Great news! The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) recently announced that eligible beneficiaries of the Uniting for Ukraine program, may apply to renew their parole and employment authorization starting February 27, 2024. Who is eligible? Ukrainian citizens and their immediate family members who were paroled into the United States…
Articles Posted in DHS
Biden Gets Tough on Immigration, Executive Actions Addressing Migrant Crisis and Asylum on the Horizon
Ahead of the U.S. presidential election, President Biden is considering the rollout of a set of new executive actions aimed at curbing illegal migration at the U.S. southern border and measures that would create new obstacles for asylum applicants. Individuals speaking on condition of anonymity have said these policies could…
USCIS Guidance Regarding Long-Pending EB-5 Form I-829 Petitions by Investors to Remove Conditions on Permanent Residence
Recently, the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) requested an update from the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) regarding the delayed adjudication of Form I-829 petitions filed by EB-5 investors seeking to remove their conditions on permanent residence. AILA suggested two alternatives for providing evidence of continued lawful permanent residence…
Biden Administration Announces Deferred Enforced Departure for Palestinians
Yesterday, February 14, 2024, the Biden administration released a memorandum designating Palestinians present in the United States for Deferred Enforced Departure (DED), based on the danger to civilians and deteriorating humanitarian conditions in Gaza. The President’s order halts the removal of certain Palestinians from the United States for a period…
The March 2024 Visa Bulletin: What You Can Expect
The March 2024 Visa Bulletin is finally here, and with it we have big advancements in the family sponsored preference categories, and minor advancements in the employment-based categories. Highlights of the March 2024 Visa Bulletin Dates for Filing Chart The Dates for Filing Chart remains unchanged from the previous month, for both…
Immigration Roundup: New H-1B Cap Season Updates for FY 2025 and Beyond
In this blog post, we share with you some new updates for the H-1B cap season for fiscal year 2025 and beyond. H-1B Cap Initial Registration Period FY 2025 USCIS has announced that the initial registration period for the FY 2025 H-1B cap season will open at noon Eastern time on March 6,…
USCIS Announces Increase in Filing Fees Effective April 1, 2024
On January 30, 2024, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) published a final rule in the Federal Register making significant fee increases for various immigration applications and benefit requests. This fee increase will be the first major adjustment in the filing fees since 2016. The increase is meant to address…
USCIS Updates Policy Manual Regarding Untimely Filed Extensions of Stay and Change of Status Requests
Exciting news! On January 24, 2024, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced a new update to its Policy Manual, which clarifies that officers have the discretionary power to excuse a nonimmigrant’s failure to timely file an extension of stay or change of status request, if the delay was…
Visa Bulletin Outlook: Looking Ahead at Possible Movement in 2024
In this blog post, we provide new insights recently shared by Charlie Oppenheim, the former Chief of Immigrant Visa Control and Reporting at the U.S. Department of State, who oversaw the monthly publication of the Visa Bulletin until his retirement in 2022. In a recent Chatting with Charlie webinar, he…
U.S. Citizenship Applications Rebound in Fiscal Year 2023 to Pre Pandemic Levels
According to recent data released by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), applications for U.S. Citizenship surpassed pre-pandemic levels in fiscal year 2023, welcoming 878,500 new citizens from all over the world. To be eligible for naturalization, applicants must meet certain eligibility requirements set forth in the Immigration and Nationality…