Cyrus Mehta, Sept. 25, 2017 - " ... An article in Reuters by Yeganeh Torbati entitled “ Trump administration red tape tangles up visas for skilled foreigners, data shows ,” where I have been quoted, brilliantly shines the torch on the dreaded RFE and how it is used to distort a visa...
David Isaacson, Oct. 10, 2017 - "Following the Trump Administration’s decision in September to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program , President Trump suggested in a Tweet that Congress should “legalize DACA” within the next six months . There have been...
Cyrus Mehta, Oct. 16, 2017 - "Attorney General Sessions who has been hostile towards increased immigration and views the asylum system as a loophole for unauthorized entry into the US said in recent remarks that “over the years, smart attorneys have exploited loopholes in the law, court rulings...
Cyrus D. Mehta, Oct. 23, 2017 - "In his inaugural address, President Trump pledged to end what he referred to as “American carnage,” depicting the United States bleakly—as a “land of abandoned factories, economic angst, rising crime”—while pledging “a new...
Cyrus D. Mehta, Oct. 30, 2017 - "The Trump administration is deriving great pleasure in causing pain to people who wish to lawfully come to the United States and remain here lawfully. It has caused H-1B carnage as more H-1B visa petitions are being denied than ever before on legally baseless grounds...
Cyrus Mehta, Nov. 1, 2017 - "As the federal government threatens undocumented immigrants, New Yorkers have an opportunity to provide vital protections to those immigrants living in the state. On Election Day, voters can choose to convene a constitutional convention where the rights of those immigrants...
Cora-Ann Pestaina, Nov. 13, 2017 - "USCIS’ current ferocious attack on H-1B petitions has been discussed here , here and here . Backed by the Trump administration, USCIS has openly declared war on H-1Bs. What is most frustrating, in my opinion, is not only the fact that there appears to be...
Matter of Marlabs, Inc., Nov. 9, 2017 - "On May 17, 2012, Employer filed an Application for Permanent Employment Certification (“Form 9089”) sponsoring the Alien for permanent employment in the United States in Piscataway, New Jersey, for the position of “Software Developers, Applications...
Cyrus Mehta, Nov. 27, 2017 - "The law generally recognizes that petitioners control their visa petitions. See 8 CFR 103.2(a)(3). A beneficiary cannot force a petitioner to pursue or maintain a visa petition. Therefore, USCIS communicates only with petitioners, not the beneficiaries, with respect...
Cyrus Mehta, Dec. 4, 2017 - "Kate Steinle’s death was a senseless tragedy. On July 1, 2015, as she was walking along San Francisco’s Pier 14, a gun goes off and cuts her life short. She died in her father’s arms. The accused, Jose Ines Garcia Zarate, is an undocumented Mexican...
Cyrus Mehta, Dec. 11, 2017 - "Companies like Avvo are using their marketing platform to provide more opportunities for younger and solo lawyers to gain clients and thus level the playing field. Avvo Legal Services seeks to disrupt the traditional legal model where a client seeks out a lawyer based...
Cyrus Mehta, Dec. 29, 2017 - "Thank you for reading and supporting The Insightful Immigration Blog. Listed below are the top 10 most viewed blogs in 2017. While these are the 10 most viewed blogs, each blog is a carefully crafted gem, and we invite you to read all of them. 2017 was marked by...
Cyrus D. Mehta, Jan. 6, 2018 - "There are many people born in India, and to a lesser extent China, who have been patiently waiting for over a decade for their green cards. They have complied with all immigration formalities and the only thing holding them back is an available visa. The law allows...
David Isaacson, Jan. 17, 2018 - "With the recent announcement that the Trump Administration will terminate Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for more than 200,000 citizens of El Salvador effective September 2019 after previously terminating TPS for Haiti, Nicaragua, and Sudan , it seems appropriate...
Cyrus D. Mehta and Sophia Genovese, Jan. 29, 2018 - "The Trump Administration has announced an immigration proposal that pits the lives of Dreamers against other immigrant populations. Dreamers are young people who came to the United States prior to the age of 16, and fell out of status of status...
Cyrus D. Mehta & Sophia Genovese, Feb. 6, 2018 - " As we have previously blogged , many of the Requests for Evidence (RFEs) issued to petitions filed under the FY 2018 H-1B visa lottery objected to the H-1B worker being paid an entry level wage. The AAO recently took up the issue of Level...
Cyrus D. Mehta & Sophia Genovese, Feb. 12, 2018 - "Foreign nationals with removal orders are in an extremely vulnerable situation. Even if they are asked to report on a regular basis under an order of supervision, there is no guarantee that a whimsical ICE officer the next time they show up...
Cyrus D. Mehta, Mar. 5, 2018 - "The attacks on the H-1B visa program by the Trump administration continue unabated. On February 22, 2018, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) published a policy memorandum entitled Contracts and Itineraries Requirements for H-1B Petitions Involving Third...
Cyrus D. Mehta, Mar. 12, 2018 - "The Trump administration has ramped up its ire against California by filing a lawsuit against three different California laws that aims to protect immigrants from the harsh effects of federal enforcement. The three laws are the Immigrant Worker Protection Act, which...
Cyrus Mehta & Sophia Genovese, Mar. 26, 2018 - "Attorney General Jeff Sessions has yet again referred an immigration case to himself for review in Matter of L-A-B-R- et al, 27 I&N Dec. 245 (AG 2018) . This time, AG Sessions asks: " An Immigration Judge is authorized to “grant...
Cyrus D. Mehta and Eleyteria Diakopoulos, Mar. 31, 2018 - "As we have blogged about extensively in the past, President Trump’s “ Buy American and Hire American ” Executive Order No. 13788 has had the most negative impact on the H-1B visa program. Following this pattern, the recent...
Shilpa Phadnis, Times of India, Apr. 4, 2018 - "Immigration experts believe there could be a sharp decline in the number of H-1B petitions filed by Indian IT services companies this year following the tough environment created by the US administration under president Donald Trump. ... The Trump...
Cyrus D. Mehta, Apr. 10, 2018 - "In recent denials of H-1B petitions, the USCIS has been taking the position that the occupation for which H-1B classification is sought must require a degree in the specific field. This position runs contrary to the definition of a specialty occupation. An occupation...
Michelle S. Velasco, Apr. 17, 2018 - "There’s never any good news coming from USCIS these days. The agency’s treatment of applicants changing status to F-1 is another prime example of a confusing policy change that has no basis in law and regulation, and which severely hurts the U.S...
Cyrus Mehta & Sophia Genovese, Apr. 23, 2018 - " As we previously blogged , the State Department abruptly amended the Foreign Affairs Manual in September 2017 to provide consular officers with broader grounds to find that foreign nationals misrepresented their intentions when they came to the...