The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has announced that, effective March 31, 2020, it will no longer adjudicate immigrant petitions by alien investor (form I-526) on a first-in, first-out basis. Rather, the USCIS will prioritize those EB5 petitions in which the immigrant investor has...
The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has approved the public charge questionnaire (form DS-5540), and the U.S. Department of State (DOS) will implement its new public charge rule, effective February 24, 2020. The DOS has also updated the Foreign Affairs Manual (FAM) with instructions...
The U.S. Department of State (DOS) has released the March 2020 Visa Bulletin. All cutoff dates listed refer to the dates in the final action (FA) chart, unless otherwise specified. Visa Bulletin Summary Employment Based, 1st Category (EB1) The cutoff date for EB1 China moves slightly forward to...
The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has released a new version of form I-9, the employment eligibility verification form. Employers may start using the new I-9 form now, but must use it after April 30, 2020. Although the I-9 form appears to be innocuous...
In most circumstances, anyone applying for a nonimmigrant visa must apply in person at a U.S. consulate or embassy and be interviewed by a consular officer. In the context of applying to renew a visa, however, the interview requirement may be waived under the visa...
The U.S. Department of State (DOS) published a notice this morning in the Federal Registrar, requesting emergency processing by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) of the proposed public charge questionnaire (form DS-5540) by February 24, 2020. The DOS needs the OMB to approve...
On December 20, 2019, President Trump signed into law a $738 billion defense appropriation bill and buried near the end of the bill is the Liberian Refugee Immigration Fairness (LRIF) provision. While it initially received little public attention, its unlikely passage was no doubt celebrated...
President Trump has issued a proclamation that bars entry to the United States of most foreign nationals who were physically present in China, not including the special administrative regions of Hong Kong and Macau, within the 14 days immediately prior to arrival in the United...
Today, a federal district court judge issued a nationwide permanent injunction against the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) from enforcing the August 9, 2018, policy memorandum by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) that sought to greatly expand the situations in which nonimmigrants...
Earlier today, President Trump officially announced that six additional countries are being added to the travel ban list. Under this updated travel ban, nationals of Burma (Myanmar), Eritrea, Kyrgyzstan, Nigeria, Sudan, and Tanzania will not be eligible for immigrant visas, beginning February 22, 2020. Nationals...
