In November 2014, the Secretary of Homeland Security announced two new memorandum clarifying priorities on prosecutorial discretion and enforcement priorities. These policies are to be implemented by all DHS agencies, including USCIS, when deciding which aliens to arrest, detain, and remove from the US and when and how to exercise prosecutorial discretion. What follows is […]
Huang v. Holder is an Eleventh Circuit case on appeal from a Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) denying Huang’s application for asylum after finding that the abuse he suffered in his native country of China did not constitute religious persecution. The Eleventh Circuit vacated and remanded to the BIA because it was unclear from the […]
Do you have a bachelor’s degree or the equivalent? Will you be working in a specialty occupation? Will you be earning a wage? The H-1B visa has an annual numerical limit, or cap, of 65,000 visas each fiscal year. Cap numbers are often used up very quickly, so it is important to plan in advance […]
On January 14th, the House of Representatives voted to try and block President Obama’s Executive Order relating to Immigration announced last November. In a 236-191 vote, the House of Representatives passed a spending bill aimed to defund major parts of President’ Obama’s plan. The vote triggers negotiations with the House and the Senate over the funding […]
President Obama stressed the importance of family unity in his Executive Action on November 20th, however that may pertain only to families within the United States and does not allow families divided between the United States and their home-states to be reunited. For Immigrants all over the world, a main priority of theirs is the […]
A recent report released by the humanitarian advocacy group, No More Deaths states that of the 400,000 people deported from the United States during the fiscal year 2013, nearly one third were deported without their personal belongings and money. This is a serious issue that often goes unreported and continues under the radar, since these […]
The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has already approved the statutory maximum of 10,000 petitions for U-1 Nonimmigrant Status (U-Visas) for the 2015 fiscal year that began on October 1, 2014. The cap was reached almost immediately due to the applicants who were on the wait list from the 2014 fiscal year. Unfortunately, this means […]
La orden ejecutiva del presidente Obama anunció el 20 de noviembre 2014 tiene como objetivo hacer una serie de cambios en el sistema de inmigración actual. La Orden Ejecutiva ayudará a asegurar la frontera y combatir la inmigración ilegal, priorizar la deportación de criminales no las familias, y requerirá ciertos inmigrantes indocumentados que pasar una […]
On November 12, 2014, the National Visa Center, a U.S. Department of State agency, stopped collecting original civil documents in support of immigrant visa applications. Applicants will now be required to submit photocopies of documents to support their applications. However, applicants may upon request be required to bring original documents to their scheduled interviews for […]
President Obama’s Executive Action announced on November 20, 2014 aims to make a number of changes to the current immigration system. The Executive Action will help secure the border and crack down on illegal immigration, prioritize deporting felons not families, and will require certain undocumented immigrants to pass a criminal background check and pay their […]
