US Immigration News

The US Department of State (DoS) has hit Belarus with US visa restrictions, citing the ‘repression of athletes abroad including the attempted forced repatriation of a sprinter at the Tokyo Olympic Games’, according to a report published by The Guardian. 

 

The restrictions come after Belarusian sprinter, Krystsina Tsimanouskaya, refused to board a flight back home in 2021 when she was removed from the Games against her will following a public complaint she made about her international team coaches.

New legislation, which proposes the setup of a new US startup visa aimed at attracting talented individuals from around the world, has been backed by US President, Joe Biden.

United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has announced that the initial registration period for the fiscal year (FY) 2023 H1B visa cap will run from March 1 to March 18, 2022. During this window, prospective H1B petitioners and representatives will be able to submit their registrations using the USCIS, online H1B registration system.

 

The Biden administration plans to launch a tax-funded, US immigration legal services program for immigrants affected by the Remain in Mexico policy. In December last year, President Biden was forced to resurrect the controversial, Trump-era Remain in Mexico policy following a court ruling. The rule has since been expanded to San Diego.

 

New research shows that one-in-ten black people living in the United States are immigrants. According to a Pew Research Center analysis of US Census Bureau data, the black immigrant population could rise to 9.5 million by 2060, more than double the current 4.6 million living in the US that were born in another country.

 

In 1980, only 3% of the US population were black immigrants, but between 1980 and 2019, the black population in the US as a whole grew by 20 million with the black foreign-born population accounting for 19% of this growth.

US immigration lawyers and judges have urged the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration and Citizenship to remove responsibility for US immigration courts from the Department of Justice (DoJ). The call comes as a record 1.6 million people find themselves mired in US immigration court backlogs.