News & Events

On August 1, 2019, The Ministry of Public Security implemented new immigration policies aimed to attract highly-skilled foreign talent and outstanding youth to study and work in China.  These new policies will facilitate the process for foreigners to apply for permanent residency, long-term visas, and residence permits ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

Boris Johnson is the new Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and carries the weight of the entire country, and holds the keys to its Brexit destiny. Is Johnson a Man of the People or a product of the Institution? Erickson Immigration Group legal writer ...

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 ...

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 ...

EIG is proud to participate as a featured speaker at the SHRM Global Mobility and Immigration Symposium in Washington, DC on November 3-5, 2019. Jerry Erickson, EIG Principal, and Justin Parsons, EIG Managing Director, will both be speaking on panels and participating in the conference, ...

EIG is proud to participate as a featured speaker at the Worldwide ERC Global Workforce Symposium 2019 in Boston, on October 16-18, 2019. Jerry Erickson, EIG Principal, and Alejandra Zapatero, Director, Client Relations, are featured speakers and will be joined by EIG leaders to participate ...

On July 9, 2019, the Irish Ministry for Business, Enterprise, and Innovation issued the Employment Permits (Amendment)(No. 2) Regulations 2019 which modified work permit regulations. Beginning January 1, 2020, the minimum salary threshold for Critical Skills Employment Permits (CSEP) will increase from 30,000 EUR to 32,000 EUR ...

On July 17, 2019, the Irish High Court ruled that a person applying to become a naturalized Irish citizen must have one year of “continuous” residence in Ireland immediately before filing the naturalization application. The High Court interpreted “continuous” to strictly mean “unbroken” with no absences for an ...

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 ...

In this week's Immigration Nerds podcast, we are joined by Taylor Gibson, a law clerk with Erickson Immigration Group. Taylor recently spent a week volunteering with unaccompanied minors at the border. Through her account, we enter the lives and stories of those separated from their ...

On Wednesday, July 24, USCIS announced significant changes that would be forthcoming for the EB-5 Immigrant Investor Program. From USCIS, the new rule would include the following: Raising the minimum investment amounts from $1 million to $1.8 million, with an automatic adjustment for inflation every ...

In this week's Immigration Nerds podcast, we talk to Megan Essaheb, the Director of Immigration Advocacy at Asian Americans Advancing Justice. Megan shares AAJC's advocacy and legislative work, including their long-term efforts to introduce and influence policy. She also explains their partnerships and outreach response ...

USCIS is the agency charged with administering and providing immigration benefits to foreign nationals.  Naturalization, green cards, work authorization, H-1B visas, asylum, family-based immigration, investment visas, cultural exchange programs, foreign doctors, NAFTA professionals, victims of crimes and domestic violence, Special Immigrant Juvenile Status, and many ...

Under a draft plan reportedly approved by President Vladimir Putin, Russia plans to expand its e-visa program starting on January 1, 2021. The list of countries whose citizens will be eligible to apply for the e-visa will be confirmed by the government separately. The list most likely will include ...

On July 15, the U.S. District Court of the District of Columbia issued an opinion in the case of Sagarwala vs. Cissna.  Usha Sagarwala, beneficiary of an H-1B petition filed by HSK Technologies, Inc., sued the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (“USCIS”) after  USCIS denied the ...

On July 15, the Trump Administration published a new rule, Asylum Eligibility and Procedural Modifications, requiring individuals who pass through a third party country seeking to apply for asylum in the U.S. to apply for asylum in that third party country first. Under the new rules, ...

On July 10th, the House of Representatives passed the Fairness for High-Skilled Immigrants Act, which intends to eliminate the per-country cap for employment-based green cards. The bill will now be considered by the Senate. If the bill is approved, the first-come, first-served system would give every immigrant ...

The U.S. Department of State (DOS) released the August 2019 Visa Bulletin. Cut-off dates remain effective for the EB-1 categories with retrogression for all locations. The Department of State stated in Section D of the August visa bulletin that due to the increased volume of adjustment of status cases filed, it ...

In this week's Immigration Nerds podcast, we talk to Marcelo Barros, an international student career expert and the founder of the International Advantage. Throughout our conversation, Marcelo shares his insights and the advice he relays to students to help them achieve their professional goals with ...

Last fall, the federal government proposed a pre-registration plan that would change and, in theory, streamline the application process for the H-1B visa, of which 85,000 are allocated annually. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration (USCIS) announced in the federal register that the pre-registration plan was moving forward ...

This week, NPR obtained government documents showing that the Trump administration has fined some immigrants who are in the United States illegally, after "failing to depart the U.S. as previously agreed." The Department of Homeland Security sent out notices to targeted individuals with fines up to ...

The Home Office published details on the new immigration and border system it will likely implement at the beginning of 2021. Some of the proposals include eliminating the annual cap of visas issued for skilled workers and the Resident Labor Market Test for high-skilled workers.  This new ...

On June 17, 2019, USCIS announced that it plans on decreasing processing times for Naturalization and Green Card processing. USCIS plans to distribute Naturalization and Green Card adjudication more evenly among the field offices to address issues caused by the disparate adjudication burden on different field offices ...

On June 25, 2019, USCIS announced that it will expand its digital Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) Immigration Records System (FIRST) allowing FOIA requesters who have a USCIS online account to submit online requests for their own records. USCIS has indicated that “the FIRST system is the only system ...

The U.S.  House of Representatives passed a bill that will send 4.5 billion dollars in humanitarian aid to crisis-stricken migrants at the border. The aid will fund overcrowded shelter facilities to improve living conditions for women and children who are detained. It will also go toward U.S. ...

In this week's Immigration Nerds podcast, we talk to Rachel Levitan the Vice President, International Programs at HIAS. Rachel shares HIAS's history, their efforts to support the current immigrant and refugee experience, and how individuals can help, too.

On Tuesday, the Acting Customs and Border Protection Commissioner John Sanders announced his resignation. His message to agency employees follows a dramatic increase in undocumented migrants crossing the southern border. His resignation is effective July 5. Sanders filled the acting role in the spring following other personnel ...