22 Apr 2020

NewsFlash! President Signs Executive Order Pausing Issuance of Most Immigrant Visas at U.S. Consulates

This evening, President Trump signed an executive order to halt the issuance of immigrant visas for 60 days. On Monday night, the President tweeted that he would "temporarily suspend immigration into the United States." In reality, his executive order merely halts the issuance of immigrant...

21 Apr 2020

NewsFlash! Trump to Suspend Issuance of Green Cards for 60 Days

Moments ago, President Trump provided some additional details on his plans to "temporarily suspend immigration into the United States." The President will sign an executive order that will suspend the issuance of green cards for 60 days. It appears nonimmigrants will not be impacted by...

21 Apr 2020

NewsFlash! USCIS Waiving In-Person Interview Requirements for Some Cases

The American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) has received numerous reports of the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) sporadically waiving the in-person interview requirement during the COVID-19 pandemic. Most of the reports are related to family and employment-based adjustment-of-status (form I-485) cases. The USCIS suspended...

03 Apr 2020

NewsFlash! AILA Sues DHS, Demands Extension of All Deadlines

The American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) filed a federal lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), asking the court to order the DHS to "toll any and all deadlines for initial applications, responses to any and all requests for evidence or other responses...

20 Mar 2020

NewsFlash! USCIS Temporarily Accepting Forms with Photocopied Signatures

The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced today that, effective March 21, 2020, it will begin accepting all benefit forms and documents with reproduced signatures. Per the announcement, "[t]his means that a document may be scanned, faxed, photocopied, or similarly reproduced provided that the...

20 Mar 2020

NewsFlash! USCIS Temporarily Suspends Premium Processing for All I-129s and I-140s

Effective immediately, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) is temporarily suspending the availability of premium processing service for all form I-129 and form I-140 petitions. The USCIS will continue to provide premium-processing service for cases for which the I-907 request for premium processing has...