The Resolving Extended Limbo for Immigrant Employees and Families (RELIEF) Act is a new bill that is expected to eliminate current green card backlogs. Introduced by Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT), the Act S.2603 would increase the number of green cards. Although the bill is not expected to become law this year, the S. 2603 would classify spouses and children of Legal Permanent Residents (LPRs) as immediate relatives and exempt them of employment-based petitions from green card limits. That could alleviate the family and employment green card accumulation over five years in the same order as they applied. Here is the Full Text of the Bill.

On November 2nd, Simone Williams, Managing Attorney of Williams Global Law, spoke live on Voice of America’s (VOA) Nightline Africa to discuss current US immigration topics. Nightline Africa is a news radio show hosted by Peter Clottey that brings interviews, news reports, analysis and music across Africa. The topics covered included: the implementation of the new health insurance requirement for individuals seeking to become US permanent residents, the delay on the public charge rule due to injunctions from judges in five states, the countries affected by the travel ban and how can you become eligible for a US “green card” through the EB-5 Investment Program. To hear more on these topics yo

As previously reported, the EB-5 Modernization Regulations will be implemented on November 21st. The rule will include stricter TEA requirements, and an increase in the minimum amount for an EB-5 investment from $500,000 to $900,000! To ensure adjudication under the current rules of the program, investors need to identify a project, submit offering documents, fund the EB-5 project, and file their I-526 petition before November 21st.

The Department of State has just released the EB-5 Visa Bulletin For November 2019. Accordingly, qualified EB-5 investors from Mainland China, India, and Vietnam may apply for a visa if their priority date is earlier than their country`s final action date. The final action dates for Mainland China advanced from October 22, 2014 to November 1, 2014. The final action dates for India have advanced from November 22, 2017 to December 8, 2017. The final action dates for Vietnam have advanced from October 15, 2016 to November 15, 2016 All other countries` final action dates remain current. This means that investors from these countries can apply for a visa and be issued one when it becomes availabl

The new public charge guidelines for immigrant applicants– originally set to start on October 15th – were, recently, put on hold by the U.S. Department of State. The form, DS-5540 (entitled “Public Charge Questionnaire”), was sent on August 27th to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to be approved on an emergency basis. However, it was announced on October 10th that the implementation of its rule would be put on hold until its public charge guidelines align with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS). Currently, the State Department’s guidelines apply to a green card and visa applicants filing from outside the United States, while DHS’s guidelines apply to those filing from wi

On November 2nd, the presidential proclamation that would require immigrant visa applicants to prove they have health insurance, has been haltered by U.S. District Court Judge Michael Simon. The proclamation would have kept potential permanent residents from entering the country unless they could prove to have enough resources to pay for medical care or unless they have health insurance within 30 days of entering the United States. The restraining order is temporary and it stops the proclamation from becoming effective for 28 days. The ruling was expected to block nearly two-thirds of all prospective green-card holders. Read the full text of the restraining order here.

The National Foundation for American Policy (NFAP) directed a study that concluded that denial rates for H-1B petitions have risen through the end of 2019. The NFAP discovered that the increasingly restrictive immigration policies created by the Trump administration have been the cause of the increase in the denials of employment petitions. The numbers have risen from 6% in FY 2015 to 24% in the third quarter of FY 2019. The NFAP also revealed that the denial rates for continuing employment H-1B petitions have also increased, reaching a number 4 times higher through FY 2019 than the same denial rate in FY 2015. Access the full NFAP article here.