A new week brings new immigration news. Recently, a federal judge issued a temporary injunction blocking part of a Florida law that imposes criminal penalties on those who transport undocumented immigrants into the state of Florida, classifying such actions as felonies. The order was made in response to a lawsuit…
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Justice Department Sues the State of Oklahoma over Anti-Immigration Law known as HB 4156
The federal government has sued the state of Oklahoma in a new lawsuit seeking to block HB 4156 from taking effect, a new anti-immigration law that regulates the entry of noncitizens by detaining and fining migrants who are unlawfully present in the state. The U.S. government filed the lawsuit in…
Biden Administration Ramps up Efforts to Expedite Court Proceedings for Asylum Seekers at Southwest Border
The Department of Homeland Security and Justice Department recently announced a new plan to expedite immigration court proceedings for asylum seekers who have recently arrived in the United States without lawful status. On May 16th senior administration officials from the Department of Homeland Security and Justice Department made it known…
U.S. Embassies Issue Record Breaking 5.2 Million Nonimmigrant Visas and 281,000+ Immigrant Visas Worldwide in FY 2024
On May 13, 2024, the State Department announced record breaking milestones including the issuance of a whopping 5.2 million nonimmigrant visas at U.S. Embassies and Consulates worldwide in the first half of fiscal year 2024 – more than any previous year over the same period. In the past six months…
June Visa Bulletin: Little Movement in Employment Based Categories, Positive Movement in Family Sponsored Categories
The U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Consular Affairs has published the June Visa Bulletin. In this blog post we breakdown the projected movement of the employment-based and family-sponsored categories in the month of June. USCIS Adjustment of Status For employment-based preference categories, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) confirmed that…
New Changes to USCIS Ombudsman’s Office Online Case Assistance Request Form
If your case remains pending with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) beyond the posted processing times for your immigration benefit request, you may consider requesting assistance from the Ombudsman’s Office. What is the USCIS Ombudsman? The Office of the Citizenship and Immigration Services Ombudsman (CIS Ombudsman) helps individuals and employers…
FY 2025 H-1B Cap Registration Statistics, Eligible Registrations Plunge by almost 40%
New fraud prevention mechanisms applied to the H-1B program in fiscal year 2025 have led to a dramatic decrease in the number of eligible registrations for H-1B cap visas, plunging to almost 40% from the past year. These fraud prevention mechanisms were introduced with the final rule “Improving the H-1B…
The United States and Mexico Announce Bilateral Action to Address Illegal Immigration
As the 2024 U.S. presidential elections draw nearer, Biden and Mexico’s President Andres Manual Lopez Obrador, have announced joint efforts to combat illegal border crossings. The two leaders have said that their administrations will take steps to decrease illegal border crossings by ordering their national security teams to cooperate. While…
DOS Report: Immigrant Visa Green Card Backlogs Increase in April 2024
In this blog post, we cover the newly released Immigrant Visa Backlog Report published by the Department of State. April’s report provides the latest data and statistics relating to the processing of immigrant visa applications at the National Visa Center. This data includes information about the number of documentarily complete…
DOS Provides Updates Regarding the Success of the Domestic Visa Renewal Pilot Program for H-1B Nonimmigrants
If you’ve been a long-time follower of our blog, you’ll know that on January 29th the Department of State launched a pilot program giving certain H-1B applicants the ability to renew their visas without ever having to leave the United States. The State Department accepted applications for this pilot program…