Current News

The Inspector’s Field Manual (IFM) provided CBP officers guidance on procedural and interpretive authority when adjudicating a foreign national’s application for a visa. As this document was previously public immigration attorneys and their clients knew the guidelines that the CBP officers must follow.  Of course many aspects of the visa interview still remained open to the officers discretion such as whether the person has non-immigrant or immigrant intent.

Instead the IFM is being replaced by the Officer

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USCIS has recently begun sending Requests for Evidence to applicants for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) who are currently enrolled in GED programs.  These Requests for Evidence most often require further proof that the DACA applicant is enrolled in a GED program, that the GED program is publicly funded, that there is a targeted end date for the GED program, and that the GED program, if not publicly funded, is of substantial quality which can be proven by

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The Senate Judiciary Committee has approved the Border Security, Economic Opportunity and Immigration Modernizing Act to head to the Senate floor for further debate.  Senate analysts believe the debate over the bill will continue through June.

Many of the original provisions of the bill remain in place despite various amendments by the Senate Judiciary Committee.  The bill still creates a 13 year path to citizenship for millions of undocumented immigrants currently in the United States through a registered provisional immigrant

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This year over 85,000 H-1B applications were filed with USCIS, thus exceeding the Master’s Cap and Regular Cap.  USCIS announced on Wednesday, May 15 that its initial H-1B selection process was complete and applicants should know whether their H-1B application was chosen for adjudication by June 1, 2013 .  The lottery used to choose the H-1Bs is randomized and does not speak to the merits of each application.  If chosen in the lottery, an H-1B application will

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Immigration attorneys and other volunteers will be offering a Free workshop on Saturday May 11th, 2013 to assist individuals looking to apply for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) Program. The DACA program dos not provide a path towards permanent residency or U.S. citizenship, but it allows certain individuals that came to the United States as children (and are under the age of 31) to lawfully remain in the United

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The Senate Judiciary Committee has begun reviewing the comprehensive immigration reform bill proposed by the bipartisan “Gang of 8.”  In its first day under review, the bill was left mostly unchanged, despite Republican senators’ attempt to condition a pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants on imposing stricter border security measures.  Nearly all of the amendments made on the first day, save for one, were made with bipartisan agreement.  The bill continues to be under review by the Senate Judiciary

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The results of the 2014 Diversity Lottery are out. Applicants will not be emailed of the results and will need to check the Diversity Visa Entrant Status page. Applicants selected for the Lottery are eligible to receive an immigrant visa. After entering on the immigrant visa they will become a permanent resident. After 5 years of living in the U.S. as a permanent resident they may become a U.S. Citizen.

U.S. Customs & Border Patrol (CBP) will soon begin to implement electronic I-94 cards, doing away with the white cards given to foreign visitors entering the U.S. via air and sea.  CBP will continue to issue paper forms to foreign visitors entering via land borders.  Implementation of this electronic system began May 1 and is expected to continue through May 24.  Travelers will not need to adjust their entry in any way; the transition will be conducted entirely by

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Didn’t get selected in the H-1b lottery? Missed the H-1b filing deadline? Wondering what to do now? Here are some possible options that could work for you:

• O-1 Visa: The O-1 visa is for foreign nationals of extraordinary ability in the sciences, arts, or business. The standard is generally quite high as the individual must have “sustained national or international acclaim”, but this standard is lowered for individuals in the arts. The O-1 visa is not subject

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