Immigration Updates

Much of the attention on President Obama’s Executive Action has focused on his use of prosecutorial discretion to defer deportation for millions of undocumented immigrants, including certain parents of U.S. citizens and Lawful Permanent Residents. But as part of the November announcement, President Obama also signed a memorandum to explore ways to upgrade parts of…

“What did the President do, exactly?” The President announced one new program, expanded another, and made a lot of changes that will make immigration enforcement more humane and smarter. The new program that everyone is talking about is called Deferred Action for Parents (DAPA). Under DAPA, the undocumented parents of United States Citizens or Legal…

Naturalization Through Military Service Special provisions of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) authorize U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) to expedite the application and naturalization process for current members of the U.S. armed forces and recently discharged members. Generally, qualifying military service includes service with one of the following branches: Army, Navy, Air Force,…

ALEX NOWRASTEH President Obama will soon announce an executive action to defer the deportations of somewhere between 1 million and 4.5 million unauthorized immigrants. Those whose deportations are deferred will be eligible for a temporary work permit through a 1987 provision in the Code of Federal Regulations. Those who support immigration reform note that any…

Recently the U.S. Department of Labor changed its procedure on how an employer seeks review of a denial of Permanent Labor Certification (PERM). As of October 27, 2014, the Atlanta National Processing Center is no longer automatically forward to BALCA all PERM case Requests for Reconsideration where the original case decision was upheld. Rather, a…

The H-2B program is a program that allows U.S. employers to bring foreign nationals to the United States to fill temporary non-agricultural jobs. The H-2B program has a statutory numerical limit, or “cap,” on the total number of H-2B visas that can be issued during a fiscal year. Currently, the H-2B cap set by Congress…

The Congressionally mandated Diversity Immigrant Visa Program is administered annually by the Department of State. Section 203(c) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) provides for a class of “diversity immigrants,” from countries with historically low rates of immigration to the United States. For fiscal year 2016, 50,000 diversity visas (DVs) will be available. There…

When someone wishes to come to the U.S. temporarily (whether for a number of weeks as in the case of a tourist, an international student or a number of years as in the case of an H-1B worker), he or she must obtain a “visa” to enter the U.S. When admitted into the country -at…

In an asylum claim, what is a well-founded-fear of persecution? With regard to the “well-founded fear of persecution ” standard applicable to asylum claims, the regulations state that an applicant meets the standard if he establishes that (a) the applicant has a fear of persecution in his country of nationality or last habitual residence on…

Each year mandatory detention results in the jailing of tens of thousands of people who pose no danger to their communities and are not a flight risk. Feeding this detention system is the mandatory detention provision of Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigration Responsibility Act of 1996 (IIRAIRA), requiring that most people in deportation proceedings, base…