Immigration

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 […]

The Biden administration has expanded students eligible for Optional Practical Training (OPT) in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) fields. DHS published on January 21, 2022 a Federal Register notice announcing that “The Secretary of Homeland Security is amending the DHS STEM Designated Degree Program List [for OPT] by adding 22 qualifying fields of study.” This policy […]

The State Department announced a new rule that will waive fees for visa applicants who were denied because of the Muslim and refugee ban. Under the new rule, an immigrant visa applicant who has an approved immigration petition may reapply for a visa without paying the fees if they were refused a visa under the Muslim […]

As President Biden’s first year in the White House ends, his record on immigration shows modest policy changes. While the Biden administration ended the construction of the border wall, much of the Trump-era immigration policies remained. Biden has retained Title 42, a pandemic-related policy mandating the expulsion of migrants as a public health precaution. During Biden’s […]

According to a new study, migrants seeking asylum often have a greater chance of succeeding if they are from certain parts of the country. From 2016 to 2021, Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC) at Syracuse University analyzed six years of immigration courts statistics nationwide. TRAC found that the asylum denial rate tended to be lower in […]

Collaboration between the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has led to increased surveillance of Arab and Muslim immigrants, particularly at our borders. This is not necessarily tied to whether someone is considered a potential national security threat—but whether a person exercises their right to decline to act as […]

There has been a dramatic backlog in green card interviews. In October, it was reported that there were 468,891 pending interviews which minimally decreased by November, with 461,125 pending interviews remaining. The U.S. Department of State has yet to significantly increase its number of monthly interviews. Wait times have surged since the coronavirus pandemic in March […]

Last Thursday, the State Department sent out emails informing Special Immigrant Visa (SIV) applicants that the Department is “currently unable to provide consular services for immigrant visas, including Special Immigrant Visas (SIVs), in Afghanistan.” The State Department says that it is “developing processing alternatives” so that it may continue to issue visas for the people of […]