Immigration Blog

President Biden’s Immigration Reform Proposal is Introduced in Congress

This month President Biden’s comprehensive immigration reform proposal, the U.S. Citizenship Act of 2021, was formally introduced in Congress. The bill features a path to permanent residence and citizenship for qualifying undocumented foreign nationals and those holding Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), Temporary Protected Status (TPS) and H-2A status; mechanisms to clear extensive green card backlogs in the employment-based and family-based programs; a streamlined process for graduates of U.S. universities with advanced STEM degrees to obtain permanent residence; and an increase

State Department Exempts Foreign Students from Travel Restriction

On February 11, 2021, the U.S. Department of State announced a new set of exemptions that will allow foreign students, who are currently studying in the United States, to return to the U.S. automatically, despite President Joe Biden's across-the-board travel restrictions. The State Department announced that foreign nationals holding F-1 and M-1 student visas will be granted national interest exemptions to Biden's Jan. 25 presidential proclamation, which suspended the entry of travelers coming directly from Europe, the United Kingdom, Brazil and South Africa due to COVID-19 variants. The

United States: District Court Orders Dhs To Restore Full Daca Program

On December 4, 2020, Judge Nicholas Garaufis of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York ordered the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to implement the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program as it existed prior to September 2017, including by accepting both new DACA applications and DACA-related advance parole applications. The judge also ordered DHS to post a website notice within three days alerting the public that the agency is now implementing the full DACA program. The cases are Batalla Vidal v. Wolf  and  State of New York v. Trump. The judge has

How will the incoming Biden Administration Affect Trump's Immigration Policies?

President Trump sought to change the immigration system mainly by signing into law Executive Orders, which means that the next administration can also just as easily rescind them. Currently there are two main Presidential Proclamations: 1. Presidential Proclamation 10014 and 10052 , “Suspending Entry of Immigrants and Nonimmigrants Who Present Risk to the U.S. Labor Market During the Economic Recovery Following the COVID-19 Outbreak." (85 FR 23441, 4/27/20) (85 FR 38263, 6/25/20) are set to expire on December 31. It is very likely that President Trump will extend these Proclamations; requiring

November 2020 Visa Bulletin

The November Visa Bulletin was uncharacteristically published mere days before the end of October, leaving interested parties guessing for most of the second half of the month. In essence the new bulletin'sFinal Action dates advance in most categories while the dates for Filing remain largerly unchanged. According to the State Department’s November Visa Bulletin, final action cutoff dates for issuance of an immigrant visa will be as follows: • EB-1: All countries except for China and India will remain current in November. China and India will advance by six months to December 1, 2018. • EB-2

OCTOBER VISA BULLETIN: EB CATEGORIES FOR INDIA AND CHINESE NATIONALS JUMP FORWARD

The October Visa Bulletin has come at at a great surprise to most immigrants and immigration attorneys alike. Alhtouhg the family based preference criteria has largerly remained unchanged the employment based priority dates for Indian and Chinese nationals have jumped forward. Who can file Form I-485, Application to Adjust Status? Chinese Nationals: Chinese Nationals who have a priority date for Employment Based Category 1 (EB-1) that equals (or is before) September 1, 2020, can now file Form I-485, Application to Adjust Status. Nevertheless, they won't be able to obtain the Green Card for a

July 2020 Visa Bulletin Update

Given reduced processing capacity occasioned by the COVID-19 pandemic, the Department of State and USCIS are closely collaborating to maximize number usage for FY20, focusing on processing capacity and the applications that are capable of being finalized this fiscal year. There continues to be forward movement in all family-based preference categories and in most employment-based preference categories in August, with the exception of EB-2 India, EB-4 El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras and EB-4 Mexico, which hold at their July dates (July 8, 2009, April 1, 2017 and June 15, 2018 respectively)

THE PRESIDENTIAL PROCLAMATION SUSPENDING ENTRY OF CERTAIN NONIMMIGRANTS

On June 22, 2020 the Trump administration amended and expanded its April 22, 2020 Immigration Proclamation. This new order will become effective as of 12:01 A.M. on June 24, 2020 ("Effective Date") and extends to December 31, 2020. WHO DOES THE PROCLAMATION BAR FROM ENTERING THE U.S.A.? The proclamation restricts the entry into the United States of persons in the following non-immigrant visa categories and also applies to their dependent family members: ◦ H-1B or H-2B visa holders and their H-4 dependents; ◦ J visa holders ONLY in the following categories: intern, trainee, teacher, camp

USCIS PREPARING TO RESUME PUBLIC SERVICES ON JUNE 4

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services is preparing some domestic offices to reopen and resume non-emergency public services on or after June 4. On March 18, USCIS temporarily suspended routine in-person services at its field offices, asylum offices and application support centers (ASCs) to help slow the spread of coronavirus (COVID-19). USCIS is following the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s guidelines to protect our workforce and the public. For the latest information on the status of individual offices, check our office closures page. While certain offices are temporarily