NEW WAIVERS

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has proposed a change that will affect some spouses, sons, and daughters of U.S. citizens who apply for an immigrant visa and a waiver of "unlawful presence." It would make consular processing for qualifying immigrants more transparent and predictable and shorten the time that the family is separated. Unlawful presence in the United States is a ground of inadmissibility for people applying for permanent residency. Depending on the period of unlawful presence, a person may be barred from seeking admission to the United States for 3 or 10 years. However, there is a waiver to overcome the bar. Under the current process, the waiver is not adjudicated until after the person has left the United States for consular processing and triggered the bar. Under the proposed change, an immediate relative of a U.S. citizen could apply for a "provisional waiver" that is adjudicated before he or she leaves the country. The immigrant must show that his or her citizen spouse or parent would suffer "extreme hardship" if the waiver is denied. The provisional waiver is not available to immigrants with additional grounds of inadmissibility. The changes will not go into effect until after the notice and comment period and publication of final rules.

J-1 SPONSOR MORATORIUM

DOS notice announcing that effective 1/1/12, it is restricting the size of the J-1 Summer Work Travel category to 2011 actual participant levels, and effective immediately, it is placing a moratorium on designation of new Summer Work Travel sponsors.

DV-2013 IS HERE

The Department of State has released instructions for the 2013 Diversity Visa Lottery (DV-2013). The 2013 lottery will enable 50,000 individuals and certain family members to immigrate to the United States from a pre-selected list of countries whose rates of immigration to the U.S. tend to be low. The lottery offers a rare opportunity for qualified applicants to immigrate to the United States based on their education and/or work or related experience without the need for a family member or employer sponsor in the U.S. Electronic entries for the 2013 lottery will be accepted between noon (EDT) on October 4, 2011 and noon (EDT) on November 5, 2011. Entrants may verify their status and whether they have been selected starting in May 2012, and all green cards available through the DV-2013 Lottery must be issued by September 30, 2013.

eVERIFY SELF CHECK

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) today announced that Self Check, a free online service of E-Verify that allows workers to check their own employment eligibility status, is now available in Spanish and accessible to residents in 16 additional states: California, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, South Carolina, Texas, Utah and Washington. This weeks announcement expands on the initial launch of Self Check in March 2011 for residents who reside in Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Mississippi, Virginia and the District of Columbia

NEW COMBINED EAD/PAROLE DOCUMENT

A combined employment authorization document and advance parole travel document is now available to certain applicants for employment-based or family-based adjustment of status.  Certain applicants for employment-based or family-based adjustment of status to permanent residence will now be able to apply for a single card that combines the employment authorization document (EAD) and the advance parole (AP) travel document, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services have announced. To be eligible for the combined document, applicants must submit a Form I-765 application for employment authorization and a Form I-131 application for advance parole at the same time. The two forms can be submitted with a Form I-485 application for adjustment of status or after the adjustment application has been filed. Adjustment applicants are not required to seek the combined document. USCIS will continue to issue EADs and advance paroles separately.