Carl Shusterman Immigration Lawyer Blog

U.S. Immigration Blog

US Immigration Blog by former INS Trial Attorney Carl Shusterman. How to get a temporary working visa, a green card and U.S. citizenship.

USCIS Resumes Premium Processing Service (June 2020)

USCIS announced that it will resume premium processing service for eligible I-129 and I-140 visa petitions during June 2020. Premium processing service had been temporarily suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The resumption of premium processing service is scheduled to occur on a week-to-week basis as follows:   June 1 USCIS will begin accepting Form […]

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Bill Would Recapture 40,000 Green Cards
For Doctors and Nurses

 On May 5, 2020, a bipartisan group of Senators introduced a bill to recapture 40,000 lost green cards, and give them to much needed doctors and nurses. The Healthcare Workforce Resilience Act (S.3599) would speed the ability of foreign-born healthcare workers to become lawful permanent residents of the United States and allow them to […]

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Employers: New I-9 Handbook and Form

On April 27, 2020, the USCIS released an updated version of the Handbook for Employers – Guidance for Completing Form I-9. The update of the I-9 handbook was timely because on May 1, 2020, employers are required to use the latest revision of form I-9.   Changes in the I-9 Handbook The update lists […]

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Employers Challenge H-1B Denials and Win!

 With the exponential rise in H-1B denials, we recommend that employers challenge erroneous USCIS decisions in Federal Court.  Three recent decisions by Federal Judges pave the road to success. H-1B denial rates increased from 6% in fiscal year 2015 to 21% in fiscal year 2019.  The denial rate for H-1B extensions increased to 12%. The […]

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Good Moral Character Rules Restricted by USCIS (12-10-19)

 On December 10, 2019, USCIS issued policy guidance regarding what constitutes good moral character for naturalization purposes.  However, it is clear that this guidance will affect not only applicants for naturalization, but also those applying for adjustment of status and other types of immigration benefits including cancellation of removal. Specifically, the new guidance incorporates the […]

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Crackdown on Legal Immigration Ramps Up

The Administration’s policies are punishing not only the undocumented, but are restricting the rules for legal immigration. Never in my 40 years of practicing immigration law both as an INS Attorney and in private practice have I seen so many restrictions being placed upon foreign-born individuals and often upon employers who are sponsoring them for […]

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Helping a Foreign-Born Physician Get a Green Card

Recently, a foreign-born physician scheduled a consultation with me. She had an interview coming up, and for some reason, her attorney was unable to accompany her.  She was super-nervous because her case had been going on for years, and the facts were quite complex. I let her know that she was right to be concerned. […]

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H-1B Online Registration Starts on March 1, 2020

 The H-1B online registration system will go into effect on March 1, 2020. Employers must submit the required information online for each H-1B beneficiary whom they wish to sponsor between March 1 and March 20. However, the details of the system have yet to be released by the USCIS. The fact that the current […]

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Supreme Court DACA Case 3 Possible Outcomes

Supreme Court DACA oral arguments regarding whether the Trump Administration acted correctly in attempting to terminate the program took place on November 12, 2019. DACA is short for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, which was announced in 2012.  DACA allows some persons with unlawful presence in the US after being brought to the country […]

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S386 and the Future of Employment Based Immigration

In September 2019, Senators Mike Lee (R-UT) and Kamala Harris (D-CA) asked their colleagues to support a unanimous consent resolution to approve S386, the Senate version of H.R. 1044, the Fairness for High-Skilled Immigrants Act of 2019. H.R. 1044 was passed by the House of Representatives last July. The Act would abolish the 7% per-country […]

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