Insight, News, and Strategy on Immigration Matters Around the World
Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security Alejandro N. Mayorkas has announced several new USCIS policies meant to improve the legal immigration system, eliminate barriers, and reduce burdens on applicants.
He issued the following new policies:
USCIS generally does not consider expedite requests for petitions and applications where Premium Processing Service is…
As several cities are allowing businesses to resume their operations to pre-pandemic levels, many employees are being called back to on-site work. Thankfully, schools have been welcoming children for in-person learning for several months now, and parents are hoping to send them to summer camps. Approximately 26 million American children attend summer camps in a…
After a three-year investigation by Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), two hand-carved lintels from ancient temples in Thailand were returned to the Thai government during a joyous ceremony including dancers and prayers at the Royal Thai Consulate-General in Los Angeles.
HSI is the principal investigative arm of the Department of Homeland Security. With a workforce of…
The Department of Homeland Security will no longer be collecting civil financial penalties for noncitizens who fail to depart from the United States. Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas announced that “[t]here is no indication that these penalties promoted compliance” and that the penalties were “ineffective and unnecessary punitive measures.”
The fines for undocumented workers who failed to…
Although the Biden Administration has taken steps to maintain H-4 EADs for spouses of highly skilled H-1B workers, the program is still in jeopardy. Now, the Biden Administration is representing the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) in defending the H-4 EAD rule.
In 2014, the Obama Administration published the H-4 EAD rule, giving certain H-4…
By tweet, the Department of Homeland Security announced an extension of the travel restrictions at the Northern and Southern land and sea borders until June 21, 2021. These borders have been closed to “non-essential” travel since March 2020 due to COVID-19. According to the restrictions:
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ICE announced that I-9 flexibility will be extended again – this time through the whole summer until August 31, 2021.
Since March 2020, companies that have been operating remotely have been able to inspect Section 2 Form I-9 documents virtually, over video link, by fax or via email. In April 2021, the Department of…
The Department of Homeland Security has announced that it will be extending Haitian Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for 18 months, until November 2022. It also has officially set out the application procedures for Burmese TPS, which the Secretary of DHS announced in March 2021, but had not yet issued implementing instructions.
Based on pending litigation,…
The Trump-era proclamation that would have kept immigrants who could not provide evidence of health insurance within 30 days of coming to the United States has been revoked by President Joe Biden. The move is in accordance with his prior executive order directed at “restoring faith” in the immigration system and to emphasize his…
The effective date of the “Strengthening Wage Protections for the Temporary and Permanent Employment of Certain Immigration and Non-Immigrants in the United States” (Prevailing Wage Rule) related to H-1B, H-1B1, and E-3 work visa cases, as well as for PERM cases, is delayed to November 14, 2022. The Biden Administration states that it continues…
