The Insightful Immigration Blog

Commentaries on Immigration Policy, Cases, and Trends

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By: Cyrus D. Mehta & Partners PLLC

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David Isaacson
Cyrus Mehta
Cora-Ann Pestaina

Latest from The Insightful Immigration Blog

In light of the higher possibility of denials of routine H-1B and L-1 petitions, immigration lawyers may want to consider stepping out of their comfort zones. They should consider thinking about representing the client beyond the motion to reopen or appeal to the Appeals Administrative Office (AAO) in the event of a denial. Seeking judicial review of a denial under the Administrative Procedures Act is a very viable route to challenge a denial. Immigration lawyers…
Immigration Judge Ila C. Deiss’ summary order shows how one who is granted Temporary Protected Status can adjust to permanent resident status through an I-140 petition filed by an employer. Here are the facts based upon which IJ Deiss issued the order: The Respondent is a native and citizen of Nepal who arrived in the United States in 2006 in F-1 student status. In 2007 he stopped going to school and began working without authorization.…
It’s the year 2020! We celebrate the start of a new decade and are hopeful for good things to come. Will the upcoming H-1B cap season be one of those good things? All we know for sure is that it will be different. Preparing for the cap season can be stressful but we recognize the stressors and, through trial and error, we have developed various coping strategies and mechanisms. But this year, we are not…
Thank you for reading and supporting The Insightful Immigration Blog.  Listed below are the top 10 most viewed blogs that were published in 2019.  While these are the 10 most viewed blogs, each blog is a carefully crafted gem, and we invite you to read all of them.  In 2019, the Trump Administration continued its assault on immigration to the United States.  The Remain in Mexico policy has severely impacted the ability of asylum seekers…
By Cyrus D. Mehta and Sonal Sharma* In Wilkie v. Kisor, the Supreme Court issued a significant decision regarding whether courts should still be paying deference to the government’s interpretation of its own regulations. Here’s some background on how we got to this deference standard. Over 35 years ago, the Supreme Court established a two-step analysis in Chevron USA Inc. v. Natural Resources Defense Council for evaluating whether an agency’s interpretation of a statute…
Until President Trump of the United States and Prime Minister Modi of India came to power, it was unimaginable that democratically elected leaders could cynically tweak immigration laws to undermine the founding values of their nations. America has unquestionably been viewed as a nation of immigrants and a beacon of liberty for the world’s persecuted until Trump came on the scene. Trump cruelly reduced refugee admissions to a trickle and toughened asylum laws. He has…
We have previously blogged regarding The Curse of Kazarian v. USCIS in Extraordinary Ability Adjudications Under the Employment-Based First Preference. Kazarian v. USCIS, 596 F.3d 1115 (9th Cir. 2010),as interpreted by the USCIS, has resulted in a two part test for Extraordinary Ability petitions (EB-1). In the first part of the test, the USCIS has to determine whether the individual has demonstrated “sustained national or international acclaim. However, even after meeting the first part…
The subject of safe third country agreements, or as the U.S. government has begun calling them “Asylum Cooperation Agreements”, has been in the news lately in both the United States and Canada.  The U.S. and Canada have had such an agreement with one another since 2002, implemented pursuant to section 208(a)(2)(A) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA), 8 U.S.C. 1158(a)(2)(A), and section 208.30(e)(6) of Title 8 of the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR)…
It requires skill and creativity to assist Indians caught in the employment based backlogs to find ways speed up the process or ameliorative solutions. The India employment-based second preference (EB-2) and employment-based third preference (EB-3) dates have barely moved for years, and the prospects for a beneficiary of an I-140 petition born in India for obtaining permanent residence anytime soon are bleak. One strategy is to file an I-140 petition in the employment-based first preference…
Ever got that frustrating feeling that the USCIS adjudicator first decided that the H-1B petition needed to be denied and only then set about finding reasons, however shaky, to support that denial?  Ever wondered how it is possible for the adjudicator to completely ignore the preponderance of the evidence standard in favor of the criminal standard of beyond all reasonable doubt? The case of Innova Solutions, Inc. v. Kathy A. Baran, case number 2:18-cv-09732…