by Heidi Meyers | Nov 11, 2016 | Articles
This is a friendly reminder that USCIS filing fees will increase as of December 23, 2016. This means that any application received on December 23rd or later will be subject to the new higher fees. For example, Form I-130 relative petition will increase from $420 to $535, the adjustment application, Form I-485, will increase from $985 to $1,140, and Form I-129 for nonimmigrant workers, will increase from $325 to $460. Please see https://www.uscis.gov/forms/our-fees, for a complete list of the new USCIS filing fees.
by Heidi Meyers | Nov 10, 2016 | Articles
Many are panicked and worried about a Trump presidency, with good reason. The next four years will undoubtedly be very difficult for all, especially immigrants. However, the United States is still a country of laws, and our Constitution as well as all the case law developed over the last two centuries, protects our civil rights and civil liberties. The Immigration and Nationality Act (INA), as well as federal regulations, provide benefits to immigrants, as well as possible relief from deportation.
For the undocumented, as well as for those permanent residents who have a criminal conviction, ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) cannot just arrest you and put you on a plane back to your home country. You have a right to removal proceedings before an immigration judge. Removal proceedings often take many years to be resolved, especially recently. You have a right to contest the charges against you, and even if you are found removable from the United States for certain violations of the immigration law, you may apply for relief from removal for any benefit for which you may be eligible, including asylum, withholding of removal, withholding under the Convention Against Torture, adjustment or re-adjustment to permanent residency, as well as numerous waivers, depending upon whether you meet the requirements.
Even if you should lose in immigration court, you have two levels of appeal, first, to the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA), and second, to the federal circuit court of appeals. Thus, you will have ample opportunity to defend your case to stay in the United States. Heck, after four years President Trump may be out of office and your case is still pending.
Those who have a statutory benefit, such as H-1B status, or any of the other nonimmigrant statuses, or an approved employment or family preference petition, will continue to be eligible for that benefit, unless both houses of Congress (the House of Representatives and the Senate) pass a new bill abolishing or modifying that benefit, and the president signs it into law. This could take quite some time, maybe a couple of years or so. At this point, while the Republicans are in the majority in both the Senate and the House of Representatives, there will be 48 Democratic senators, who can filibuster and potentially block, any devastating changes to the INA by Republicans.
There are some exceptions to this, for statutory provisions that are set to expire, such as the EB-5 regional centers immigrant investor program, Conrad 30, and the non-minister religious worker provisions. These provisions are in much more danger of not being renewed, and thus those benefiting from them possibly falling out of status.
Those who are much more vulnerable are those with DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals), which was created by executive action rather than the statute. This may be abolished at any time. However, politically, it is more difficult to take away a benefit from people who already have it, than it is to deny a benefit to people who never previously had it. Republicans have turned DACA into a political football, and most likely will try to abolish it. Another example is TPS (Temporary Protected Status). The executive declares nationals from a certain country to be eligible for TPS for a certain period because of an environmental disaster or other terrible conditions in the home country, and then can extend it or not, depending on whether conditions have improved as well as other factors.
However, those unable to renew their DACA or TPS, even if placed in removal proceedings, will have the opportunity to contest their removal from the U.S. as described above.
So do not despair, the United States still has a legal framework developed over centuries, democratic values, and a great tradition of individual rights, which will not be undone in a day.
In the coming months, I will do a series of articles to go into more depth on changes we can expect from the new Trump administration as events develop.
by Heidi Meyers | Oct 21, 2016 | Articles
CBP (U.S. Customs and Border Protection) is now frequently searching the cell phones and laptops of travelers trying to enter the U.S. While they previously had a practice of doing this, it has become more frequent and routine. Thus, should there be any doubt about your admissibility to the U.S. , you need to be prepared in case CBP searches your electronic devices, or even confiscates them and sends them for forensic examination. CBP does not even have to provide any reason to search your cell phone or laptop.
In general, the Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution protects us from unreasonable searches and seizures of our “persons, houses, papers, and effects”, unless the police have probable cause to believe a crime has been committed and have gone to a judge to get a search warrant. In the Supreme Court case of Riley v. Calfornia, 573 U.S. __ (2014), the petitioner Riley had initially been stopped for a traffic violation, and the arresting officer searched him and seized his cell phone, which was later examined in detail by a detective at the police station. Because of information found on the cell phone, Riley ended up being charged in connection with a shooting and the prosecutor asked for an enhanced sentence because of his gang membership. Riley made a motion to suppress all evidence seized from the cell phone and appealed.
The U.S. Supreme Court noted that cell phones have an immense storage capacity, and that most people have every aspect of their personal lives stored on their phone, all their private interests and concerns, their family, years of personal photos, any health problems they have, their banking, their business and where they have been. The government’s search of a person’s cell phone would reveal far more than the most exhaustive search of his home. In this situation, the Supreme Court found that the person’s right to privacy was greater than the government’s interests at stake.
In Riley, the Supreme Court held that a warrant is required to search a cell phone, even when the cell phone was seized incident to an arrest.
However, this does not apply to searches at the border, including land borders and international airports. Your right to privacy evaporates at the border. There is a long-standing border search exception, so that there is no requirement of a warrant or probable cause for searches at international borders. The US Supreme Court has held that the right of U.S. government agents to stop and search travelers at the border does not implicate the Fourth Amendment, U.S. v. Montoya de Hernandez, 473 U.S. 531 (1985). The U.S. government’s interest in protecting our borders and in national security outweighs any privacy interest of the individual.
In August 2009, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and CBP issued directives allowing their agents to inspect any electronic device that travelers seek to carry across an international border into the U.S. CBP and ICE also allow their agents to detain electronic devices in order to search them, and to copy the files. CBP and ICE may do this, even if they have no reasonable suspicion of any wrongdoing, or of any issues within their own jurisdiction. If the information is encrypted or in a foreign language, CBP may take the device from the traveler and send it for forensic examination to another agency.
Pascal Abidor was a graduate student at the Institute of Islamic Studies at McGill University in Montreal, who was writing his dissertation on the modern history of Shia’s in Lebanon. In 2010, he was traveling on an Amtrak train from Canada to the US, when the train was stopped at a CBP inspection point near Service Port- Champlain. While being questioned by the CBP officer, Abidor revealed that he had traveled to Lebanon and Jordan, and showed the agent his visas. Abidor was then taken for further inspection, and his laptop, digital camera, two cell phones and an external hard drive were all seized by CBP. The officer ordered him to put his password in to log in to his computer, which he did. The officer found photos of rallies of Hezbollah and Hamas, which Abidor explained were taken as part of his research for his PhD. His laptop and external drive were taken by CBP and not returned until 11 days later, after sending them for forensic examination and making a copy of all the files. In addition to his research for the PhD, the computer files contained all his personal information, including communications with his girlfriend, personal photos and tax returns, among other information. Abidor was never found to have committed any kind of wrongdoing.
Abidor, along with others, sued the U.S. government. The federal court dismissed their claims of violations of the First and Fourth Amendments, in Pascal Abidor, NACDL, National Press Photographers Assoc v. Napolitano, 10-CV-04059 (EDNY 12/31/2013), finding they had no standing. This is just one example of many cases where individuals have sued the federal government for searches at the border and lost.
Thus, if you are traveling internationally to the U.S. and anticipate any possibility of any difficulty at all with CBP, you may best leave your electronic devices at home, or else entertain the real possibility that they will be thoroughly searched and copied by federal agents.
by Heidi Meyers | Oct 14, 2016 | Articles
For November 2016, the first and second employment preferences remain current worldwide. The second preference for China has progressed from a priority date of February 15, 2012 to a priority date of July 15, 2012 from October 2016 to November 2016, a leap forward of five months. The second preference for India has progressed only about two weeks, from January 15, 2007 in October to November 1, 2007 in November 2016, a small step in the right direction. The third preference worldwide has advanced from June 1, 2016 in October to July 1 2016 in November, keeping up at a good pace. Mexico is at the same date, July 1, 2016 for the third preference. The third preference for China has moved from January 22, 2013 to April 15, 2013, a wait of about three and a half years. The third preference for India has gone from March 1, 2005 to March 8, 2005, advancing by only one week and abysmally stuck at more than 11 years behind, and increasing. The third preference for the Philippines has moved from December 1, 2010 to April 1, 2011, advancing four months, but still about a five and a half year wait. Other workers for all countries have the same dates as the third preference, with the exception of China, which is backlogged to September 1, 2005.
Good news, religious workers immigrant visas have gone from totally unavailable for all countries during October 2016, to being current for all countries in November 2016 except for El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras, which are at July 15, 2015. Fourth preference is also current for all countries except for El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras, again at July 15, 2015.
by Heidi Meyers | Sep 20, 2016 | Articles
October is the beginning of the government’s fiscal year, when new visa numbers become available. The October 2016 State Dept. visa bulletin provides relief to those in the worldwide EB-2 category, moving from being backlogged at February 2014 in September to being current in October. EB-2 for El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico and the Philippines are also all current for October. EB-2 China has moved from being backlogged at January 1, 2010 in September, moving up to February 15, 2012 for October. EB-2 India has moved from February 22, 2005 in September to January 15, 2007 in October.
EB-3 worldwide remains steady at June 1, 2016, not much of a wait at all. EB-3 for El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Mexico are also all at June 1, 2016. EB-3 for China has gone from January 1, 2010 in September to January 22, 2013 in October, a leap forward of more than three years. EB-3 India disappointingly has gone from February 15, 2005 in September to March 1, 2005 for October, advancing only about two weeks. EB-3 Philippines has advanced modestly from July 1, 2010 to December 1, 2010.
Unfortunately for reverends, rabbis, priests, nuns, imams and other religious workers, visas in the religious worker category are totally unavailable for all countries.
by Heidi Meyers | Sep 2, 2016 | Articles
Foreign students who major in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) programs may get a total of three years of work authorization, whereas foreign students who have other majors only get one year of work authorization after graduation. Because of the severe shortage of H-1B visa numbers and restrictions on other temporary visas, a non-STEM student with only one year of OPT (optional practical training) after graduation may not be able to get an H-1B visa number, not qualify for other temporary work visas, and have to depart the U.S. Those with STEM majors, on the other hand, may get a total of three years of OPT (an initial one year, and then a two-year extension), and so have much more time to try to get an H-1B visa number or qualify for another type of temporary status or even the green card.
However, students should not major in subjects in which they are not interested, as you are not going to succeed in an area in which you have no interest. Students should choose a major that is exciting and interesting to them. For students who are not interested in the obvious computer science, engineering, math, biology majors, there are many majors within the STEM program which may suit their interests more closely, turn out to be a good fit, and then allow them to stay and work in the US for that extra two years. So if the usual suspects in terms of STEM majors leave you feeling ho-hum, go find something else!
For animal lovers, Animal Sciences, Animal Health and Animal Nutrition are all STEM majors, as is almost any major with the word “Veterinary” in it. For those worried about global warming and saving the environment, there are many STEM majors, including the following: Natural Resources Conservation and Research; Environmental Studies; Water, Wetlands, and Marine Resources Management; Wildlife, Fish and Wildlands Science and Management; Forest Science; and many others.
For those interested in the social sciences, there are many options, including for example: Cognitive Psychology and Psycholinguistics; Comparative Psychology; Developmental and Child Psychology; Social Psychology; Econometrics and Quantitative Economics; and Archeology, among others.
For those interested in media and communications, Digital Communication and Media/Multimedia as well as Animation, Interactive Technology, Video Graphics and Special Effects are STEM majors.
For those interested in a military career, there are many STEM majors, including: Intelligence, General; Strategic Intelligence; Information/Psychological Warfare and Military Media Relations; Military Applied Sciences; Naval Science and Operational Studies; as well as many others. For students interested in security and law enforcement, Forensic Science and Cyber/Computer Forensics and Counterterrorism are STEM majors.
For a complete list of STEM majors, look at the STEM Designated Degree Program List Effective May 10, 2016 on the USICE web site.
