The Washington Post: “Trump’s order will deny visas to immigrants who lack health-care coverage”

Last Friday, the White House issued a proclamation stating that effective November 3, 2019, the government will deny visas for immigrants who “will financially burden” the U.S. health-care system and will now require that foreign nationals demonstrate that they have health insurance or sufficient funds to cover health-care costs on their own before entering the United States. President Trump said he is issuing the proclamation to “protect the availability of health care benefits for Americans,” and that immigrants “who enter this country should not further saddle our health care system, and subsequently American taxpayers, with higher costs.”  

To obtain a visa, foreign nationals must prove they will be covered by “approved health insurance,” including a family or employment-based policy, within thirty days of entering the US, unless they have sufficient funds to cover their “reasonably foreseeable medical costs.” Doug Rand, a former Obama-era White House official tasked with immigration policy, said Trump’s proclamation will likely affect immediate relatives of US citizens waiting for permission to enter the US, including parents, spouses, and siblings (with children being exempt). Analysts predict that the proclamation could reduce legal immigration by up to sixty-five percent. The proclamation, Rand noted, does not appear to affect foreign nationals arriving on temporary work visas, refugees, or those seeking asylum at the Mexican border. Rand said that as “a matter of policymaking, this is an incredibly flimsy document” and called the new rule “a gigantic, sweeping change to the legal immigration system.”

Diversity Lottery for Fiscal Year 2021 (DV-2021)

It’s that time of year again! The Diversity Visa Lottery for fiscal year 2021 (DV-2021) is here. The online registration period for the DV-2021 Program begins on Wednesday, October 2, 2019 at 12:00 noon (EDT), and concludes on Tuesday, November 5, 2019 at 12:00 noon (EST). It is recommended that foreign nationals not wait until the end of the period to apply as heavy demand could cause delays on the website. Additionally, they should not submit multiple applications since doing so will result in disqualification.

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The Washington Post: “A renowned scientist wants to thank the stranger who helped him stay in America”  

Mahmoud Ghannoum, a prominent scientist and the director of the Center for Medical Mycology at Case Western Reserve University and the leading microbiome gut researcher in the world, wants to thank a generous travel agent who was instrumental in helping him immigrate to America almost thirty years ago. It was 1990, and Ghannoum’s country, Kuwait, had just been invaded by Saddam Hussein. With his family staying in a dorm room in England, and his town in Kuwait destroyed and financial assets frozen, Ghannoum traveled to Washington, D.C. for a conference where he had planned to speak. He believed his best chance for establishing a new life was in America, and he hoped to find a job through the conference. But the scientists there told him it was the wrong conference for job hunting, and if he could wait in D.C. for one week, he’d likely get a job at another conference.

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Forbes: “USCIS Documents Reveal The Sources Of Trump H-1B Visa Restrictions”

Newly released documents from US Citizenship & Immigration Services (USCIS) explain how government policies have increased H-1B denials and Requests for Evidence (RFEs). These government documents, previously hidden from the public and only released after a FOIA lawsuit by the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA), demonstrate that USCIS adjudicators have been “directed to restrict approvals of H-1B petitions without the legal or regulatory authority to justify those decisions,” according to Stuart Anderson, executive director of the National Foundation for American Policy, a non-partisan public policy research organization. These restrictions have led to a decrease in highly skilled foreign nationals in the US.

Jonathan Wasden, a partner with Wasden Banias LLC, who has filed lawsuits regarding H-1B adjudications, told Anderson that in the government documents “noncontroversial matters” are supported by statute and regulation but their most “controversial policies” including “overreaching into Department of Labor regulations, requiring guaranteed work assignments and the employer-employee rule” do not have such citations. “It appears that the agency made dramatic changes to H-1B policy without grounding those changes in any law,” he said. “Attorneys have known this is happening in practice, but to see they don’t even attempt to create a facade of statutory support is shocking.” AILA President Marketa Lindt noted: “The documents released by USCIS reveal the way the agency has shifted its focus in these adjudications, creating more obstacles for U.S. businesses to hire and retain the talent they need.”