Flickr Creative Commons Attribution Jeroen Akkermans In the last months, the U.S. Department of State released two significant policy updates that impact both immigrant and nonimmigrant visa applicants. These updates focus on a core change: applicants will now be required to have their visa interviews in their place of residence…
The growing presence of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials at immigration courthouses nationwide has prompted several states to enact laws preventing ICE from arresting or detaining individuals attending their immigration hearings. One such law passed by the state of New York is the “Protect Our Courts Act,” which…
In recent days, the Trump administration has launched an aggressive campaign targeting international students studying at colleges and universities throughout the United States. These attacks escalated Thursday last week when the administration first announced that it would be halting Harvard University’s ability to enroll international students by revoking their Student…
We are pleased to report that today the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Consular Affairs published the June 2025 Visa Bulletin. In this blog post, we breakdown the movement of the employment-based and family-sponsored categories in the coming month. USCIS Adjustment of Status For employment-based preference categories, the U.S. Citizenship and…
On May 13, 2024, the State Department announced record breaking milestones including the issuance of a whopping 5.2 million nonimmigrant visas at U.S. Embassies and Consulates worldwide in the first half of fiscal year 2024 – more than any previous year over the same period. In the past six months…
In the nick of time, on December 21, 2023, the Department of State announced that it will continue its interview waiver policy for certain nonimmigrant visa applicants. The agency’s interview waiver policy was previously set to expire on December 31, 2023. However, its implementation will continue starting on January 1,…
If you have been waiting for U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services to reopen in-person appointments, then this topic may interest you. Recently, USCIS announced the launch of a new procedure to request an in-person appointment at a local USCIS field office by completing an online form. This form may be…
We have good news for applicants filing Form I-539, Application to Extend/Change Nonimmigrant Status, requesting an extension of stay in or change of status to H-4, L-2, or E nonimmigrant status. The United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) recently announced that it has extended the temporary suspension of the…
We end the week with some new developments for United States Citizens with expired passports. On June 29, 2022, the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Carrier Liaison Program announced the end of a policy that previously allowed U.S. Citizens to re-enter the United States from abroad with expired passports.…
It’s the start of a brand-new year! On behalf of the Law Offices of Jacob J. Sapochnick we would like to wish you and your loved ones a very Happy New Year. It has been a challenging time in the world of immigration law but we at the Law Office…