Our readers and clients have eagerly been asking why the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has reported extremely long processing times on their webpage. Others are concerned about when their field offices will reopen and reschedule their interviews. In this post we hope to provide some clarification regarding…
Articles Posted in N-400
UPDATES: USCIS Extends Flexibility Policy for RFEs, NOIDs, I-290bs, and more
Welcome back to Visalawyerblog! In this post we will discuss a few recent updates released by the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). UPDATE: USCIS Extends Flexibility Policy for RFEs, NOIDs, I-290bs, and more Due to the ongoing circumstances relating to COVID-19, USCIS will continue to provide flexibility in…
USCIS Updates Policy Manual Clarifying Public Charge Rule Grounds of Inadmissibility
In this blog post we discuss the highlights of the newly updated Policy Manual guidance released by USCIS which addresses the Inadmissibility on Public Charge Grounds Final Rule. The Final Rule and guidance is effective as of February 24, 2020 and applies to all applications and petitions postmarked on or…
Trump’s Policy Changes in 2019: A Year in Review
As we approach the end of the year, in this blog post, we look back at the major policy changes implemented by the Trump administration in the year 2019 that have had a profound impact on the way our immigration system functions today. JANUARY Government Shutdown Woes The start of…
Naturalization Applicants: USCIS Clarifies Good Moral Character Requirement in Updated Policy Manual
Last week, the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) updated its policy manual to clarify acts that may prevent a naturalization applicant from meeting the good moral character requirement. A successful naturalization applicant must show that they have been, and continue to be a person of good moral character…
Changes to the Naturalization Exam Are Coming
New changes are coming to the naturalization examination beginning in December of 2020 to early 2021. We have learned that the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has been busy revising the current naturalization test to ensure that the test accurately reflects an applicant’s knowledge of civics and United…
USCIS Announces Strategy to Reduce N-400 and I-485 Processing Times
Today, June 17, 2019, the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), announced a new strategy aimed at reducing the processing times for applications for naturalization and adjustment of status. This new strategy will attempt to equalize the processing times for citizenship and adjustment applicants who live in a jurisdiction…
Marijuana Violations May Result in Good Moral Character Bar for Naturalization
USCIS has issued new policy guidance clarifying good moral character requirements for naturalization. Naturalization applicants should be aware that a violation of a federal controlled substance law, including for marijuana, remains a conditional bar to establishing good moral character for naturalization purposes, even where that conduct would not be found…
USCIS Planning to Gradually Eliminate Self-Scheduled Infopass Appointments
As part of the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services’ (USCIS) new plan to modernize services offered by the agency, the agency has announced that it will gradually end self-scheduling of Infopass appointments, to encourage applicants to use online information resources and other online tools that allow applicants to check…
Denaturalization Task Force Coming Next Year
Beginning next year, the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) will launch a task force located in Los Angeles, designed to identify, detect, and prosecute individuals who have fraudulently gained United States Citizenship, for example by entering into a ‘sham’ marriage to obtain permanent residence, or engaging in other…