USCIS Updates Policy Guidance for International Students

USCIS Updates Policy Guidance for International Students

Editorial credit: Kristi Blokhin / Shutterstock.com U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) is issuing policy guidance regarding the F and M student nonimmigrant classifications, including the agency’s role in adjudicating applications for employment authorization, change of status, extension of stay, and reinstatement of status for these students and their dependents in the United States. This […]

USCIS Updates Guidance on Administrative Naturalization Ceremony Venues

USCIS Updates Guidance on Administrative Naturalization Ceremony Venues

Today, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services issued policy guidance updates in the USCIS Policy Manual to clarify the types of venues USCIS may use for administrative naturalization ceremonies. This clarifying guidance is part of USCIS efforts to educate the public and those seeking to donate venue spaces, and to provide more transparency on how to partner with […]

Who Enforces Immigration Policy Anyway?

Who Enforces Immigration Policy Anyway?

The lack of a major overhaul in the United States’ immigration system for roughly thirty years has created an ecosystem where states have attempted to insert their authority over immigration, especially when it comes to enforcement. Texas has made headlines with its tougher approach and outsized role in shaping America’s immigration enforcement policy, while some states have […]

USCIS Lengthens Work Permit Automatic Extension Period to Address Adjudication Delays

USCIS Lengthens Work Permit Automatic Extension Period to Address Adjudication Delays

By Emma Winger, Immigration Impact U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) issued a temporary rule last week that automatically extends employment authorization for certain noncitizens waiting for USCIS to process their work permit renewal applications. As of December 2021, over 80,000 noncitizens had lost or would soon lose the right to work because of adjudication delays and a growing […]

USCIS to Offer Deferred Action for Special Immigrant Juveniles

USCIS to Offer Deferred Action for Special Immigrant Juveniles

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) on March 7, 2022 announced that it is updating the USCIS Policy Manual to consider deferred action and related employment authorization for noncitizens who have an approved Form I-360, Petition for Amerasian, Widow(er), or Special Immigrant, for Special Immigrant Juvenile (SIJ) classification but who cannot apply to adjust status […]

U.S. Citizenship Applicants are in Limbo Because Their Immigration Files are Locked in Caves Underground

U.S. Citizenship Applicants are in Limbo Because Their Immigration Files are Locked in Caves Underground

By Walter Ewing, Immigration Impact Thousands of applicants for U.S. citizenship have been waiting for well over a year for U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) to process their applications. But the problem isn’t the usual bureaucratic red tape. In this case, thousands of paper-based immigration records (known as “A-Files”) are locked in man-made caves that USCIS […]

USCIS Has Been Busy Expanding Access to Legal Immigration and Restoring Some Humanitarian Protections

USCIS Has Been Busy Expanding Access to Legal Immigration and Restoring Some Humanitarian Protections

By Walter Ewing, Immigration Impact U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has begun implementing policies in recent weeks which expand access to lawful immigration status, employment, and humanitarian protections for people who were previously under assault by the Trump administration. ‘ These latest developments include a redesignation of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Haitians, a […]

Problems at USCIS Persist, Despite Biden’s Progress on Immigration in His First 100 Days

Problems at USCIS Persist, Despite Biden’s Progress on Immigration in His First 100 Days

By Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, Immigration Impact When President Biden took office, he inherited a legal immigration system that was teetering on the brink of collapse. Delays within U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) have reached historic levels and some work permit applications are taking so long to process that thousands are losing their jobs. A new […]

What You Need to Know About Biden’s Deportation Moratorium

What You Need to Know About Biden’s Deportation Moratorium

Media cover a bittersweet reunion through the US-Mexico fence between DACA recipients and parents who’ve been deported. – Nogales, Ariz. / US – June 11, 2013 (Shutterstock) By Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, Immigrant Impact In a blow to the Biden administration, a federal judge in Texas has ordered the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) not to enforce its moratorium […]

Naturalization Fees: A Poll Tax Hidden in Plain Sight

Naturalization Fees: A Poll Tax Hidden in Plain Sight

By Valentine Brown, Immigration Impact The application fee to apply for U.S. citizenship was due to rise from $640 to $1170 on October 2. Though the fee hike was temporarily blocked in federal court, this is not the first time U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has tried to raise the naturalization application fee. But the increase has never […]

1 2 3