Articles Posted in Immigration News

I have listed the general COVID safety guidelines for entering a USCIS facilities below. Remember to check for the specific guidelines that you must follow for any building that you may personally need to enter for official USCIS related business.

Guidelines for Entering USCIS Facilities

– Visitors may not enter a USCIS facility if they:

List of some of the Top News Stories related to Trump and Biden on Immigration:

American Action Forum, 9/8/20:

Comparing Trump and Biden on Immigration

USCIS announced on Friday, September 11th, that they were extending the flexibilities that they originally announced on March 30th. These flexibilities are for responding to certain requests from the USCIS, some are listed below:

• Requests for Evidence;
• Continuations to Request Evidence (N-14);

On August 25^th, Secretary Pompeo, in consultation with the Department of Homeland Security, announced expanded ability of consular officers to waive the in-person interview requirement for individuals applying for a nonimmigrant visa in the same classification. Before this new expansion, only those applicants whose nonimmigrant visa expired within 12 months were eligible for an interview waiver.

Review the  Department of State (DOS) U.S. Visa News Article, “DOS Expands Interview Waiver Eligibility” for more details!

Source of Information:

USCIS has now updated their Policy Manual with guidance on the final fee rule! The final fee rule adjusts the fees USCIS charges for certain immigration benefit applications and petitions, in this case mostly increases. The final rule was published in the Federal Register on August 3, 2020 and the fees changes will take effect on Friday, October 2nd.

Link to the Final Rule on the USCIS fee changes, includes the new fee charts: Final Rule

Please visit the USCIS news alert for more detailed information: USCIS Issues New Policy Guidance on Final Fee Rule

On August 25^th, President Trump via Twitter, nominated acting Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Chad F. Wolf to top role at DHS. Trump twitted, “I am pleased to inform the American Public that Acting Secretary Chad Wolf will be nominated to be the Secretary of Homeland Security. Chad has done an outstanding job and we greatly appreciate his service!”. Acting Secretary Wolf has been in the acting position since November 13, 2019! Wolf must now be confirmed by the U.S. Senate.

Source of Information:

CNN, 8/25/20, News Article:

USCIS announced that the agency has canceled a scheduled administrative furlough of more than 70% of their workforce, around 13,000 employees! The USCIS furlough was scheduled to begin August 30^th, but because of spending cuts and a steady increase in daily revenue they claim they are now solvent enough to finish the fiscal year with their workforce.

Review the  USCIS News Release, “USCIS Averts Furlough of Nearly 70% of Workforce” for more details!

Source of Information:

On Friday, August 21, many committee leaders from the House and Senate have sent a bicameral, bipartisan letter to Acting DHS Secretary Wolf and USCIS Deputy Director for Policy Edlow! The Letter requests a delay of the possible USCIS furloughs at least into the beginning of FY2021 and Congress has time to act on new budget funding.

Letter to Acting DHS Secretary Wolf and USCIS Deputy Director for Policy Edlow

Source of Information:

The USCIS has announced that they need more than 500 million dollars to fill a budget gap! They claim that the budget problems were caused by the COVID-19 Pandemic, others say it is a mixture of mismanagement and the Pandemic. USCIS management has notified 13,400 or their 20,000 employees that they will be furlough by the end of the month, August 31^st.

Doug Rand, Senior Fellow at the Federation of American Scientists (Immigration Policy) stated, “It’s hard to overstate how bad this would be. USCIS would be operating with a skeleton crew, and our legal immigration system would grind to a halt.”

Review the Forbes News Article, USCIS Staff Furloughs Will Grind Legal Immigration To A Halt for more details!