On January 4, 2023, USCIS published a proposed rule to increase fees for most of the agency’s immigration applications. According to USCIS, which conducted a comprehensive fee review, they receive about 96 percent of their funding from customers in the form of filing fees, but the current fees do not recover the full cost of […]
Palmer Polaski Blog
DHS Announces Extension and Redesignation of Temporary Protected Status for Somalia: In early March, DHS announced extending and re-designating Somalia for TPS for 18 months, from March 18, 2023, through September 17, 2024. USCIS Announces Premium Processing for F-1 Students Seeking OPT or STEM OPT Extensions: USCIS is now permitting premium processing for students seeking […]
The Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program was announced by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) on June 5, 2012. DACA conferred temporary authorization to remain in the United States to certain undocumented youth who came to the United States as children. To be initially eligible for DACA, applicants needed to meet certain requirements, […]
One of the first steps in filing a PERM application is obtaining a prevailing wage determination (PWD). The PWD is the minimum wage that an employer can pay an employee for a particular job in a particular region. The PWD is typically obtained from the Department of Labor (DOL). Using different wage data available online, […]
The COVID-19 pandemic drastically transformed the workplace for most professionals, expanding opportunities for remote work and blurring the lines between travelling for business and pleasure. Many foreign nationals coming to visit the United States temporarily on business visa (B-1) and tourist visa (B-2) visas may be under the false impression that remote work is a […]
On October 19, 2022, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced updated policy guidance to Form N-648, Medical Certification for Disability Exceptions. Naturalization applicants with a physical or developmental disability or mental impairment that prevents them from fulfilling the English and civics testing requirements for naturalization may file Form N-648 to request an exception to […]
The December 2022 and recently released January 2023 Department of State (DOS) Visa Bulletins have shown retrogression in employment-based second preference (EB-2) categories for all nationalities. This means that all individuals seeking EB-2 preference petitions can no longer concurrently file for adjustment of status. Previously, only Indian and Chinese nationals were subject to this backlog […]
The 117th Congress adjourned and came to a close after the U.S. House of Representatives approved a $1.7 trillion omnibus spending bill that avoids a government shutdown, provides miliary, humanitarian and economic assistance for Ukraine, natural disasters assistance, and increased funding for the military as well as on federal health education, labor and economic programs, […]
Leading up to Election Day, immigration was a hot talking point on campaign ads. In particular, immigration became a top issue for many Republicans’ campaign strategies, particularly those focusing on enforcement and border security, with some using fear-based language tying immigrants to drug, crime, and national security. In contrast, most Democratic election campaigns focused on […]
Denver, Colorado, January 2023 – Our esteemed attorneys, Camila Palmer, Koby Polaski and David Harston were selected by their peers as some of 5280’s Top Lawyers in Immigration Law for 2023. Our year is off to a great start! http://www.5280.com/denvers-top-lawyers-2023
