U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services today announced new policy guidance that eliminates the need for individuals who have applied for a change of status (COS) to F-1 student to apply to change or extend their nonimmigrant status while their initial F-1 COS application is pending. Under the previous policy, applicants needed to maintain status up […]
Read more...20 July 2021
Immigration authorities in the United States have rescinded one of the policies implemented by the Trump administration that had one of the most profound negative impacts on legal immigrants with pending or upcoming applications. The 2018 policy had granted U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) adjudicators broader authority to issue case denials over mistakes or […]
Read more...25 June 2021
The US government on Friday withdrew a Donald Trump-era proposal which sought to collect the biometric details of every applicant under immigration and naturalization benefits. In a statement, the Department of Homeland Security said the withdrawal of the proposed rule was consistent with the Executive Order signed by President Joe Biden, regarding restoring faith in […]
Read more...7 May 2021
The U.S. House of Representatives on Thursday approved an immigration bill that would provide lawful status for several million people who were brought to the country without authorization as children and who are colloquially known as Dreamers, opening the door to eventual citizenship. Joined by nine Republicans, all House Democrats voted to approve the […]
Read more...19 March 2021
President Joe Biden has revoked a visa ban introduced under President Donald Trump, asserting that it not only hurts would-be visa beneficiaries, but also “harms the United States” itself. Mr. Trump used a broad executive power to prohibit the issuance of certain visas for prospective immigrants hoping to move to the U.S. permanently through […]
Read more...25 February 2021
The Supreme Court has agreed to take up a case challenging the Trump administration’s “public charge” rule, which limited access to green cards for those deemed likely to accept public assistance. The “public charge” rule sought to deny green cards to immigrants who used Medicaid, food stamps, housing vouchers or other forms of government assistance. […]
Read more...22 February 2021
The White House announced a sweeping immigration bill Thursday that would create an eight-year path to citizenship for millions of immigrants already in the country and provide a faster track for undocumented immigrants brought to the US as children. Here’s what the bill, titled the US Citizenship Act of 2021, includes: Plan for a pathway to citizenship The U.S. Citizenship […]
Read more...19 February 2021
Here’s what Biden has done so far to roll back Trump’s policies since taking office on Jan. 20: ASYLUM AND REGIONAL MIGRATION Biden issued three executive orders dealing with asylum at the U.S.-Mexico border, legal immigration and reunifying families. The asylum-focused order mandated a review of the Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP), a controversial program […]
Read more...16 February 2021
Due to a federal court order, USCIS has resumed accepting both initial and renewal requests for deferred action under DACA, including initial requests from individuals who have never before been granted deferred action under DACA. Until further notice, and unless otherwise provided in this guidance, the DACA policy will be operated on the terms in place […]
Read more...12 December 2020
The Trump administration will issue two rules Tuesday that will overhaul the H-1B specialty occupation visa program, including by raising the minimum salary levels for foreign employees and narrowing the program’s eligibility criteria. The updated regulations redefine “specialty occupations,” limit the validity of an H-1B visa to one year for a worker placed at a third-party […]
Read more...6 October 2020
