Cyrus Mehta

To Leave Or Not To Leave: The Devastating Impact of USCIS’s Unlawful Presence Policy on Foreign Students

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The new USCIS Policy on Unlawful Presence for F, J and M Nonimmigrants took effect on August 9, 2018. This policy has had the effect of rendering nonimmigrants in F, J and M status, mainly students, unlawfully present upon being found to have violated their status.

Under the new policy, unlawful presence started accruing on August 9, 2018 based upon a prior finding of a violation of status. Individuals who have accrued more than 180 days of unlawful presence during a single stay, and then depart, may be subject to 3-year or 10-year bars to admission, depending on how much unlawful presence they accrued before they departed the United States. See INA § 212(a)(9)(B)(i)(I) & (II).

February 5, 2019, will be the 180th day from August 9, 2018 according to a web based date calculator. If the USCIS has determined that the foreign student violated status at some point in the past, even prior to August 9, 2018, this individual who does not depart on or before February 5, 2019, will face a 3-year bar from re-entering the US. In order to play safe, the individual should leave the US even before February 5 to avoid risks with flight delays or a difference of opinion with a consular official regarding the exact date and time of departure from the US. Those who violated their status after August 9, 2018 should start counting the 180 days from  the date of the status violation, which will now be after February 5, 2019.

Individuals have been found to have been in violation of their status for a number of reasons, and at times the reason may not be so readily obvious. The determination is often even erroneous, but since August 9, 2018,  the student would have begun to accrue unlawful presence and will face a 3 -year bar upon departure from the US after February 5, 2019.  It is one thing when a student drops out of school and engages in unauthorized unemployment. This is an obvious violation of F-1 status. One instance of a less obvious violation is when an  F-1 student who has received more than 12 months of Curricular Practical Training (CPT) may be found by USCIS to have violated F-1 status and thus ineligible to be granted a change of status in the US.  8 CFR § 214.2(f)(10) provides that a student may be authorized a total of 12 months of practical training, and becomes eligible for another 12 months when the student changes to a higher educational level. Under 8 CFR § 214.2(f)(10)(i), however,  “students who have received one year or more of full time curricular practical training are ineligible for post-completion academic training.” Note that the inclusion of “academic training” appears to be an obvious typographical error, and it ought to have been “practical training” when the rule was last promulgated on 12/11/2002.

This supposed finding of a status violation is erroneous as 8 CFR § 214.2(f)(10)(i) clearly contemplates a student to be authorized to receive more than 1 year of CPT. The school authorizes it, and this authorization is entered in the student’s SEVIS, which in turn is administered by ICE. If ICE authorizes more than 12 months of CPT, it is clearly erroneous and contradictory on the part of the USCIS to find that the student violated status.

Still, if one’s change of status request from F-1 to H-1B has already been denied, this student should leave the US by February 5, 2019. A departure after February 5, 2019, would likely result in a 3 year bar to reentry to the US. If an applicant for change of status has received a Request for Evidence (RFE) accusing him or her for not maintaining status for exceeding one year of practical training, then the dilemma to leave or not to leave becomes more acute. Not all allegations of violation of status based on being issued more than 1 year of CPT result in denials. Many have been able to overcome this finding in the RFE and successfully obtain a change of status from F-1 to H-1B. Thus, one who decides to remain in the US must carefully evaluate the risk in the likelihood of success or failure in overcoming an RFE of this sort. As there is some risk that the request for change of status may be denied, the student may feel that it is safer to leave the US by February 5 rather than take a chance and overcome the objection. If the student cannot overcome the objection, and leaves after February 5, the 3 year bar would have triggered.  However, this is a decision that each individual must make with his or her immigration attorney.

Others face different challenges. A student in F-1 Optional Practical Training may have been thought to have been unemployed for more than 90 days. Such an individual who is unemployed for more than 90 days ceases to be in F-1 OPT status (and if in STEM OPT more than 150 days). See 8 CFR 214.2(f)(10)(ii)(E).  However, whether one is employed or unemployed may not be so readily obvious. The individual may be treated as an employee by the employer listed on the I-20, but the employer may not have paid her because there was no work during the 90 day period. But the student could have still been viewed as an employee by the employer. Again, one who faces an allegation of not maintaining status due to unemployment for more than 90 days has to make a risk assessment whether to stay in the US beyond February 5, 2019 or whether to leave by February 5.

Those who have found to have violated their status can salvage the situation by leaving the US by February 5, 2019. They still have time to do this. They can return again on another visa, such as the H-1B visa. If one wants to return again in F-1 status, and on the existing F-1 visa, care should be taken as the student may start accruing a new period of unlawful presence if he or she was not properly admitted into the US. If the student received a new I-20 to correct the violation prior to departure, then arguably the student would have been properly admitted and may not start accruing unlawful presence again.  However, after February 5, those who were found to have violated their status prior to August 9, 2018 will be trapped. If they leave after February 5, 2019, they will face a 3-year bar. If they leave after August 9, 2019, and if the violation occurred on or prior to August 8, 2018,  they will face a 10-year bar. The USCIS unlawful policy memo’s devastating impact on foreign students has already begun to unfold, and will become more acute after February 5.

The only silver lining in the horizon is a lawsuit, Guildford College et al v. Nielson,  that has been filed to challenge the unlawful presence policy. The plaintiffs have also subsequently moved for a preliminary injunction on December 14, 2018 to take effect on February 4, 2019. If the preliminary injunction is granted by February 4, 2019, students who have been accused of violating their status, especially those contesting erroneous allegations, can breathe easy for now as they do not have to make plans to depart by February 5.

Update – January 28, 2019: The court in Guildford College v. Nielson granted a temporary restraining order in favor of the two individual plaintiffs who would otherwise be impacted by the unlawful presence policy. This is a positive development.  Thus far, the the TRO only positively impacts the two plaintiffs and does not apply globally to all students who may be adversely impacted by the policy.  The court has granted a date on March 26, 2019 on the motion for preliminary hearing. If plaintiffs win on the merits at this hearing, that relief should provided global protection.

(The blog is for informational purposes only and should not be viewed as a substitute for legal advice)

Cyrus Mehta

Trump Can Provide a Potential Path to Citizenship for H-1B Visa Holders

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On Friday, January 11, 2019, many were intrigued by President Trump’s tweet assuring H-1B visas that they should expect a potential path to citizenship. This is what he tweeted:

“H1-B holders in the United States can rest assured that changes are soon coming which will bring both simplicity and certainty to your stay, including a potential path to citizenship. We want to encourage talented and highly skilled people to pursue career options in the U.S.”

There is no direct path to citizenship for H-1B visa holders. They first have to obtain permanent residence, and must then wait for at least 5 years, in most cases, before they become eligible for naturalization.

Trump’s appointee, USCIS Director Cissna, has made life extremely difficult for H-1B visa holders, and thus this tweet was seen like rubbing salt on an open wound. In recent times, even routine requests for extensions of H-1B status for occupations, which should have traditionally been recognized for H-1B classification, have been denied. These arbitrary denials by no means bring simplicity and certainty in the life of an H-1B visa holder, leave alone providing a path to citizenship. To add further insult to injury, the Trump administration is proposing a rule that would rescind the grant of work authorization to H-4 spouses.

Indeed, the goal of the Trump administration, inspired by restrictionists like Steve Miller, is to restrict legal immigration to the United States. This is to appeal to Trump’s base that feel threatened by immigrants of all stripes, whether they are legal, undocumented or refugee.

Some thought that Trump was referring to a proposed rule that would allow employers to preregister for the H-1B lottery, and would be skewed in favor of those with advanced degrees, but this rule too does nothing for existing H-1B visa holders and also does nothing to put them on the path to citizenship.

But if Trump really wants, he can make his tweet become reality without the need to even go through Congress. It has become de riguer for presidential administrations to bring about seismic policy shifts in immigration through executive actions such as President Obama’s DACA or Trump’s travel ban. Even if frowned upon, bypassing Congress to provide benefits to foreign nationals like Obama did is far more preferable than Trump’s travel ban that potentially prevents mothers from banned countries to see their dying child in the United States.

Trump could immediately order Director Cissna to adjudicate H-1B visas in the way that Congress intended, with the goal of approving rather than denying the visa, bringing about much needed simplicity and certainty to both employers and H-1B visa holders. This used to be the case, where the supporting letter for an H-1B petition seldom exceeded a page or two. Presently, employers must brief an H-1B visa petition as if they are filing a brief in federal court. This is quite unnecessary for a routine work visa application.

If H-1B processing resumes in a fair and rational manner, most nationals not born in India and China should be able to obtain permanent residency relatively quickly upon being sponsored by their employers through the labor certification process. Unfortunately, the situation is different for people born in India and China. Due to the per country limits in the employment preferences, they have to wait for several decades even after the employer’s labor certification has been approved. One study predicts that the wait time could be 151 years for Indian born beneficiaries in the employment based second preference.

The outrageous waiting times are due to the excess demand and limited supply of visas, further compounded by the per country cap, set by Congress each year. On first brush, only Congress can change this and not Trump. As Congress is divided, such changes for H-1B visa holders are unlikely for now. There have been proposals in Congress to eliminate the per country caps, which have yet to pass.  However, if he wanted to and had the guts, Trump could change the way we count dependents that would dramatically decrease, and ultimately eliminate the backlogs, thus providing a pathway for citizenship to H-1B visa holders.

Ever since I co-wrote The Tyranny of Priority Dates in 2010, followed by How President Obama Can Erase Immigrant Visa Backlogs With A Stroke Of A Pen in 2012,  I have steadfastly maintained that the current Trump and the prior administrations of Obama, Bush, Clinton and Bush (Senior), have got it wrong when counting visa numbers under the family and employment preferences.

There is no explicit authorization for derivative family members to be counted separately under either the employment-based or family based preference visas in the Immigration and Nationality Act. The treatment of family members is covered by INA 203(d), enacted in 1990, which states:

“A spouse or child defined in subparagraphs (A), (B), (C), (D), or (E) of section 1101(b) of this title shall, if not otherwise entitled to an immigrant status and the immediate issuance of a visa under subsection (a), (b), or (c) of this section, be entitled to the same status, and the same order of consideration provided in the respective subsection, if accompanying or following to join, the spouse or parent.”

Nothing in INA 203(d) provides authority for family members to be counted under the preference quotas. While a derivative is “entitled to the same status, and the same order of consideration” as the principal, nothing requires that family members also be allocated visa numbers. If Congress allocates a certain number of visas to immigrants with advanced degrees or to investors, it makes no sense if half or more are used up by family members. I have also written blogs over the years, here, here and here, to further advance this argument.

If Trump wanted to give meaning to his tweet so as to truly assure H-1B visa holders, even if he may not have known what he was saying,  he does have room under INA 203(d) to order the State Department and USCIS to count both the principal beneficiary and the family members as one. This will greatly reduce the backlogs and put H-1B visa holders, born in India and China, on a path to permanent residency and citizenship.

In Wang v. Pompeo a group of EB-5 investor arguments made the same argument that the State Department was counting visa numbers incorrectly. Their request for preliminary injunction was recently denied, although the case has to yet be decided on the merits. Still, this is a setback as the judge did not accept the plaintiff’s argument that the administration was counting visas incorrectly under INA 203(d). Even if plaintiffs were denied the preliminary injunction, the Trump administration could cease opposing the plaintiffs in this litigation and start counting the principal and derivative beneficiaries as one unit. There is sufficient ambiguity in INA 203(d) for the administration to count in this new way, and a government agency’s interpretation of an ambiguous statute is entitled to deference under Chevron U.S.A. Inc. v. Natural Resources Defense Council, Inc., 467 U.S. 837 (1984)—often abbreviated as “Chevron deference”.

Admittedly, hoping that Trump would put H-1B visa holders on a pathway to citizenship is really a pipe dream.  So long as restricitonists like Stephen Miller continue to make the United States hostile to immigrants, there is no chance that Trump’s tweet would ever become reality. If he really wanted to carry out his proposal, it might anger his base. He may have to also fire Miller.  But if Trump ever wants to follow through on his tweet, this blog shows him a way to do so.