• Hours & Info

    (562) 495-0554
    M-F: 8:00am - 6:00 p.m.
    Sat: 9:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.
  • Past Blog Posts

  • https://api.whatsapp.com/send?phone=13104885414

USCIS has expanded flexibility in responding to more USCIS requests.

Last week, USCIS announced that responses to Requests for Evidence (RFEs) and Intent to Deny (NOID) would be due 60 days after the listed deadline. On March 30, USCIS expanded that flexibility to Notices of Intent to Revoke (NOIR) and Notices of Intent to Terminate (NOIT) regional investment centers. This also applies to certain filing date requirements for Form I-290B, Notice of Appeal or Motion. The goal is to minimize immigration consequences from the COVID-19 pandemic.

USCIS will continue to process employment authorization extension requests despite office closures.

On March 30, USCIS announced that the agency will still process Form I-765, Application for Employment Authorization, despite COVID-19 closures. For applicants who filed their extension after the office closures or whose appointment has been canceled, biometrics will be reused.

USCIS has extended its office closures through May 3.

On April 1, USCIS announced that the temporary office closures in response to the COVID-19 pandemic have been extended to May 3. USCIS will continue to provide limited emergency services, including processing employment authorization extensions.

Ninth Circuit Upholds Block on Trump Policy That Arbitrarily Jails Asylum Seekers

The Ninth Circuit upheld a ruling blocking a policy that categorically denied bond hearings to asylum seekers, targeted at individuals who immigration officers previously determined have a “credible fear” of persecution or torture if returned to the places they fled.

Leaked Border Patrol Memo Tells Agents to Send Migrants Back Immediately — Ignoring Asylum Law

ProPublica reports on an internal memo that orders Border Patrol agents to push the overwhelming majority of migrants back to Mexico, citing little-known power given to the CDC to ban entry of people who might spread disease. ProPublica‘s Dara Lind writes, “For the first time since the enactment of the Refugee Act in 1980, people who come to the United States saying they fear persecution in their home countries are being turned away by Border Patrol agents with no chance to make a legal case for asylum.”

Court Says Stop-Time Rule Is Triggered by One Complete NTA, Not a Combination of Documents

Granting the petition for review, the 10th Circuit held that, given the unambiguous statutory language for the stop-time rule and Notices to Appear (NTAs), the stop-time rule is not triggered by the combination of an incomplete NTA and a notice of hearing.

More than 400,000 People Barred from Becoming Citizens Due to Coronavirus

Hundreds of thousands of people may be unable to complete the process to become American citizens in time for the November election due to the coronavirus pandemic. USCIS has been shut down since March 18 and is scheduled to remain closed until at least May 3. The agency has not provided a remote option for citizenship interviews or oath ceremonies.

OFLC Announces Schedule for the Final Phase of Decommissioning the iCERT System

The DOL Office of Foreign Labor Certification (OFLC) announced that on May 1, 2020, the legacy iCERT System will be fully decommissioned and will no longer be accessible to account holders and the general public. Users will be redirected to the FLAG System. For updates from OFLC representatives on the new FLAG System

A judge granted class-action certification on a lawsuit challenging Trump’s health insurance requirement.

On Tuesday, a judge certified a class-action lawsuit against the Trump administration. The lawsuit is challenging the requirement that immigrants must acquire health insurance before they are granted visas. Prospective immigrants may join the class if they are unable to demonstrate to a consular officer that they will be covered by health insurance within 30 days of entry to the U.S. or that they will be able to pay for “reasonably foreseeable” medical costs.

Immigration policies may delay foreign medical graduates from assisting with the pandemic.

More than 4000 medical graduates are set to begin residency programs in the U.S. this summer. However, under immigration requirements, they may not arrive sooner than one month before their program starts, meaning almost all would not arrive until June. Some immigration attorneys have suggested that they should arrive sooner to assist with the pandemic, and have advocated that the government ease this restriction.