New Travel Ban issued

On September 24, 2017, President Trump issued a presidential proclamation establishing a new travel ban with visa restrictions on Chad, Iran, Libya, North Korea, Somalia, Syria, Venezuela, and Yemen. If you are in this, check with an Immigration Lawyer for your options

Court Finds BIA Erred in Denying Chinese Christian Petitioner’s Motion to Reopen Based on Changed Country Conditions

The Tenth Circuit granted the petition for review and remanded, holding that a significant increase in the level of persecution constitutes a material change in country conditions for purposes of INA §240(c)(7)(C). The court found that the BIA abused its discretion by denying on factually erroneous, legally frivolous, and logically unsound grounds the petitioner’s motion to …

Read more

Extreme Vetting Policies

Touting national security concerns, President Trump has been swiftly implementing burdensome, ineffective, and unnecessary policies through executive actions and memoranda, including implementing several travel bans on Muslim-majority countries and refugees, and now requiring USCIS to conduct in-person interviews for people who have already been thoroughly vetted. Federal agencies like DHS and DOS are not being transparent about how …

Read more

Court reverses Asylum Denial

Court Reverses BIA’s Determination That Salvadoran Petitioner Failed to Show Persecution on Account of Her Family Membership The Fourth Circuit granted the petition for review and remanded, holding that, in affirming the IJ’s clearly erroneous factual finding that ignored critical evidence in the record, the BIA abused its discretion. The court found that the Salvadoran petitioner’s …

Read more

Latest Travel Ban Will Weaken, Not Strengthen, America

On September 24, 2017, President Trump issued a presidential proclamation, titled “Enhancing Vetting Capabilities and Processes for Detecting Attempted Entry into the United States by Terrorists or Other Public-Safety Threats,” establishing a new travel ban with visa restrictions on Chad, Iran, Libya, North Korea, Somalia, Syria, Venezuela, and Yemen. Restrictions vary between countries; DOS has …

Read more

Closing an Immigration Case

Matter of W-Y-U-, 27 I&N Dec. 17 (BIA 2017) (1) The primary consideration for an Immigration Judge in evaluating whether to administratively close or recalendar proceedings is whether the party opposing administrative closure has provided a persuasive reason for the case to proceed and be resolved on the merits. Matter of Avetisyan, 25 I&N Dec. 688 …

Read more

USCIS Resumes Premium Processing for Some Categories of Applicants Seeking H-1B Visas

On September 18, 2017, USCIS resumed premium processing for all H-1B petitions subject to the FY 2018 cap. Premium processing has also resumed for the annual 20,000 additional petitions that are set aside to hire workers with a U.S. master’s degree or higher educational degree. USCIS previously resumed premium processing H-1B petitions filed on behalf of …

Read more

Trump Administration Rejects Study Showing Positive Impact of Refugees

The New York Times reports that Trump administration officials, under pressure from the White House to provide a rationale for reducing the number of refugees allowed into the United States next year, rejected a study by the Department of Health and Human Services that found that refugees brought in $63 billion more in government revenues over the …

Read more

Matter of REHMAN, 27 I&N Dec. 124 (BIA 2017)

Where a petitioner seeking to prove a familial relationship submits a birth certificate that was not registered contemporaneously with the birth, an adjudicator must consider the birth certificate, as well as all the other evidence of record and the circumstances of the case, to determine whether the petitioner has submitted sufficient reliable evidence to demonstrate …

Read more

Contact Form