USCIS

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...

USCIS Targets O-1 Visa Applicants Through Labor Unions

This morning, the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced that it will begin accepting copies of negative consultation letters directly from labor unions relating to a current or future O nonimmigrant visa petition request. O–1 and O-2 nonimmigrant visas are available to individuals with extraordinary ability in science, education, business, athletics, or the arts, and individuals with extraordinary achievement in the motion picture or television industry, and certain essential support personnel....

USCIS Targets International Students and Visa Overstayers

USCIS unveiled a new memo recently with regards to unlawful presence for F, J, and M Nonimmigrants. The new policy clarifies that F, J, and M nonimmigrants, and their dependents, admitted or otherwise authorized to be present in the United States in duration of status (D/S) or admitted until a specific date, start accruing unlawful presence as of August 9, 2018 or the day after a status violation occurs....

New USCIS Memo Signals Drastic Change for Immigration Applicants

The United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has issued two recent memos that allow immigration officials more discretion to outright deny applications they deem frivolous or incomplete, and place more people in removal proceedings. The first memo, discussed here, authorizes USCIS to place individuals in removal proceedings for merely overstaying their visas if their application for immigration benefits is denied. The second memo, released last Friday, grants USCIS...

USCIS Issues New Memo Expanding Power to Initiate Removal Proceedings

The United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) released a new policy on June 28, 2018, expanding the reasons that they will issue an I-862 “Notice to Appear” (NTA) to individuals to initiate removal proceedings against them. The new memo is available here and lists every instance in which individuals will be placed into removal proceedings. It supersedes an Obama-era memo governing the issuance of an NTA by the same...