Entries by Cyrus Mehta

The Facebook Settlement Resolving Claims of Discrimination Against U.S. Workers Only Adds to the Contradictions in the Labor Certification Program

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By Cyrus D. Mehta and Kaitlyn Box* On October 19, 2021, the U.S. DOJ and DOL announced that they had reached separate settlement agreements with Facebook regarding the company’s purportedly discriminatory PERM labor certification practices. These settlement agreements stem from a December 2020 DOJ complaint, in which the government alleged that Facebook had discriminated against […]

Handling Confidentiality, Adverse Interests, and Settlements in Group Suits

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By Cyrus D. Mehta and Brad Banias* Immigration lawyers have filed lawsuits on behalf of several hundred plaintiffs challenging various immigration policies. These lawsuits have involved demanding that the government  speed up the processing of  work permits, or asking the government to reserve visas before the expiration of the program. Many of the lawsuits have […]

November 2021 Visa Bulletin Seesaw: Frequently Asked Questions

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By Cyrus D. Mehta and Kaitlyn Box* On Thursday, October 14,  2021, the Department of State released the November 2021 Visa Bulletin, which has brought significant retrogression in employment-based third preference (EB-3) India dates, among other significant changes. The EB-3 India Date for Filing (DFF) retrogressed to January 22, 2012 and the Final Action Date […]

Migration in the Time of COVID-19 Ebook – How Much Has the Pandemic Really Shifted the Immigration Landscape?

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By Kaitlyn Box* Together with my co-author, Shoba Sivaprasad Wadhia, Associate Dean for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, the Samuel Weiss Faculty Scholar, and Founder and Director of the Center for Immigrants’ Rights Clinic (CIRC) at Penn State Law, I recently contributed a chapter to the Frontiers in Human Dynamics e-book “Migration in the Time of […]

Recent Trends in Requests for Evidence on I-140 Petitions

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By Cyrus D. Mehta,  Sung-Min Baik* and Kaitlyn Box** Employers who have filed concurrent “downgrade” I-140 petitions are facing an increasing number of requests for evidence (RFE).  These I-140 petitions were concurrently filed with I-485 applications when the India employment-based third preference (EB-3) date in the October 2020 Visa Bulletin advanced ahead of the India […]

If the US Does Not Eradicate Vaccine Inequality, the Requirement of COVID Vaccinations for Many Green Card Applicants Will Result in a De Facto Ban

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By Cyrus D. Mehta Effective October 1, 2021, with few exceptions, those applying for permanent residence (green card) must be vaccinated against COVID-19, now classified as a “Class A inadmissible condition,” the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced. The CDC explained that the COVID-19 vaccination meets the criteria for required vaccinations and is […]

The Fight for Immigration Justice Is Not Over: SCOTUS Rules Mandatory Detention of Certain Immigrants Seeking Safety in the United States

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By: Sophia Genovese* In Johnson v. Guzman Chavez, 594 U.S. __ (2021), the Supreme Court held that noncitizens in withholding-only proceedings are not entitled to a custody redetermination, or bond, hearing before the Immigration Court. This holding effectively leaves thousands of asylum seekers at risk of prolonged and indefinite detention. By way of background, individuals […]