Insight, News, and Strategy on Immigration Matters Around the World
Senate Parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough has ruled for a third time that specific immigration provisions in the Build Back Better Act (BBBA) granting parole and work authorization to unauthorized aliens who entered the United States before January 1, 2011, cannot be included in the reconciliation bill because the policy changes outweigh the budgetary impact.
Unless Senate…
ICE has announced it will extend I-9 flexibility until April 30, 2022, due to continuing precautions related to COVID-19.
The guidance remains the same:
…
Nonimmigrant spouses of H-1B and L-1 visa holders with long-pending EAD applications have finally received some relief. Based upon a settlement in Shergill v. Mayokas, USCIS is making major policy changes. Going forward, certain H-4 spouses with pending EAD applications will be entitled to 180-day automatic extensions of their EAD cards and L-2…
Efforts to pass “Dreamers” bills that would provide a pathway to citizenship for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) recipients have remained stagnant. In an effort to stabilize the DACA program, absent congressional action, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has published a proposed federal regulation announcing its intent to codify the DACA program.
The…
Instructions allowing Hong Kong Deferred Enforced Departure (DED) beneficiaries to apply for employment authorization have been published in the Federal Register.
On August 5, 2021, President Biden granted DED for certain eligible residents of Hong Kong for 18 months, until February 5, 2023, and directed that instructions on how to apply for employment authorization…
Reacting to a ruling from a federal district court judge in Texas, the Biden Administration proposed a new DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) rule that would strengthen protections for the “Dreamers.”
DACA has been under attack since 2017, when the Trump Administration announced it would terminate the program. Litigation has prevented that from happening,…
The Department of Homeland Security has issued a notice extending Employment Authorization Documents (EADs) for Temporary Protected Status (TPS) beneficiaries from El Salvador, Haiti, Honduras, Nepal, Nicaragua and Sudan through December 31, 2022.
The automatic extension is intended to ensure continued compliance with preliminary injunction orders that have been entered in the various cases challenging…
Illinois has amended the Illinois Human Rights Act to make “work authorization status” a protected category.
The amendment, Public Act 102-0233, became effective immediately upon the governor’s signing in early-August.
Under the amendment, “work authorization status” is defined as the status of a person born outside of the United States, and not a U.S.…
One of the themes of this year’s USCIS Ombudsman Annual Report is that the agency has been through “a year like no other.” USCIS faced “unprecedented challenges.” With the COVID-19 pandemic came temporary office closures, reduced capacity, and budget cuts. This led to previously unseen levels of backlogs and deepening financial problems, according to the…
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced that, because of new dire circumstances, TPS for Haiti will be designated for 18 months effective August 3, 2021, through February 3, 2023.
The designation is a response to the “[d]eteriorating political crisis, violence, and a staggering increase in human rights abuses,” as well as a deteriorating healthcare…
