Did you know that an immigrant visa petition submitted to USCIS doesn’t always stay with USCIS? In a recently issued policy alert, USCIS explained the changes petitioners may not be aware of for how immigrant visas are processed, and when a petition stays in the U.S. to process or is transferred overseas. Read our latest blog to learn more!
It seems that every few weeks the Biden Administration is announcing a new form of parole or temporary immigration status for certain nationalities. A recent announcement from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) explains a new class of admission referred to as WHP, which stands for Western Hemisphere Parole. Read our latest blog to learn what this is and how it can help your loved ones.
In an election year where candidates are trying to set themselves apart from each other, President Biden seems to be taking a move from the former Trump Administration. This May, the Biden Administration announced that it has proposed a rule to give asylum officers at the U.S. border the authority to decide whether or not someone may enter the United States to seek asylum. Read our latest blog to learn more about this proposed rule and how it could affect asylum seekers.
Are you about to file for your green card? Congratulations if so, but there is some very important information you need to know based on changes the U.S. government has recently announced! Read our latest blog to find out what you need to know for your green card filing.
DACA recipients are three times more likely than the general population to be uninsured, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Recognizing this as a significant health issue, the Biden Administration has announced that it is enabling DACA recipients to qualify for marketplace subsidies, more commonly known as Obamacare. Read our latest blog to see if this new action will help you or your loved ones!
There are less than six months between now and the next U.S. presidential election. In the time remaining, the candidates need to set themselves apart from each other, and show the American people why they should be voted for on November 5. With limited months until the election, the Biden White House has let it be known that the Administration is considering putting in place a key policy that would give over 1 million families reason to celebrate - immigration relief for undocumented spouses of U.S. citizens. Read our latest blog to learn more.
Good news from the government may be rare, but the latest from USCIS is actually great news. April’s Temporary Final Rule announced by USCIS is extending Employment Authorization Documents (EADs) for eligible noncitizens from 180 days to 540 days. Read our latest blog to see if you are eligible for the automatic extension.
Spring. The season of new life and….new government forms? USCIS has made a new version of the application for naturalization document, Form N-400. Based on an agreement made between the Social Security Administration and USCIS, the new form includes the option for applicants to ‘request an original or replacement social security number or card and update their immigration status without having to visit a Social Security office. Read our latest blog to see how you can receive an updated social security card.
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.
