Benefits & Relief
Biden Administration Close to Reaching Increased Cap on Employment-Based Green Cards
The Biden administration is close to using all of the employment-based immigrant visas (green cards) allotted for Fiscal Year (FY) 2022. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced that as of August 31, a total of 263,510 employment-based immigrant visas had been used this fiscal year (FY)—close to… Read More
Biden Moves to Stabilize the Lives of Hundreds of Thousands of DACA Recipients, but Critical Work Remains
Last week, the Biden administration published the final version of a regulation that seeks to preserve the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) initiative and provide a modicum of stability to the hundreds of thousands of people living in the United States who benefit from its protections. While this… Read More
Immigration Agencies Get Hit with Record-High Lawsuits as Delays Worsen
Lawsuits asking courts to order government employees to decide long-pending immigration filings have increased sharply in the past year. According to a recent report by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC), in May 2022 the federal courts recorded 647 immigration-related lawsuits for agency delay. This is “the highest number… Read More
USCIS Restores Pathway to a Green Card for TPS Holders
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) published a new policy memorandum on July 1 that eliminated a barrier for many Temporary Protected Status (TPS) recipients and restored a pathway many have used to obtain a green card. It also provides beneficiaries with a process for traveling outside of the… Read More
Biden Administration Expands Exemptions for Afghan Nationals Otherwise Inadmissible
Obtaining immigration benefits from the U.S. government is always difficult, but it is even harder for people who have ever had any interaction with an organization or government that is deemed to support terrorism. As thousands of Afghans apply for immigration benefits in the United States, many risk being denied… Read More
Lawsuit Challenges Delays in U.S. Citizenship Application Processing Due to Cave-Stored Files
Thirteen U.S. lawful permanent residents filed a lawsuit to end the delay by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) in processing their applications to become U.S. citizens. The excessive delays are now threatening their ability to vote in the November 2022 elections. The plaintiffs each filed their applications in… Read More
Supreme Court Rejects Review Over Factual Questions in Immigration Removal Proceedings
The Supreme Court issued a 5-4 decision on May 16 rejecting federal court review of fact-finding done by immigration courts. The Court’s reasoning could have wide-ranging impacts on many more types of immigration relief. The case—Patel v. Garland—centers around Pankajkumar Patel, a native of India, who erroneously checked a… Read More
USCIS Lengthens Work Permit Automatic Extension Period to Address Adjudication Delays
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) issued a temporary rule last week that automatically extends employment authorization for certain noncitizens waiting for USCIS to process their work permit renewal applications. As of December 2021, over 80,000 noncitizens had lost or would soon lose the right to work because… Read More
New Biden Administration Policies Offer Crucial Protections for Immigrant Youth
The government made two important announcements on March 7th affecting immigrant children who have been abused, abandoned, and neglected. The first is a new policy that offers work permits and deportation protection to children with approved Special Immigrant Juvenile Status (SIJS) petitions. The second is a long-anticipated SIJS regulation, clarifying… Read More
Why USCIS’ New Mission Statement Is So Crucial
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) unveiled a new mission statement this week, signaling an important shift in how the agency wants to tell its story and shape its priorities ahead. On February 8, USCIS Director Ur Jaddou announced the agency’s new mission. “USCIS upholds America’s promise as a… Read More
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