Every year, natural disasters like hurricanes, wildfires, and earthquakes disrupt normal activities due to evacuations, loss of life, and extensive damage to property. Academic institutions located in affected areas may be unable to operate normally, or at all, during the current academic term. As a result of a natural disaster, students and scholars may also experience difficulty in satisfying the normal regulatory requirements for maintaining valid status, including reporting requirements, filing deadlines, and the pursuit of a "full course of study." NAFSA has a page of resources that can help institutions, students, and scholars affected by such emergencies and natural disasters.

Effective November 26, 2022, Burma/Myanmar SSR is extended from November 26, 2022 until May 25, 2024, for F-1 students from Burma/Myanmar who were in the United States as of September 27, 2022.

On September 16, 2022, NAFSA, as a member of the Compete America coalition, joined a letter to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services urging changes to allow O-1 workers of extraordinary ability and their family members to more easily travel outside of the United States after they have filed for green cards. The letter also urges allowing spouses in O-3 status to more easily obtain work authorization.

On September 15, 2022, NAFSA joined the Presidents' Alliance on Higher Education and Immigration and 13 other immigration and higher education organizations in a letter to the U.S. State Department's (DOS) Bureau of Consular Affairs, urging them to make permanent the temporary policies and processes that were instituted following the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic to improve visa processing efficiency. These include permanently maximizing alternatives to in-person visa interviews by providing waivers, virtual interviews, and extending visa eligibility waivers.

In a September 9, 2022 letter from NAFSA Executive Director and CEO, Dr. Esther Brimmer, NAFSA asked DHS to issue SSR for Pakistan, to address the dire situation caused by recent flooding in that country. SEVP acknowledged receipt of NAFSA's letter and said they will ensure that the appropriate entities see it and review the request.

On September 8, 2022, USCIS posted a set of Fiscal Year 2023 Employment-Based Adjustment of Status FAQs. USCIS states, "The employment-based (EB) annual limit for fiscal year (FY) 2023 will be higher than was typical before the pandemic, though lower than in FY 2021 and FY 2022. We are dedicated to ensuring we use as many available employment-based visas as possible in FY 2023, which ends on Sept. 30, 2023."

In Federal Register notices published on September 8, 2022, DHS extended the availability of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) and Special Student Relief (SSR) to eligible citizens of Venezuela. The prior Venezuela SSR notice expires on September 9. The new notice makes Venezuela SSR available until March 10, 2024. Read more about SSR on NAFSA's page, Special Student Relief For F-1 Students: Essential Concepts.

OFLC Administrator Brian Pasternak says, “By integrating the permanent labor certification process into the Foreign Labor Application Gateway... we will make it easier, faster, and cheaper for employers to access permanent labor certification services and create a more seamless immigrant visa processing experience." No timeline was mentioned.

The Department of State (DOS) informed Exchange Visitor Program sponsors in an email that it will soon issue a Federal Register notice describing the details of Special Student Relief (SSR) arrangements for eligible Ukrainian J-1 college and university students. NAFSA confirmed with the BridgeUSA Office of Private Sector Exchange Designation that sponsors must wait until the Federal Register notice is published before approving Special Student Relief benefits for eligible J-1 students. It is hoped that the Federal Register notice will be published in the next two or three weeks.

In a July 28, 2022 news alert, USCIS announced that it "has published additional online resources on uscis.gov to provide an overview of some of the temporary and permanent pathways for noncitizens to work in the United States in the fields of science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM). This guide also highlights some of the most important considerations for STEM professionals who want to work in the United States."