US Immigration News

Low-income immigrant families in America shunned coronavirus pandemic benefits for fear that accessing them would affect their US immigration status, according to a new report published by the Urban Institute. Immigrants, particularly women, have been disproportionately affected by the COVID-19 induced recession.

 

United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), the agency responsible for issuing US green cards, temporary visas and granting US citizenship, is looking to improve its services, despite having no detailed plan on how to pay for improvements. The news comes less than a year after USCIS was faced with having to furlough approximately 70% of its workforce.

 

Haitian immigrants living in the US have been granted Temporary Protected Status (TPS) by the Biden administration. The TPS US immigration program protects nationals from certain countries from deportation and allows them to apply for US work permits. Those eligible for the Haitian TPS designation needed to be in the US as of May 21.

 

TPS will be granted to Haitians for a period of 18 months amid ongoing security concerns, poverty and human rights abuses in the country. 

The United States has started to restrict US visas for those deemed to be undermining efforts to resolve deadly fighting in Ethiopia’s Tigray region, according to a report published by The Independent. The US government said that it’s time for the international community to take action in a conflict that has sparked allegations of ethnic cleansing and fears of famine.

 

According to a report published by The Guardian, a US journalist has been arrested in the UK after overstaying his UK visa. Barrett Brown was reportedly arrested for public order incitement offences in relation to a protest banner he was allegedly holding, which said ‘Kill Cops’, and overstaying his UK visa. 

 

Delays to US visas mean that Chinese students are snubbing American higher education in favor of studying in the UK. According to the Chinese embassy in the UK, nearly 216,000 Chinese students are pursuing their studies in Britain. Both the US and UK currently have a strained relationship with China, mainly over new security laws imposed on Hong Kong.