No Temporary Protected Status for Bahamians after Hurricane Dorian
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El Salvadoran TPS Work Authorization Automatically Extended
In 2018, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced that it will terminate the temporary protected status (TPS) program for nationals of El Salvador on September 9, 2019. Employment authorization documents (EADs) held by qualifying individuals that expired on March 9, 2018, were automatically extended through September 5, 2018, providing applicants time to apply for new EADs valid through the termination date. However, in late 2018, a federal court judge in California issued a preliminary…
Citizenship Acquisition – US Law in a Global Context
As discussed in last week’s post, obtaining US citizenship is the ultimate goal for many foreign nationals in the US who often wait years for a green card and then wait a few more years to apply for citizenship through naturalization. But naturalization is not the only way to obtain citizenship. A major source of data on citizenship laws, GlobalCit’s Global Database on Modes of Acquisition of Citizenship available from the Global Citizenship Observatory…
A Midsummer Primer on Naturalization
Obtaining US citizenship is the ultimate goal of many foreign nationals in the United States. Naturalization is US citizenship. It provides security and an end to endless waiting and uncertainty. Or it used to be. The current administration has made denaturalizing individuals who obtained naturalization through fraud a priority. The scope of US Citizenship and Immigration Services’ (USCIS) denaturalization efforts remains to be seen; however, with heightened scrutiny, including revising the citizenship test, it…
Special Event Visas: How Countries Adjust Immigration Processes for Global Events
In 2018, the US received approximately 740,000 visitors a week. While that number looks big, when compared to the US population of 372 million, it is relatively small, equal to only .2 percent of the population. In stark contrast, last week Saudi Arabia, a country of about 33 million people, hosted about 140,000 international visitors for the annual Hajj pilgrimage, temporarily increasing its population by 4 percent.…
DHS Reinterprets “Public Charge” in New Rule Designed to Limit Legal Immigration
In what seems to be a continuing effort to limit legal immigration, DHS issued a final rule that reinterprets “public charge” as a ground of inadmissibility. The new interpretation is scheduled to take effect October 15, 2019, but has already been challenged in several federal courts, which may delay the effective date.…
September 2019 Visa Bulletin – India EB-1 Becomes Unavailable for the First Time
The Visa Bulletin is released monthly by the Department of State and is used to determine when a sponsored foreign national can submit the final step of the green card process, or if already pending, when the final step can be adjudicated.
Below is a summary of the September Visa Bulletin, including Final Action Dates and changes from the previous month.
China: EB-1 retrogresses more than two years to January 1, 2014; EB-2 stalls at…
USCIS Will Not Close All International Offices as Previously Announced; Seven to Remain Open
USCIS Acting Director Ken Cuccinelli announced today, via Twitter, that USCIS will close all but seven of its international field offices, leaving only the offices in Beijing, Guanghzou, Guatemala City, Mexico City, Nairobi, New Delhi and San Salvador to service the many US citizens and permanent residents who reside abroad. USCIS has also made the official announcement on their website. The decision leaves the entire continents of South America and Europe without a USCIS…
Arizona Bakery Fined for an Abundance of Discrimination
On Tuesday, July 30, 2019, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced a settlement agreement with United General Bakery, Inc. based in Phoenix, Arizona. The agreement resolved a DOJ investigation into whether the company discriminated against authorized workers based on their citizenship status when verifying their work authorization in violation of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA).…
10 Things to Know about Schengen
In 1985, near the village of Schengen in Luxembourg, five European countries signed an agreement to gradually eliminate border controls between their countries. Since then, the Schengen agreement has become the basis for the elimination of border controls between 26 European countries facilitating the flow of people and goods throughout Europe. Visitors are subject to immigration inspection when entering the Schengen area, but not when traveling between Schengen states.…