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All visitors, except U.S. citizens, returning resident aliens, immigrant visa holders, and most Canadian citizens, must receive a Form I-94, Arrival/Departure record at the port of entry. Because travel is picking up, Customs and Border Protection (CBP) is encouraging travelers to fill out an I-94 application online in advance to reduce wait times and speed…

On April 14, 2022, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) updated its post-arrival recommendations.

Almost everyone (unless specifically exempted) who is at least 2 years old must have a negative COVID-19 test (tests include an antigen test or a nucleic acid amplification test) to board an airplane for the United States. Travelers fall into two…

The Jumpstart Our Legal Immigration System Act (Jumpstart), introduced by Zoe Lofgren (D-Calf.) in the House of Representatives, if passed, could revolutionize the green card process. The legislation would recapture thousands of unused family- and employment-based visas and allow beneficiaries to expedite their processes by paying additional fees.

The Jumpstart Act would help to…

The Marijuana Opportunity Reinvestment and Expungement (MORE) Act passed the House of Representatives on April 1, 2022. If passed by the Senate and signed by the President, the bill would clear marijuana-related convictions from people’s records and remove marijuana from the federal controlled substances list. The bill specifically prohibits the denial of benefits and protections…

Just as the Biden Administration is proposing increased funding for USCIS to help reduce the agency’s backlog, USCIS is announcing  future new actions to improve processing times.

USCIS:

  1. Plans to expand staffing, improve its technology, and establish new internal cycle time goals (the amount of time it takes to process a typical case). As the

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Recognizing the importance of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) graduates to the U.S. economy, the Biden Administration has made three policy changes that expand eligibility.

The changes are as follows:

  • Adding 22 new degree fields to the STEM list so that more F-1 graduates can qualify for three years, instead of one year,

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Congress is set to pass Omnibus spending legislation that includes reauthorization of the EB-5 Immigrant Investor Regional Center Program, which has been suspended since June 2021.

The Regional Center Program allows eligible investors to apply for green cards if they make the necessary monetary investment and create or preserve at least 10 permanent full-time jobs…

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has announced that it is strongly encouraging applicants for adjustment of status (Form I-485) in the employment-based third preference category, if they are eligible to do so, to transfer the underlying basis of their applications to the first or second employment-based preference categories. This is because there are an…

In December 2021, Congressional Democrats tried to include immigration reforms in the Build Back Better Act (BBBA). Some of the proposals would have helped unauthorized immigrants by providing those eligible with parole and work authorization. The bill also would have reduced green card backlogs and provided some applicants with expedited green cards for a fee.…

On February 4, 2022, the House of Representatives passed the American Creating Opportunities for Manufacturing, Pre-Eminence in Technology, and Economic Strength Act  (known as the America COMPETES Act of 2022). The bill is aimed at “outcompeting China and the rest of the world in the 21st century.” Title III of the COMPETES Act adds…