San Francisco Immigration Law Blog

US DOS Announced Limited Resumption of Visa Services in Turkey https://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2017/11/275326.htm The US Department Of State announced the security posture in Turkey has improved sufficiently to allow for the resumption of limited visa services in Turkey. This is based on preliminary high level assurances from the government of Turkey that there are no additional local employees of the US Mission

DHS Terminates TPS For Nicaragua, Extends TPS for Honduras for Six Months https://www.dhs.gov/news/2017/11/06/acting-secretary-elaine-duke-announcement-temporary-protected-status-nicaragua-and Acting Secretary Elaine Duke Announced the termination of the Temporary Protected Status (TPS) designation for Nicaragua with a termination date of 1/5/19. DHS also determined that additional information was necessary regarding the TPS designation for Honduras so TPS was automatically extended to 7/5/18.

Fact Sheet: Temporary Protected Status in the United States https://www.americanimmigrationcouncil.org/research/temporary-protected-status-united-states The American Immigration Council provides information about Temporary Protected Status (TPS) holders from El Salvador, Honduras, and Haiti. As of August 2017, an estimated 325,000 TPS beneficiaries live in the U.S. TPS Beneficiaries from El Salvador, Honduras, and Haiti have integrated into U.S. society; are active members of the U.S.

DOL provided Litwin & Smith a practice alert about delivery delays of up to three weeks for certified PERMs. DOL confirmed with Litwin & Smith on 10/24/17 that this issue is resolved and, though there are residual delays, PERM cases certified 10/24/17 or later should be received within standard timelines.

http://www.aila.org/infonet/reports-delayed-delivery-certified-perm-apps AILA’s DOL Liaison Committees provides a practice alert about delivery delays of up to three weeks for certified PERMs. DOL confirmed on 10/24/17 that this issue is resolved and, though there are residual delays, cases certified 10/24/17 or later should be received within standard timelines. AILA Doc. No. 17101104

On Oct. 8, 2017, the White House released the promised https://www.whitehouse.gov/ make it a link named ‘Trump Immigration Principles & Policy Statement’ which outline the Trump Administration’s position on immigration. This document is broken into three parts: 1) Border Security, 2) Interior Enforcement, and 3) Merit-Based Immigration. “The current immigration system prioritizes extended family based chain migration over skills-based immigration

Practice Alert: Two Nationwide TROs Enjoin the Majority of Trump’s Travel Ban 3.0 U.S. District Court Judge Derrick K. Watson in Hawaii blocked the Trump administration from implementing the majority of the latest version of the president’s controversial Travel Ban 3.0, hours before it was due to take effect. Today, Politico reported that U.S. District Court Judge Theodore Chuang in

2017 November Visa Bulletin DOS published the 2017 November Visa Bulletin. IT includes both a Dates for Filing Visa Applications Chart and an Application Final Action Dates Chart, as well as notes on the Diversity Immigrant (DV) category and the Special Immigrant (SI) Translator category. For adjustment of status filing dates during November 2017, USCIS advises that the Dates for

2019 Diversity Visa Lottery Restarts October 18, 2017 https://www.dvlottery.state.gov/ Due to a technical issue, the DV-2019 entry period that began on October 3 has been closed. Entries submitted during October 3-10 are not valid and have been excluded from the system; they will not count as a duplicate entry. The technical issue has been resolved and a new full entry

New USCIS Form Streamlines Process to Obtain a Work Authorization Document and Social Security Number Simultaneously On October 2, 2017 based on a new information-sharing partnership between U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) and the Social Security Administration (SSA), foreign nationals in certain categories or classifications can now apply for work authorization and a social security number using a single