December 4, 2019
USCIS released guidance on November 21, 2019, which clarifies when the Service may adjust the status of an alien whose Conditional Permanent Resident (CPR) status has been terminated. This guidance applies to the adjustment of status applications filed with USCIS after November 21, 2019. A ...
November 20, 2019
On November 14, 2019, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) published a proposed rule modifying eligibility for employment authorization based on a pending asylum claim. USCIS’s proposal includes excluding from eligibility for employment authorization: Aliens who entered or attempted to enter the United States unlawfully without good ...
November 20, 2019
On Monday, November 18, it was announced that Ken Cuccinelli would no longer serve as the Acting Director of the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), a post which he has held for the last five months. At the time of publishing, according to the Department ...
November 18, 2019
On Tuesday, the U.S. Supreme Court held an oral argument to deliberate over the White House’s plan to roll back Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA). The policy, first implemented by the Obama administration in August 2012, allows undocumented individuals who were brought to the ...
November 14, 2019
The Department of Homeland Security published a proposed rule to the Federal Register on Thursday, November 14. The DHS proposal increases fees for certain immigration and naturalization applications charged by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). According to the proposed rule, the increase is ...
November 9, 2019
Today, a three-judge panel from the United States Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit ruled that a challenge to the H-4 EAD (Save Jobs USA v. DHS) does have grounds to be heard in court. In September 2016, a DC-based United States District Court judge, ...
November 6, 2019
USCIS now offers select applicants the option to file an I-539 extension application online to facilitate processing queue. The eligible applicant must be filing for an extension of an existing status and must file individually (without co-applicants). Individuals may complete the I-539 form online to extend status ...
November 6, 2019
On October 30, 2019 USCIS announced that the Premium Processing fee charged by the service for expedited processing of certain applications for immigration benefits will increase from $1,410.00 to $1,440.00 beginning December 2, 2019. Premium Processing is an optional service that allows petitioners or employees to request the 15-day ...
October 23, 2019
On October 15, CEOs and Deans from the top business schools in the country wrote a letter addressed to the President and members of Congress, asking them to reform the U.S. Immigration system to meet the country’s need for highly skilled employees in the STEM field. The ...
October 15, 2019
On Friday, just four days before the Trump Administration's public charge rule was set to effect, federal judges in California, New York, and Washington issued a preliminary nationwide injunction. In a breaking alert, the Immigration Nerds talk with managing directors Hiba Anver and Justin Parsons ...
October 14, 2019
On Friday, three federal courts in California, New York, and Washington issued judgments that will block the implementation of the Trump Administration's public charge rule. As previously reported, the rule was to go in to effect on Tuesday, October 15. The public charge rule would evaluate ...
October 11, 2019
On September 27, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit heard oral arguments for the Save Jobs USA v. DHS case that may determine the future work opportunities and livelihoods for the H-4 spouses of H-1B holders as they wait to ...
October 9, 2019
USCIS has announced that, as a result of the Department of Homeland Security’s Public Charge rule, several forms for applications of immigration benefits, including form I-485 applications for adjustment of status and form I-129 petitions for nonimmigrant workers, will be updated as of October 15. USCIS will ...
October 4, 2019
Uncertainty of exact timing could undo expected cost savings Past problems with electronic filing systems has some attorneys concerned about reliability A new electronic preregistration process that’s likely to be part of next spring’s H-1B visa lottery is bringing additional uncertainty to what’s already a ...
October 4, 2019
In this week's Immigration Nerds podcast, Diane Rish, the Associate Director of Government Relations at American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) joins us at the mic. Through multiple FOIA requests and painstaking litigation, AILA along with the American Immigration Council won access to USCIS documents that revealed ...
September 25, 2019
In a letter to a U.S. Court of Appeals on September 16, the Department of Homeland Security indicated that the earliest possible publication date for a proposed rule to rescind H-4 employment authorization would be in Spring 2020. Until such a time that a new rule goes ...
September 25, 2019
On September 20, the Trump administration came to an asylum cooperation agreement with El Salvador, designed to deter migrants from seeking asylum in the United States. The agreement states that any migrants that pass through El Salvador seeking asylum must apply for protection in that country first ...
September 11, 2019
On September 4, 2019, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) issued a proposal to collect social media user identifications in order to “assess an alien’s eligibility to travel to or be admitted to the United States or to receive an immigration-related benefit from DHS.” This change would ...
September 3, 2019
In a new Department of Homeland Security proposal released on September 3, employers who are applying for H-1B visas in next year's lottery would be required to pay an additional $10. This fee would go toward the electronic preregistration process used for the lottery. The fee ...
August 30, 2019
On Wednesday, August 28, the Trump administration announced changes to the definition of residency as it relates to the citizenship of children of U.S. service members born outside of the U.S. The current policy states that certain children living outside of the United States were considered ...
August 28, 2019
On August 15, 2019, USCIS announced that it has issued return notices for all H-1B Cap Petitions that were not selected in the FY 2020 lottery. The lottery for successful H-1B Cap Petitions was completed by May 17, 2019, and USCIS has since taken steps to ...
August 28, 2019
Twenty states announced their plans to file a lawsuit against the Trump Administration in response to its plans to amend the rule that limits the amount of time a migrant child may be held in detention centers to 20 days. Amending this rule would allow the ...
August 20, 2019
The U.S. Department of State (DOS) released the September 2019 Visa Bulletin. Several Employment-Based preference categories have retrogressed or have become unavailable for the remainder of Fiscal Year 2019. For EB-1 categories, cut-off dates have advanced for persons born in Mexico, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, the Philippines, Vietnam, ...
August 20, 2019
Last fall, USCIS announced that changes would be forthcoming for the H-1B program, as soon as this year. The new plan would require companies who seek an H-1B visa for a foreign worker to first submit a free online registration form instead of an initial ...
August 14, 2019
In March 2019, USCIS announced its plan to close all of its overseas offices.However, on August 9, 2019, USCIS updated its plans and announced thatseven of the international offices will remain open. The field offices in Monterrey, Mexico and Seoul, South Korea will be the first ...
August 14, 2019
On August 6, 2019, the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia ruled that USCIS acted arbitrarily, capriciously, and abused its discretion in denying an H-1B work visa to a Data Analyst on the grounds that Data Analysts do not require a bachelor’s degree in ...
August 12, 2019
On Monday, August 12, the Trump Administration said it would move forward with new regulations that would deny green cards and visas to immigrants who use or are expected to use a wide range of government benefits, including food stamps, housing vouchers, and Medicaid. This ...
August 7, 2019
On Wednesday, August 7, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced it would introduce "a single, secure portal" for the public to report "credible and relevant claims of immigration benefit fraud." USCIS will accept additional public comment on the form beginning Thursday, August 8. Individuals will be ...
August 2, 2019
In this week's Immigration Nerds podcast, we're joined by Erickson Immigration Group senior attorney Storm Estep to discuss recent policy updates from the week of July 15 - July 24. Storm explains H.R. 1044 and the companion bill in the Senate, new asylum rules and ...
July 25, 2019
As previously reported, on July 15, the Trump Administration published a new rule, Asylum Eligibility and Procedural Modifications, which would require individuals who pass through a third party country seeking asylum in the U.S. to first apply for asylum in that third party country. The rule was met ...