San Francisco Immigration Law Blog

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

Court Ordered State Department to Reserve Unused Diversity Visa Numbers for Travel Ban Countries September 29, 2017, the court in P.K. v. Tillerson (D.D.C.), filed on August 3, challenging the State Department’s policy of denying immigrant visas to winners of the diversity lottery-where those winners are nationals of countries affected by the travel ban. Granted alternative relief the plaintiffs sought:

During a call with AILA’s USCIS Service Center Operations (SCOPS) Liaison Committee on September 27, 2017, USCIS Service Center Operations indicated that it is on track to resume premium processing for all H-1B petitions on or before October 3, 2017. AILA is currently awaiting official announcement and further details from USCIS on this issue.

Who Can File Adjustment of Status Application for Family-Sponsored or Employment-Based Preference Visas: October 2017 USCIS has determined that for October 2017, the Filing Date Chart in the DOS Visa Bulletin is to be used for family-sponsored filings and the Final Action Dates chart in the DOS Visa Bulletin must be used for employment-based preference filings. Are you seeking to

Today, September 18, 2017, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) resumed premium processing for all H-1B visa petitions subject to the Fiscal Year (FY) 2018 cap. The FY 2018 cap has been set at 65,000 visas. Premium processing has also resumed for the annual 20,000 additional petitions that are set aside to hire workers with a U.S. master’s degree

ICE Operation Mega, September 17, 2017, Except in field office areas impacted by hurricanes. On the evening of Thursday, September 8th, NBC News reported that Immigration & Customs Enforcement (ICE) had plans to conduct a mass nationwide immigration enforcement operation from mid- to late- September known internally as “Operation Mega.” NBC reported that the series of sweeps – “the largest