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Archive for the ‘US Immigration’ Category

Trump Issues New Rule that Prevents Individuals Who Crossed the Southern Border Without Inspection from Applying for Asylum 

General Background for Asylum Asylum refers to the process of applying for protection in order to avoid harm in one’s country of origin. Asylum (or refugee law) provides protection against human rights violations, namely being harmed in your country of origin based on one of the following protected grounds: race, religion, nationality, political opinion or membership in […]

A Dream Act, at What Price?

Last week Trump sent his “term sheet” to congressional republicans containing what he wants in exchange for a “DREAM Act” that would provide an eventual path to citizenship for Dreamers. In contrast to his earlier statements (“I will sign any Dream Act legislation that is put on my desk”), Trump is now attempting to extract […]

H-1b Math: What Are My Chances of Winning the Lottery in 2018?

When asking what are my chances of winning the H-1b lottery, most lawyers will respond with a non-scientific answer based on their own rough historic success rate in the lottery, and predictions on the upcoming number of applications. We often do not go into the math because most of us (lawyers) were scared to death […]

Trump Issues a New Indefinite Travel Ban on both Previously Designated and New Countries

On Sunday, September 24th, Trump issued his third and most severe travel ban, this time calling for an indefinite ban on entry into the United States of foreign nationals from designated countries. Rather than a 90-day ban, like the previous versions, Trump has put an indefinite ban in place again on foreign nationals from countries […]

USCIS Resumes Premium Processing for Some H-1b Petitions

Premium processing is a service provided by the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) to ensure expedited processing of immigration petitions. For an additional filing fee of $1225, USCIS promises to make an initial decision on a case within 15 calendar days. If USCIS issues a request for evidence, they are allowed an additional […]

The Reality of “Getting in Line”

This piece is written by one of our paralegals, Maria, who as a documented immigrant, offers a perspective on the great difficulties faced by those who are undocumented. I am a documented immigrant. By some, I am praised because I “did things the right” way and didn’t “jump the line.” However, these statements are really short sighted and reflect an incomplete […]

Proposed Immigration Bills: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

    Before our discussion below of recently proposed immigration bills, it is worth reviewing the process of how a bill (a proposed new law) becomes law. The fact of the matter is that, for better or for worse, our country’s founders made it very difficult to change the law (with few exceptions). Bills hit […]

Misconceptions about Undocumented Immigrants

  Changing Trends in Immigration Our tumultuous political climate has once again brought immigration to its forefront. The heated issue, however, involves a myriad of misconceptions further complicating a very important, and very personal, discussion. The following data, largely gathered by the Pew Institute, provides relevant information challenging various notions that have colored the immigration […]

An Overview of the US Immigration System

  The Immigration and Naturalization Act (INA) is the body of law currently governing immigration policy. Though very complicated, a starting point is to understand that we grant entry on either a permanent (legal permanent resident) or temporary (nonimmigrant) basis.  Currently, there is a worldwide limit of 675,000 permanent immigrant visas, with certain exceptions for […]