PROGRAM BACKGROUND: Congress created the EB-5 visa program in 1990 to stimulate the U.S. economy through job creation and capital investment by foreign investors. The EB-5 program makes immigrant visas available to foreign nationals who invest or are actively in the process of investing at least $1,000,000 in a new commercial enterprise (NCE) and create […]
Read more...22 January 2019
What to Do If You Are Detained at a Port of Entry (LPR) Source: AILA Doc. No. 18110604.
Read more...9 November 2018
President Donald Trump has confirmed plans to issue an executive order ending birthright citizenship, which grants citizenship to children born in the US regardless of their parents’ citizenship. According to Matthew Kolken, an immigration lawyer who is an elected member of the American Immigration Lawyers Association’s (AILA) board of governors, the very Supreme Court justices whom […]
Read more...2 November 2018
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) is updating policy guidance in the USCIS Policy Manual to clarify the married and living in marital union requirements under section 319(a) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA). Background In general, all naturalization applicants filing on the basis of marriage to a U.S. citizen must continue to be […]
Read more...19 October 2018
More and more couples applying for a green card through their marriage are experiencing a longer wait period for their Green Card interview. Anastasia Tonello, president of the American Immigration Lawyers Association, said she believes Trump administration policy changes are responsible in part for fueling delays by creating more work for immigration officers. Among those […]
Read more...5 October 2018
In January 2018, the Department of State revised the public charge provisions of the Foreign Affairs Manual (FAM). Most significantly, 9 FAM 302.8-2(B), which previously stated that “[a] properly filed, non-fraudulent Form I-864 [Affidavit of Support] … should normally be considered to meet the INA 212(a)(4) requirements and satisfy the totality of the circumstances analysis,” […]
Read more...28 September 2018
USCIS issued a policy alert updating the USCIS Policy Manual with guidance to clarify certain special naturalization provisions for children. In general, the spouse of a U.S. citizen who resides in the United States may be eligible for naturalization based on the marriage under section 319(a) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA). Children who […]
Read more...28 September 2018
What is It? On July 13, 2018, USCIS issued new guidance regarding adjudicator discretion to deny a request for an immigration benefit without first issuing a Request for Evidence (RFE) or a Notice of Intent to Deny (NOID). The new policy makes it easier for USCIS to deny an application or petition without first issuing an RFE […]
Read more...30 August 2018
On April 18, 2017, President Trump issued the “Buy American and Hire American” (BAHA) Executive Order[1], ushering in a new immigration regime in the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).[2] While the laws have not changed, the presidential directive has radically transformed DHS’s approach to adjudicating immigration cases, some would argue, to the detriment of some […]
Read more...30 August 2018
A complaint filed with the Department of Homeland Security accuses ICE of engaging in the “pervasive, illegal practice” of coercing the undocumented immigrant parents separated from their children at the border into signing documents, including deportation documents, they may not have understood. The complaint comes via the American Immigration Council and the American Immigration Lawyers Association, filed […]
Read more...25 August 2018
