Blog

 U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services encourages eligible applicants to consider requesting to transfer the underlying basis of their adjustment of status application to the first or second employment-based preference categories. There is an exceptionally high number of employment-based immigrant visas available in these categories during this fiscal year. For this fiscal year, the overall employment-based annual limit […]

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services’ Refugee, Asylum and International Operations Directorate (RAIO) announced guidance recognizing that a spousal relationship may exist for the purpose of obtaining derivative refugee or asylee status, in certain circumstances, if there is evidence of an informal marriage. This guidance applies to the adjudication of a pending or newly filed Form I-589, Application […]

USCIS has announced that refugees and those granted asylum may now renew their work permits in two-year increments rather than having to renew annually. This update will affect foreign citizens who have been admitted as refugees or granted asylum. It will also affect those who have self-petitioned for green cards under a program for domestic abuse survivors, […]

The Biden administration is developing a system in Qatar to speed up the processing of at-risk Afghans overseas that are seeking permanent legal status in the U.S. and a resettlement destination. The U.S. has already received and resettled tens of thousands of Afghans through a temporary humanitarian process known as parole. Humanitarian parole leaves the Afghan evacuees […]

The U.S. will grant an additional 20,000 H-2B visas for the first half of the fiscal year to address the labor shortage. The U.S. government hopes that the additional visas will help the U.S employers that are facing irreparable harm if they cannot get additional workers on or before March 31, 2022. The additional visas became […]

USCIS updated guidance in the USCIS Policy Manual regarding immigration medical examination requirements for certain Afghan nationals applying for adjustment of status after arriving in the U.S. under Operation Allies Welcome (OAW). These applicants may not need to repeat an immigration medical examination if they already completed an immigration medical examination conducted by a panel physician before […]

USCIS announced today that it is updating guidance in the USCIS Policy Manual regarding immigration medical examination requirements for certain Afghan nationals applying for adjustment of status after arriving in the United States under Operation Allies Welcome (OAW). Effective immediately, these applicants may not need to repeat an immigration medical examination if they already completed […]

The Biden administration recently announced four actions intended to improve immigration “pathways” for noncitizens in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields. However, these changes are constrained by the delays at USCIS and congressional limits on immigrant visa numbers. Read More »

Thousands of applicants for U.S. citizenship have been waiting for well over a year for U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) to process their applications. But the problem isn’t the usual bureaucratic red tape. In this case, thousands of paper-based immigration records are locked in man-made caves that USCIS says it can’t access. Read More »

USCIS provided updated guidance on requests for “National Interest Waivers” related to job offer and labor certification requirements for advanced degree professionals and individuals of exceptional ability. The Biden administration aims to remove barriers to legal immigration under Executive Order 14012, Restoring Faith in Our Legal Immigration Systems and Strengthening Integration and Inclusion Efforts for New […]