Blogs

Did you know that when someone receives permanent residence because of marriage, their status often has conditions attached? For people who have been married less than two years, a marriage based green card is conditional, and only lasts for two years. In a new order handed down by the Board of Immigration Appeals, the government gave an important holding that will impact many marriage-based green card holders. Read our latest blog to find out if this decision impacts you!

Inflation.  Oxford Languages defines it as the “general increase in prices and fall in the purchasing value of money,” and we know that as soon as you read those words, you can already think of items in your everyday life that are suddenly costing way too much.  Milk, gas, houses…the list goes on.  Unfortunately, but not surprisingly, USCIS can’t escape inflation either. Read our latest blog to learn what fees are being increased at USCIS in the coming month.

A federal court whose rulings the Commonwealth of Virginia is subject to has decided a case that has major consequences for religious-based asylum seekers. Read our latest blog to learn more.

Money talks, as the saying goes. And the money involved in this discussion is a reported $3.9 trillion. You read that right, TRILLION. A new study from the Bipartisan Policy Center estimates that is how much the U.S. is losing because of its green card backlog. Read our latest blog to learn more.

In an effort to lessen wait times for travel to the United States, the State Department announced a new pilot program for an initially limited number of H1-B applicants to renew their visas without leaving the United States.  Read our latest blog to learn if this new program will help you.

The Biden Administration has announced a new Family Reunification Parole Process for Ecuador, which would enable certain people with approved family based petitions to wait in the United States for an immigrant visa instead of outside the country. Read our latest blog to learn more!

It is very confusing when the government treats the same population of people differently from one another.  Yet it’s happened in several instances with immigrants to the United States, and it’s the cause of widespread confusion in the Cuban-American community right now.  Almost three million people belonging to the Cuban diaspora live in the United States, and a large amount of them have been beneficiaries of the Cuban Adjustment Act. Now, a new ruling from the Board of Immigration Appeals is causing frustration. Read our latest blog to learn more.

How do I know if I am eligible for an automatic extension of my EAD? On October 26, 2023, the temporary rule that was put in place to extend work authorization for many renewal applicants ended. Beginning on October 27, 2023, USCIS implemented its new policy for automatic extensions of EADs. Read our latest blog to learn if your EAD qualifies for automatic extension.

Have you ever heard of the Child Status Protection Act? The Child Status Protection Act (CSPA) was created by Congress in 2002 to essentially ‘freeze’ a child’s age to the time of an immigration petition being filed so that children’s ability to immigrate with their parents would be protected. This year USCIS updated its guidance as to when an immigrant visa becomes available for the purpose of calculating an applicant’s CSPA age. Read our latest blog to learn about this change.

Starting in October, USCIS announced it will expedite employment authorization (EAD) applications for parolees who scheduled an appointment through the CBP One app to gain legal entrance to the United States. For those applications USCIS has stated its goal is to decrease the processing time from 90 days to 30 days.  Read our latest blog to learn if your application will be affected by this announcement.

USCIS has changed its policy - stating that all affirmative asylum applicants who don’t speak English now need to bring their own interpreters to their asylum interviews. Read our latest blog to learn about this new policy, and the exceptions that apply.

Over 700,000 Venezuelans will be able to benefit from the Department of Homeland Security’s latest announcement about Temporary Protected Status. Read our latest blog to learn about the extension and redesignation of Venezuela for TPS for 18 months, and how you can extend your TPS status.

Almost a quarter of a million people in the United States may feel a lot safer after recent announcements from Secretary Mayorkas of the Department of Homeland Security ensured that TPS (Temporary Protected Status) will be extended and redesignated for the nations of Sudan, Ukraine, and Afghanistan. Read our latest blog to learn about what next steps you need to take to remain on TPS.

By now many of you have likely read in the news about the federal DACA ruling.  Read our latest blog to learn what this means for your DACA status and the steps you should take to maintain status.

USCIS (United States Citizenship and Immigration Services) has made big strides this year in advancing its website’s modern capabilities. Its latest website improvement is pretty major - the ability to schedule certain in-person appointments, online.  Read our latest blog to learn what USCIS appointments you can now book online.

Waiting is hard. But waiting when you are separated from loved ones is even harder.  We’ve reported a lot about the backlogs of USCIS, the waits for interviews, and decisions that seem unnecessarily drawn out. But at least for those decisions people are often in the United States waiting. Now, a new report reveals the depths of the backlog at U.S. consular offices abroad, where at some places the wait for an interview is up to four years long. 

On October 26, 2023, the temporary rule that was put in place to extend work authorization for many renewal applicants will end. Read our latest blog to learn if this will affect your work permit.

In the mid-1990s Bill Gates said, “If your business is not on the Internet, then your business will be out of business.”  This quote from the co-founder of Microsoft rings true almost 30 years later, but the U.S. government is still not fully caught up to having its business online.  In trying to update its processes USCIS has announced that the Cuban and Haitian family reunification parole processes will be almost exclusively online. Read our latest blog to learn more about this newly announced process.

Did you know that if you receive a Notice to Appear for removal proceedings in Immigration Court, but the Notice does not include a date or time, a removal ordered given after might be void? In a new 4th Circuit ruling, a federal court has ruled that someone in removal proceedings who has received a faulty Notice to Appear cannot be ordered removed in absentia (meaning the person was not in the courtroom at the time of the order).  Read our latest blog to learn what this means.

The most recent USCIS data shows a backlog of 8.6 million applications.  8.6 million.  Put into context, that number represents at least double or triple that in the amount of loved ones whose reunification is dependent on the processing of a USCIS petition.  A recent Presidential Advisory recommends a pathway to helping some of these families - read our latest blog to learn about this process.

Today there are websites and apps for almost everything. USCIS recognizes the importance of technology in everyday lives, and while there is still no USCIS app, the federal agency is utilizing its website to provide an updated method for rescheduling biometric services appointments. 

It’s the dream of many people who have immigrated to the United States — to be able to bring their family members here. But for so many that dream takes decades and decades to become a reality.  In May the Biden Administration announced a new initiative to reunite families from four different Latin American countries -Colombia, El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras - and now the family reunification program has opened. Read our latest blog to learn how the process is initiated for family reunification.

It’s been called “the main gateway to the American asylum system.” The Biden Administration is now utilizing a mobile app, called CBP One, for asylum seekers at the Mexican border to schedule appointments to present themselves at U.S. ports of entry and request asylum. Read our latest blog to learn more about this 21st century immigration tool.

Fingerprint usage in 2023 is fairly common - unlocking iphones, background checks, even Disneyworld is now using fingerprint technology for people to access its parks!  Since fingerprints have become such an easy and unique recognition tool, USCIS’ latest announcement about them may feel surprising - it has suspended biometrics (fingerprint) appointments for certain I-539 applicants.  Read our latest blog to learn whether this affects you.

This last week DHS announced a change regarding TPS (Temporary Protected Status) recipients of El Salvador, Honduras, Nepal, and Nicaragua - an announcement that simultaneously brought relief and frustration. Read our latest blog to find out how this announcement may affect you.