.

Jackson Lewis P.C. © 2024
For more on Passport Renewal, visit the NLR Immigration section.

H-1B Cap Registration Period Now Open

The registration period for the fiscal year (FY) 2025 H-1B cap petitions opened at noon ET March 6, 2024, and will continue to run through noon ET March 22, 2024. Employers seeking to file an H-1B cap-subject petition must electronically register during this period using a U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) online account. The registration process includes basic information about the prospective petitioner and each beneficiary along with a $10 registration fee for each beneficiary. The registration process for FY 2025 is governed by the final rule published Feb. 2, 2024, which took effect March 4, 2024.

The final rule includes a new beneficiary-centric selection process to ensure all beneficiaries have an equal chance of selection. Under the new process, registrations will be selected by unique beneficiary rather than by registration. As part of the registration process this year, each beneficiary must provide a valid passport that matches the registration details. See our February 2024 blog post for additional information on the new passport expiration requirements.

As with prior years, it is expected that USCIS will receive enough registrations during the registration period to meet the 65,000 H-1B cap, with an additional 20,000 visas available for those who possess a U.S. master’s degree or higher from an accredited U.S. institution. If the cap is reached, USCIS will conduct a random lottery of the registrations it receives following the close of the registration period. Petitioners will receive an electronic notification if their registration has been selected and can move forward with filing the H-1B petition for only those beneficiaries named on the selection notice.

H-1B cap-subject petitions for those registrations that are selected in the initial drawing can be filed between April 1, 2024, and June 30, 2024. USCIS clarifies in the final rule that requesting an H-1B cap employment start date after Oct. 1 of the relevant fiscal year is permissible. Petitioners that have received H-1B selections will be able to use their USCIS organizational account to electronically file any H-1B petitions that were selected in the process, or they can file a traditional paper filing of the H-1B petition that is sent to USCIS by mail or courier.

©2024 Greenberg Traurig, LLP. All rights reserved.
For more on H-1B Cap Registration, visit the NLR Immigration section.

As Europe divides, Africa Unites with Common African Union E-passport

In 2015, African Union (AU) Commissioner for Political Affairs, Dr. Aisha Abdullahi, indicated that a plan was underway to implement a single African passport. After recent announcements that the AU passport would be unveiled at the AU Summit in Kigali this month, the long-awaited continental e-passport has finally been revealed. The first recipients of the pan-African passport were Rwandan President Paul Kagame, whose country hosted the summit, and Chadian President Idriss Deby, the chairperson of the AU. Others to receive some of the first pilot passports will include heads of state, foreign ministers and permanent representatives of the member states to the AU’s Addis Ababa headquarters. The timeline for the common passport roll-out to citizens of member countries is uncertain, although AU officials hope that citizens will have access by 2018.

african union e-passport

This long-awaited passport is targeted to address the perennial problem of border openness in sub-Saharan Africa; closed borders are cited as a substantial impediment to both intra-African trade and economic growth.

Out of the 54 countries in Africa, to date, only thirteen allow citizens from any other African country to travel without advance visas. These significant barriers to intra-African travel are believed to be a leading cause of the low levels of trade between nations on the continent. Whereas intra-European trade accounts for approximately 60% of all European trade and intra-North American trade accounts for 40% of all trade on the North American continent, intra-African trade only counts for about 13% of African trade. While a small portion of this difference may be explained by unrecorded informal trade across porous borders, the difference is nevertheless notable.

There is evidence that opening borders can lead to economic growth globally, and experiences on the African continent support this contention. For example, in 2013, Rwanda announced that travelers from any African country could receive a visa on arrival. After improving visa openness, Rwanda’s GDP growth increased to 7% in 2014, tourism revenues rose by 4%, and the number of African travelers to Rwanda increased 22%.

Rwanda has led the charge for the creation of an AU passport. Now, the Rwandan Minister of Foreign Affairs, Louise Mushikiwabo, has indicated that Rwanda is fully prepared to begin issuing the common passport to all of its citizens. In contrast, other African nations would need to enact legislation that would allow them to begin issuing the African Union passports to citizens. Based on the general response to the common passport—the AU has been “overwhelmed” by requests for the passport—it is likely that AU member countries will feel pressure from their own citizens to do so quickly.

Interestingly, Morocco—the only African country that is not currently a member of the AU—has asked to rejointhe organization after a decades-long absence during the same summit in which the AU passports were unveiled. The timing of Morocco’s request could allow the county to take advantage of the new common passport and the expanding perks of AU membership.

The unified passport will undoubtedly present challenges for countries with less advanced border-security technology and fewer resources to devote to border control. Currently, only nine African countries offer eVisas. The AU passport is biometric and considered secure, but the issuance and acceptance of these e-passports at entry points of countries currently without e-passports may present a problem.

Relaxed immigration restrictions may also lead to larger inflows of migrant workers to the more economically stable countries on the continent, which may stoke the sort of anti-immigrant sentiment that led to violence in South Africa last year.

Travelers who are not citizens of AU member countries will not be able to benefit from the common passport, and will still face the relatively restrictive entry requirements on the continent. However, the enhanced labor mobility resulting from the AU’s e-passport program  could have a catalytic effect on trans-African investments and commerce.

ARTICLE BY Khadijah A. Robinson of Covington & Burling LLP

© 2016 Covington & Burling LLP