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On May 30, 2023, fees for nonimmigrant visas at all consulates abroad will increase. The increase can be avoided if the visa fee is paid on or after October 1, 2022, and before May 30, 2023, and an interview is scheduled within 365 days of payment. The interview need not take place during the 365…

Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has been implementing “Simplified Arrival” at all airports, seaports, and most ports of entry since early 2022. The purpose is to secure and streamline the entry process. But the elimination of paper documentation is raising issues for foreign nationals.

One outcome of Simplified Arrival implementation is that CBP no longer…

Starting April 25, 2022, the “Uniting for Ukraine” program for Ukrainians seeking to enter the United States will allow Ukrainians who are sponsored by family members or non-governmental agencies to come to the United States and apply for a two-year humanitarian parole.

While humanitarian parole does not offer a direct pathway to long-term residence in…

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:…

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:

  • For FY 2018, the Administration believes that there were 415,000 individuals in the U.S. who had overstayed on nonimmigrant

…

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…