The Form I-539, Application to Extend/Change Nonimmigrant Status, can be filed online with USCIS by an individual applicant (without co-applicants, or legal or accredited representation) to extend stay and if the applicant holds status as a: B-1 temporary visitor for business; B-2 temporary visitor for pleasure; F-1 academic student with a specific status expiration date; F-2 spouse or child of an academic student with a specific expiration date; M-1 vocational student; or M-2 spouse or child of an M-1 student.
Last Thursday, May 16, 2019, the Trump administration proposed an immigration plan aimed at more closely connecting immigration visas to jobs, rather than being based on family ties or refugee admissions. The plan would seek to tilt immigration toward workers with extraordinary talent, sought-after specialized vocations and exceptional students. To some degree, that shift may be already occurring in particular with immigrants from China and India.
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development published a proposed rule on Friday, May 10, 2019, that would bar access to public housing for unauthorized immigrants and their families on the premise of reducing wait times for housing assistance. At this time the proposed rule has not been finalized into a final binding rule.
President Trump issued a proclamation on May 8, 2019 extending for 90 days the suspension and limitation of entry at the southern border. The initial proclamation renders certain individuals ineligible to be granted asylum. Such interim rule would begin running if the court imposed injunction by the United States District Court judge in the Northern District of California is lifted.
DHS will not will not implement or enforce the decision to terminate Temporary Protected Status (TPS ) for Honduras or Nepal pending final disposition of the Ramos v. Nielsen, No. 18–16981 (9th Cir. filed Oct. 12, 2018) appeal to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals or by other order of the court. . Beneficiaries under the TPS designations for Nepal and Honduras will retain their TPS, provided that an individual’s TPS status is not withdrawn because of ineligibility. DHS is further announcing it is automatically extending through March 24, 2020, the validity of TPS-related Employment Authorization Documents (EADs), Forms I–797,...
Federal investigators have arrested at least 50 people in Texas on Monday, May 13, 2019, for participating in a sham marriage scheme that charged foreigners up to $70,000 to help obtain legal immigration status in the U.S. The criminal enterprise operated out of the Houston area and arranged the fake marriages with U.S. citizens who would receive a cut of the payments from the foreigners. The Department of Justice said in a statement that “The spouses allegedly entered into the marriage pursuant to a financial arrangement for the primary purpose of circumventing U.S. immigration laws.” Those named in the indictment are being charged with...
On Wednesday, May 08, 2019, the Trump administration temporarily expanded the H-2B visa program from 66,000 annual temporary visas to 100,000. This increase will allow an additional 30,000 seasonal workers for fiscal year 2019. This change in attitude by the current administration is interesting in that the White House generally supports policies to curb immigration. Perhaps the lobby by certain businesses (including Trump properties) that really need these temporary workers has caused the change in policy since a lot of employers in the country cannot find workers, particularly for short-term jobs.
A memorandum was issued by the White House on Monday, April 29, 2019, requesting that the Attorney General and the Secretary of Homeland Security propose federal regulations regarding the following: To place in proceedings those individuals receiving credible fear determinations and those who do not qualify for asylum, to adjudicate asylum applications in immigration proceedings within 180 days of filing, to set and charge a fee for all asylum applications and for employment authorization related to an asylum claim, and to bar employment authorization to those who entered or attempted to enter the U.S. unlawfully before relief or protection from...
A U.S. judge on Monday issued a nationwide injunction halting the Trump administration's policy of sending some asylum seekers back across the southern border to wait out their cases in Mexico. The ruling is slated to take effect on Friday, according to the order by U.S. District Judge Richard Seeborg in San Francisco. A U.S. Department of Justice spokesman did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
April 1st usually marks the first day when USCIS accepts H-1B cap subject petitions. Once sufficient petitions are received and accepted for processing by USCIS, cap-subject H-1B visas will be unavailable until the following year. For employers seeking to hire foreign nationals to fill certain specialty occupation positions, this means that for the remainder of the year, they have to find alternative means to fulfill their need. Some alternative non-immigrant work visas include the, L1A for manager/executive transferees; L1B for specialized knowledge transferees; O1 for extraordinary ability workers; TN for Canadian and Mexican professional workers; E1 for the treaty-traders and...
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