The Supreme Court announced on June 28, 2019 that it would consider the legality of President Trump’s ending of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals Program. Although federal courts in New York, California and Washington DC have blocked Trump’s efforts to block DACA, the Supreme Court decided to take up the matter striking fear in […]
The Department of State Visa Bulletin is eagerly anticipated each month. It tells aspiring immigrants their place in the green card queue, and whether one has moved ahead, remained static or gone backwards. There are many people stuck in the green card backlogs, some stretching to several decades, hoping each month to move ahead in […]
On May 31, 2019, the State Department added new questions to visa application forms, DS-160/DS-156 Nonimmigrant Visa Application and Form DS-260, Immigrant Visa Application. Visa applicants now have to disclose the social media platforms that they have used within the previous five years and provide their user names or handle for each platform. This information […]
By Cyrus D. Mehta & Patrick Matutina Current regulations generally preclude beneficiaries from participating in employment-based immigrant visa proceedings, including post-adjudication motions and appeals. The employment-based immigrant visa petition is Form I-140 that is filed by an employer on behalf of a foreign national beneficiary who is being sponsored for permanent residency under the employment-based […]
By Cyrus D. Mehta & Rebekah Kim An L-1 visa may be issued to a foreign national employee who has worked abroad for at least one continuous year within the last three years for a qualifying, related business entity (e.g., parent, subsidiary, or affiliate) in an executive, managerial, or specialized knowledge capacity, and who is […]
By Cyrus D. Mehta and Amani M. Abuhamra* In a promising development for F, J, and M nonimmigrants battling unlawful presence policy, a federal district court in North Carolina has granted a preliminary injunction preventing USCIS from enforcing its problematic August 9, 2018 policy memo. The August 2018 Policy would render students in F, J […]
In September 2017, the State Department abruptly amended the Foreign Affairs Manual to provide consular officers with broader grounds to find that foreign nationals misrepresented their intentions when they came to the United States on nonimmigrant visas. A finding of fraud or misrepresentation under INA § 212(a)(6)(C)(i) can result in a permanent ground of inadmissibility. […]
By: Sophia Genovese* The Attorney General cannot selectively choose when to apply the rule of law. Yet when it comes to immigrants, the government feels emboldened to ignore the constitutional protections that are afforded to immigrants. In his most recent self-certification, Matter of M-S-, 27 I&N Dec. 509 (A.G. 2019), the Attorney General unilaterally decided […]
USCIS posted TOP TEN WAYS USCIS is improving the Integrity of the Immigration System. Really? Is USCIS improving the integrity of the system or undermining it? The USCIS has been mandated by Congress to grant benefits. Instead, it has usurped the role of ICE to become an enforcement agency. USCIS’s policies under President Trump and […]
A US employer has to meet several requirements when filing an H-1B visa petition on behalf of the foreign national employee. One important requirement is for the employer to notify affected US workers regarding its intent to hire a foreign worker in H-1B nonimmigrant status. The notification requirement is considered to be an important protection […]
