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the TPS designations for Nepal and Honduras will retain their TPS, provided that an individual’s TPS status is not withdrawn because of ineligibility.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...
On March 12, 2019 the termination of Temporary Protected Status, or TPS, for Nepal and Honduras has been temporarily stayed by a federal district court in California in the Bhattarai v. Nielsen case. TPS for Nepal was scheduled to expire on June 24, 2019 while TPS for Honduras was set to expire on January 5, 2020. This Court order is linked to the preliminary injunction in the Ramos v. Nielsen case, in which the Department of Homeland Security was ordered to continue TPS for El Salvador, Haiti, Sudan, and Nicaragua. TPS now temporarily remains in place for all of the six countries that received termination decisions...
USCIS will resume premium processing on Tuesday, March 12, for all H-1B petitions including pending petitions that have been issued a request for evidence (RFE). Premium processing service can be requested for pending H-1B petitions that have been issued a transfer notice. The premium processing request must be submitted with a copy of the transfer notice to the service center now handling the petition.
DOS announced on February 26, 2019 that in light of the suspension of routine visa services at the U.S. Embassy in Caracas, Venezuela, the U.S. Embassy in Bogota, Colombia, has been designated as the primary site to process immigrant visas for residents of Venezuela. The NVC will begin scheduling immigrant visa appointments in Bogota starting April 2019. Nonimmigrant visa applications may be submitted at an embassy or consulate outside of Venezuela.
USCIS has resumed premium processing effective Monday, Jan. 28, for all fiscal year (FY) 2019 H-1B cap petitions, including those eligible for the advanced degree exemption (the “master’s cap”). USCIS guarantees a 15-day processing time upon request of premium processing. If USCIS does not take adjudicative action within the 15‑calendar day processing time, USCIS refunds the petitioner’s premium processing service fee and continues with expedited processing of the petition. This service will only be available for pending FY 2019 petitions, not new submissions. The previously announced temporary suspension of premium processing remains in effect for all other categories of H-1B petitions to which it applied.
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