FALSELY claiming to be a US citizen can be a fatal mistake for non-citizens hoping to one day enter the US or obtain/maintain US resident status. Alongside fake marriages, drug and domestic violence offenses and terrorism grounds, false claims to citizenship are among the most seriously treated under US immigration law. An individual who is…

ON Tuesday November 4, 2014, California Voters approved Proposition 47, which brings sweeping changes to California criminal law and procedure that will affect thousands of immigrants facing deportation due to pending and prior criminal cases.  The “Safe Neighborhood and Schools Act,” known as “Prop 47,” reduces certain felony and “wobbler” offenses for simple drug possession…

ON February 24, 2015, US Citizenship and Immigration Services (“USCIS”) announced that on May 26, 2015 it will accept applications to grant employment eligibility to certain H–4 spouses married to H–1B workers. Although this new rule was announced by the Obama Administration several months ago, the USCIS waited to implement the new rule until after…

Obama to seek immediate stay of order ON Monday, February 16, 2015, US District Judge Andrew S. Hanen in Brownsville, TX, granted a temporary injunction temporarily halting Obama’s executive action expansions that were set to go into effect on February 18, 2015.  Hanen, a George W.  Bush appointee, had been handpicked by 26 “Red State”…

REVERSING what has been over 5 years of illogical jurisprudence Immigration Judges (“IJs”) and the Board of Immigration Appeals (“BIA”), the US Supreme Court recently rejected the BIA’s decisions in Matter of Blake, 23 I&N Dec. 722 (BIA 2005), and Matter of Brieva, 23 I&N Dec. 766 (BIA 2005) which had held that §212(c) relief…

THE USCIS has announced that it will begin accepting applications for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) under the expanded guidelines the President announced last November, on February 18, 2015.  Under “DACA II,” a person who arrived in the US while under the age of 16 on or before January 1, 2010 may apply for…

ALTHOUGH the Republican-dominated House of Representatives has passed a bill to reverse President Obama’s recently announced Executive Actions on immigration policy, it appears that the bill is already dead in its tracks. On Friday, January 16, 2015, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell warned House Republicans that he cannot make a “miracle” happen on Immigration.  In fact, McConnell…

AFTER months of speculation as to what President Obama’s Executive Action would bring for immigration reform, President Obama delivered a speech last night announcing executive action that provides immigration relief to millions of undocumented persons in the US.  The focal point of the executive action is relief for undocumented parents of US Citizen children and…

AFTER months of speculation as to what President Obama’s Executive Action would bring for immigration reform, President Obama delivered a speech last night announcing executive action that provides immigration relief to millions of undocumented persons in the US.  The focal point of the executive action is relief for undocumented parents of US Citizen children and…

SINCE the enactment of Section 204(l) in 2009, USCIS has issued official guidance to implement the provisions of the “Surviving Relatives Law.” USCIS has amended the USCIS’ Adjudicators’ Field Manual (AFM) to provide consistency in adjudications under the Surviving Relatives Law at USCIS offices throughout the Country.  USCIS has been taking immediate action on many…

THE US Supreme Court struck down the Defense of Marriage Act’s (DOMA) limitation of the definition of “marriage” as a union between male and female spouses in Windsor v. US last year.  Since then, all Federal agencies administering immigration benefits are required to recognize same-sex unions as legal marriages for US immigration purposes.  On July…

THE USCIS Service Centers have recently received guidance and new instructions for their adjudicators relating to the timing of creating new jobs and explaining the meaning of “full-time” for positions created through the “EB-5” investor program investment.  In apparent response to some unwarranted shifts in adjudicatory processes and the Service Center’s imposition of more stringent…

THE debate over the United States economy and dearth of high-tech workers has spotlighted the H-1B professional working visa in the press.  Nonetheless, Congress has been slow to respond in the face of economic problems throughout the World and the FY 2014 H-1B quota is sure to be reached within just a couple of weeks…

THE US Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit granted a joint motion to dismiss a case in which it had previously ruled that a person who entered the US through the use of a fraudulent document had not been “admitted” to the US, such that the person was not eligible to seek adjustment of…

ALTHOUGH the volume of newly-filed applications for benefits is down at the USCIS, the processing times for some applications pending at the US Citizenship & Immigration Services (“USCIS”) are longer than ever before.  The USCIS holds a monopoly over all immigrants applying for green cards, citizenship and other applications, since the USCIS is the only…

ONE of the few positive developments Immigration legislation over the past twenty years has been relief for spouses and children of abusive petitioners provided by the Violence Against Women’s Act (VAWA). For many years, the spouse in an abusive relationship with a lawful permanent resident or citizen of the United States was left helpless in…

THE processing times for some applications pending at the US Citizenship & Immigration Services (“USCIS”) are longer than ever before.  The USCIS holds a monopoly over all immigrants applying for green cards, citizenship and other applications, since the USCIS is the only agency authorized to adjudicate requests for immigration benefits.  The USCIS cannot, however, force…

AS the US Congress continues to mire itself in a tiresome partisan war over every issue that crosses its path, States have begun to answer the call and do the right thing for their own citizens. In California, for example, Governor Brown signed legislation late last year to enhance school, workplace and civil protections for…

LAST week, Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Jeh Johnson announced that the USCIS is ready for the first round of applications for extensions of deferred action and work authorization under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program. Effective immediately, USCIS will begin accepting renewal requests. USCIS will also continue to accept…

WITH the USICE Prosecutorial Discretion program under way, thousands of cases pending before the US Immigration Courts and Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) are ripe for review to determine whether such cases should be terminated or administratively closed and the Respondents in those proceedings should be allowed to stay and work legally in the US….

IN accordance with the US Supreme Court’s 2011 decision in Judulang v. Holder, the BIA issued a decision on February 28, 2014 that makes Section 212(c) relief available to thousands or immigrants who were ordered deported or are presently deportable for criminal convictions.  The decision, Matter of Abdelghany, abolishes the so-called “comparable grounds” rule that…

LAST week, Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Jeh Johnson announced that the USCIS is ready for the first round of applications for extensions of deferred action and work authorization under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program. Effective immediately, USCIS will begin accepting renewal requests. USCIS will also continue to accept…

WITH House Majority Leader Eric Cantor’s loss in a Virginia primary election last week to “Tea Party” challenger David Brat, the US House of Representatives looks even less likely to act on any immigration reform bills in 2014. The Senate’s Comprehensive Reform Bill, S. 744, passed last year, will likely remain stagnant as ideological retrenchment…

LAST week, President Obama urged Speaker of the House John Boehner to bring immigration reform to a vote this summer, or expect more administrative liberalization of Federal immigration policy. It seem like that call has fallen on deaf ears.  US House of Representatives has ignored a call to pass immigration reform over the past two…

“ Immigrants in these circumstances would be well-advised to consult with an attorney specializing in Immigration & Nationality law to explore their options and determine what course of action is best suited to allow them to benefit from the case.” IN accordance with the US Supreme Court’s 2011 decision in Judulang v. Holder, the BIA issued…

ON May 6, 2014, the Obama Administration announced two new measures to attract and retain the highly-skilled workers the US requires to sustain the economic recovery. The first will allow for the H-4 dependent spouses of H-1B “specialty occupation” workers in the US to obtain work authorization for as long as their spouse holds valid…

IN 2009, President Obama signed into law amendments to the Immigration & Nationality Act (INA) reversing the longstanding rule that a “visa petition dies with the petitioner.” The new law will ameliorate the harsh, unfair consequences resulting to thousands of beneficiaries of family and employment-based visa petitions who have been waiting for years for their…

“The L-1 Visa category is available to individuals seeking to take up employment in the United States as “intra-company transferees” of multinational companies.  In order to qualify as an intra-company transferee, the individual must have worked overseas for a period of at least one year in the three years preceding the application for L-1 status…

THE US House of Representatives has ignored a call to pass immigration reform over the past two years, opting to politicize the issue. As a result, the Boehner-led House has done absolutely NOTHING, even as the Senate passed its Comprehensive Reform Bill, S. 744, last year.  In the meantime, the Obama Administration has taken several…

EVEN as the Obama Administration has espoused some more lenient policies toward persons who have violated their immigration status in the US, such as prosecutorial discretion, USCIS over the past several years seems to have increased the rate of denial of applications for adjustment of status.  With the denial of these applications, particularly employment-based adjustment…