Visa Lawyer Blog

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On November 20, 2014, the President announced a series of Executive actions that will be implemented by the administrative agencies to optimize the immigration system in the U.S. The President has not given up on advocating for the comprehensive immigration reform and intended for these executive actions to be the beginning of the change in our broken immigration system. The President’s announcement focused on the following key initiatives:

– Strengthen border security and revise removal priorities.

Per the initiative, DHS will develop effective border security strategies focusing especially on southern land and maritime borders and the West Coast preventing illegal immigration.

DHS will also implement a new department-wide enforcement and removal policy that places

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The 27th AILA (American Immigration Lawyer Association) California Chapter Conference was held between the 13th and 15th of November 2014 at San Jose, California. Attorney Yingei Zhou, Esq. was in attendance on behalf of our law firm. The conference concentrated on several trending topics such as status of comprehensive immigration reform, consular processing and updates with border posts in Mexico and Canada, driver’s licenses for undocumented workers, unaccompanied alien children (UAC), H-1B/L-1A/O-1/EB-1 adjudications, federal litigation, and advanced family immigration issues, as well as staple subjects like evidentiary issues in removal proceedings and PERM applications.

This article provides you several important updates from the conference addressed at the conference, especially the government open forums with AILA practitioners, USCIS representatives, CBP officers, and San Francisco Asylum officers.

In the following weeks, we will post more articles to address the trends on each specific visa applications and immigration proceedings discussed in the conference.

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President Obama’s executive order is looming on the horizon, as part of an alleged 10 point plan the president plans to announce as early as Friday, November 21. According to a draft proposal released by a U.S. government agency, the plan may suspend removal proceedings for millions of undocumented immigrants who came to the United States as children, as well as parents of U.S. Citizen children residing in the United States illegally, and parents of green card holders, by allowing them to benefit from a reprieve that will expand deferred action for these individuals. Among its 10 initiatives, firstly, the plan proposes to bolster border security, secondly, to improve pay for immigration officers, thirdly, to provide a 50% discount to the first 10,000 applicants whose income levels are below 200% of the poverty level in order to encourage participation, fourthly, to establish a program designed to stimulate the tech industry which could potentially offer millions of immigrants and their dependents a path to citizenship, and lastly, to prioritize removal proceedings on the basis of the severity of an immigrant’s criminal history, calling an end to the program known as ‘Secure Communities.’ This 10 point plan makes anyone who entered the United States before turning 16 and before the date of January 01, 2010, eligible for naturalization. Such a plan would thereby suspend deportation for millions of undocumented immigrants.

The proposal has not yet been announced, we would like to inform our audience to please be wary of fraudulent schemes. At this time ONLY preliminary information has been released.

Please continue to follow our blog for further updates, for more information please contact our office.  It is our goal to provide you with the most up to date immigration reform developments.

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By Yingfei Zhou, Esq.

The federal District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania recently ruled that a noncitizen’s grant of Temporary Protective Status (TPS) qualifies as “inspection and admission” into the United States. This decision follows the similar decisions issued by the Sixth Circuit of Appeals and the District Court for the Western District of Washington. This new ruling will affect a group of TPS beneficiaries who fall within the geographic boundaries covered by the court and are seeking to become a Lawful Permanent Resident (LPR) on the basis of marriage to a U.S. citizen.

The Secretary of Homeland Security may designate a foreign country for TPS due to the conditions (such as ongoing armed conflict, environmental disaster, or other extraordinary and temporary conditions) in the country that temporarily prevent the country’s nationals from returning safely, or in certain circumstances, where the country is unable to handle the return of its nationals adequately.

The sole issue in the matter is whether the grant of TPS is sufficient to meet the requirement of being “inspected and admitted or paroled into the United States for purposes of adjustment of status. Under the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA), inspection and admission are eligibility requirements for adjustment of status to LPR. In other words, only individuals who were “inspected and admitted or paroled” into the U.S. by an immigration officer may apply for LPR status from inside the U.S. Those who crossed the border without passing through an official checkpoint must leave the country to have their paperwork processed by the U.S. consulate abroad to obtain the LPR status. Departing U.S. to have paperwork processed from abroad might cause penalties to the immigrants or have them facing the dangerous conditions that merited the TPS designation.

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On October 28, 2014 the U.S. Department of Homeland Security issued a policy memo regarding the effect of assisted reproductive technology (ART) on Immigration and the Acquisition of Citizenship under the INA (Immigration and Nationality Act) in an effort to shed light on the issue of genetic relationships between parents and children.

The memo outlines that under the INA, if a non-genetic gestational mother has carried and given birth to a child, and is also the child’s legal mother, that mother would possess the same legal status as that of a genetic legal mother’s under the Immigration and Nationality Act. This is groundbreaking news given that prior to this policy change, a genetic relationship between a U.S. Citizen parent and their child was required in order for the child to gain an immigration benefit and acquire citizenship at birth via their parents.

Under this policy for the purposes of immigration the following has changed:

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According to new reports released by the U.S. Border Patrol, the surge in Central Americans crossing into the United States is dropping at an alarming rate—approximately 60% fewer unaccompanied minors were apprehended during the month of August, in comparison to the summer months, a time when the migration crisis was in full effect in Central America. These unaccompanied minors make the perilous trek north from their Central American countries due to the violence they have encountered right at home.

The report suggests that the primary reason for the sudden drop is owed to the Mexican government’s crackdown on Central American immigrants. According to the report, increasing pressure on Mexico to instill effective deterrents has resulted in increased arrests and deportations of thousands of Central Americans, making it harder for such migrants to reach the American border.

Bowing to American pressure, the Mexican government recently announced a plan to militarize the southern border by placing federal forces along it. As part of these plans, the government will be setting up interior checkpoints, whereby authorities can inspect buses and vans carrying passengers into northern Mexico. Setting up checkpoint will also allow the authorities to ID passengers and question them. Additionally, Mexican authorities have forbidden migrants to board the infamous lumbering freight train known as ‘La Bestia,’ or the Beast in English. Many Central Americans and children have died while attempting to board such freight trains bound for the United States border. What does this mean for Central American immigrants journeying north? A longer and more dangerous journey ahead of them. According to the Mexican interior ministry, since the crackdown, approximately 30,000 Central Americans have been apprehended and sent back home; 20,000 of which were minors. Central Americans who have sought shelter from authorities in Mexico say that they are afraid of being turned in by Mexican authorities, according to news reports by NPR. Pro-immigrant activists argue that the work being done by Mexican authorities should be done by United States authorities which are better staffed and have better resources. Moreover, they argue, that despite the crackdown, nothing has changed in Central America. Central American countries remain impoverished, and innocent children are left to suffer the consequences of living in a country where impunity and violence run rampant. These critics argue that much more must be done and the issue is much more complex than the American and Mexican government are admitting. Critics insist that the issue is bilateral and humanitarian in nature. Congressional oversight will be necessary to tackle the issue.

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On September 19, 2014 the California Department of Motor Vehicles released a statement detailing the progress it has made to date in order to implement Assembly Bill 60, operative January 01, 2015. Assembly Bill 60 was signed into law by Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr on October 2013 for the benefit of all California residents. The bill promises to improve public safety, for all Californians, by requiring undocumented persons to go through the same licensure requirements as legal permanent residents and U.S. Citizens, residing in the state of California. In addition, applicants will be required to provide satisfactory proof of identity and California residency, though exact documentation requirements are still being deliberated and have not officially been made public. To view the proposals on documentation required please click here. The fee for the AB 60 driver’s license will remain the same as the fee for original driver’s licenses at $33.00. Before AB 60, applicants could not apply for a California driver’s license because of their inability to submit the required proof of legal presence in the United States. The Department of Homeland Security recently notified the DMV that the state’s most recent AB 60 driver’s license design had met the standard required to move forward to the production stage.

Since its adoption, the California Department of Motor Vehicles has held over 80 public outreach events throughout California, educating local communities on the implementation of the new law. Additionally the DMV has hired new staff, organized department-wide training, and opened temporary offices, with the purpose of facilitating extra appointments for the nearly 1.4 million anticipated new driver’s that will apply during just the first three years of AB 60’s implementation.

The DMV has launched such outreach events with the support of foreign consulate offices, community and church organizations, law enforcement, and other local officials. At these events the DMV has explained the licensing requirements under the new law, encouraged the undocumented community to study for the written driver’s license examination early on, and provided tips to the undocumented community on how to study for the exam.

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On Saturday, September 6th, the White House announced that the President would be holding off on taking executive action, to bring about immigration reform, until after November elections. Although president Obama announced that he would take executive action in June, mounting pressure from Senate Democrats prompted president Obama to abandon ship on such promises until later this year. Democrats fighting for a seat in the Senate had been fearful that if President Obama would act on the promise he had made earlier this summer, they would lose their re-election bids, and overall bargaining power in the House and Senate. White House officials expressed that if the president were to act on such a promise, before the November elections; the decision might jeopardize the sustainability of the policy and might have negative repercussions on comprehensive immigration reform as a whole. While some have considered President Obama’s move to be strategic, others have seen the decision as another empty promise and failed attempt by the Obama administration to bring about comprehensive immigration reform. In a recent interview with NBC, president Obama reiterated that he would act on immigration reform, because he feels it is the right thing. According to him however, it would be most effective to act if the public understands the facts on immigration. According to white house officials, after November elections, the pressure to act on immigration reform would take on a whole new meaning. The house and senate would be re-energized and the topic would no longer be as politicized. Within this frame of mind, Republicans and Democrats alike could maximize the odds of bringing about immigration reform by coming together with integrity on the issue, rather than at each other’s throats prior to the elections. For further updates, please continue to visit our blog. 

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On August 23rd the Chief of the Department of State’s Immigrant Visa Control and Reporting Division, Charles Oppenheim, made an important announcement regarding significant changes made to the EB-5 preference category. Oppenheim announced that for the first time since the creation of the EB-5 category, the EB-5 preference category would become unavailable to Chinese applicants for the 2014 fiscal years.

What does it mean for the EB-5 preference category to become unavailable? 

What the department means is that, the maximum number of EB-5 immigrant visas available to Chinese applicants for the fiscal year of 2014 have already been issued. Thus, there are no longer any available EB-5 immigrant visas for the 2014 fiscal year.

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Much of the deliberation surrounding immigration reform has largely occurred behind closed doors, despite pressure from the booming immigrant population in the United States to become more transparent. In a much anticipated June speech, President Obama announced that he would be utilizing executive action to bring about comprehensive immigration reform in response to Congress’ inaction.

For the most part, the administration has remained mum about the process and the proposals that have been laid out on the table.

Here’s what we do know about what is happening behind closed doors:

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