The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued an order, effective November 8, 2021, requiring air passengers two years of age and older boarding flights to the United States to present: (1) Paper or digital documentation of a negative pre-departure viral...
Topic: Immigration Updates
House Budget Reconciliation Bill Retains High-Skilled Immigrant Provisions, Would Impose Fee Increases
The House of Representatives' 2,135-page draft budget reconciliation bill retains several immigration measures, including provisions paving the way for high-skilled scientists and engineers, and raising immigration-related fees. It also would provide for up to 10...
Miller Mayer’s Steve Yale-Loehr Quoted re Foreign Workers, Immigration Challenges, Asylum
Miller Mayer immigration attorney Steve Yale-Loehr was quoted by the New York Times in "Missing Foreign Workers Add to Hiring Challenges." He said, "Employers are having to wait a long time to get their petitions approved, and renewals are not being processed in a...
DHS Issues New Guidelines on Avoiding Enforcement Actions in or Near ‘Protected Areas’
Alejandro Mayorkas, Secretary of Homeland Security, announced new guidelines for enforcement actions in or near "protected areas." The memo states, "To the fullest extent possible, we should not take an enforcement action in or near a location that would restrain...
DHS Tries Again to Terminate Migrant Protection Protocols
Alejandro Mayorkas, Secretary of Homeland Security, announced on October 29, 2021, the termination of the Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP), a controversial program started by the Trump administration in early 2019 under which undocumented migrants seeking admission...
USCIS Expands Guidance on Supporting Evidence for Liberian Refugee Immigration Fairness Applications; Deadline is Dec. 20
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has expanded its guidance on Liberian Refugee Immigration Fairness (LRIF) applications, clarifying steps applicants must take if they cannot submit primary evidence of Liberian nationality to support an LRIF-based...
USCIS Releases E-Verify Updates on Referred TNCs and Open Cases
In March 2020, E-Verify extended the timeframe employees had to contest tentative nonconfirmations (TNCs) of their Social Security numbers. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) said this extension was due in part to the Social Security Administration...
Settlement Agreement Outlines ‘New, Overarching’ Guidance for H-1B Petitions for Market Research Analysts
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) reached a settlement agreement in the case of MadKudu Inc. v. USCIS that the agency said "outlines new, overarching guidance" for adjudicating pending or future H-1B petitions for market research analysts. USCIS had...
President Biden Replaces Country-by-Country Pandemic-Related Air Travel Restrictions With Vaccine Requirement
Effective November 8, 2021, a new Presidential Proclamation that governs the entry into the United States by air of "noncitizen nonimmigrants" revokes previous country-by-country restrictions applied during the COVID-19 pandemic and replaces them with a vaccination...
“A Review of Recent AAO EB-1A Extraordinary Ability Decisions” and “AAO Cases After Kazarian”
The following articles are printed in the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) book, Immigration Options for Academics and Researchers (3d ed.). A Review of Recent AAO EB-1A Extraordinary Ability Decisions by Hun Lee and Stephen Yale-Loehr [pdf-embedder...
