Palmer Polaski Blog

We are seeing long delays in the adjudication of Form I-765, Application for Employment Authorization, and Form I-131, Application for Travel Document, processed by the National Benefits Center (NBC). Processing times for the NBC as of September 2018 indicate that I-765 applications based on pending I-485 adjustment of status applications range from 4.5 to 6.5 […]

USCIS has reminded F-1 students whose cap-subject H-1B petition remains pending that they risk accruing unlawful presence if they continue to work on or after October 1 (unless otherwise authorized to continue employment), as their “cap-gap” work authorization is only valid through September 30. While USCIS regulations allow an F-1 student who is the beneficiary […]

A lawsuit filed in the Northern District of Texas is alleging that DHS violated the Administrative Procedure Act (APA) by publishing a rule affecting the F-1 Optional Practical Training (OPT) program for STEM students. The original rule DHS published extending OPT employment for STEM students was properly implemented through the notice-and-comment procedure. However, the new […]

As criticism of the agency increases, dissent is forming with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). In a letter addressed to the Secretary of Homeland Security, Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) proposed a deconstruction of ICE into its two main but independent components, HSI and Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO). The latter is managed by a union […]

In recent communication, it appears that the Department of State will only accept the accreditation of spouses of newly arrived officers and employees of international organizations and embassy staff, both same-sex and opposite-sex, as members of the immediate family of the principal A or G visa holder, as of October 1, 2018. Domestic partners accompanying […]

The Department of State has been scrutinizing individuals applying for green cards under the public-charge bar. Some of these non–U.S. citizens must show that they are not likely to become dependent on the government for cash assistance or long-term care. In making a public-charge determination, the government must look at a person’s age, health, family […]

Historically, at the end of the fiscal year, visa preference categories further retrogress or become backlogged for the first time, only to become current again on October 1. This has been the pattern for the employment-based first preference (extraordinary ability, outstanding professors/ researchers, and multinational executives and managers) for years. This year, however, the EB-1 […]

While U.S. citizens by birth can never be stripped of their citizenship, naturalized citizens do not enjoy that same security if their citizenship was obtained by fraud or misrepresentation. Sometimes this revocation is warranted. This past January, ICE filed a civil denaturalization complaint against a former Bosnian paramilitary member who engaged in extrajudicial killings during […]

USCIS’s new policy regarding “unlawful presence” for foreign students (academic and vocational) and exchange visitors and their dependents is now in effect. This means that foreign students (F-1, J-1, M-1) will begin accruing unlawful presence on the day after the student violates the terms of his or status, such as fails to pursue the authorized […]

Around the same time that USCIS issued its new policy regarding RFEs and NOIDs, USCIS updated its guidance for referring cases to the immigration court through the issuance of a Notice to Appear (NTA), and thus increasing its enforcement actions to a whole host of cases that normally are not automatically referred for proceedings. Service […]