International travelers have long relied on receiving passport stamps when entering a country to document their entry. U.S. Customs and Border Protection is seeking to streamline its entry process and do away with...more
With waits for green cards of up to 10 years, many foreign professionals have faced the nightmare scenario in which their children reach age 21 before the children receive their green cards, meaning that they age out of the...more
The annual H-1B cap season has begun for Fiscal Year 2024. Once again, there will be a two-step process – the registration step and then, if the registration is selected in the H-1B cap lottery, the petition step. Now is the...more
It is a happy day when a foreign national becomes a Lawful Permanent Resident of the United States and gets a Permanent Resident Card, commonly referred to as a “green card.” Permanent resident status provides important...more
The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services reports that in the last fiscal year, 66,781 employment-based immigrant (Permanent Resident/Green Card) visas went unused and were “lost.” The USCIS is trying to prevent such a...more
As a result of a new Order from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, international air passengers to the United States will no longer have to be tested for COVID-19 or show documentation of recovery from COVID...more
Delays in the processing of petitions and applications filed with the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services have long plagued our immigration system. But that may improve before long.
The USCIS recently announced...more
In response to the Omicron variant of COVID-19, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has shortened the timeline for required COVID testing before foreign nationals depart for the United States. Previously, the COVID...more
Just a few weeks ago, President Biden rescinded the regional COVID-19 travel restrictions that applied to 33 countries. These restrictions were replaced with a new requirement that included that all foreign nationals be fully...more
The White House has announced that, effective early November, regional COVID-19 travel restrictions will be rescinded. The current restrictions will be replaced with a new requirement that all foreign nationals be fully...more
The U.S. Supreme Court has unanimously ruled that non-citizens who have been granted temporary humanitarian relief from deportation, known as Temporary Protected Status, and who came to the United States without being...more
More than one-third of new global cases of COVID-19 have occurred in India, and the numbers are increasing.
As a result, President Biden has added the Republic of India to the list of countries whose nationals and...more
5/6/2021
/ American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) ,
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Department of Homeland Security (DHS) ,
Foreign Nationals ,
India ,
Joe Biden ,
Lawful Permanent Residents ,
National Interest Waiver ,
Non-Citizens ,
Presidential Proclamations ,
Travel Ban ,
US Department of State ,
Virus Testing
The U.S. State Department recently issued new guidance on the National Interest Exceptions for international travelers to the United States. The guidance applies to inbound travelers from Ireland, the Schengen Area, and the...more
4/2/2021
/ Business Interruption ,
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Critical Infrastructure Sectors ,
Customs and Border Protection ,
Department of Homeland Security (DHS) ,
Foreign Nationals ,
International Travel ,
Ireland ,
Joe Biden ,
National Interest Waiver ,
New Guidance ,
UK ,
US Department of State
For the last year, the fate of the Public Charge Rule, which expanded the ability of the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services to deny green cards to lower-income foreign nationals, has been uncertain. In addition to the...more
3/17/2021
/ Biden Administration ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) ,
Department of Homeland Security (DHS) ,
Dismissals ,
Foreign Nationals ,
Green Cards ,
Immigration Procedures ,
Interim Guidance ,
Joe Biden ,
Low-Income Issues ,
Medicaid ,
Permanent Residence Cards ,
Public Charge ,
Request for Evidence (RFEs) ,
SCOTUS ,
SNAP Program ,
USCIS
On June 22, as we expected, President Trump issued “Proclamation Suspending Entry of Aliens Who Present a Risk to the U.S. Labor Market Following the Coronavirus Outbreak.” The Proclamation temporarily suspends the entry of...more
The President has issued a new “Proclamation on the Suspension of Entry as Nonimmigrants of Certain Students and Researchers from the People’s Republic of China.” The Proclamation, which took effect on Monday, effectively...more
The Trump Administration has amended Proclamation 9645 (commonly known as “Travel Ban 3.0”) to include six new countries. The new provisions restrict the issuance of visas that can lead to green cards for nationals of...more
Employers, beware. It has been reported that Immigration and Customs Enforcement has recently begun random onsite inspections of STEM OPT employment. Reports are that ICE, during its inspections, has questioned employers...more
On October 3, a federal judge in San Francisco entered a preliminary injunction barring the termination of Temporary Protected Status designations for Haiti, Sudan, Nicaragua, and El Salvador.
The lawsuit, Ramos v....more
In a big victory for President Trump and for Presidential power to determine who enters the United States, the U.S. Supreme Court, in a 5 to 4 decision written by Chief Justice John Roberts, upheld President Trump’s third...more
6/28/2018
/ Appeals ,
Establishment Clause ,
Foreign Nationals ,
Immigration and Nationality Act ,
Immigration Reform ,
Likelihood of Success ,
Muslims ,
National Origin Discrimination ,
Presidential Decrees ,
Reversal ,
SCOTUS ,
Travel Ban ,
Trump Administration ,
Trump v Hawaii
Accrual of unlawful presence can have serious negative consequences to a foreigner in the United States who is not a lawful permanent resident. Unlawful presence accrues when the foreign national stays in the United States...more
The Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program will stay in effect until further notice. Today, the U.S. Supreme Court refused to immediately review an injunction that blocked the termination of DACA from taking...more
Since 1990, foreign nationals needing relief because conditions in their countries prevented safe return have been able to seek a Temporary Protected Status designation by the Department of Homeland Security or its...more
The President’s third version of the Travel Ban (a Proclamation dated September 24, 2017) won a preliminary victory this week at the U.S. Supreme Court. By way of two orders issued Monday, the Court will allow the Travel Ban...more
Legal commentators suggested that the third version of the Trump travel ban, the September 24 Proclamation, would be harder to challenge because the Proclamation was issued after a government review as to which countries met...more