Immigration and Firm News

The primary trend for family immigration is a slow down in processing of all petition and application types at USCIS, at the National Visa Center, and at US consulates abroad. And, interviews are taking longer as part of the "extreme vetting" campaign.  I mentioned in an earlier post that mandatory interviews for employment based adjustment of status applicants is impacting processing times for family based adjustment of status and naturalization interviews. Here in Seattle, where once upon a … [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...]

This blog posts follows up to an earlier post, Executive Action - Business Immigration Fixes Needed, discussing the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) letter to President Obama of August 6, 2014 requesting Executive Action. AILA recommended additional fixes to family immigration, prosecutorial discretion and enforcement related issues that could be achieved administratively in the face of Congressional inaction on statutory changes. AILA states that "the guiding principle for … [Read more...]

The provisional waiver procedure starts this week on March 4, 2013. Note the word "procedure." It is not a new law, a new requirement, nor amnesty. It is a change in the location of where to file for a specific type of waiver and when it will be decided. A new form I-601A has been developed for this limited waiver procedure. New Waiver Procedure Just for Unlawful Presence Bar The new provisional or family unity waiver process will allow applicants for immigrant visas abroad to apply for … [Read more...]

USCIS released a new Q&A brochure for families of immediate relatives about the new provisional stateside I-601A waiver that will go into effect on March 4, 2013. The requirements are also mentioned in a prior blog post, Provisional Unlawful Presence Waiver to Begin March 4, 2013. Keep in mind that I130/I360 visa petitions must be approved first and that these waivers only apply to immediate relatives (parents, spouses, unmarried minor children under 21 years old of US citizens). This … [Read more...]

On January 2, 2013, USCIS announced its long awaited final regulation governing new "provisional" waiver processing for immigrant visa applicants. Beginning March 4, USCIS will begin accepting provisional waiver applications in the US from applicants subject to the unlawful presence ground of admissibility (INA section 212(a)(9)(B); 8 U.S.C. 1182(a)(9)(B)) that subjects them to a three or ten-year bar to admissibility. This ground of inadmissibility is triggered when applicants for immigrant … [Read more...]