Immigration News Briefs
Judges Block New “Public Charge” Law
The new DHS public charge law, which was described in the September issue of Khabar and which was set to take effect on October 15, 2019, was blocked on October 11 as three federal judges issued injunctions. Fourteen states had filed lawsuits against this new rule.
The rule was to change the standard by which the Department determined whether an applicant for adjustment of status or admission is "likely at any time to become a public charge" and therefore inadmissible to the United States. USCIS had released lengthy new and updated forms to be used; however, the court blocked the rule and blocked use of those new and updated forms, including Forms I-129, I-485, I-539, I-864, I-864 EZ, I-944, and I-945. USCIS has since then removed the new/revised forms from its website, and the website states that the effective date of the final rule has been postponed until there is a final resolution in the cases.
Policy Guidance on OPT/Work Relationship
On September 27, 2019, the Student and Exchange Visitor Program (SEVP) issued policy guidance on the obligations of schools and students to document that there is a direct relationship between the student's major field of study and the work the student does on pre-completion Optional Practical Training (OPT), standard post-completion OPT, and STEM OPT.
Practical training cannot be based on a minor. OPT employment that is not directly related to the major area of study would be a status violation. SEVP provided an expanded description of the obligations of students to establish the relationship of OPT to their major, and of designated school officials (DSOs) to assess and document the relationship.
• Explanation. F-1 students are responsible for providing a written "description of how their practical training opportunity relates to their major area of study, which the DSO must review and retain." The student can provide this explanation to the DSO either through the SEVP Student Portal or offline.
• Assessment. The DSO must review the explanation provided by the student, and "must make a determ nation of whether there is a direct relationship between the job and the major area of study."
• Recordkeeping. The school must keep the student's explanation, either in SEVIS or offline in the student's school record.
• Superseding Prior Guidance. The guidance notes that it "supersedes any information previously provided by the Student and Exchange Visitor Program (SEVP) on this matter."
APPLICATION FINAL ACTION DATES FOR November 2019
|
FAMILY |
India |
Pakistan/Bangladesh |
|
1st |
01Mar13 |
01Mar13 |
|
2A |
Current |
Current |
|
2B |
08Jul14 |
08Jul14 |
|
3rd |
15Oct07 |
15Oct07 |
|
4th |
15Oct04 |
01Jan07 |
|
EMPLOYMENT |
India |
Pakistan/Bangladesh |
|
1st |
01Jan15 |
01Jun18 |
|
2nd |
13May09 |
Current |
|
3rd |
01Jan09 |
Current |
|
Other |
01Jan09 |
Current |
|
4th |
Current |
Current |
|
5th |
08Dec17 |
Current1B |
DATES FOR FILING VISA APPLICATIONS - November 2019
|
FAMILY |
India |
Pakistan/Bangladesh |
|
1st |
01Sep13 |
01Sep13 |
|
2A |
01Sep19 |
01Sep19 |
|
2B |
08Jan15 |
08Jan15 |
|
3rd |
15Apr08 |
15Apr08 |
|
4th |
15Jun05 |
01Jul07 |
|
EMPLOYMENT |
India |
Pakistan/Bangladesh |
|
1st |
15Mar17 |
01Jul19 |
|
2nd |
01Jul09 |
Current |
|
3rd |
01Feb10 |
Current |
|
Other |
01Feb10 |
Current |
|
4th |
Current |
Current |
|
5th |
Current |
Current1B |
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