USCIS recently released a Draft Guidance Memo regarding the “extreme hardship” threshold that must be established for Inadmissibility Waivers. The guidance is now in its comments period which ends on November 23, 2015. At that time USCIS will review the public comments and formally finalize the policy memo. The finalized policy memo will be released […]
Military Accessions Vital to the National Interest, also known as MAVNI, is a U.S. military recruiting program that permits legal non-citizens with high valued skills to join the U.S. Army in exchange for an expedited path to U.S. citizenship. A non-citizen who joins the U.S. Army through MAVNI is able to move from a non-immigrant […]
A recent report by the Migration Policy Institute (“MPI”) has shed some statistical light on the trends in apprehensions and deportations of Central American migrants from the US and Mexico. In the summer of 2014, this migration gained significant media attention, particularly due to the amount of unaccompanied minors coming from the Northern Triangle of […]
On August 13, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit ruled that the Department of Homeland Security (“DHS”)’s termination without prejudice of removal proceedings based on respondent’s conviction of an aggravated felony, do not preclude the government from charging respondent with removability again in the future, based on the same conviction. In Calero […]
The Department of State and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) recently established a new program to provide a safe and legal route for children living in El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras to travel to the United States. Through the Central American Minors (CAM) Refugee/Parole Program, qualifying parents who are lawfully present in the United […]
A federal Judge in Brownsville, Texas has ordered a temporary injunction to President Obama’s executive actions on immigration. While U.S. District Judge Andrew Hanen of Texas did not rule on the specific legality of the executive action he stated that there was enough merit to warrant an injunction while the case is properly adjudicated. Last […]
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 […]
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 […]
Most of the general public is not aware of the way in which immigration courts function in the United States. With all the discussion in the media concerning undocumented child migrants and increased deportations, the realities of the current immigration court system should be more publicized. According to the National Association of Immigration Judges (NAIJ) […]
According to CNN, every day, hundreds of unoccupied minors cross the southwest border into the United States via rafts with instructional guides on how to reach the Border Patrol station to surrender in search of a better life. Usually, once at the station, they are given paperwork and admitted into the United States with a […]
