By Radhika Balaji, Associate Attorney. It is close to a year since the first lockdowns and travel restrictions due to the COVID-19 pandemic was issued. Although there had been a remarkable pace in which the COVID-19 vaccines have been developed, there is still long way before everyone can receive it! With a climbing surge in…
By Radhika Balaji, Associate Attorney The COVID-19 pandemic has led to an unprecedent amount of uncertainty—several proclamations, travel restrictions, and government lock downs have prevented many from freely traveling back to the US. Unfortunately, amidst the pandemic, the USCIS has not provided relief to Legal Permanent Residents (LPRs) of the US who are stuck out…
USCIS Offices Reopening – Updates – Q&A By Radhika Balaji, Associate Attorney After Shelter-in Place Orders began being lifted across the country, USCIS began reopening its offices in the beginning of June. Since then, reopening of the USCIS ImmiCore Law has received several questions related to interview and biometrics appointments as well as case processing.…
By Roujin Mozaffarimehr As we reported last month, on June 22, 2020, President Donald Trump signed a Presidential Proclamation suspending the entry of H-1B and H-2B visas and accompanying dependents, certain J visas, and L visas and accompanying dependents, and extending the April 2020 suspension on certain immigrants. banning visa issuance through December 31, 2020.…
On July 6, 2020, the Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) announced certain adjustments to the Student and Exchange Visitor Program (SEVP) online study policy for nonimmigrant students for Fall 2020. A Temporary Final Rule is anticipated to be published in the Federal Register by the Department of Homeland Security soon. Spring/Summer and Fall 2020 Semesters…
By Roujin Mozaffarimehr. As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to unfold and impact all aspects of society, concerns have arisen as to the future of the F-1 OPT program under the Trump Administration. This post describes the history of OPT, the legal challenges and attacks on OPT, and, while no action has been taken to change…
On May 27th, the USCIS announced that it expects to begin reopening domestic offices and public services beginning on June 4th or later. All asylum interviews, naturalization ceremonies, interviews, appointments, and biometrics appointments canceled due to office closures will be automatically rescheduled. All applicants will be issued new notices confirming the rescheduled event.
On Wednesday May 20, 2020, USCIS updated its Policy Manual to clarify guidance on portability for physicians with an approved immigrant petition based on a national interest waiver (NIW) applying for adjustment of status and the applicability of the two-year foreign residence requirements to certain NIW physicians. This change was made in Chapter 8 of…
President Trump’s Immigration Proclamation only limits a narrow set of potential immigrants, with little impact on protecting the U.S. labor market. It instead appears to be a stepping stone to pursuing an anti-immigrant agenda. On April 22, 2020, President Donald Trump signed a Proclamation intended to suspend the entry of immigrants who purportedly present a…
At 10:06 pm Eastern on April 20, 2020, President Donald Trump stated his intent to assert the most sweeping policy for immigration in U.S. history, by tweet. This was later followed by a Whitehouse press conference on April 21, 2020, where he narrowed the scope to 60 days with possible extensions and to only target…