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By Lennet Penate, originally Published on Immigration Impact The coronavirus pandemic has affected day-to-day life for everyone, including foreign nationals who planned to participate in the U.S. Department of State’s Exchange Visitor Program. These programs use on-the-job training and are often planned months in advanced. Many large organizations and companies that sponsor and host exchange […]

The Trump administration may suspend a training program for graduate students. Optional Practical Training (OPT) is a program that allows students to get 1-2 years of occupational training after graduate school. At the direction of the White House, DHS recently sent recommendations to further restrict some immigration programs. One of the recommendations was to suspend […]

In response to the coronavirus pandemic, all naturalization ceremonies and interviews have stopped, and USCIS has not indicated that it will consider any remote alternatives. So far, tens of thousands of immigrants have been affected, and postponed ceremonies and interviews continue to pile up. For each day USCIS remains closed, 2100 immigrants will run out […]

The Conrad 30 program employs foreign doctors to work in underserved rural communities. Each state, along with DC, Guam, and Puerto Rico, is able to sponsor three foreign doctors. On Monday, DHS announced waivers of certain visa restrictions so these doctors may expand their telehealth services outside the locations they are authorized to practice. – Weekly Immigration […]

Published by the American Immigration Council In the United States, the foreign-born have long been prominent among the nation’s entrepreneurs, founding businesses large and small that fuel U.S. economic growth and create jobs.1 An entrepreneur is someone who assumes a significant amount of financial risk to turn an innovative idea into a profit-making business and […]

On May 4, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a preliminary injunction that temporarily halted the Trump administration’s requirement that prospective immigrants have proof of health insurance coverage. The injunction applies nationwide while litigation about the policy continues. Now, the Trump administration may appeal this ruling to the Supreme Court. – Weekly Immigration Briefing by […]

On May 7, the Supreme Court unanimously ruled that the 9th Circuit should not have ruled on an immigration-related First Amendment issue, because the issue was not raised by either parties in the lawsuit. The lawsuit concerns one woman who was convicted of “encouraging” a foreigner to be in the U.S. illegally. Now, the case will go […]

On April 24, 6 U.S. troops filed a class-action lawsuit after being blocked from an expedited naturalization process. To qualify for the expedited process, servicemen must provide Pentagon certification that they have served honorably. Previously, this certification was available one day after starting their service. In 2017, the Trump administration changed the requirement, making non-citizen troops wait […]

Earlier this year, the Supreme Court ruled to allow the Trump administration’s expanded public charge rule to go into effect while litigation proceeds. On April 24, the Supreme Court announced that it declined to revisit the issue in light of the coronavirus pandemic. The new public charge rule expands the type of public assistance that USCIS can […]