September 2018 Visa Bulletin Update – EB-1 Retrogression & Employment Based Adjustments Can Only Use Final Action Dates The Visa Bulletin began showing a retrogression for the Employment Based First Preference Category (EB-1) back in the August 2018 Visa Bulletin with a final action date of 2012 for China and India, and 2016 for all…
Latest Attorney General Decision Underscores Need for Judicial Independence By: Maleeha Haq Attorney General’s latest decision further highlights the need for immigration court to be independent of the Department of Justice. Because the country’s immigration court and their appellate body, the Board of Immigration Appeal, all fall under the purview of the Department of Justice,…
Introducing New Series: Dispatches from the Land of RFE: Deemed Universities in India By: Ameer Shaikh As immigration practitioners and beneficiaries well know, you do not always get an approval upon filing. Sometimes the USCIS issues a “Request for Evidence” aka RFE. While many of the RFE types are well-known (and even infamous: looking at…
NTA Memo Postponed Indefinitely By: Roujin Mozaffarimehr On Monday July 30th, 2018, the USCIS issued an announcement on the implementation of the Notice to Appear (“NTA”) Policy Memorandum (Policy Memorandum 602-0050.1), confirming that it is postponing the implementation of this memorandum until further notice. As we reported last month, on June 28, 2018, the USCIS issued a…
On August 17, 2018, USCIS Acknowledged that STEM OPT Is Possible for Third-Party Placement By: Roujin Mozaffarimehr On August 17, 2018, the USCIS issued an announcement clarifying and revising two points with regard to reporting responsibilities and worksite locations for Optional Practical Training for STEM Students (STEM OPT). Reporting obligations: Employers are now required to…
Program that offered a quick path to Citizenship to foreign nationals through Military Service may not be delivering on that promise MAVNI (Military Accessions Vital to National Interest), is a program that was created in 2009 by the Defense Department in order recruit foreign nationals that possess specific skills that are considered valuable to the…
USCIS Issues Updated Policy Memorandum Giving Officers Full Discretion to Deny Cases Without RFE or NOID By Roujin Mozaffarimehr On Friday, July 13, 2018, the USCIS announced its rescission of the long-standing policy memorandum (PM), “Requests for Evidence and Notices of Intent to Deny” (2013 PM) which detailed the parameters surrounding an officer’s discretion to…
USCIS Issues New Policy Memorandum Requiring the Issuance of NTAs Following Certain Case Denials By Roujin Mozaffarimehr Although the immigration court backlog has exceeded 700,000 cases as of May 2018[1], on June 28, 2018, the USCIS issued a guidance regarding Notices to Appear (NTAs), the charging document issued by DHS that schedules a foreign national…
Memo Evaluating Sessions Position on Gender Based Asylum Claims and Impact on Particular Social Group By Chloe Thomlinson and Kalpana Peddibhotla Introduction On June 11, 2018 the Attorney General issued a disheartening decision over-ruling the Matter of A-R-C-G-, 26 I&N Dec. 338 (BIA 2014) stating that, “generally, claims by aliens pertaining to domestic violence perpetrated by non-governmental…
DHS Puts International Entrepreneur Rule on Chopping Block By: Roujin Mozaffarimehr On May 25, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services proposed to end the International Entrepreneur Rule (IER) of January 2017, which allowed the Department of Homeland Security to grant a 30 month stay period to foreign entrepreneurs who demonstrated they would provide a significant public…