EAH Immigration Blog

All new employees are required to complete a Form I-9 when they are hired. While many new employees do so with little thought, the consequences for foreign nationals of improperly completing the form can be disastrous, leading to serious immigration consequences. Some USCIS districts have been scouring I-9 forms to see...

The Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC) released new data showing that the odds of obtaining representation in immigration deportation proceedings varies widely, depending upon the community in which an immigrant lives. According to the report, if you happen to live in Honolulu, then the odds are good that if an ICE...

On July 11, 2017, USCIS released a final rule delaying the effective date of the International Entrepreneur Rule from July 17, 2017, to March 14, 2018. The final rule would have allowed international entrepreneurs to use the parole program to stay temporarily in the United States to grow their start-up businesses...

Despite strong opinions from the Fourth and Ninth Courts of Appeal, the U.S. Supreme Court lifted the injunction on President Trump’s travel ban and allowed a version of it to go into effect. The Supreme Court will hear the arguments for the case in October, shortly after the ban is set...

Several reform proposals have been introduced in recent weeks, but the RAISE Act, introduced in the Senate with strong support from Trump, has garnered much public attention. Reforming American Immigration for a Strong Economy (RAISE) Act (S.354) seeks to cut legal immigration numbers in half. The bill would: create a “points-based”...

To our DACA clients, families and friends: We stand with you!  We are all heartbroken about this Administration’s shortsighted decision to terminate the DACA program.  The Department of Homeland Security has issued a memorandum with details about how the program will end. You can find the details here:  https://www.dhs.gov/news/2017/09/05/memorandum-rescission-daca Additionally, below is...

The following additional items may be of interest to our readers: Indian Nationals Eligible to Join Global Entry and Can Avoid Long Immigration Inspection Lines: Citizens of India now join a select group of countries — including the United Kingdom, Switzerland, Germany, Colombia, Mexico, Panama, and South Korea — whose nationals...

USCIS has begun to accept premium processing I-907 requests for three cap-exempt H-1B classifications. A petitioner can file an I-907 if it is (1) an institution of higher education, (2) a nonprofit related to or affiliated with an institution of higher education, or (3) a nonprofit research or governmental research organization....

On July 17, DHS and the DOL issued a temporary rule increasing the numerical limitation on H-2B nonimmigrant visas to authorize the issuance of up to an additional 15,000 through the end of fiscal year (FY) 2017. To file for one of these additional H-2B visas, a petitioner must meet all...

Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, was set in place by President Obama five years ago in response to the realities of enforcing immigration laws. It was another way to allow ICE to prioritize enforcement: the agency has limited funds and it is best dedicated to the removal of those...

The election dust has settled and the candidate who based his campaign on tough immigration enforcement is in the White House. While change takes time, just seven months into President Trump’s term, the nation is starting to fully understand the reality of working with the Trump administration. Indeed, for the first...

In a recent letter, New Jersey Chief Justice Stuart Rabner requested that DHS Secretary Kelly urge ICE not to arrest individuals who show up for court appearances in state court. The chief justice said that courthouses should be added to the list of “sensitive locations” outlined in a 2011 ICE enforcement...

Refund Requests Generally, USCIS does not issue refunds for filing fees, regardless of the decision on the application. There are very limited exceptions: for example, when USCIS collects the incorrect fee. If an applicant or petitioner believes he or she is entitled to a refund of a fee, the first step...

Under the Obama Administration, certain undocumented immigrants were permitted to have their immigration cases administratively closed in the exercise of prosecutorial discretion (PD), which in essence was a form of relief from deportation. Often this was granted when an undocumented parent of U.S. citizen children was placed in removal proceedings. The...

Two bills are winding their way through the House’s Judiciary Committee that focus on immigration enforcement tactics and ignore any major policy changes: U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Authorization Act (H.R. 2406) and the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Act (H.R. 2407). Included in the former bill is a provision that...

The Supreme Court found unconstitutional the gender-based distinction in the immigration act, requiring a shorter period of parental physical presence in the U.S. for acquisition of citizenship through an unwed citizen mother versus an unwed citizen father. Rather than extending the shorter period of required physical presence to children of unwed...

Immigration courts have an enormous backlog that has not only persisted, but grown exponentially over the years. In 2006, the average case processing time was about 198 days. A decade later the same case will take 650 days to process. Government officials attribute the backlog to a number of factors: staffing...

Under the Obama Administration, certain undocumented immigrants were permitted to have their immigration cases administratively closed in the exercise of prosecutorial discretion (PD), which in essence was a form of relief from deportation. Often this was granted when an undocumented parent of U.S. citizen children was placed in removal proceedings. The...

Armed with a supplemental questionnaire, DS-5535, consular officers around the world have started more intensive vetting of some visa applicants — including requests for their social media handles (user name) — in an effort to block potential terrorists and other national security threats from entering the country. DS-5535 was rolled out...

The Department of Labor has a minor but important role in some immigration matters, including the H-1 and H-2 visa programs and labor certification applications for employment-based green cards. After reviewing the DOL’s foreign worker visa programs, Labor Secretary R. Alexander Acosta announced actions to increase protections for American workers while...