It's morning again in America. The slate is wiped clean. It's time to reclaim the mantle as the shining city on the hill. 

Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,
With conquering limbs astride from land to land;
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name
Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.
 

“Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!” cries she
With silent lips. “Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”

Reverse the travel ban on predominantly Muslim countries

Trump kicked off his presidency signing a hastily put-together executive order restricting entry into the US from predominantly Muslim countries. Biden moved to repeal those bans.

He will also instruct the State Department to restart visa processing for affected countries and will call for a review of other Trump administration "extreme vetting" practices.

Biden's immigration bill includes a provision that would limit presidential authority to issue future bans.

Preserve DACA

The Obama-era Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, which shields undocumented immigrants who came to the US as children from deportation, has been in limbo since President Donald Trump tried to terminate the program in 2017.

While the Supreme Court blocked Trump's attempt to end DACA, his administration continued to try to limit the program.

Biden signed a presidential memorandum directing the Homeland Security secretary, in consultation with the attorney general, to take actions preserving the program. Biden's proposed immigration legislation will include an immediate pathway to citizenship for beneficiaries of the program.

Extend relief for Liberians

Biden signed presidential memorandum extending Deferred Enforced Departure -- a form of relief for people from countries facing unrest or natural disasters -- until June 30, 2022, for Liberians residing in the United States.

Revoke Trump's interior enforcement executive order

Biden revoked Trump's 2017 executive order that made all undocumented immigrants a priority for arrest by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, saying his administration will "reset the policies and practices for enforcing civil immigration laws to align enforcement with these values and priorities."

Biden also called on his administration to review agency actions put in place under Trump's 2017 order and issue revised guidance.

Send comprehensive immigration legislation to Congress

The bill would provide an immediate pathway to citizenship for farmworkers, DACA recipients and Temporary Protected Status holders. It sketches out a plan for undocumented immigrants that would allow them to eventually apply for green cards if they pass background checks and pay taxes.

The bill also aims to clear visa backlogs, improve immigration courts and authorize funding for border technology, as well as provide $4 billion in funding to increase assistance to El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras and to set up safe and legal channels for migrants to seek protection.

A group of House Democrats, led by Rep. Linda Sanchez, announced Wednesday they will lead the effort to pass Biden's immigration bill on Capitol Hill.

In a narrowly-held Senate, the climb on immigration is steep especially given how far to the right Republicans have moved on the issue since the 2013 bipartisan bill. Sen. Bob Menendez will lead the bill on the Senate side. This is yet another sign of the coordinated approach the Biden administration is taking with Democratic allies on the hill to push their agenda forward.

Temporary Protected Status (TPS) Work Documents are now extended automatically for: El Salvador, Haiti, Nicaragua, Sudan,  Honduras, and Nepal until October 4, 2021.

We expect extensions to continue for s long as the preliminary injunction ordered by the court in Ramos, et al v. Nielsen, et al., No. 18-cv-01554 (N.D. Cal. Oct. 3, 2018) remains in effect, or by other order of the court.

TPS for current beneficiaries under the designation will continue, provided that they properly re-registered for TPS during at least one of the registration periods for their country. If you have not re-registered during at least one of the following registration periods, you should file now and explain your reasons for filing late.

For country specific guidance please see the links below to the latest information available for I-9 compliance. 

Nepal: https://www.uscis.gov/humanitarian/temporary-protected-status/temporary-protected-status-designated-country-nepal

El Salvador: https://www.uscis.gov/humanitarian/temporary-protected-status/temporary-protected-status-designated-country-el-salvador

Haiti: https://www.uscis.gov/humanitarian/temporary-protected-status/temporary-protected-status-designated-country-haiti

Nicaragua: https://www.uscis.gov/humanitarian/temporary-protected-status/temporary-protected-status-designated-country-nicaragua

Sudan: https://www.uscis.gov/humanitarian/temporary-protected-status/temporary-protected-status-designated-country-sudan

Honduras: https://www.uscis.gov/humanitarian/temporary-protected-status/temporary-protected-status-designated-country-honduras

Naturalization ceremonies in Soutwest Ohio, whether scheduled to occur in the courthouse or at off-site locations, are suspended until further order of this Court.

Ceremonies will automatically be rescheduled by USCIS as Covid 19 restrictions allow.

More information can be: https://www.ohsd.uscourts.gov/

USCIS announced that DHS is extending the validity of certain Forms I-797 due to continued EAD delays to 2/1/21.

To complete Form I-9, employees requiring verification who are waiting for EAD may continue to present a Form I-797, with a notice date on or after 12/1/19 through 8/20/20 and indicating that USCIS has approved the employee’s Form I-765, through 2/1/21 as a List C #7 document.

Previously USCIS indicated:

Due to the extraordinary and unprecedented COVID-19 public health emergency, the production of certain Employment Authorization Documents (Form I-766, EAD) is delayed.  As a result, employees may use Form I-797, Notice of Action, with a Notice date on or after December 1, 2019 through and including August 20, 2020 informing an applicant of approval of an Application for Employment Authorization (Form I-765) as a Form I-9, Employment Eligibility Verification, List C #7 document that establishes employment authorization issued by the Department of Homeland Security pursuant to 8 C.F.R. 274a.2(b)(1)(v)(C)(7), even though the Notice states it is not evidence of employment authorization.  Employees may present their Form I-797 Notice of Action showing approval of their I-765 application as a list C document for Form I-9 compliance until December 1, 2020.

THE I-797 NOTICE OF ACTION DESCRIBED ABOVE DOES NOT PROVE EVIDENCE OF IDENTITY OR SERVE AS A LIST A DOCUMENT ESTABLISHING BOTH IDENTITY AND EMPLOYMENT AUTHORIZATION OR A LIST B DOCUMENT ESTABLISHING IDENTITY FOR FORM I-9 PURPOSES.

For Form I-9 completion, employees who present a Form I-797 Notice of Action described above for new employment must also present their employer with an acceptable List B document that establishes identity. The Lists of Acceptable Documents is on Form I-9.  Current employees who require reverification can present this Form I-797 Notice of Action as proof of employment authorization under List C.

By December 1, 2020, employers must reverify employees who presented this Form I-797 Notice of Action as a List C document. These employees will need to present their employers with new evidence of employment authorization from either List A or List C.

We encourage employers to accept new EADs presented by employees as soon as they receive them from USCIS prior to December 1, 2020, to satisfy the reverification requirement.  However, it is the employees’ choice whether to present their new EADs, or a different document from either List A or List C.

Practice Alert: Receipt Notice Delays for I-485s and I-140s Filed with USCIS Lockbox

AILA Doc. No. 20111936 | Dated November 19, 2020

The American Immigration Lawyers Association has been made aware of delays in the issuance of receipt notices for I-485, Application to Register Permanent Residence or Adjust Status and I-140, Immigrant Petition for Alien Worker filed with the USCIS Lockbox in late September and in October 2020. 

Some members report that they are slowly starting to receive such receipt notices, but it appears that the notices are taking at least six weeks or longer to be issued. AILA recently reached out to the USCIS Lockbox regarding these delays. Specifically, AILA has requested the Lockbox to confirm:

• the current processing times for receipt notices to be issued for I-485 applications and I-140 petitions; and
• the timeframe stakeholders should wait before following up with the Lockbox regarding receipt delays.

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) today announced it will increase fees for premium processing, effective Oct. 19, as required by the Continuing Appropriations Act, 2021 and Other Extensions Act, Pub. L. No. 116-159, signed into law on Oct. 1. The USCIS premium processing service allows petitioners to pay an additional filing fee to expedite the adjudication of certain forms, generally within 15 days. The Act included the Emergency Stopgap USCIS Stabilization Act, which requires USCIS to establish and collect additional premium processing fees, and to use those additional funds for expanded purposes.

Pub. L. No. 116-159 increases the fee for Form I-907, Request for Premium Processing, from $1,440 to $2,500, for all filings except those from petitioners filing Form I-129, Petition for a Nonimmigrant Worker, requesting H-2B or R-1 nonimmigrant status. The premium processing fee for petitioners filing Form I-129 requesting H-2B or R-1 nonimmigrant status is increasing from $1,440 to $1,500.

Any Form I-907 postmarked on or after Oct. 19 must include the new fee amount. If USCIS receives a Form I-907 postmarked on or after Oct. 19 with the incorrect filing fee, we will reject the Form I-907 and return the filing fee. For filings sent by commercial courier (such as UPS, FedEx and DHL), the postmark date is the date reflected on the courier receipt.

Pub. L. No. 116-159 also gives USCIS the ability to expand premium processing to additional forms and benefit requests, but USCIS is not yet taking that action. Any expansion of premium processing to other forms will be implemented as provided in the legislation.​

Let your congressman know what you think about USCIS's failure to expand premium processing to family based immigration cases, such as spouses and stepchildren of US Citizens.

Find out whom your local congressman is here, and remember.... your vote matters: https://www.govtrack.us/congress/members/map

A federal judge in California blocked a Trump administration rule that would've hiked up naturalization fees by more than 80% and charged a first-time fee for asylum applicants, days before the regulation was set to take effect.

US Citizenship and Immigration Services, the agency responsible for the country's immigration and naturalization system, updated and finalized its fee structure after a nearly nine-month review earlier this year.

U.S. District Judge Jeffrey White granted a motion Tuesday that will stop U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services from imposing the fee changes that were expected to go into effect Friday. Though the ruling was made in California, the decision calls for the fees to be blocked across the country because of the various local and state governments that argued against the fee changes.

USCIS did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

However in another recent decision USCIS was permitted to re-institute the I-944 and the Trump Public Charge Rules that more aggressively target legal immigration by family members to the US. 

With that said, the same decision that blocked the USCIS fee increase also created doubt that the any changes made by the Trump Administration since the resignation of Kristen Nielson in in April 2019 were not lawful as Trump failed to follow federal law in appointing her replacement Chad Wolf. Therefore all changes done by Chad Wold since early 2019 could well be found to be invalid as Chad Wolf was not actually lawfully in charge of the Department of Homeland Security when actions he worked on were ordered. 

In response to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services is extending the flexibilities it announced on March 30, 2020, to assist applicants, petitioners, and requestors who are responding to certain:

Requests for Evidence;

Continuations to Request Evidence (N-14);

Notices of Intent to Deny;

Notices of Intent to Revoke;

Notices of Intent to Rescind and Notices of Intent to Terminate regional investment centers;

Motions to Reopen an N-400 Pursuant to 8 CFR 335.5,

Receipt of Derogatory Information Aer Grant;

Filing date requirements for Form N-336,

Request for a Hearing on a Decision in Naturalization Proceedings (Under Section 336 of the INA);

or Filing date requirements for Form I-290B, Notice of Appeal or Motion.

Notice/Request/Decision Issuance Date: This flexibility applies to the above documents if the issuance date listed on the request, notice, or decision is between March 1, 2020, and Jan. 1, 2021, inclusive.

Response Due Date: USCIS will consider a response to the above requests and notices received within 60 calendar days aer the response due date set in the request or notice before taking any action. Additionally, we will consider a Form N-336 or Form I-290B received up to 60 calendar days from the date of the decision before we take any action

Fiance Visa Processing is functioning again for case already approved by USCIS, but not yet forwarded to the Embassy or Consulate. US Embassy and Consulates Posts will resume K visa application processing as local conditions and resources allow.

Applicants should check the website of their nearest U.S. Embassy or Consulate for updates on what services that post is currently able to offer. Where an embassy indicated on its website that is allowing routine visa scheduling we are recommeding that clients contact the Post directly for the case file to be forwarded from the National Visa Center (NVC) to the Post for interview scheduling.

The process for interview will vary widely Post to Post, so in each case it will be important to keep in close contact with the local post and follow their local instructions closely to ensure timely visa stamping interview scheduling.

The 1-129 Petition for Alien Fiance(e) is typically valid for four months; however, consular officers may revalidate the 1-129 petition in four month increments. For most cases impacted by the suspension of routine visa services or COVID-19 travel restrictions it will not be necessary to file a new 1-129 petition.

USCIS will not stop paying its employees... Rather USCIS will find "cost savings" in failing to actually work in a reasonable time frame on the cases that are submitted for review. 

How bad could this be? We don't know yet. 

However USCIS is now quoting that an Employment Authorization Document that took 45-90 days to process prior to Trump for legally working in the US will now take approximately 28.5 MONTHS to 37 MONTHS to be produced.... and on October 2 you will even need to pay extra for this application....

This begs the question. Is US immigration even open for business if you need to wait three [3] years for a work card to begin working? 

The Trump Administration's message here is clear. If you want to end all legal immigration to the US vote for Trump in 2020. The best and the brightest will move away, and the good jobs will follow them out of the US.

With four more years of Trump, US workers will begin immigrating elsewhere for jobs and opportunity as large corporations will see no need to staff in such an inhospitable, anti-international, and hateful climate. 

Bottom line for now: we can expect delays in every facet of immigration processing, and if Trump is re-elected in November....