Archive for the ‘Legal News’ Category
Highlights from the October 2019 Visa Bulletin: The Start of the 2020 Federal Fiscal Year
The October 2019 visa bulletin has been released. The October bulletin shows some notable movement in a few categories, but not as much movement as we had hoped for in others. The October bulletin is a big deal since it represents the start of the next federal fiscal year when annual visa numbers are replenished. […]
Visa Bulletin Trends for April 2019 and a Review of the Employment Based Immigrant Visa System
A Review of the Employment-Based Immigrant Visa System The visa bulletin continues to have a number of unusual trends in the employment categories as we head into April of 2019. As a refresher, our employment system contains 5 categories, named employment based 1 through 5, or EB-1 through EB-5. The first three categories are the […]
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 […]
Big Changes to How Immigration (USCIS) Calculates Unlawful Presence for F, J and M Nonimmigrants
Background: The Current (soon to be old) Rule Surrounding Unlawful Presence for F, J and M Nonimmigrants F, J and M nonimmigrant status is used for students, professors, exchange visitors and other short-term categories. Because many of these programs have indeterminate end dates, or dates that can be extended directly by a school (rather than […]
Current Status of DACA Renewals
Based on federal lawsuits challenging President Trump’s ending of DACA, the DACA program is currently back in place. This means that current DACA recipients can apply to extend their DACA status. Normally, USCIS has always advised DACA recipients to renew their applications between 150-120 days prior to expiration; HOWEVER, USCIS has stated that they will accept […]
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 […]
What are the chances of a DREAM Act in 2018?
What is Necessary for the DREAM Act to Pass? While the first proposed deadline has passed to bring the DREAM Act to a vote in 2017, we are still cautiously optimistic that we could see a DREAM Act in 2018. Our primary reason for optimism is that the majority of both houses of Congress, as […]
What is The Diversity Visa Program?
In light of the tragic attack in New York City this week by Sayfullo Saipov, Trump has called for the end of the Diversity Visa program (the immigration program that allowed Saipov to immigrate to the U.S). In typical Trump fashion, Trump continues to lead through fear, which has the terrible effect of undermining any […]
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 […]
Can CBP search my computer when I arrive in the U.S.? The Evolving Border Search Doctrine in the Age of Trump
The 4th Amendment and the Border The right to be free from “unreasonable searches and seizures” absent a judicial warrant is constitutionally ingrained in our 4th Amendment. . . but this right is not absolute. One notable exception is that the 4th Amendment does not apply at the border, which includes land […]