Immigration

The U.S. and worldwide entrepreneur community had been looking forward to July 17th with great anticipation.  This was supposed to be the effective date of the new International Entrepreneur Parole immigration regulation.

On June 26, 2017, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) introduced a redesigned version of Form I-485, Application to Register Permanent Residence or Adjust Status. This form is used in the final stage of the permanent residence, or “green card,” process for most applicants physically present in the United States.

The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled unanimously that naturalized American citizens cannot be stripped of citizenship if a lie or omission in the application process was irrelevant to the government’s decision to approve the naturalization application in the first place.

On May 31st, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) announced that they have published a new update on the I-94 website. CBP will remind travelers via e-mail of their officially recorded departure date from the United States.

On May 24th, DHS Secretary John F. Kelly extended Temporary Protected Status (TPS) through January 22, 2018 for eligible nationals of Haiti and individuals without nationality who last habitually resided in Haiti.

On Wednesday, May 24, our very own Kevin McNamara, Jen Rubin, and Bill Coffman will lead a live seminar in our San Diego office designed for in-house counsel, immigration specialists, HR professionals, talent managers, and other internal stakeholders to review changes affecting the hiring and continued employment of foreign nationals

On May 3, 2017, USCIS announced that it has completed data entry of all H-1B cap-subject petitions selected in the FY2018 lottery. We continue to receive receipt notices for selected petitions.

In another example of increased restriction on the rights of non-U.S. Citizens, on Thursday, April 27, the Department of Homeland Security (“DHS”) published a policy memorandum limiting the privacy rights of immigrants and foreign nationals under the Federal Privacy Act of 1974.

Following our recent seminars on what to expect in the world of immigration law and compliance in 2017, we invite you to delve deeper into I-9 compliance, E-Verify compliance, and employment-based immigration compliance. During this three-part webinar series, we will aim to arm employers with best practices and tools regarding compliance in key areas of immigration law.

USCIS announced on April 7, 2017, that it has received enough H-1B petitions to reach the statutory cap of 65,000 visas for fiscal year (FY) 2018. 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.

All individuals entering the U.S. at international ports of entry are inspected by US Customs & Border Protection (CBP).  This occurs at either the arrival airport in the U.S., Pre-Flight Inspection if flying from most Canadian airports, or border crossings into the U.S. from either Canada or Mexico.

A new travel restriction went into effect at 3:00 am EST on Tuesday barring passengers on foreign airlines coming to the United States from carrying electronic devices larger than a cellphone.

Just hours before President Trump’s new Executive Order or “Muslim Travel Ban” was to become effective, U.S. District Judge Derrick Watson in Hawaii issued a Temporary Restraining Order to stop the ban from being implemented on a national basis.

On March 6, 2017, President Trump signed a new Executive Order (“EO”), Protecting the Nation from Terrorist Attacks by Foreign Nationals, revoking the prior EO 13679 signed on January 27, 2017.

The European Commission is being urged to require U.S. citizens to obtain visas for travel to Europe in an effort to obtain full visa waiver reciprocity for all European Union (EU) nations.

On February 9, 2017, a three-judge panel of the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled unanimously against the Government’s emergency motion to stay the District Court’s Temporary Restraining Order (the “TRO”) halting the implementation of major portions of President Trump’s January 27th Executive Order. (See our previous alerts on the order here).

Update -  NEW BOSTON EVENT DATE: Due to safety concerns surrounding the recent snow storm, Mintz Levin rescheduled the Boston Immigration Seminar to Thursday, March 2. To register, please click here or see below. We hope you can join us!

At the end of the 2016 calendar year, the Administrative Appeals Office (AAO) published a welcome precedent decision, Matter of Dhanasar, 26 I&N Dec. 884 (AAO 2016).

In light of the general unavailability of H-1B visas due to the limited and inadequate H-1B visa quota, it is more important than ever that U.S. employers and highly skilled foreign nationals be able to take maximum advantage of exemptions from the quota.

Our Section Chair, Susan Cohen, has been quoted in an analytical piece by Zosha Millman, editor of The Lexblog Network, examining the impact of last week’s presidential election result on the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals initiative.