On July 5, 2018, U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced an 18-month extension of temporary protected status (TPS) for eligible nationals of Yemen. After carefully reviewing conditions in Yemen, it was determined that the ongoing armed conflict and extraordinary and temporary conditions that support Yemen’s current designation for TPS continue to... read more →
Jul
05
Jun
29
On June 26, 2018, the Supreme Court of the United States upheld President Trump’s "travel ban". Despite the many controversies surrounding the travel ban, the Court focused on the President’s powers to control and limit who may come to the United States. The Court found that the President has sweeping... read more →
Jun
22
The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) – an agreement entered into by the U.S., Canada, and Mexico – provides for expedited admission of professionals from each country. Under NAFTA, a designated group of professionals are admissible in the Treaty National (TN) nonimmigrant classification. Persons entering in TN status may... read more →
Jun
12
USCIS announced that as of June 11, 2018, petitioners who file Form I-751, Petition to Remove Conditions on Residence, or Form I-829, Petition by Entrepreneur to Remove Conditions on Permanent Resident Status, will receive a Form I-797 receipt notice that can be presented with their Form I-551, Permanent Resident Card, as evidence... read more →
Apr
27
On April 23, Judge John D. Bates of Federal District Court for the District of Columbia decided that the administration’s decision to terminate the program, Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, was based on the “virtually unexplained” grounds that the program was “unlawful.” Wherein, he ruled that DHS decision... read more →
Apr
20
In Sessions v. Dimaya, the Supreme Court ruled 5-4 that the statutory definition of “crime of violence” is “unconstitutionally vague.” Justice Neil Gorsuch wrote in his opinion that the law “fails to specify which crimes qualify” as a “crime of violence.” “Vague laws invite arbitrary power. . . . [T]he... read more →
Apr
12
Starting April 1, 2018, the cut-off date for Chinese EB-1 cases will retrogress to January 1, 2012. This means only Chinese beneficiaries with a priority date before January 1, 2012 may submit a green card application. This significantly delays the process of applying for a green card for 6 years! ... read more →
Apr
09
On April 6, 2018, USCIS announced that the H-1B cap for FY 2019 was reached. The application period opened April 2 and in only five days it reached the congressionally-mandated 65,000 H-1B visa cap for fiscal year 2019, and the 20,000 visa U.S. advanced degree exemption, known as the master’s cap.... read more →
Mar
28
For the first time in 70 years, the federal government says that it will ask people in the U.S. to provide their citizenship status when responding to a U.S. Census. The Census is an event that takes place every 10 years in the United States and is specifically mandated by the... read more →
Mar
22
WASHINGTON—U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) today launched a pilot to test a redesigned processing times webpage that displays the data for all forms in an easier-to-read format and also tests a new way of collecting data and calculating the processing times for some forms. The pilot will test four... read more →