Immigration

As part of the continuing trade and intellectual property war with China, the U.S. Department of State has implemented a new policy to limit visa validity periods and impose additional security clearances before visa issuance to citizens of the People’s Republic of China.

On Tuesday, April 24, 2018, a District of Columbia federal District Court judge issued an order vacating the decision to rescind the DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) program and requiring the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to continue to accept and process both new and renewal DACA applications.

As a follow-up to the April 6, 2018 announcement that the H-1B cap had been reached, on Thursday, April 12, USCIS revealed that it has now completed the random selection of the 85,000 petitions for the quota and that in total, the agency received 190,098 H-1B cap-subject submissions. This number is down from last year’s 199,000.

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (“USCIS”) announced today that it has received enough H-1B petitions to reach the statutory cap of 65,000 petitions for fiscal year (FY) 2019. USCIS also received more than the limit of 20,000 H-1B petitions filed under the U.S. advanced degree exemption, also known as the “master’s cap.”

On March 26, 2018, Massachusetts adopted a new system for driver’s licenses and identification (Mass ID) cards to comply with the REAL ID federal standards.

On Tuesday, March 20, 2018, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced that it will temporarily suspend premium processing for Fiscal Year 2019 H-1B cap petitions starting April 2, 2018, the same date that USCIS will begin accepting H-1B petitions subject to the cap.

It appears that the Republican controlled Congress and the Trump Administration cannot get anything done on the contentious issues of immigration.

The term "chain migration" is currently being used to describe a process in which one legal immigrant can generate many new admissions by sponsoring his or her relatives — each of whom, in turn, leads to even more immigrants.

Historically, H-1B visas have been the U.S. employment visa of choice due to their flexibility for professionals to work in “specialty occupations.” Lately, however, for those employers and prospective employees who are subject to the annual numerical “cap” on H-1Bs, the demand far outstrips the quota.

As of 4 pm on Friday, January 19, 2018, the US Senate had not reached an agreement on the terms of a continuing resolution to keep the US government running. The US House passed a 30-day resolution on Thursday, but this must also pass the Senate and President Trump must sign it before midnight, January 19, 2018 to avoid a shutdown.

On January 8, 2018, the Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced the decision to terminate Temporary Protected Status (TPS) designation for El Salvador. TPS provides a temporary legal basis to remain in the U.S. and employment authorization to individuals from countries deemed to be unsafe due to natural disaster, civil war, and other conditions.

On December 1, 2017 Judge James Boasberg of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia granted summary judgment to the National Venture Capital Association (NVCA) in its challenge to a regulation published by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) delaying the implementation of the International Entrepreneur Parole (IEP) Rule.

On Monday, December 4, 2017, the U.S. Supreme Court issued two separate, but related, orders staying lower courts’ preliminary injunctions against President Trump’s most recent travel ban (see our previous alert). The practical impact of these Supreme Court orders is that the latest travel ban reinstates President Trump’s Presidential Proclamation of September 24, 2017.

On December 1st, 2017 Judge James Boasberg of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia granted summary judgment to the National Venture Capital Association (NVCA) in its challenge to a regulation published by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) delaying the implementation of the International Entrepreneur Parole (IEP) Rule. 

In early October, we reported that U.S. visa processing in Turkey had been suspended amid security concerns, and that the government of Turkey had responded with a suspension of visa processing for U.S. citizens.

On November 13, 2017, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco partially granted an emergency request by the United States government to allow the travel ban issued by President Trump on September 24, 2017 to go into effect.

On November 13, 2017, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco partially granted an emergency request by the United States government to allow the travel ban issued by President Trump on September 24, 2017 (see our previous alert) to go into effect.

Effective Monday, October 30th, Mintz Levin’s Immigration Practice will upgrade its case management database. The security-enhanced, cloud-based system is provided by LawLogix. This new software will streamline our practice, allowing for more immediate, transparent, and effective client service.

On October 16, 2017, the US Department of State (DOS) shut down registration for the FY 2019 Diversity Lottery due to a technical problem and will restart the registration period on October 18, 2017. All entries submitted online prior to October 18, 2017 are not valid and have been excluded from the system. 

On Tuesday, October 17, 2017 Hawaii Federal District Court Judge Derrick K. Watson issued a ruling applicable to the entire United States, blocking most of President Trump’s latest travel ban that was scheduled to go into effect tomorrow, October 18, 2017.