June 21, 2019
In this week's Immigration Nerds Podcast, we sit down with EIG attorney Jeremy Dumetz and talk about the hotly debated "citizenship" question the Trump administration is pushing for in the 2020 Census. Jeremy and EIG Media Producer Ian Gaines talk about the history of the ...
June 18, 2019
On Wednesday, June 12, Senator Mitt Romney (R-Utah) introduced a bill in the Senate that would make the E-Verify program permanent. E-Verify, the online tool that allows employers to input a new hire’s driver’s license and Social Security information to verify whether the person is eligible to ...
June 18, 2019
On May 31, the Customs and Border Protection agency was made aware that up to 100,000 images of travelers and license plates were hacked in a cyber attack. For security purposes, the agency collects and stores personal data of all travelers who cross the US border. Federal ...
June 17, 2019
Melia Russell | June 16, 2019 As a candidate, Donald Trump began his campaign by attacking Mexicans. Now, some here legally fear they’ll be collateral damage in his trade wars. For a quarter century, skilled Mexican citizens have been able to get three-year work permits under a ...
June 14, 2019
The U.S. Department of State (DOS) released the July 2019 Visa Bulletin. Cut-off dates remain effective for the EB-1 categories with no movement forward in any of the categories. The Department of State stated in Section G of the July visa bulletin that due to the increased demand, the ...
June 13, 2019
USCIS is currently being sued in two separate cases over their Notice of Intent to Revoke (NOIR) process and policy. USCIS may revoke a petition if the terms of employment and the original petition differ, in cases of fraud, misrepresentation, or inaccurate information, in cases ...
June 11, 2019
On Monday, June 10, Department of Homeland Security Acting Secretary Kevin McAleenan announced that President Trump named Kenneth Cuccinelli II as Acting Director of the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). Mr. Cuccinelli assumed the role on the same day. While Cuccinelli has been a strong ...
June 10, 2019
The United States Citizenship and Immigration Services' (USCIS) processing delays have been steadily increasing for many years, but the backlog has reached new highs under the Trump Administration. Earlier this year, the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) issued a report on the USCIS long-delayed processing times. ...
June 7, 2019
Update: At 3:24 pm EST on June 7, 2019, the USCIS announced that premium processing for all remaining FY2020 H-1B cap-subject petitions will begin on June 10, 2019. This commences phase two of the two-phase approach offered by USCIS in an effort to best manage premium processing ...
June 7, 2019
In this week's Immigration Nerds podcast, we talk about the recently announced requirement for applicants seeking a U.S. visa: sharing your social media account information for all platforms used over the past five years. How will this data be used? What is the government looking ...
June 6, 2019
Melia Russell | June 5, 2019 According to new data released by the federal government on the state of the H-1B visa, commonly used for high-skilled workers in tech, there has been an abrupt drop in approvals for a work permit that once was granted routinely. Fewer ...
June 5, 2019
U.S. citizens hoping to travel to Cuba now face new restrictions for their plans. On Tuesday, the Trump Administration introduced a ban on what are referred to as "people to people" trips to the island, banning many forms of educational and recreational trips. The "people to ...
June 5, 2019
On Monday, June 3, it was announced that USCIS Deputy Director Mark Koumans had been appointed as the acting director as L. Francis Cissna departs the agency. Mr. Koumans was appointed as the deputy director on May 13, 2019. Prior to his role as the deputy ...
June 5, 2019
Effective June 24, 2019, there will be changes to the fees charged by the Student and Exchange Visitor Program (SEVP) to international students, exchange visitors and SEVP-certified schools. The increased fees were calculated to match the estimated cost of funding SEVP operations, including the maintenance of technological ...
June 5, 2019
In an effort to modernize and streamline USCIS processes, the agency announced on May 22, 2019, that it is rolling out a new eProcessing strategy. While most application processes will remain, for the time being, with physical petitions submitted by mail, USCIS is now accepting certain ...
June 5, 2019
On May 31, 2019, USCIS released its 2018 Statistical Annual Report, the first annual report released by the agency in nearly 10 years. The report is limited to show data and statistics for the most widely-used immigrant and nonimmigrant programs from 2018, as compared to the previous ...
June 5, 2019
As of Friday, May 31, 2019, individuals applying for U.S. Visas are now required to disclose all social media accounts they have managed in the last five years on the DS-160 form. The change has received heavy criticism as the U.S. government has released no guidance on ...
May 31, 2019
In this week's Immigration Nerds Podcast, we're joined by EIG attorneys Storm Estep and Ryan Knight to discuss the recently released Unified Regulatory Agenda and the most significant items related to immigration. Our attorneys break down each item and say whether they "love it, hate ...
May 28, 2019
On Friday, May 24, US Citizenship and Immigration Services Director L. Francis Cissna announced his resignation via email to agency employees. "At the request of the President, I submitted my resignation today effective June 1, 2019," he wrote. Cissna served for 20 months as the Director ...
May 24, 2019
In this week's Immigration Nerds podcast, we talk to EIG attorney Ryan Knight about President Trump's newly proposed immigration program, and the possibility and impact of an immigration system based on merit or one based on family connections.
May 23, 2019
After months of "will they, won't they?" speculation, the federal government has announced it will publish a long-promised rule to disallow H-4 visa holders, H-1B visa holders' spouses who are in the process of getting a green card, the right to work. H-4 visa holders have ...
May 22, 2019
On Wednesday, May 22, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced a strategic shift toward a digital business model and the introduction of eProcessing. As outlined in a press release, "eProcessing will be a complete digital experience, from applying for a benefit, to communicating with ...
May 22, 2019
President Trump is reportedly planning to create a new role within his administration for an individual to oversee the administration’s immigration policies. The job title and scope of duties for this role have yet to be finalized, though officials have speculated that a formal appointment ...
May 22, 2019
As of May 20, 2019, USCIS announced that the Texas Service Center would begin accepting certain H-1B petitions to decrease processing times and assist the California, Vermont, and Nebraska Service Centers. As a result of this change, USCIS has updated the direct filing addresses for H-1B petitions. USCIS may ...
May 22, 2019
On May 3, 2019, the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina issued an injunction to temporarily enjoin USCIS from applying the Department of Homeland Security policy memo titled “Accrual of Unlawful Presence and F, J, and M Nonimmigrants,” issued in August 2018. ...
May 22, 2019
The Trump administration has released an FY 2020 budget proposal which, if approved, would result in the doubling of H-1B filing fees. Companies with 25 or fewer U.S. workers would see fees increase from $750.00 to $1,500.00, and companies with more than 25 workers fees would increase ...
May 22, 2019
The House Judiciary Committee plans to hold a hearing to discuss the DREAM Act, which would create a substantial avenue toward citizenship for more than 2 million undocumented individuals who came to the U.S. as children. House Democrats have been working on the bill for weeks, hoping ...
May 17, 2019
In an announcement Thursday, May 16, President Trump said the plan would create "a fair, modern, and lawful system of immigration for the United States." Scant on policy details and process, and met with criticism from Democrats and Republicans, the new immigration plan shifts the ...
May 15, 2019
It is expected that President Donald Trump will introduce a new immigration proposal on Thursday, May 16 that will shift the United States' immigration system toward one that admits immigrants based on merit and not on family relationships and increases security at the southern border. The ...
May 15, 2019
The U.S. Department of State (DOS) released today the June 2019 Visa Bulletin. Most notably the June 2019 sees significant retrogression in the EB-1 India category, with the institution of a cut-off date of January 1, 2015. For foreign nationals born in India, the EB-1 category has ...