All posts by Prerna Lal

EADs automatically extended to Jan. 4, 2021 for six TPS-designated countries

DHS automatically extended the validity of Employment Authorization Documents (EADs) listed in the table below issued under the TPS designations for El Salvador, Haiti, Honduras, Nepal, Nicaragua, and Sudan through January 4, 2021.  EADs with the following expiration dates and a category code of A-12 or C-19 are now valid through January 4, 2021: 07/22/2017     11/02/2017 01/05/2018 01/22/2018 03/09/2018 06/24/2018 07/05/2018 11/02/2018 01/05/2019 04/02/2019 06/24/2019 07/22/2019 09/09/2019 01/02/2020 01/05/2020 03/24/2020

USCIS Accepting Green Card Applications Under LRIF Act Now

The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services is now accepting applications to adjust status to lawful permanent resident from certain Liberian nationals under Section 7611 of the National Defense Authorization Act (PDF) for Fiscal Year 2020, Liberian Refugee Immigration Fairness (LRIF), which was signed into law on Dec. 20, 2019. Section 7611 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2020, Liberian Refugee Immigration Fairness (LRIF), allows Liberian nationals and their...

Victory – SIJS Settlement Final. USCIS Resumes Processing SIJS Applications

After more than a year of holding Special Immigrant Juvenile (SIJ) cases in abeyance and denying many by adding extraneous requirements, USCIS will resume processing them as part of a settlement agreement in J.L. v. Cuccinelli, 18-CV-4914 (N.D. Cal.) A long-time client of Lal Legal filed a class action lawsuit earlier this year alleging that U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) imposed a new requirement on SIJ-classification eligibility and...

PSA: File Green Card Applications Before October 14th!

On August 14, 2019, DHS published a final rule on the public charge ground of inadmissibility. The final rule becomes effective Oct. 15, 2019. The inadmissibility ground at issue says a person is inadmissible if they are likely to become a public charge and applies to individuals seeking admission into the United States or applying for adjustment of status. Many classes of immigrants are exempt from public charge grounds...

How Is The Government Shutdown Impacting Immigration Services

Due to failure to pass a Congressional budget, the United States government has temporarily shut down with no end in sight. This is no doubt throwing many government functions such as immigration services into disarray, as only essential government services are operational during this time. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) at airports and at port of entries continue to operate as usual, though without pay. The level of their...

Warning: USCIS Will Place More People In Removal Proceedings

On June 28, 2018, USCIS released “Updated Guidance for the Referral of Cases and Issuance of Notices to Appear (NTAs) in Cases Involving Inadmissible and Deportable Aliens, where it laid out new policies to determine whom to place in removal proceedings. USCIS began implementing the PM for denied Forms I-485 and I-539 on October 1, 2018. Beginning November 19, 2018, USCIS may use its discretion to put people in removal proceedings...

USCIS Releases Forms for New Public Charge Rule

In September, the Trump administration announced new rules for identifying legal immigrants as potential “public charges,” making it harder for people to get green cards or citizenship if they use public benefits like Medicaid, food assistance and Section 8 housing vouchers. This is likely to pose a particular threat to immigrants with mental health issues, disabilities, elderly people, and immigrants with less financial resources. Now, USCIS has released new...

Judge Blocks Trump’s Plan to End Temporary Protected Status

In some great news for holders of TPS, a federal district judge in California suspended the Trump administration’s termination of temporary protected status for hundreds of thousands of people. The decision applies to current TPS holders from Haiti, Sudan, Nicaragua, and El Salvador. Temporary Protected Status allows beneficiaries to live and reside in the United States due to circumstances outside of their control. Under the designations, approximately 300,000 TPS...

FOIA: Staggering Numbers of Sexual Abuse Incidents in ICE Detention

Earlier this year, our law firm filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request seeking instances of sexual abuse in ICE detention facilities after many such stories from survivors: here, here and here. The records were released in full and depict an astounding picture of consistent sexual violence in ICE detention facilities across the country. You can access the records here. The sexual abuse ranges from threats of violence...

Thousands of H-1B Applicants Lose Their Jobs

It is past October 1, 2018 and USCIS has yet to process thousands of H-1B applications, putting in jeopardy a ton of H-1B visa applicants who can no longer work in the United States as of yesterday. Applicants for an H-1B visa who had with expired F-1 visas or recent graduates who worked under the Optional Practical Training (OPT) program are given an extension — known as a “cap...