US Citizenship & Immigration Services (USCIS) has announced that on March 29, 2019, the agency will permanently close its field office in Moscow, Russia, due to a significant decrease in workload. February 28, 2019 is the last day the office will be open to the public and accepting applications. The USCIS field office in Athens, Greece, will assume jurisdiction over immigration matters in the Russian Federation, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Estonia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan.
Read moreUndocumented immigrants contribute billions of dollars per year to Social Security funds, reports the New American Economy, a bipartisan research and advocacy immigration organization. If all undocumented immigrants were removed from the US, there would a tremendous negative impact, both short and long term, on Social Security, explains Monique Morrissey, an economist at the Economic Policy Institute, a Washington D.C.-based think tank. Undocumented immigrants’ contributions to Social Security are especially beneficial since undocumented individuals are not able to later receive benefits. Though Morrissey argues that these contributions are “not good” given that they are made by some of the most vulnerable people in society who are not themselves able to benefit, Abigail Zapote, the executive director of the D.C.-based nonprofit Latinos for Secure Retirement, notes: “The government, the IRS, will never say no to your tax dollars.”
Read moreThe Department of Homeland Security (DHS) today posted a final rule effective April 1, 2019 that introduces an electronic registration requirement for H-1B cap cases but suspends the electronic registration for this year’s H-1B cap season (FY 2020). After considering public feedback, USCIS decided to suspend the electronic registration requirement for the FY 2020 cap season to “complete user testing and ensure the system and process are fully functional.” This move will be welcomed by many immigration practitioners, who since the initial announcement of the electronic registration have been concerned whether the registration rollout would be ready and fully tested in time for the fast approaching start of the H-1B FY 2020 filing period on April 1, 2019.
Read moreJose Antonio Guerrero Martínez, an actor in the celebrated movie Roma, directed by Alfonso Cuarón and nominated for ten Academy Awards, has not been able to secure a visa to enter the US to attend screenings and other industry events in the US, according to an interview he gave in the Mexican lifestyle magazine, Quién. Guerrero says he has been denied visas to the US on three separate occasions.
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