Former INS Attorney Carl Shusterman has been writing an immigration blog on a regular basis since 1996.
The May Visa Bulletin was issued on April 24, 2020, the day after the President’s Executive Order greatly restricted family-based immigration and some employment-based immigration to the United States. Employment Categories in the May Visa Bulletin In the May Visa Bulletin, the forward movement in the worldwide employment categories varies widely. The worldwide EB-1 category, […]
An Executive Order suspending US immigration was issued by the White House on April 22, 2020. The order would reduce immigration to the United States by approximately one-third. The stated rationale for the executive order is that since the COVID-19 pandemic has so far resulted in over 22 million Americans filing for unemployment benefits, reducing […]
Given all the recent immigrant-bashing by politicians hungry for votes, I could not stop myself from reading a new book entitled “Adios America” by Ann Coulter in which she sets out to convince us that immigration is destroying our country. A more apt title for her book would be “Keep America White!” To her, immigration […]
On December 21, 2000, President Clinton, unable to get his LIFA amendments through Congress, signed the Republican-sponsored LIFE amendments into law. AILA has an excellent summary of the LIFE Amendments. The LIFA amendments would have been a boon to immigrants, advancing the registry date to 1986, permanently restoring section 245(I) to the law, and granting […]
Last week, DHS and DOS announced plans to propose a large number of new immigration regulations during the next few months. The rules would apply to B-1 business visitors, F-1 students, H-1B professionals and their H-4 spouses, L-1 visa holders. They would also change the EB-5 program, filings for adjustment of status, asylum and DOS […]
On November 14, 2019, the USCIS issued a proposed regulation which would substantially increase filing fees for many types of immigration benefits. “USCIS is required to examine incoming and outgoing expenditures, just like a business, and make adjustments based on that analysis. This proposed adjustment in fees would ensure more applicants cover the true cost […]
One of the most serious problems in our broken immigration system is that there are not nearly enough immigrant visas – also known as green cards – available each year. As a result, immigrants are stuck in crippling backlogs for many years. The Relief Act introduced by Senators Durbin, Leahy and Hirono on October 16 […]
The new expanded public charge rule was scheduled to become effective on Tuesday, October 15, 2019. However, on October 11, a number of Federal Courts temporarily enjoined the rule from going into effect. And a new presidential proclamation barring new immigrants from entering the U.S. without unsubsidized commercial health insurance will kick in a couple […]
On March 9, 2021, DHS Secretary Mayorkas announced that the Biden Administration would no longer enforce the Trump-era public charge rule: “The 2019 public charge rule was not in keeping with our nation’s values. It penalized those who access health benefits and other government services available to them. Consistent with the President’s vision, we will […]
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) published a final EB-5 rule on July 24 that makes a number of significant changes to its EB-5 Immigrant Investor Program, marking the first significant revision of the program’s regulations since 1993. The final rule will become effective on November 21, 2019. New developments under the final EB-5 rule […]
