After days of rumors and anxiety, Trump dropped another immigration-related Executive Order today suspending the entry of nonimmigrants to the United States. An extension and expansion of his previous Executive Order from back in April barring certain categories of greencard holders, this EO suspends the entry of most H-1B, H-2B, J-1, and L-1 visa holders[…]
USCIS is up to its old tricks again. It truly boggles the mind how they can announce a policy under the guise of providing “flexibility” when the reality is that their actions will negatively impact many thousands of people and provide additional anxiety and turmoil in their lives. Today, USCIS announced that they are removing[…]
In the wake of the ITServe victory, part of USCIS’ settlement with the plaintiffs in that case was that the agency agreed to rescind its “Contracts and Itineraries Requirements for H-1B Petitions Involving Third-Party Worksites” memo (commonly known as the third party placement memo) from 2018. That memo provided USCIS the justification to give a[…]
Finally some good news. In a major victory for immigration advocates across the country, the Supreme Court ruled Thursday morning that the Trump administration cannot move forward with its plan to rescind the DACA program, dealing a huge blow to its anti-immigration agenda. In a 5-4 decision, the high court ruled that the DHS violated[…]
Dear Readers, Listeners and Viewers. You may recall that when the last travel ban suspending immigration was signed, there was indication that further restrictions would be imposed. There is now chatter that these further restrictions are imminent. Likely visa categories to be affected will be Student work permissions known as optional practical training (OPT), H1B,[…]
The June 2020 Visa Bulletin was released earlier today, marking another month with a late release date. Nevertheless, this month saw significant movement in the EB1 India category for the first time in what feels like forever. EB1 All Countries being current has allowed unused visa numbers in that category to be allocated to EB1[…]
USCIS announced today that they are extending their flexibility in responding to agency requests, expanding on their previous announcement from back at the end of March. The flexibility now applies to any RFEs, NOIDs, NOIRs, etc. received between March 1, 2020 and July 1, 2020, and extends the response deadline an additional 60 days beyond[…]
USCIS announced today that they are tentatively planning to re-open their offices and resume in-person services on June 4, 2020. For most cases, USCIS will automatically reschedule any interviews, ceremonies, appointments, etc. that were affected by the office closures. It remains to be seen whether this re-opening date will get pushed back. Copied from[…]
Today, USCIS announced an update to its Policy Manual regarding false claims to U.S. citizenship. The agency is adopting a Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) precedent decision in Matter of Zhang from June 2019. Essentially, intent is not a factor when the government is alleging that an alien made a false claim to U.S. citizenship[…]
The May 2020 Visa Bulletin was released today. Nothing particularly major to report for this month, other than the very late release date of the bulletin. It is worth monitoring to see whether COVID-19 or Trump’s recent Executive Order will have any effect on priority dates in the coming months. Commentary: May 2020[…]