U.S. Immigration and Nationality Law
If you’re reading this article, you already know that President Trump and an adviser, Stephen Miller, have cooked up a new USCIS public charge rule as a backdoor way to limit U.S. immigration. (Aug. 14, 2019 Rule; Oct. 2, 2019 Corrections to Rule; USCIS Fact Sheet).
Continue reading “Chaos in Implementing the USCIS and State Dep’t Public Charge Rules”
The U.S. Department of Justice announced on Sept. 25 the arrest of Ji Chaoqun on the charge that he was as an agent of the Chinese government acting in the U.S. without registering under the Foreign Agents Registration Act.
Continue reading “Ji Chaoqun Arrested on Charges of Acting as an Illegal Agent for the Chinese Government”
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement reports that Li Dongyuan has entered a plea of guilty on charges that she ran a birth tourism scheme. The agency’s full press release follows:
Continue reading “Suspect Pleads Guilty in “Birth Tourism” Scheme”
Aug. 9 Update: USCIS announced in a news release today that they have cancelled plans to close operations at 7 international field offices: Beijing, Guangzhou, Nairobi, New Delhi, Mexico City, San Salvador, and Guatemala City. The news release calls these operations “cost-effective and high value”: they will continue to “adjudicate complex immigration petitions that require in-person interviews, to enhance integrity through fraud detection and national security activities, and to liaise with U.S. and foreign government entities to improve migration management capacity.” The news release gives no reason for the partial retreat in plans to axe all international offices.
Continue reading “USCIS Partial Retreat: Some International Field Offices, including Beijing and Guangzhou, Will Remain Open”
A member of the U.S. Congress may be willing to inquire with a Federal immigration agency, such as U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) and the U.S. Department of State (DOS), if you are having problems with your case.
Continue reading “Asking a Member of Congress for Help with Your Immigration Case”
Are you a U.S. citizen or permanent resident married to a spouse living overseas? Maybe you are living overseas together, or maybe you are in the U.S. waiting for your spouse to immigrate.
Continue reading “Filing Tax Returns When Married to a Nonresident Alien”
Andrew and Elad Dvash-Banks have twin sons, born four minutes apart. The U.S. State Department has maintained that one is a U.S. citizen and one is not. The same-sex couple has been fighting the U.S. government in federal court for citizenship rights for their young child.
Continue reading “U.S. State Department Appeals to Ninth Circuit a Ruling That Same-Sex Couple’s Child Acquired Citizenship Upon Birth Abroad”
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services’ processing of Forms I-751, Petitions to Remove Conditional Resident Status is in a state of disarray.
Sandra Feist writes for the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) that USCIS has been adding new procedural delays and hurdles to I-751s, like brick after brick in an “invisible wall” making life difficult for spouses of U.S. citizens.
Continue reading “USCIS Processing of I-751s in Disarray”
Happy Lunar New Year!
The U.S. Embassy and Consulates General in China will be closed Feb. 4 to 7.
Chodorow Law Offices will be closed for the official holiday, Feb. 4 to 10.
The federal government is now in partial shutdown due to a failure by President Trump and Congress to agree on how to fund the government. How does this impact key immigration agencies?
Continue reading “How the Government Shutdown Impacts Immigration Agencies”
President Trump baldly asserted this week that he can issue an executive order ending birthright citizenship for children born in the U.S. to undocumented parents. My initial reaction was frustration. How can the President claim–with no explanation–the power to act in a way that appears contrary to the plain words of the U.S. Constitution? Is this a serious proposal that just sounds like a flippant remark, or is it merely a cynical political ploy to rally his base before the midterm elections?
Continue reading “Trump’s Wrong Assertion That He Can End Birthright Citizenship by Executive Order”
| “We cannot just sit idly by and watch our most vulnerable neighbors become collateral damage, stemming from hard-lined ideologies. Together, we stand against these changes. No one should have to choose between food and family.” |
| — Op-ed opposing the Trump Administration’s proposed rule that would put at risk foreign nationals’ eligibility for green cards if previously, while lawfully residing in the U.S., they lawfully accessed public benefits such as food stamps or Medicaid. |
| “We the Indians of the Onandaga Tribe of the Six Nations Confederacy of New York State, after giving due consideration to the [Citizenship Act of 1924] … are not in any way capable of taking up the responsibilities of citizenship such as which the aforementioned [Act] is designed to enforce on the Indians…. [T]he [Act] is a destructive and an injurious weapon [that abrogates] the Treaty between the United States and the Six Nation Indians concluded in March 3, 1792.” |
| — Letter from the Chiefs of the Onandaga Nation to President Calvin Coolidge, Dec. 30, 1924, protesting the Citizenship Act of 1924. The Act declared that all Indians born within the United States are U.S. citizens. Indians had mixed reactions. Some considered the Act a way to secure long-denied political rights. Others, such as the Onandaga chiefs, considered the Act to be a tool for forced assimilation and weakening of their tribe’s rights as a nation. |
There are backlogs in U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) processing of applications and petitions. This leaves businesses and families to wonder what the processing times are. In March 2018, the agency began a pilot program to calculate processing times for some cases in a new way. Continue reading “How USCIS Calculates Processing Times for Petitions and Applications”
Gerry Shih reports for the AP today that the U.S. government may pursue sanctions on Chinese officials involved in human rights abuses in the western region of Xinjiang. Shih has recently reported elsewhere on a sweeping security crackdown in the region.
Continue reading “AP: Potential Visa Sanctions on Chinese Officials Over Xinjiang Abuses”
The latest Immigrant Visa Instructions published by the U.S. Consulate in Guangzhou on Nov. 24, 2017, require that an applicant who has “ever used another name or alias on legal documentation or for other official purpose must provide a certified alias certificate” (别名证明文件). Continue reading ““Alias Certificates” Required from Immigrant Visa Applicants at the U.S. Consulate in Guangzhou”
The Trump administration’s war on immigration has included an array of tactics. There have been full frontal assaults, such as the Muslim ban, cancellation of DACA, the border wall, and the RAISE Act. Simultaneously, the Trump administration is using the tactic of death by a thousand cuts: numerous assaults in the administrative agencies and courts intended to make immigration slower, more expensive, and painful. Here’s but one example. Continue reading “Death by a Thousand Cuts: Evisceration of the Foreign Service”
Chodorow Law Offices will be closed during the upcoming Chinese National Day and Mid-Autumn Festival holidays.
Similarly, the U.S. Embassy and Consulates General will be closed, on the following schedule:
Best wishes for the holidays. In the event of an emergency during the holidays, you can reach your case manager or attorney by cell phone.
On August 2, White House adviser Stephen Miller held a press conference defending President Donald Trump’s support for the RAISE Act, legislation that would reduce legal immigration to the United States.
CNN reporter Jim Acosta asked whether the bill is in keeping with Emma Lazarus’ sonnet, The New Colossus, at the base of the Statue of Liberty, which reads in part: Continue reading “Steve Miller, Meet Saum Song Bo: What the Statue of Liberty Symbolizes”
Automated Passport Control (APC) is a U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) program that expedites the entry process by providing an automated process through CBP’s Primary Inspection area. Continue reading “What Are Automated Passport Control and Mobile Passport Control?”