Immigration Blog Luba Smal Attorney at Law - Smal Immigration Law Office

On May 29, 2015, U.S. Department of State officially rescinded Cuba's designation as a state sponsor of terrorism.

5/29/2015

Big news for Cuba: on May 29, 2015, U.S. Department of State rescinded Cuba's designation as a state sponsor of terrorism.

Cuba’s removal from the list of countries – now confined only to Iran, Sudan and Syria – is an important step in Obama's administration effort to move past the Cold War era hostility.

In December 2014, the President instructed the Secretary of State to immediately launch a review of Cuba’s designation as a State Sponsor of Terrorism, and provide a report to him within six months regarding Cuba’s support for international terrorism. On April 8, 2015, the Secretary of State completed that review and recommended to the President that Cuba no longer be designated as a State Sponsor of Terrorism.

Accordingly, on April 14, 2015, the President submitted to Congress the statutorily required report indicating the Administration’s intent to rescind Cuba’s State Sponsor of Terrorism designation, including the certification that Cuba has not provided any support for international terrorism during the previous six-months; and that Cuba has provided assurances that it will not support acts of international terrorism in the future.

The 45-day Congressional pre-notification period has expired, and the Secretary of State has made the final decision to rescind Cuba’s designation as a State Sponsor of Terrorism, effective today, May 29, 2015.

The rescission of Cuba’s designation as a State Sponsor of Terrorism reflects our assessment that Cuba meets the statutory criteria for rescission. While the United States has significant concerns and disagreements with a wide range of Cuba’s policies and actions, these fall outside the criteria relevant to the rescission of a State Sponsor of Terrorism designation.

Read at: http://m.state.gov/md242986.htm

Nebraska to start issuing driver's licenses to young immigrants who were granted deferred action under DACA program which is in effect since 2012.

5/28/2015

Nebraska will start issuing driver's licenses to DREAMers or young people who were granted deferred action under DACA ("DACA grantees").

Nebraska is the last state to join the other 49 states who are already issuing driver's licenses to young people with approved DACA deferred action. This program has been in effect since 2012.

On Tuesday, Nebraska Legislature overrode Governor's veto on this bill by 34 to 10 vote.

Read here.

5th Circuit Court of Appeals: DAPA injunction stays in place, the program may never become law. DACA extension injunction stays in place, as well.

5/26/2015

Twenty-six states (the “states”) are challenging the government’s Deferred Action for Parents of Americans and Lawful Permanent Residents program (“DAPA”) as violative of the Administrative Procedure Act (“APA”) and the Take Care Clause of the Constitution.

The district court determined that the states are likely to succeed on their procedural APA claim, so it temporarily enjoined implementation of the program. Texas v. United States, Civ. No. B-14-254, 2015 WL 648579 (S.D. Tex. Feb. 16, 2015).

The United States appealed the preliminary injunction and moved for a stay of the injunction pending resolution of the merits of that appeal. Because the government is unlikely to succeed on the merits of its appeal of the injunction, we deny the motion for stay and the request to narrow the scope of the injunction. Read full text of the decision here.

First, the Court of Appeals rejected the Obama administration's argument that the 26 states challenging DACA and DAPA lack standing. The panel found that the burden on Texas in having to issue drivers licenses to DAPA status immigrants was "real and concrete."

Second, the court rejected the Obama administration's main argument, which is that the actions are truly discretionary and thus "committed to agency discretion by law." The court said that the executive actions didn't allow for any real exercise of discretion by agency employees, rather they simply were blanket changes to the immigration laws.

There are other provisions in Obama’s executive action on immigration, which will be considered by a different panel of judges of the Fifth Circuit the week of July 6, 2015. That panel could decide to lift the injunction.

The injunction could remain in place for the rest of President Obama’s term in office – unless it is lifted by the courts.

As a practical matter, the injunction prevents the government from processing DAPA and extended DACA applications. Only original 2012 DACA is still in effect.

It appears that DAPA and extended DACA may never become law.

Read the court opinion here.

Pending court case can affect Presidential elections in 2016. Issue is whether it’s legal to hold in ICE detention facilities women and children, including unaccompanied minors, who have crossed the border illegally.

5/20/2015

Obama administration’s immigration policy faces a shake-up next week—and the court’s ruling could reverberate in the 2016 presidential campaign.

At issue is whether it’s legal to essentially lock up women and children who have crossed the border illegally, part of the administration’s response to summer 2014 unaccompanied-minors crisis.

Lawyers for some of these families sued the government, and last month, a U.S. District judge in Los Angeles issued a tentative ruling, a summary of which was obtained by Newsweek, stating that the administration policy violates a settlement in a 1997 immigration case, Flores v. Meese.

Judge gave the two sides 30 days to negotiate an agreement that would lead the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency to release the minors and their parents from the family detention centers where they are being held. Those 30 days run out on Sunday, May 24, 2015.

The judge issued a gag order, so it’s quite difficult to know whether or not there will be a real settlement by May 25, 2015.

Obama’s detention and deportation of hundreds of thousands of undocumented immigrants remains a sore spot for immigrant rights and Latino activists, even after the president granted a reprieve, via executive order and under DACA program, to millions of young people who came to the United States as children and to those who have children who were born here and thus are American citizens (DAPA, which is not effective yet, pending another court case).

The practice of holding thousands of women and their children in detention for many months—it’s just mothers and their kids in these detention facilities (in Texas and Pennsylvania), most of them fleeing dire circumstances in Central America—has prompted a particularly strong backlash.

Immigrant rights groups have been very critical of this practice.

Read more at Newsweek.

How to apply for a work permit, EAD card. Effective May 26, 2015, some H-4 spouses will be eligible to apply for a work permit. NOTE: Not all H-4 are eligible for EAD.

5/20/2015

USCIS has published information to help eligible H-4 dependent spouses to apply for employment authorization (work permit) under the Employment Authorization for Certain H-4 Dependent Spouses final rule.

Note: you can file application for a work permit only on or after May 26, 2015, and you must be eligible to apply.

Application form is USCIS form I-765, and the filing fee is US$380.

Note: it is applicant's burden of proof to provide evidence of your status, your H1B spouse's status and prove that you meet other eligibility requirements. Your application can be delayed or denied if it's incomplete.

Eligibility requirements: you are eligible to apply for a work permit if you are the H-4 dependent spouse of an H-1B nonimmigrant IF your H-1B nonimmigrant spouse:

Is the principal beneficiary of an approved Form I-140, Immigrant Petition for Alien Worker; or
Has been granted H-1B status under sections 106(a) and (b) of the AC21. The AC21 permits H-1B nonimmigrants seeking employment-based lawful permanent residence to work and remain in the United States beyond the six-year limit.

Read here.

Starting May 26 2015, USCIS temporarily suspends premium processing for H-1B extensions in order to implement policy granting EADs (work permits) to H-4 spouses.

5/19/2015

Starting May 26, 2015, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) will temporarily suspend premium processing for all H-1B Extension of Stay petitions until July 27, 2015. During this time frame, petitioners will not be able to file Form I-907, Request for Premium Processing Service, for a Form I-129, Petition for a Nonimmigrant Worker, requesting an extension of the stay for an H-1B nonimmigrant.

USCIS will continue to premium process H-1B Extension of Stay petitions filed with Form I-907 premium requests prior to May 26, 2015.

This temporary suspension will allow USCIS to implement the Employment Authorization for Certain H-4 Spouses final rule in a timely manner and adjudicate applications for employment authorization filed by H-4 nonimmigrants under the new regulations.

Read more at http://www.uscis.gov/news/uscis-temporarily-suspends-premium-processing-extension-stay-h-1b-petitions

DHS and the IRS are investigating Chinese "birth tourism" and agencies bringing Chinese mothers to the USA.

5/14/2015

As reported by Bloomberg Business News, birth tourism from China to the US is booming. Although it’s not illegal to travel to the U.S. to give birth, it’s illegal to lie about the purpose of a visit when interviewed by American Consul or by immigration or customs officers at the US airport—or coach someone to do so.

If a woman says she’s traveling to the U.S. to give birth, the consular and customs officers may request proof that she can pay for her hospital stay. (The same would be asked of anybody seeking medical treatment in the U.S.)

Department of Homeland Security and the IRS have been investigating the growing business of “birth tourism,” which operates in a legal gray area, since last June. The industry is totally unregulated and mostly hidden.

No one knows the exact number of Chinese birth tourists or services catering to them. Online ads and accounts in the Chinese-language press suggest there could be hundreds, maybe thousands, of operators. A California association of these services called All American Mother Service Management Center claims 20,000 women from China gave birth in the U.S. in 2012 and about the same number in 2013. These figures are often cited by Chinese state media, but the center didn’t reply to a request for comment. The Center for Immigration Studies, an American organization that advocates limiting the scope of the 14th Amendment, estimates there could have been as many as 36,000 birth tourists from around the world in 2012. Estimated fees paid by Chinese birth tourists to the agencies catering to them are around USD30,000 to USD60,000.

Department of Homeland Security declined to discuss the investigation because it is ongoing, but the agent in charge said: “Visa fraud is a huge vulnerability for the country. These women allegedly lied to come have a baby. Other people could come to do something bad. We have to maintain the integrity of the system.”

Read the story here.

USCIS announced immigration humanitarian relief measures for Nepali nationals in USA.

5/7/2015

Immigration Relief Measures for Nepali Nationals.

On May 5, 2015, USCIS had made the following announcement:

USCIS several immigration relief measures that may be available to Nepali nationals who are affected by the magnitude 7.8 earthquake that struck Nepal on April 25, 2015.

Measures that may be available to eligible Nepali nationals upon request include:

Change or extension of nonimmigrant status for an individual currently in the United States, even if the request is filed after the authorized period of admission has expired;
A grant of re-parole;
Expedited processing of advance parole requests;
Expedited adjudication and approval, where possible, of requests for off-campus employment authorization for F-1 students experiencing severe economic hardship;
Expedited adjudication of employment authorization (work permit) applications, where appropriate;
Consideration for waivers of fees associated with USCIS benefit applications, based on an inability to pay; and
Assistance replacing lost or damaged immigration or travel documents issued by USCIS, such as Permanent Resident Cards (green cards).

To learn more, consult an attorney, or visit uscis.gov/humanitarian/special-situations or call the National Customer Service Center at 1-800-375-5283 (TDD for the hearing impaired: 1-800-767-1833).

See here.

It's time to check your DV 2016 Green Card Lottery number to see if you have been selected as a WINNER!

5/6/2015

Did you apply for the 2016 DV lottery? It's time to find your DV-2016 confirmation number!

Starting May 5, 2015, y ou can check your DV-2016 Green Card Lottery entry status at dvlottery.state.gov .

Please keep in mind that Entrant Status Check online is the ONLY means by which you will be notified of your selection for further processing in the Diversity Visa lottery. You will never be notified or requested to pay fees by mail, email, phone -- ONLY through online status check.

If you have misplaced your DV lottery confirmation number, you can use the retrieval tool in Entrant Status Check to recover it at https://www.dvlottery.state.gov/

If you have been selected as a WINNER and need help with the visa application process (if you are outside of the United States and will apply at the US embassy or consulate in your country) or with adjustment of status (if you are residing in the United States and eligible for adjustment of status), you are welcome to contact our office for advice or legal assistance. We would be glad to help!

Extreme Hardship Waiver, USCIS I-601, and Provisional Waiver, I-601A, Approval and Denial Rates, RFE, USCIS Statistics for FY 2010-201

5/4/2015

USCIS provided statistics on approval rate, denial rate, and RFE rate for Forms I-601 and Forms I-601A, for FY2010 through FY2015.

Information was provided in response to a FOIA request.

Since FY2010 thru January of FY2015, the average approval rate for I-601s is 79.6% and the average denial rate is 20.4%.

The average RFE rate is 18.8%.

Since March of FY2013 thru January of FY2015, the average approval rate for I-601As is 70.2% and the average denial rate is 29.8%.

The average RFE rate is 26.2%.

The total number of I-601 decisions issued since FY2010 (over the course of 5 years and 4 months) = 64,826.

The total number of I-601As issued since the program started in FY2013 (over the course of 1 year and 11 months) = 62,973.

The highest approval rate for I-601s was 82.4% in FY2013 (the year the provisional waiver program started). At the same time, I-601A approvals were at their lowest in FY2013 at 63.9% -- This was pre-"reason to believe" guidance so this makes sense. Total receipts for I-601As since March of FY2013 = 74,439.

Read more stats at: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B_6gbFPjVDoxRExvLW92eXhHUEU/edit

AB 60 California state law authorized issuance of special driver's licenses for undocumented immigrants in California, effective date Jan 02, 2015.

5/1/2015

Information FAQs about AB 60 (new California law) in Spanish and English.

AB 60 FAQs in Spanish available here:
http://www.ilrc.org/files/documents/ab_60_4_17_15_spanish.pdf

AB 60 FAQs in English are here:
http://www.ilrc.org/files/documents/ab_60_4_27_15.pdf

AB 60 is a new California state law which is applicable in the state of California only. Effective date is January 02 2015. This information could be useful for those residents of California who have no legal immigrant status. This new law authorizes issuance of a AB 60 driver's license to immigrants residing in California out of status or undocumented immigrants. This AB 60 driver's license is a valid state photo ID document and a valid driving permit. However, it's not a federal ID document and should not be used to board planes, etc.