The Compass® Immigration News to help Employers, Families and Individuals navigate the legal system to successfully achieve their immigration goals.
Online Filing Now Available For F-1 Students Applying for OPT Employment Authorization
Slowly, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) is moving into the current century and allowing more and more applications for immigration benefits to be filed online. Currently, there are eleven forms that USCIS has made available for online filing, with certain limitations. Most recently, USCIS has announced that students in F-1 status who would […]
The End of Trump’s Travel Bans
AILA Doc. No. 21033134 | Dated March 31, 2021 Sunsetting of Proclamation 10052 AILA has learned that on March 31, 2021, Presidential Proclamation 10052 (PP 10052) which suspended entry of certain nonimmigrants is expected to sunset. The proclamation was extended most recently to March 31, 2021 by former President Trump in Presidential Proclamation 10131 (PP 10131) issued on December […]
Extensions of Immigration-Related Responses to COVID-19
As COVID-19 vaccines are continuing to roll out, the effects of the global pandemic are still being felt. This fact has been acknowledged by the U.S. immigration agencies, who have taken various steps in response to the pandemic including additional safety precautions at physical facilities and offices both inside the U.S. and abroad. Recently, two […]
USCIS May Reopen Denied H-1B Petitions
USCIS just released the following information regarding H1s that were previously denied: U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services today announced it may reopen and/or reconsider adverse decisions on Form I-129, Petition for a Nonimmigrant Worker, made based on three rescinded policy memos. USCIS will generally use its discretion to accept a motion to reopen filed more […]
The 2019 Public Charge Rule is Gone!
For the past year and a half, applicants for permanent residence (green card) in the United States—and, to a lesser extent, applicants for nonimmigrant status—have been required to comply with a new “public charge rule” implemented by the administration of President Donald Trump in 2019. That public charge rule made it more difficult for such […]
Non-immigrants Investing in Closely-Held Businesses
One of the recent ideas that interests a lot of people, especially F-1 international students and H-1 professional workers, is the prospect of starting a new business (a “start-up”), usually with partners who are US citizens. We are seeing a huge spike in the number of start-ups, mostly in the world of IT. A US […]
Biden Seeks to Replace “Alien” with the Less Dehumanizing Term “Noncitizen” in Immigration Laws
One of President Joe Biden’s first actions after taking office was to propose sweeping reforms and changes to our nation’s immigration laws. The proposed eight-year path to United States citizenship has been discussed in the news quite a bit, but that was not his only proposal. As the linked article from NBC News describes, President […]
Latest Immigration Updates from Biden’s Administration
Continuing on with the changes in our last blog post, President Biden issued three executive orders on February 4, 2021 that provides a breath of relief for many immigrants and their attorneys. However, while this may seem like exciting news, we worry about the time it may take to implement the changes as many are […]
President Biden Issues New Executive Orders and Proposes New Immigration Legislation
Immediately upon taking office as the new President, Joe Biden issued several immigration-related Executive Orders and proposed a sweeping legislative change to existing immigration law. These changes must be passed by Congress so it important to everyone to contact their Congressional representatives to press for approval of the proposed immigration bill.