Blogs

9.2 out of 1000. That’s the number of the approximately 1.1 million immigrants in Virginia who suffer harm from a crime, some of which are qualifying situations for a U visa. But in order to even apply for a U visa, an applicant has to have their case certified by a government agency. In March of this year the ACLU of Virginia made history by filing a lawsuit against the Roanoke Police Department for refusing to sign a U visa certification. Read our latest blog to understand how this lawsuit may affect our area.

16.5 months.  That’s how long USCIS estimates a travel document filing will take to process.  We’ve talked before about the extreme backlog that USCIS faces in processing filings, and a travel document is just one example of the excessive lengths of time that many petitions are taking right now.    Now USCIS is clarifying the circumstances for when an expedite can be requested. Read our latest blog to learn if your immigration petition is eligible.

In the world of western nations, Canada has a pretty good reputation.  It’s known as a diverse country that welcomes immigrants. But that welcoming nature has its limits. In a March 21 announcement, Canada’s minister of immigration said that Canada, for the first time in its history, will put a cap on how many temporary residents it has. Read our latest blog to learn who this new policy will affect.

The state of Texas passed a law in December 2023 called SB4 that the Biden Administration is trying to block. SB4 would allow Texas law enforcement officials to stop, jail, and prosecute migrants on state criminal charges of illegal entry or reentry. Read our latest blog to learn the latest about this lawsuit.

College athletes in the United States often end up becoming their own kind of celebrities - with their image and likeness being publicized all over national television, advertisements for the universities they play for, officially licensed jerseys with their names, and even inclusion in video games! Now it looks like many college athletes are moving towards being classified as unionized employees to benefit from these deals. Read our latest blog to learn how this is affecting international student athletes.

USCIS realizes that some things are out of your control, and so a new policy alert from USCIS helps nonimmigrants who have been prevented from filing for an extension of stay or a change of status “if the delay was due to extraordinary circumstances beyond the control of the applicant or petitioner.” Read our latest blog to learn if you meet the conditions for extraordinary circumstances in late filing.

It’s hard to fathom all the political unrest in the world today, but the Biden Administration is trying to prevent the situation from getting worse for those facing difficult issues in their home country.  Amid the conflict going on in Israel and Palestine, the White House has announced deferred enforced departure (DED) for certain Palestinians worried about being removed from the United States. Read our latest blog to learn more about this very specified status.

Do you remember group projects in high school?  Well USCIS does, and the agency is bringing them into the immigration sector.  On February 28, 2024, USCIS is launching organizational accounts, which will allow “multiple individuals within an organization, such as a company or other business entity, and their legal representatives to collaborate on and prepare H-1B registrations.”  Read our latest blog to learn more about this new process.

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!

It’s hard to believe 2016 was eight years ago.  There’s a lot that has happened since - we’ve had three U.S. presidents, experienced the pandemic, exited the U.S.’s longest running war, and had Twitter converted to X… Something that hasn’t happened in those eight years? A general USCIS fee increase.  This week the Biden administration announced that after a legally required comprehensive fee review, a fee increase across USCIS forms will take place beginning April 1, 2024. 

A new study from the Cato Institute states a pretty shocking statistic - only 45% of  employment based green cards in 2022 went to employees. How is that possible? How could a federal agency so closely watched by the federal government be processing cases so differently from what immigration law sets forth? Read our latest blog to learn about the way that the employment based green card allotment is affecting the backlog of applicants, and how different its processing is from what Congress likely intended.

What if your whole life felt like it was on hold because of a piece of paper? For 107,000 youth who have received Special Immigrant Juvenile Status (SIJS), that is the reality they are walking in. While the humanitarian status is a wonderful program, the multi-year backlog for SIJS recipients to obtain permanent residency has made it feel like the American dream is just out of reach. Read our latest blog to learn more about the SIJS program and what solutions there are to fixing it.

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.

After years of filing employment based (EB) petitions one way, USCIS has announced its newest modern rollout - transitioning its filing location for premium processing of EB petitions from USCIS service centers to a USCIS lockbox. Read our latest blog to ensure your documents get filed in the correct location.

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.