In liaison notes released on December 17, 2014, by the American Immigration Lawyers Association, the Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agency revealed that travelers entering the United States using advanced parole documents will always be placed in secondary inspection. CBP writes that this is “for verification of the document and to verify their validity,” which can take some time. This means travelers using advanced parole should incorporate extra airport time in their itineraries, especially if they have connecting flights in the United States.
President Obama arrived yesterday in Nashville to meet with immigrant advocates at Casa Azafran, a community center on Nolensville Road, and deliver remarks on the executive immigration measures that he first announced on November 20, 2014. In his speech, the President praised Nashville as a welcoming home to one of the fastest growing immigrant populations in the United States, accounting for more than half of Nashville’s growth since 2000, and as a bright example of successful city-wide policies and initiatives to encourage immigrant integration.
The Department of State’s January 2015 Visa Bulletin was published this week and here are the highlights:
The Department of Homeland Security announced Temporary Protected Status designation effective on November 21, 2014, for nationals of three countries – Liberia, Guinea, and Sierra Leone. Temporary Protected Status (TPS) is a way to halt deportations to a country that cannot handle the return of its nationals due to conditions of civil war, a disaster such as earthquake or hurricane, or an epidemic such as parts of West Africa are now experiencing with Ebola. The designation means nationals of designated countries can apply for formal protection from deportation and temporary work authorization.
The Obama Administrative also announced changes to the provisional waiver program, which will now be expanded to include spouses and children of permanent residents in addition to U.S. citizens, more about the Department of Labor’s involvement with U and T visas in the context of worksite enforcement, increased access to naturalization, a clarification of advanced parole, and an expansion of the parole in place program for family members of U.S. Armed Forces personnel.
The Department of Homeland Security is ending the controversial Secure Communities program. They have not said what mechanism will replace Secure Communities. DHS wants the new system to be more closely tied to its enforcement priorities so that people with no criminal record and extensive ties to the U.S. do not wind up in deportation proceedings. The federal government will greatly limit its use of requests for detention by local authorities, and instead ask that local agencies simply notify ICE of the impending release of someone in custody. Starting January 5, 2015, DHS will use the following criteria to evaluate people they encounter who are deportable under the immigration law:
Last night President Obama gave a speech about immigration reform and announced administrative changes to fix some aspects of the broken immigration system. He noted that the best reform would come from Congress passing a new law. He said he is no longer willing to wait for Congress, however, and will use his role as the Executive Branch of the government to re-interpret some aspects of the law in a way that focuses resources on deporting criminals, not hard-working parents. Obama’s address to the nation was really directed at American voters and tried to convince Americans to accept the fact that more immigrants will now be able to come out of the shadows, get work permits, driver’s licenses and participate more fully in our communities and economy.
But, you ask, who will be able to get papers? What are the specific changes announced? Specific details will be announced in the coming months. Here is what we know at this point:
In a long anticipated move, President Obama announced last night a series of administrative actions to be implemented in the coming months to improve our immigration system. While the focus of the announcement was undoubtedly the expansion of the deferred action program for undocumented people, there are several key measures that will have a direct impact on the employment based immigration field. Specific details will be announced in the coming months. Here is what we know at this point:
The U.S. Department of State has updated the maximum authorized visa validity period for certain visa classifications for Chinese nationals. Effective immediately, Chinese nationals applying for visitor visas (B-1/B-2), student visas (F-1), exchange visitor visas (J-1) or vocational student visas (M-1), as well as their qualifying family members, are eligible to receive visas with validity periods of up to 10 years.
The U.S. consular post in Jamaica has been a convenient alternative for many foreign nationals living in the United States due to its geographic proximity. The new restrictions have reduced the pool of eligible third country nationals to only those who are renewing non-visitor visas that were obtained in at consular posts in their home countries and who are applying in the same visa category.
