USCIS has announced that on December 12, 2022, it will publish a Federal Register notice explaining the registration process for Temporary Protected Status by Ethiopian nationals in the U.S. who meet certain conditions. This TPS designation of Ethiopia allows nationals of Ethiopia (and individuals having no nationality who last habitually resided in Ethiopia) who have continuously resided in the...
On July 1, 2022, USCIS issued an update to its policy manual which clarified that Temporary Protected Status beneficiaries may be deemed eligible for adjustment of status to the extent that they meet the inspected and admitted requirement following a return from authorized travel. TPS beneficiaries who travel abroad temporarily, with the prior consent of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security...
Update July 7, 2022 USCIS has informed the public that some applicants may have received incorrect receipt notices showing the outdated 180-day automatic extension instead of the current 540-day automatic extension. The incorrect receipt notices were issued between May 4, 2022 and June 2, 2022. Affected applicants should be receiving the correct notices by the third week of July. Sample...
Since 2013, certain aliens who are only inadmissible based on the 3-year or 10-year unlawful presence bar may seek a provisional unlawful presence waiver while present in the United States by filing Form I-601A, Application for Provisional Unlawful Presence Waiver. An approved provisional unlawful presence waiver is not effective unless and until the alien departs from the United States, appears...
Update Post 01/18/2024 Finally, we are seeing approvals of I-601A petitions. Here's one that took 41 months!! This was filed back in July 2020. Update Post 09/13/2021 We received a new I-601A approval. Total processing time is about 19 months. No RFE. Filed: 12/09/2019 Approved: 09/02/2021 Original Post 09/08/2021 The current processing time of I-601A waiver is about 18 to 24 months. We received...
Below is a sample Request for Additional Evidence (RFE) which is a form of challenge issued by USCIS. The RFE focuses on a pending green card application filed under the Liberian Refugee Immigration Fairness program (LRIF). This form of RFE may be considered a template RFE because it can be easily adapted and sent out to any pending green card application filed under LRIF. You may receive a...
On August 28, 2021, DHS provided assurances that they will not conduct enforcement activities at locations where disaster and emergency relief related to Hurricane Ida are being provided. "Absent exceptional circumstances, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) will not conduct immigration enforcement at locations where disaster and emergency relief...
On July 19, 2021, DHS announced the re-designation and extension of Somalia for TPS. The extension of TPS for Somalia allows approximately 447 current beneficiaries to retain TPS through March 17, 2023, so long as they meet TPS eligibility requirements. The re-designation of Somalia for TPS also allows an estimated 100 additional Somali nationals (or individuals having no nationality who...
On June 14, 2021, USCIS updated its policy manual to allow eligible U visa petitioners (victims of crime in the United States) access to employment authorization sooner. Currently, U visa petitioners are waiting approximately five years before receiving a determination that allows them access to an employment authorization document and grant of deferred action. Through this new process, USCIS...
The Supreme Court just handed down a decision that will deflate the hope of filing for green card (while present in the U.S.) for about 400,000 individuals in the U.S. with Temporary Protected Status (TPS). The case concerns the plight of Jose Sanchez who with his wife and three children entered the US illegally in 1997. His fourth child was born in the U.S. and is a U.S. Citizen. In 2001, after...
