The United States has entered into a reciprocal agreement with China regarding the duration of commonly utilized nonimmigrant visa categories. This agreement, effective November 12, 2014, applies to B-1/B-2 business and tourist visitors, F-1 and M-1 students, as well as J-1 exchange visitors. Chinese nationals...
The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Student and Exchange Visitor Program (SEVP) issued policy guidance specifying the definition of the term "academic year." as used for SEVP purposes. This is important because many immigration benefits available under the F-1 program are closely tied to how...
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has designated three West African countries for temporary protected status (TPS), due to the outbreak of Ebola in the region. Effective November 21, 2014, nationals of Liberia, Guinea, and Sierra Leone living in the United States are eligible...
President Barack Obama addressed the nation on November 20, 2014, in a televised speech to outline his proposed changes to immigration policies through executive action. These changes are part of a multi-pronged effort by the White House to make needed improvements by executive action to...
Department of State eMail Restored The external eMail system for the U.S. Department of State (DOS) is operational, as of November 18th. The DOS suggests that those who have not received responses to eMail sent to DOS after the evening of November 14th, may wish to...
A foreign national in the United States who needs to apply for a new U.S. visa "stamp" may wish to do so without the inconvenience of a trip to the person's home county. Rather, the U.S. embassy in Kingston, Jamaica may seem like an appealing...
As previously reported on MurthyDotCom, the U.S. Department of State (DOS) experienced large-scale computer problems this summer that resulted in visa issuance delays globally. While these issues have been resolved, the resulting notations in some visa applicants' files have raised additional questions. The DOS addressed...
On October 6, 2014, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced the creation of a new website, myE-Verify, that is related to the E-Verify program and is intended to help workers combat fraud and protect against identity theft. It also will serve to educate employees...
The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) often issues a variety of inked stamps in the passports of foreign nationals. These stamps are simple in appearance, but the government has long used specialized security ink for such stamps. Starting in the summer of 2014, the...
Foreign nationals may be deemed ineligible for admission (i.e. "inadmissible") to the United States for a variety of reasons. Common grounds of inadmissibility include: medical grounds, criminal grounds, and immigration violations (including fraud or material misrepresentation in connection with an immigration benefit). In most situations,...
