Michael H. Neifach

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Premium processing fees are going up (the bad news), but premium processing will be available for more types of cases (the good news) according to changes included in the recently passed Continuing Resolution (CR) that will fund the government until December 11, 2020. The changes are meant to provide additional funding to USCIS to bolster…

Judge Jeffrey S. White has granted the plaintiffs’ request for preliminary injunction preventing the continued enforcement of the Presidential Proclamation suspending the entry of certain individuals in H, L, and J status (Nonimmigrant Ban) in National Association of Manufacturers et al. v. Department of Homeland Security et al.

This ban has been creating uncertainty for…

A federal judge in California has enjoined the USCIS’ new fee rule just a little more than a day before petitions and applications had to be postmarked.

Judge Jeffrey S. White’s decision in Immigrant Legal Resource Center v. Wolf was based on a finding that Chad Wolf’s appointment to the position of Acting Secretary of…

While it typically uses the “Final Action Dates” chart for accepting adjustment of status application filings, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has announced that for October 2020, it will allow employment-based adjustment of status applicants to file based upon the U.S. Department of State’s (DOS) October “Dates for Filing” chart.

This means that individuals…

Foreign students soon may find themselves subject to new policies and processes regarding their status in the United States.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has released for comment its proposed rule Establishing a Fixed Time Period of Admission and an Extension of Stay Procedures for Individuals in F, J and I Status. The…

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) may resume implementation of the new Public Charge Rule, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit has ruled.

The factors that are considered under the new Public Charge Rule include the applicant’s use of public benefits, employment status and history of employment in the U.S., among others.…

Days before the upcoming deadline, ICE has announced it is extending the remote virtual verification option for completion of I-9 employment verification an additional 60 days (instead of just 30 days), until November 19, 2020, due to continued precautions related to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Pursuant to the original guidelines for virtual verification, eligible employers may…

The Trump Administration’s effort to end Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for approximately 250,000 people from El Salvador, Nicaragua, and Sudan has been upheld in a split ruling from U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in Crista Ramos, et al. v. Wolf, et al. TPS for Honduras and Nepal likely will be affected by…

The “Strengthening the H-1B Nonimmigrant Visa Classification Program” rule has been submitted to the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) for review and could be published by the end of the year – or earlier. Although the text of the rule is still not public, it is generally believed that the proposal will formalize…

Acting quickly, as he promised, Judge Ahmit P. Mehta in Gomez v. Trump, recognized the particular urgency of the Diversity Visa plaintiffs’ situation and granted them injunctive relief.  Judge Mehta ordered the Department of State (DOS) to make good faith efforts to “expeditiously process and adjudicate DV-2020 diversity visa and derivative beneficiary applications” and…