Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and President Trump formally signed their new trade agreement Friday (November 30, 2018) on the sidelines of the G-20 summit in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
The signing shifts the onus onto each country’s legislatures to approve the agreement before it can actually take effect. In the U.S. the pact must now be approved by Congress
President Trump signed a proclamation on 9 November 2018 saying that anyone who wants to claim asylum in the US has to come in through official points of entry – and their cases will not be heard if they enter illegally.
This week a 9th Circuit Court federal judge blocked the recent immigration proclamation.
Mr Trump on Tuesday (20 November 2018) called the jurist who ruled against his asylum policy an “Obama judge”.
The president’s gibe provoked a stern statement from US Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts, the head of America’s highest court,
Chief Justice Roberts has taken the extraordinary step of rebuking President Donald Trump’s criticism of a federal judge
and told the Associated Press:
“We do not have Obama judges or Trump judges, Bush judges or Clinton judges,”.
“What we have is an extraordinary group of dedicated judges doing their level best to do equal right to those appearing before them.”
This Thanksgiving we are thankful to have worked with and served all of our clients who needed our help in 2018.
Finding ways to help and assist them has been a true pleasure, and we can only hope to continue our service in the years to come.
We wish everyone a wonderful Thanksgiving surrounded by those they love most.
Please enjoy the Thanksgiving holiday safely.
“Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend. Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today and creates a vision for tomorrow.” – Melody Beattie
Our law offices will close at 4 p.m. on November 21st so that our staff can enjoy time with their families and will reopen at 9 a.m. on Monday, November 26th.
The Office of Foreign Labor Certification (OFLC) of the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) announced on November 12, 2018 that the new ETA FORM 9035, Labor Condition Application (LCA) for Nonimmigrant Workers, will be fully implemented on November 19, 2018. Employers or their authorized representatives who are filing an LCA on or after November 19, 2018, must use the revised form.
The existing LCA remains valid for use by the public only until November 19, 2018.
Certified LCAs filed prior to November 19, 2018 will also remain valid and can be used by petitioners to support H-1B filings.
USCIS began requesting on November. 1, 2018, that domestic applicants filing FORM N-565, Application for Replacement Naturalization/Citizenship Document, visit an Application Support Center (ASC) appointment to submit biometric information (including photos, signature, and index fingerprint). Applicants will NOT have to pay a biometrics fee.
USCIS will also ask applicants filing FORM N-600, Application for Certificate of Citizenship, to begin submitting biometric information at ASCs early next year.
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced on November 8, 2018 the expansion of the implementation of the June 28, 2018, Policy Memorandum (PM), Updated Guidance for the Referral of Cases and Issuance of Notices to Appear (NTAs) in Cases Involving Inadmissible and Deportable Aliens.
USCIS began implementing the PM for denied Forms I-485 and I-539 on Oct. 1, 2018. USCIS will continue to take an incremental approach to implement the memorandum.
Starting Nov. 19, 2018, USCIS may issue NTAs as described below based on denials of:
If applicants, beneficiaries, or self-petitioners who are denied are no longer in a period of authorized stay and do not depart the United States, USCIS may issue an NTA.
USCIS will NOT implement the memorandum with respect to employment-based petitions at this time. Existing guidance for these case types remain in effect.