USCIS is resuming the Cuban Family Reunification Parole (CFRP) Program beginning with already pending CFRP applications. This program started in 2007 and has been on hold for some time. It allows beneficiaries of approved Forms I-130, Petitions for Alien Relative, to come to the United States on parole while waiting for an available visa number.
Permanent Residence
How Links to Marijuana Industry Can Affect Foreign Nationals’ U.S. Immigration Status
Marijuana still is considered a Schedule I drug under the federal Controlled Substances Act. A conviction under the Controlled Substances Act can lead to severe consequences for a non-U.S. citizen.
Under U.S. immigration law, any non-U.S. citizen who is convicted under the Controlled Substances Act, even green card holders, who participate or make investments…
DACA to Become Regulation
Responding to the history of legal challenges, the Biden Administration is trying to give the DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) program more heft by changing it from a policy to a regulation. On October 31, 2022, a new final rule will become effective.
To the dismay of many advocates for the “Dreamers,” however, the…
USCIS, DOS Race to Use Up Employment-Based Visa Allocations by End of FY 2022
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) is trying to approve as many employment-based green card applications as it can before the annual deadline of September 30, 2022 (the end of the fiscal year).
Primarily due to COVID-19 restrictions, approximately 140,000 family-based visa numbers went unused last fiscal year. As a result, these unused visa numbers…
USCIS Updates Requirements for TPS Holders
Some Temporary Protected Status (TPS) holders will once again be able to overcome inadmissibility for adjustment of status purposes by traveling internationally because USCIS is updating its interpretation of MTINA, the Miscellaneous and Technical Immigration and Naturalization Amendment of 1991.
As of July 1, 2022:
- USCIS will no longer use the advance parole mechanism to
…
Deferral of Enforced Departure Extended for Liberians
President Joe Biden has extended Deferral of Enforced Departure (DED) and employment authorization for Liberians until June 30, 2024. Accordingly, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) will publish instructions regarding the implementation in the Federal Register.
Because of armed conflict, civil strife and Ebola, Liberians were granted Temporary Protected Status (TPS) in 1991. By 2007,…
Tennessee’s Revised Mandatory E-Verify Law Applies to More Employers
As of January 1, 2023, Tennessee will require all private employers with at least 35 employees to use E-Verify and maintain E-Verify case results.
E-Verify is a federal electronic database intended to aid employers in confirming that the documentation provided by new hires to establish lawful employment eligibility is in fact valid. Except for federal…
U.S. Supreme Court Limits Federal Court Review in Deportation Case
Federal courts could not review the U.S. Attorney General’s decisions denying discretionary relief from removal – even in a case where the alien contends that the decision was based on a factual error, the U.S. Supreme Court has held, 5-4, affirming the opinion of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit. Patel v.
Restart of U.S.-Cuba Migration Talks
The Department of State (DOS) has reinstituted talks with Cuban representatives about how to support family reunification and safe, orderly migration from Cuba to the United States.
Talks of this nature were instituted in 1984 and continued biannually from 1994 until 2018 when the talks were paused by the Trump Administration.
The Biden Administration is…
CDC Issues Further Updates to COVID-19 Guidance for Air Travelers to United States
There are further updates from the CDC for all air travelers.
Now, most travelers will have to show a negative COVID-19 test or documentation of recovery from COVID-19 and contact information to board an airplane for the United States. As before, U.S. citizens, U.S. nationals, U.S. lawful permanent residents, and those entering the United…