USCIS made Form I-130, Petition for Alien Relative, available online in October 2019, adding to their list of applications and forms that can be e-filed. If you need to file an I-130, you can submit all required forms and supporting evidence electronically, as well as track your case and receive...

USCIS announced that as of October 24, 2019 they are beginning to produce a new travel document that will look similar to a US Passport for some lawful permanent residents (green card holder) and those with refugee or asylum status.  The new travel document is a booklet with several...

USCIS announced that as of December 2, 2019, it is increasing the Premium Processing fee to $1440 from the current fee of $1410.  USCIS said that the $30 fee increase is due to inflation based on the Consumer Price Index for all Urban Consumers.  Premium Processing was last increased in...

Charles Oppenheim, Chief of the Immigrant Visa Control & Reporting Division of the Department of Status, provided an update about the use of and projected availability of visas for the Employment-Based-5th preference (EB-5).

Overview

The EB-5 visa category is a path to an immigrant visa, or...

Last month, President Trump announced that, beginning November 3, 2019, all intending immigrants applying for visas at US consulates and embassies abroad will be required to obtain health insurance within 30 days of entering the US. The intention of the new proposed policy is to suspend entry of...

Earlier this week, the Trump administration announced that they had reached an agreement with El Salvador and would be extending TPS (Temporary Protected Status) for Salvadorans in the US for one year. TPS is a program that provides temporary legal status and work authorization to foreigners in...

On Monday, October 28th, the Trump administration granted a one year extension to TPS (Temporary Protected Status) to Salvadorans living in the US. The program has been at risk of termination since Trump became president, as he sought to reduce immigration by cancelling TPS status for...

The Supreme Court is scheduled to begin hearing arguments for the proposed termination of the DACA program beginning on November 12, 2019. The Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program was temporarily paused when the Trump administration announced in 2017 their intention to end the program...

Last week, the Department of State announced an update to the interim final rule following the nationwide injunction of proposed new public charge policies. The interim rule aims to align DOS policies with the Department of Homeland Security, and it specifies that, even though the new policies...

The U.S. House of Representatives took a step to reduce the immigrant visa backlog for certain countries.  H.R.1044 Fairness for High-Skilled Immigrants Act of 2019 passed the House in a 365-65 vote in September and is now before the US Senate as bill number S.386. The proposed law increases...

In a small Pacific Northwest community not far from Portland, a rise in deportations has drawn national attention to the methods ICE uses to locate and track its targets, and how data gathered from social media, the DMV, the IRS, and independent data-mining companies out of Silicon Valley is...

The US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) published their annual statistics on case processing for nonimmigrant workers, including H-1B, L, and TN petitions. Fiscal Year 2019 (October 2019 through September 2019) continued the trend of lower approval rates and increased Request for...