Achives from Author

USCIS has issued policy guidance in its manual based on the vacatur of the EB-5 Modernization Rule and the EB-5 Reform and Integrity Act of 2022. Policy highlights include removing the provisions in the EB-5 Modernization Rule that a federal court vacated on June 22, 2021. Included in the update is that now an applicant may […]

Reports have indicated that despite the government’s stated commitment to support Afghan nationals who helped the United States’ mission in Afghanistan, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services has processed only a small fraction of the humanitarian parole applications filed by or on behalf of people who have been unable to reach the United States. Humanitarian parole is […]

Once again, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has extended the response time flexibility, initially announced on March 30, 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This flexibility applies to applicants and petitioners responding to any of the following, issued from March 1, 2020 through June 30, 2021: Requests for evidence Continuations to request evidence (N-14) Notices […]

All recent regulations, policies, and guidance that have limited legal immigration will go through a full review, including the USCIS fee hike, public charge rule, and health insurance proclamation. The executive order also reestablishes the Task Force on New Americans, which will focus on promoting immigrant integration and inclusion.  Read more here

Today the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is publishing a rule (https://public-inspection.federalregister.gov/2021-02665.pdf) that will delay implementation of the January 8, 2021 final rule that had been pushed through by the Trump administration which would have significantly changed the H1B registration system. Under the now-delayed rule, registrations would have been prioritized if they offered the highest […]

President Biden will implement a multi-pronged plan to ensure safe, lawful, and orderly migration to the United States. The administration will examine the root causes of migration to better understand what causes people to flee their homes. It will also collaborate with foreign governments, international organizations, and nonprofits to build other countries’ capacity to provide […]

Hundreds of children are still separated from their families in the aftermath of Trump’s zero tolerance policy. Government officials had no plan to keep track of families after the initial separations, making reunification efforts even more difficult. Biden’s executive order establishes the Family Reunification Task Force, which will work to reunite families after years of […]

On Tuesday, USCIS cancelled its plan to furlough 70% of its workforce. However, since USCIS is still low on funding, the savings will now come from spending cuts that will affect operations. The deputy director of policy for USCIS said that the agency was avoiding these cuts, but since it has not received emergency funding from Congress, […]

From the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services today provided guidance on how it will implement Acting Secretary of Homeland Security Chad Wolf’s July 28 memorandum regarding the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) policy. Under USCIS’ implementing guidance, we will reject all initial DACA requests from aliens who have never previously received DACA […]

With approximately 23 million immigrant women and girls in the United States, over half of the foreign-born population is female. Unfortunately, women are particularly vulnerable to sexual violence. Issues such as domestic violence, human trafficking, and exploitation in the workforce present unique challenges to noncitizen women due to the added vulnerability created by their immigration […]