Insight, News, and Strategy on Immigration Matters Around the World
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has announced that it plans to add mandatory social media collection to the Electronic System for Travel Authorization (ESTA) process.
ESTA is an automated online system that makes an initial determination about a visitor’s eligibility to travel to the United States under the Visa Waiver Program (VWP). The VWP…
The United States-Canada border is not only the world’s longest international border, but it includes some of the busiest commercial crossings in North America. New travel restrictions have been implemented as the COVID-19 pandemic continues.
Non-Essential Travel Ban
The land border has been closed to “non-essential” travel since March 2020 due to COVID-19. Restrictions include:…
Poland will become the 39th member of the Visa Waiver Program (VWP) on November 11, 2019.
Polish citizens and nationals will be able to apply to travel to the United States for tourism or business purposes for up to 90 days without obtaining a visa stamp — but they first must register online with…
The Fairness for High Skilled Immigrants Act of 2019, introduced early in 2019 in both the House and the Senate (H.R. 1044 and S. 386), aims to eliminate the Green Card backlog for Indian and Chinese nationals. In July, the bill passed the House.
The Fairness bill would eliminate the per-country cap for employment-based immigrants…
President Donald Trump issued a Memorandum on April 22, 2019 aimed at reducing visa overstays – people who stay in the U.S. beyond the time authorized by their visas. Assertions set forth in the Memorandum include:
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Proposed changes to Form DS-160 would include aspects of “extreme vetting” in all nonimmigrant visa applications. The public has until May 29, 2018, to submit comments to the Trump Administration proposal.
Visa applicants would be required to submit five years of social media handles on specific platforms and five years of phone numbers and email…
The U.S. Embassy and Consulates in Russia announced that “[a]s a result of the Russian government’s personnel cap imposed on the U.S. Mission, all nonimmigrant visa (NIV) operations across Russia will be suspended beginning August 23, 2017.”
This is the most recent volley in the diplomatic back-and-forth that started with the reports of possible Russian…
