Blog

TPS Beneficiaries Retain Same Immigration Status after Traveling Abroad

TPS Beneficiaries Retain Same Immigration Status after Traveling Abroad WASHINGTON—U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services today announced a Policy Memorandum adopting the Administrative Appeals Office (AAO) decision on Matter of Z‑R‑Z‑C. The decision holds that Temporary Protected Status (TPS) beneficiaries who travel abroad using a Department of Homeland Security (DHS)-issued travel document under Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) section […]

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I-9 Compliance for Employers

ICE announces another extension to I-9 compliance flexibility WASHINGTON — U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) today announced another extension of the flexibilities in rules related to Form I-9 compliance that was granted earlier this year. Due to the continued precautions related to COVID-19, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) will further extend this policy […]

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Temporary Changes to H-2A (temporary agricultural workers) requirements

As a result of continued disruptions and uncertainty to the U.S. food agriculture sector during the summer and upcoming fall agricultural season caused by the global novel Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID–19) public health emergency, the Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, has decided it is necessary to temporarily extend the amendments to certain regulations regarding temporary […]

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U Visa Applications can be Rejected if questions are left blank

This alert updates and extends a December 2019 alert that purportedly empowers USCIS to reject a Form I-918 or Form I-918, Supplement A that contains any blank spaces. Under the new alert, USCIS may also reject a Form I-918, Supplement B – which is completed by a law enforcement agency, rather than the petitioner – containing […]

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P-1 Visa for Individual Athletes

P-1 visa for Individual Athletes of International Recognition: A P-1 visa is a perfect visa for an athlete who has achieved international recognition in their competitive sport, has paying sponor(s), and seeks to enter the U.S. to complete in tournaments and/or competitions.  The athlete can be a professional or amateur so long as he or […]

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Do Individual Athletes needs a Visa to Compete in the U.S.?

Many times our Office receive calls from individual athletes asking if they need a visa to compete in a tournament or competition here in the U.S. These are not athletes on a team sport, they are athletes who compete in individual sports such as: surfing, golf, tennis, bass fishing, running, archery, and the like. A […]

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Injunction of the Inadmissibility on Public Charge Grounds Final Rule

As long as the July 29, 2020, SDNY decision is in effect, USCIS will apply the 1999 public charge guidance that was in place before the Public Charge Rule was implemented on Feb. 24, 2020 to the adjudication of any application for adjustment of status on or after July 29, 2020. In addition, USCIS will adjudicate any application or […]

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Public Charge and Health Care

The fight to block President Trumps’s new requirement that prospective immigrants seeking visas prove they can get or pay for their own health insurance continues. Lawyers for seven people urged a federal judge this past Friday to continue to block this new requirement. The new requirement is centered upon the admissibility issue of “public charge.” […]

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Immigration Court Backlogs

TRAC – a Syracuse University independent project that compiles data on immigration court (EOIR) dockets released its most recent report in late 2019.  The findings are brutal for the Trump Administration.  Since 2017, EOIR backlogs have increased from 542,411 cases to over one million.  Depending on the city they live in, immigrants may have a […]

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Asylum – Wait Times

Vast Differences in Asylum Wait Times In January 2018 USCIS changed its policy on scheduling interviews for affirmative asylum applications.  Their current policy is to schedule for interviews, applications that were filed the most recently – referred to as the “last in, first out” rule.  Previously the agency would interview cases in the order in which they […]

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DUI Convictions – Good Moral Character

DUI Convictions – Good Moral Character: The attorney General recently ruled that evidence of two or more convictions for driving under the influence during the relevant period of Good Moral Character establishes a rebuttable presumption that the alien lacks good moral character during that time.  This came in to play during a Cancellation of Removal […]

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Farm workforce Modernization Act – H2A visas

The farm Workforce Modernization Act of 2019, or H.R. 5038, aims to modernize the H2A system for foreign national farmworkers here in the U.S. The bill contains provisions related to alien farmworkers, including provisions establishing a certified agricultural worker (CAW) status and changing the H-2A temporary worker program. The Department of Homeland Security may grant […]

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