The U.S. State Department announced that visa processing at U.S. consulates and embassies abroad can begin as early as July 15, 2020. Since the March 20, 2020 suspension of operations and cancellation of visa interviews at most consular posts, there has been little guidance. As local country conditions permit, visa operations will resume but be […]
Knapp Immigration Law supports the Black Lives Matter movement to achieve understanding, equality, and justice. As an immigration attorney, I also believe it’s important to offer a word of caution to noncitizens about participating in public assemblies or demonstrations. Setting aside the health concerns of Covid-19, the potential for negative interactions with law enforcement presents […]
Facing difficulty in meeting the 15-day commitment to review Premium Processing requests for I-129 and I-140 petitions, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) halted the service on March 20, 2020. Ironically, since then, processing times for many H and L visa petitions have gone from several months to just a few weeks. Employers welcome the […]
In typical fashion, the White House released this latest Executive Order after business hours last night and made it effective today, April 23, 2020. Let’s first be clear about what’s going on here. This no doubt was engineered by the president’s anti-immigration, xenophobic sycophants who are trying desperately to salvage the waning votes he may […]
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) published a new rule in August 2019 to require a review of the financial situation of each person applying for lawful permanent resident status, i.e. a “green card.” After several court challenges, the rule finally went into effect on February 24, 2020. While there likely will be more litigation […]
It has become increasingly difficult to sort through the fog of coronavirus updates. I’d like to offer just a few tips based upon what I’ve seen in my practice. I’ve also included some links to resources that may be of help. Travel to the United States Until at least mid-April, persons who have been in […]
If you’re expecting, the Trump administration says, “not here.” A new regulation directs visa officers at U.S. embassies and consulates abroad to deny visitor visas to women whose sole purpose for traveling to the United States appears to be to give birth. Apparently, the administration believes that “birth tourism” has become the latest national security […]
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) published a notice today announcing that it no longer will grant changes or extensions of status to citizens of Iran seeking E-1 Treaty Trader or E-2 Treaty Investor status. In most cases, persons coming to the U.S. to engage in trade with their country of citizenship or to invest […]
In what has become the norm for the Trump administration to release important announcements at the end of the week, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services sent out its latest update last Friday at 5:25 p.m. Eastern. The press release confirmed that USCIS will implement the electronic pre-filing registration system for H-1B employers for the next […]
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced this week that it has approved Poland for participation in the Visa Waiver Program (VWP) as of November 11, 2019. It joins 38 other countries, which include: Andorra, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brunei, Chile, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Latvia, […]
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