With global travel disruptions reaching six months, lawful permanent residents (LPRs) and conditional permanent residents (CPRs) who are abroad and cannot currently travel back to the United States due to the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic are experiencing extended absences from the United States. Absences from the United States between six months to one year by a permanent resident may result in questioning at the time of reentry to the United States by the inspecting…

In line with the U.S. Department of State’s increased periodic review and update of visa “reciprocity” pursuant to a January 2017 Executive Order, Mexican nationals will now benefit from increased visa validity periods in the E-1 Treaty Trader and E-2 Treaty Investor categories. The current reciprocity schedule, found on the Department of State website, now reflects that E-1 and E-2 visas for Mexican nationals can be issued for up to 48 months, up…

As part of USCIS’ updated Redeployment guidance released July 24, USCIS released a Q&A. The Q&A confirms the guidance from July 24, including the more questionable aspects of USCIS’ policy update. Importantly, USCIS doubled down on the idea that it can apply the new redeployment guidance to pending I-526 petitions and I-829 petitions by stating they have “…determined that any potential impacts to investors would be minimal because the updated guidance merely clarifies continuing eligibility…

On July 24, 2020, USCIS issued a Policy Alert titled “Clarifying Guidance for Deployment of Capital in Employment-Based Fifth Preference (EB-5) Category.” The Policy Alert outlines those changes that USCIS made, without prior notice to the public, regarding its policy on “redeployment” of EB-5 capital, including: Clarifies requirements for deployment of capital generally, including providing new language regarding the deployment of capital through any financial instrument that meets applicable requirements as well as explaining how…

On July 21, 2020, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) Ombudsman’s Office published an alert regarding card production delays. According to the alert, in June 2020, USCIS reduced the capacity to print secure documents, including Lawful Permanent Resident (LPR) Cards and Employment Authorization Documents (EAD), after it ended a contract with a third-party card production facility. While USCIS intended to hire federal employees to replace the contractors, the current hiring freeze at USCIS has…

On July 14, 2020, President Trump issued an Executive Order regarding Hong Kong’s preferential immigrant visa chargeability. EB-5 investors who were born in Hong Kong will see their visa availability retrogress from current (C) to a backlog priority date of July 2015. Previously, investors born in Hong Kong were not subject to the mainland China retrogression line under the Immigration Act of 1990 (IMACT 90). This act recognized Hong Kong as a separate foreign…

On June 22, 2020, in Liu v. SEC, the Supreme Court affirmed in an 8-1 ruling that the Securities and Exchange Commission may continue to pursue disgorgement awards under the federal securities law provided that the award is capped at the defendant’s net profits, and further, provided that the award is made for the benefit of wronged investors. In so holding, the Court struck a middle ground by narrowly preserving one of the most…