Expect significant changes in the U.S. immigration system come January 20, 2025. President Trump’s Immigration Policies will be very different from those of Biden’s. On December 10, 2024 at 7pm PT, we will participate in a Zoom webinar hosted by the United Nations Agency of the USA (San Fernando Valley Chapter) discussing these upcoming changes ..read more

On April 4, 2024, USCIS announced a temporary final rule (TFR) to increase automatic EAD extensions for certain employment authorization documents (EADs) from up to 180 days to up to 540 days. The longer auto-extension period will be available to eligible foreign nationals with Form I-765 renewal applications which were timely filed on or after October 27, 2023 and still pending as of April 8, 2024, and to eligible applicants who file EAD renewal applications between April 8, 2024 and September 30, 2025.   Client Reviews Professional and Knowledgeable Law Firm “I’ve had a decade of exper ..read more

On February 4, 2024, the U.S. Senate unveiled an immigration border bill which contains the following provisions which would improve our broken legal immigration system: Increase the Number of Green Cards Issued – The border bill would authorize the issuance of an additional 250,000 green cards over the next 5 years – 160,000 additional green cards in the family-based categories and 90,000 in the employment-based categories. However, these green cards would still be subject to the 7% per-country limitation, and so would only have a modest impact on current employment-based green card backlogs ..read more

On January 17, 2024, the US Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in 2 cases where the Chevron Deference Doctrine is a key issue: Relentless, Inc. v. Department of Commerce Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo The Justices will consider whether to overrule the Court’s 1984 precedent in Chevron v. Natural Resources Defense Council.  There, the Court held that when a federal statute is ambiguous, federal courts should defer to the agency’s interpretation of the law if the interpretation is “reasonable”. While overturning, or limiting, the Chevron Deference Doctrine will have negati ..read more

So far, Congress has not passed any of the spending bills needed to keep the government open beyond September 30, 2023. Unless these appropriations bills are passed, or Congress agrees on a temporary continuing resolution, funding for agencies will lapse on October 1, 2023, as the result of a government shutdown. If the government agencies close for budgetary reasons, all but “essential” personnel will be furloughed. The following is an overview of how immigration-related agencies will operate in the event of a government shutdown.   Client Reviews Go to a Law Firm which is Professional ..read more

The scenario for employment-based green cards starting on October 1, 2023 looks good in the short term, but is terrible for the United States in the long run. Our country will fall behind in the race for global talent unless our government reforms our outdated legal immigration system. According to the U.S. State Department’s October 2023 Visa Bulletin: EB-1 Priority Workers – For India, the Final Action Date will advance by 5 years to January 1, 2017 and by 2 weeks for China to February 15, 2022. The EB-1 category for all other countries will become current. EB-2 Advanced Degreed Profession ..read more

In this video, Carl Shusterman, a former INS Attorney (1976-82) who has assisted many employers in complying with I-9 audits over the past 25 years, provides advice to employers seeking to comply with both I-9 and complex immigration anti-discrimination and document abuse laws. Employers are required to complete an I-9 form for every person they hire and to update these forms when necessary. Periodically, the DHS, the Department of Labor, and the Justice Department send Notices of Inspection to employers to audit their I-9 forms. If the I-9 forms are not completed correctly, an employer ..read more

The following green card marriage questions are commonly asked by USCIS examiners to determine whether your marriage is real, or if you just got married in order to get a green card. Although the vast majority of marriages between U.S. citizens and immigrants are bona fide, some are not. It is the job of the USCIS to determine which ones are real and which ones are not. If the USCIS is suspicious about the bona fides of your marriage, they may separate you and your spouse and interview each of you in separate rooms. If there are any inconsistencies between your answers, they may send an inves ..read more

S386 Would End EB Per-Country Caps & Greatly Increase Worldwide EB Waiting Times On September 18, 2019, Senator Mike Lee (R-UT) proposed a substitute amendment to S. 386, Fairness for High-Skilled Immigrants Act of 2019, which amended the version passed by the House on July 10, 2019 (H.R. 1044). The bill would end EB per-country caps on green cards. Senator Lee sought a unanimous consent resolution on the floor of the Senate on September 19.  The resolution was blocked by Senator Perdue (R-GA).   Now, Senator Perdue has removed his hold. However, on September 26, Senator Durbin ..read more

Immigration Blog 2018 Former INS Trial Attorney Carl Shusterman (1976-82) has been writing blog posts about immigration laws and policies for many years. He hopes that the information contained in these blog posts is helpful and informative to immigrants and immigration attorneys alike. December The Day That Could Ruin Your Life – February 5, 2019 (12-22-2018) Maria Mendoza Sanchez Deported Cancer Nurse Reunites with Family in US (12-17-2018) USCIS Proposes New H-1B Cap Rule Online Registration System (12-01-2018) October US Resettlement of Refugees Reaches A New Low (10-13-2018) E-2 Tre ..read more