Immigration and Firm News

Today, U.S. District Court Judge Andrew Hanen in Brownsville, Texas temporarily blocked two of President Obama's Executive Action programs, the expanded DACA program (or DACA II), and the DAPA program.  DACA, or Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, has been in effect since 2012. But the new expanded version of that program due to begin on February 18, 2015 has been halted by the temporary injunction order in Texas v. United States.  The Deferred Action for Parent Accountability (DAPA) program … [Read more...]

USCIS has updated its website with more information on expanded DACA, or as we refer to it, DACA II.  The requirements of DACA II are mentioned in an earlier blog post, Expanded DACA II Starts February 18, 2015.  USCIS has also issued revised FAQs that cover this new program as well as the relevant form(s).   It is particularly important to pay attention to the FAQs dealing with crimes, national security, and threats to public safety, as well as the FAQs toward the end in the "miscellaneous" … [Read more...]

The expanded version of Deferred Acton for Childhood Arrivals (DACA version 2) starts February 18, 2015.  That will be the FIRST day USCIS will begin accepting DACA applications from the new group of individuals who will now qualify.  Let's recap what deferred action is, who is in DACA I and who will be in DACA II. What is DACA and what is it not? Deferred Action is NOT a visa; it is not a green card; it is not US citizenship; it is not amnesty nor legalization.  It is a temporary reprieve … [Read more...]

Finalize those offers now and prepare for April 1, 2015 H-1B Cap Filings It’s that crazy time of year again when immigration lawyers and employers try to finalize offers to candidates needing H-1B cap-subject visa petitions so they can be filed during the short five-day period beginning April 1, 2015. Given growth in the economy and recent statistics showing increased job creation, immigration attorneys expect that, like last year and every year before, demand for cap H-1Bs will exceed … [Read more...]

President Obama's November 20, 2014 announcement of Executive Action actually included 12 memos to various agencies with instruction to create or amend administrative policies or to issue new regulations.  One of those memos deals with expansion of the provisional stateside or family unity waiver for unlawful presence.  By way of background, waivers are additional applications required of nonimmigrants visa applicants or permanent resident applicants who are inadmissible to the US or removable … [Read more...]

In one week, the immigration alphabet soup boiled over with news about humanitarian relief: TPS, DACA and a new DAPA program.  (Okay: TPS stands for Temporary Protected Status, and DACA refers to Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals).  More on these later.  But, among these acronyms, DAPA is the newest program known as Deferred Action for Parental Accountability.  (How do they come up with these names?)  DAPA is a new form of deferred action, i.e., delay or deferment of removal for people who … [Read more...]

President Obama's November 20, 2014 Executive Action plan expands his 2012 DACA program, Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals.  This is one of two deferred action programs announced by the President last week.   The Deferred Action and Parent Accountability (DAPA) program is a separate program and will be reported in another blog post. As a reminder, Deferred Action is not a visa; it is not a green card or permanent residence; it is not a path to citizenship or citizenship.  It is stepping … [Read more...]

Below is a summary of the various Executive Actions announced by President Obama on November 20, 2014 concerning legal immigration to the USA.  Most of the press coverage has been about the hot-button topic of what to do with the millions of people who are in the USA already in undocumented status. There has been virtually no coverage of the President's plans concerning legal immigration.  While he is constrained by Congressional statute and Congressional inaction to fix legal immigration, there … [Read more...]

President Obama announced tonight in very broad terms that he would expand "deferred action" to millions of undocumented immigrants beyond the DACA program of 2012 (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals). The new program, to begin in 2015, will benefit the following groups of people who choose to step forward out of the shadows for a less than perfect immigration status. Deferred action is NOT a green card/permanent residence, a visa, citizenship, amnesty nor legalization. It just defers or … [Read more...]

President Obama is scheduled to announce his plan for Executive Action on immigration tonight at 5pm PST. Most of the networks will NOT be carrying his speech. However, CNN, MSNBC, Telemundo and Univision among others will, although this could change later today. If you miss it, the White House will have a recording here. Most of the controversy between the Democrats and Republicans is over what to do with the millions of people living in the US without legal papers. However, Executive Action … [Read more...]