Lawful Permanent Residence

On July 31, 2020, the Department of Homeland Security announced a final rule that will adjust certain immigration and naturalization fees charged by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) to ensure that USCIS has the resources it needs to provide adequate service to applicants and petitioners.  The rule will also remove certain fee exemptions, change fee waiver requirements, alter premium processing time limits, and modify intercountry adoption processing.  The final rule is effective October 2, 2020.

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Update - effective October 11, 2019, the U.S. District Court of the Southern District of New York prohibited the USCIS and Department of Homeland Security (DHS) from enforcing the DHS Public Charge Final Rule, specifically preventing the implementation of any new or updated forms that would be required under the Final Rule, including: Forms I-129 (Petition for a Nonimmigrant Worker), I-485 (Application to Register Permanent Residence or Adjust Status), I-539 (Application to Extend/Change Nonimmigrant Status), I-864 (Affidavit of Support), I-864 EZ (Affidavit of Support Under Section 213A of the Act), I-944 (Declaration of Self-Sufficiency), and Form I-945 (Public Charge Bond).  The newer Forms I-944 and I-945, produced exclusively for use in connection with the Public Charge Inadmissibility Law, were removed from the USCIS website shortly after this injunction.
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In order to decrease location-based disparities in the processing times for Form I-485, Application to Register Permanent Residence or Adjust Status, and Form N-400, Application for Naturalization, USCIS will start transferring cases to field offices outside their normal jurisdiction for more efficient adjudication.
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Please be advised that USCIS has begun expanding its Information Services Modernization Program across key field offices beginning November 13, 2018 to now include the Detroit office and the five Los Angeles District offices.  During the first quarter of FY 2019, USCIS will implement the program in the Great Lakes and San Francisco field offices and across all New York City area field offices (NYC (Manhattan), Queens, Brooklyn as well as Long Island and Newark).  In fact, it is expected that by the end of 2019, INFOPASS appointments will no longer be available at any local USCIS office.  Individuals living in the areas covered by the program can schedule an appointment by calling the USCIS National Customer Service Center at (800) 375-5283.

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Please be advised that Policy Guidance for the validity period of Form I-693, Report of Medical Examination and Vaccination Record, is being revised by USCIS.  USCIS officers use Form I-693 to determine whether an applicant for an immigration benefit in the United States is inadmissible under the health-related grounds of inadmissibility.  As of November 1, 2018, the updated policy will go into effect.

As such, applicants filing an underlying application (i.e. Form I-485 for adjustment of status) will be required to submit Forms I-693 signed by a civil surgeon no more than 60 days before submission of filing.  This will allow for a two-year period of validity following the civil surgeon’s signature date. Although USCIS will continue to retain the current two-year maximum validity period, a more effective way of calculating the validity period will be implemented in order to enhance operational efficiencies and reduce the number of requests to applicants for an updated Form I-693, including the reduction of delays in adjudicating underlying applications based on fewer requests for updated forms.

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On September 26, 2018, USCIS issued an update that they will begin implementing their June 28th Policy Memorandum (PM) 602-0050.1 pertaining to the referral of cases and issuance of Notices to Appear (NTAs) in cases involving “inadmissible and removable” individuals.  For more information about this new Policy Memorandum, please see our previous blog entry on this subject.
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In light of the recent increase in the USCIS processing times for Form I-751, Petition to Remove Conditions on Residence, and Form I-829, Petition by Entrepreneur to Remove Conditions on Permanent Resident Status, beginning June 11, 2018, USCIS will begin issuing Form I-751 or I-829 receipt notices valid for 18 months (previously 12) past the expiration date printed on the conditional Permanent Resident Card (“green card”) after filing a Form I-751 or I-829.

Additionally, USCIS will issue new receipt notices to eligible conditional permanent residents whose Forms I-751 or I-829 were still pending as of June 11, 2018. Those receipt notices will also serve as evidence of continued status for 18 months past the Permanent Resident Card expiration date.

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USCIS has announced that it will begin to use U.S. Postal Service’s (USPS) Signature Confirmation Restricted Delivery service to mail Green Cards and other secure documents starting April 30, 2018.
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Foreign nationals may legally enter the United States by obtaining a visa. There are two types of visas, the immigrant visa and the non-immigrant visa. Immigrant visas allow aliens to enter and reside in the U.S. for the long term. Non-immigrant visas are issued for limited periods of time and for specific purposes, such as tourism, business, study, temporary work or medical treatment.

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Following the Executive Order signed on Friday, January 27, 2017 titled, “Protecting the Nation from Foreign Terrorist Entry into the United States”, the United States Department of State has announced that it has provisionally revoked all valid nonimmigrant and immigrant visas of nationals of Iraq, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen with the exception of the following nonimmigrant visa classifications: A-1, A-2, G-1, G-2, G-3, G-4, NATO, C-2, or certain diplomatic visas, or any visa exempted on the basis of a determination made by the Secretaries of State and Homeland Security pursuant to section 3(g) of the Executive order on a case-by-case basis and when in the national interest.

The full text of the revocation directive can be found at http://www.politico.
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On Friday, January 27, 2017, President Donald Trump signed an Executive Order titled “Protecting the Nation from Foreign Terrorist Entry into the United States”. This Executive Order had the effect of banning nationals of Iraq, Syria, Sudan, Iran, Somalia, Libya, or Yemen from entering the United States for a period of at least 90 days (potentially longer). This travel ban includes foreign nationals who have dual citizenship with one of the listed countries as well as another foreign country not on the list. U.S.
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