Trump Administration Backs Down After H-1B New Years’ Eve Scare On December 30, 2017, the McClatchy DC Bureau reported that the Trump Administration was seeking to restrict H-1B visa extensions beyond the six-year limitation through a re-interpretation of the AC21 rules. After an apparent realization that such a move was ill-conceived, subject to strong reactions from the…
USCIS Reverses Long-Standing Policy on H-1B Extensions On October 23, 2017, USCIS rescinded its long-standing policy of deference in the adjudication of H-1B extensions with the same employer. USCIS officers will now “apply the same level of scrutiny to both initial petitions and extension requests for certain nonimmigrant visa categories” pursuant to the policy memorandum,…
USCIS Unfairly Scrutinizes Entry Level H-1B Positions By Kalpana V. Peddibhotla & Roujin Mozaffarimehr This year, USCIS has taken the novel and ultra vires stance that H-1B petitions for entry-level positions do not qualify for the classification and are not specialty occupation. This has led to an onslaught of Requests for Evidence (RFEs), even where the classification…
Travel Ban 3.0 – Who Can Come and Who Has Been Left Out. On September 24, 2017, President Trump announced new travel restrictions following his initial travel ban earlier this year through the Presidential Proclamation, “Enhancing Vetting Capabilities and Processes for Detecting Attempted Entry Into the United States by Terrorists or Other Public-Safety Threats.” President…
Latest Details on Employment Based Green Card Interviews: Will Field Officers Readjudicate? By Ameer Shaikh (Newark/Fremont, CA) On September 28, 2017, ImmiCore Law participated in a USCIS Ombudsman teleconference regarding the USCIS’ new interview requirement for employment based green cards. Here are a few of the salient points gleaned from the conversation: The USCIS will…
Trump Administration and America Turns Its Back on the DREAMers Kalpana V. Peddibhotla & Roujin Mozaffarimehr On September 5, 2017 President Trump announced that his administration will be ending the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, effectively ending protection for the DREAMers he promised to support during his campaign and the early months of…
The Insidious Attack on Business Immigration to the U.S. By Kalpana V. Peddibhotla & Ameer Shaikh Trump Administration Changes Business Immigration Overnight and Simultaneously Circumvents the Legislative Process. This needs to be stated bluntly: The Trump administration’s assault on immigrants is an assault on the viability and strength of American business. The immigration debate is often framed…
Temporary Stay Granted for UC Davis Honors Student Mandeep Chahal & Mother By Kalpana V. Peddibhotla Mandeep Chahal and her mother were released from ICE custody on June 21, 2011 at 9:30 a.m. and given a temporary stay of removal. Mandeep is a pre-med honors student at UC Davis and had just finished her sophomore…
Travelers Be Wary – International Travel on Pending I-131 Will be Deemed Abandonment By Roujin Mozaffarimehr The USCIS has changed its policy with regard to international travel while a form I-131 Application for Advance Parole is pending. In the past, the USCIS routinely approved advance parole applications where applicants traveled abroad during the pending period…
BREAKING NEWS: Trump Administration to End DACA Program On September 5, 2017, President Trump issued a written statement read aloud by Attorney General Jeff Sessions, announcing the end of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program. The President has put into place a 6-month “wind-down” of the DACA program. What we know so far:…