US Immigration News

The American Immigration Lawyers’ Association (AILA) has filed a class action lawsuit against the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) because of lengthy delays in processing the Employment Authorization Documents (EADs) of spouses of H1B and L1 visa holders. The majority of those affected are spouses of tech professionals from India.

 

Sanwar Ali: additional reporting and comments Pandemic-based US visa and entry restrictions and bans, originally imposed by former American President Donald Trump, have actually become tougher in some respects under Biden.  In the Schengen Area, UK and Ireland it has become more difficult to receive National Interest Exceptions (NIEs) and thereby avoid the long COVID-19 backlog of visa applications. NIEs for travelers from these countries had previously found it easier to obtain visas under the Trump admi

A lawsuit against a US visa sting set up by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) under the Trump administration targeting international students is being opposed by the Biden administration. Last month, Biden’s team requested that a class-action lawsuit over the fake University of Farmington be dismissed from Federal Claims Court.

 

Victims of the sting have said that the new presidential administration has been ‘no friendlier to their fight’ than the Trump administration.

Sanwar Ali: additional reporting and comments. The Biden administration has given US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) $86 million to house migrants in hotels.

A bipartisan bill aiming to reform the US EB5 investor visa program has been introduced in the US Congress. Presented by Republican Senator, Chuck Grassley, and Democratic Senator, Patrick Leahy, the EB5 Reform and Integrity Act of 2021 calls for the reform and reauthorization of the EB5 Regional Centers Program for a period of five years.

 

In recent years, Indian nationals have emerged as prominent investors under this provision, which offers a direct path to US citizenship for migrants investing a certain sum of money into dedicated projects in specified areas.

A landmark US immigration bill has been passed by the US House of Representatives that will give millions of undocumented immigrants, including so-called ‘Dreamers’, a pathway to US citizenship. On March 18, the House voted 228 to 197, to establish a legal pathway to citizenship for people who arrived in the US as undocumented minors.

 

So called ‘Dreamers’ are currently protected from deportation under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, which former US President, Donald Trump, tried and failed to scrap.