Law Offices of Brian D. Lerner
Deportation Lawyers & Immigration Attorneys Helping Families Nationwide
Today, DOL published in the Federal Register a final rule on the temporary agricultural employment of H–2A foreign workers in the field of herding and production of livestock on the range. The rule is effective on November 16, 2015, and implements a new wage methodology with a two-year transition period during 2016 and 2017, and …
DHS is proposing to amend its F-1 nonimmigrant student visa regulations on optional practical training (OPT) to allow certain F-1 STEM students who have elected to pursue 12 months of OPT in the United States to extend the OPT period by 24 months. An advance copy of the proposed rule is now available. The proposed …
USCIS advised that it has suspended final adjudication of employment-based Form I-485 applications as of today, because the Department of State indicated that the statutory cap has been reached for the employment-based preference categories through the remainder of FY2015, which concludes on September 30, 2015. USCIS stated that it will continue to accept adjustment of …
The First Circuit upheld the Board of Immigration Appeals, holding that the plain language of INA §101(a)(43) compels the conclusion that a predicate conviction under federal or state law can constitute an aggravated felony even if the petitioner served no term of imprisonment for that crime.
The Ninth Circuit held that the REAL ID Act permits the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) and Immigration Judges (IJs) to base their adverse credibility determinations exclusively on background evidence in the record, upon consideration of the totality of the circumstances and all relevant factors. As such, the court upheld the BIA’s denial of the …
The Sixth Circuit interpreted INA §240 as requiring that personal service be made upon a noncitizen whenever practicable, and held that personal service to a represented noncitizen’s counsel may, in certain cases, constitute personal service to the noncitizen. The court upheld the Board of Immigration Appeals, finding that the respondent, who was ordered removed in …
BALCA ordered that the denial of a labor certification be reversed and granted certification in a case where it was not clear on the ETA Form 9089 whether the beneficiary met the PERM job requirements, and stated that the certifying officer should have allowed the employer the opportunity to clarify the qualifications.
The court upheld USCIS’s finding that the area of extraordinary ability defined by the plaintiff was gymnastics coaching, not gymnastics, and that it was reasonable to find evidence that the beneficiary won an Olympic gold medal in gymnastics insufficient
BALCA ordered that certification be granted, concluding that individuals “matched” by a State Workforce Agency (SWA) to a job order are not considered applicants for the PERM position because they have not affirmatively applied for the job.
USCIS released an updated Affirmative Asylum Scheduling Bulletin as of September 11, 2015. This Bulletin explains how the Asylum Division has prioritized the adjudication of affirmative applications for asylum and provides the filing dates (month and year) of most asylum applications scheduled for local interviews during that particular month.
DOL posted an alert stating that on September 1, 2015, an update to the PERM case management system caused an unexpected programming glitch to occur, as a result of which, certain information could not be entered on the form. Until the revisions become operational, if you cannot complete and file an ETA Form 9089 online, …
USCIS announced today that, in conjunction with the Department of State (DOS), it is revising the procedures for determining when an application for adjustment of status may be filed, thus implementing part of President Obama’s November 2014 executive actions on immigration. Starting with the Visa Bulletin for October 2015, there are two important dateslisted on …
Holding that it may only review the denial of a statutory motion to reopen under INA §240(c)(7), the Eighth Circuit found that it lacked jurisdiction to review the denial of the petitioner’s motion to reopen, because the motion requested that the Board of Immigration Appeals reopen the removal proceedings pursuant to its sua sponte discretion …
In a precedent decision issued, the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) held that, in making an adverse credibility determination, an Immigration Judge (IJ) can consider significant similarities between statements submitted by different applicants in different proceedings, as long as the IJ gives the applicant meaningful notice of the similarities and a reasonable opportunity to explain …
The Ninth Circuit granted in part the petition for review, holding that the Board of Immigration Appeals erred when it denied the petitioner, a transgender woman from Mexico, relief under the Convention Against Torture (CAT), because it failed to recognize the difference between gender identity and sexual orientation, and assumed that recent anti-discrimination laws in …