Immigration Week in Review: 7/12 - 7/19

Keeping Families Together through Parole in Place

On July 17, President Biden announced next steps in the administration's progress toward keeping families together through parole in place, to help U.S. citizens with noncitizen spouses and children who have been in the United States for ten years or more. If parole is granted, noncitizens eligible to apply for lawful permanent residence based on their marriage to a U.S. citizen will be able to do so without leaving the United States.

USCIS will begin accepting applications on August 19, 2024.

• Applications submitted before August 19, 2024, will be rejected.
• More information about eligibility, the application process, including the forms and fees, will be published in a forthcoming Federal Register notice.
• This action is expected to apply to approximately half a million spouses of U.S. citizens and 50,000 noncitizen children whose parent is married to a U.S. citizen.

Important timeline considerations:?The Biden administration intends to promptly process parole in place applications so that foreign nationals who file immediately will likely be able to obtain parole and subsequently file a I-485 Adjustment of Status application prior to January 20, 2025. Biden officials believe that a filed I-485, even if not fully processed, could protect this population from deportation under a future Trump administration.?

Eligibility: ?To be considered for a discretionary grant of parole, on a case-by-case basis, under this process, applicants must:

• Be present in the United States without admission or parole;
• Have been continuously present in the United States for at least 10 years as of June 17, 2024;
• Have a legally valid marriage to a U.S. citizen as of June 17, 2024;
• Not have any disqualifying criminal history or otherwise constitute a threat to national security or public safety; and
• Otherwise merit a favorable exercise of discretion.

USCIS may also consider certain noncitizen children of requestors under this process if, as of June 17, 2024, they were physically present in the United States without admission or parole, and have a qualifying stepchild relationship to a U.S. citizen. More information about these eligibility criteria will be available in the forthcoming Federal Register notice.

Planning ahead: While USCIS is not currently accepting applications, applicants can begin to prepare to file a parole application by gathering evidence of their eligibility.

US Immigration News & Notes

Update to D-3 Waiver in Foreign Affairs Manual: The State Department released an update to the Foreign Affairs Manual (FAM)? clarifying guidance in order to ease the nonimmigrant visa process for U.S. college graduates. The updated guidance further clarifies when U.S. consular officials should consider waiving grounds of ineligibility pursuant to INA Sec. 212(d)(3).

• To obtain a favorable decision on a D-3 waiver, an applicant must show that s/he will have a “positive effect” on the U.S. public interest.
• The updated FAM guidelines now presume a “positive effect” if the applicant has graduated from a US college or university, and has an employment offer in a field that would make them eligible for a work visa.
• The updated FAM guidelines also allow for expedited review. The current processing time for D-3 waiver cases is 4-6 months. A State Department FAQ can be found here.

The guidance is intended to assist Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) recipients, but is not restricted to DACA recipients.

Updated Information on International Entrepreneur Rule: USCIS published updated information on the International Entrepreneur Rule (IER), providing greater detail on which startups and investments qualify and what evidence should be submitted.

TPS for Somalia: DHS announced the extension and redesignation of Somalia for Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for 18 months, from Sept. 18, 2024, through March 17, 2026, through publication of a notice in the Federal Register.??

Policy Guidance on Children’s Acquisition of Citizenship: USCIS issued an update to its policy manual regarding provisions for children’s acquisition of citizenship. Additional information can be found here.

Global Immigration News & Notes

Lithuania: Effective July 1, 2024, the decision of the Migration Department to cancel a residence permit will no longer be automatically suspended if an appeal is submitted. This means that the residence permit will be declared invalid, regardless of whether the foreign national appeals against the cancellation decision.

Malaysia: The Expatriate Services Division (ESD) of the Immigration Department has announced that it will gradually roll out in phases its new online application services. This follows the announcement on July 4, 2024, of the postponement of the rollout due to a temporary disruption of the ESD online system.

New Zealand: The government of New Zealand has announced that dependents of a work visa holder or New Zealand citizen/resident will be able to apply for rights allowing them to work part time, provided they hold an eligible visitor visa and have applied for residence under an eligible category.

Spain: The Council of Ministers has approved extending, by one year, the deadline for exercising the right to apply for Spanish nationality set out in the Law 20/2022, on Democratic Memory. The original two-year period, expiring in October 2024, has now been extended to the end of 2025.

United Kingdom: The second ballot for the 2024 Youth Mobility Scheme for Taiwanese youth will open for 48 hours between 00:01 on Tuesday, July 23, 2024, and 00:01 on Thursday, July 25, 2024 (Taiwan time).

What We’re Reading

How Trump and Republicans ‘won the war’ on immigration Melanie Mason | Politico, 7/16/24 Biden Finally Got Border Numbers Down. Will He See the Political Benefits? Hamed Aleaziz | The New York Times, 7/16/24

Where VP Pick J.D. Vance and Trump Agree on Immigration Fisayo Okare | Documented, 07/17/24

Latino Republicans and Independents Back Trump’s Deportation Plan, to a Point Jazmine Ulloa | New York Times, 07/16/24

The Myth of Migrant Crime German Lopez | New York Times, 07/18/24

Wanted: A Miracle Worker on Migration Stephen Castle | New York Times, 07/12/24

What We’re Listening To

In October 2023, President Biden issued the “Executive Order on the Safe, Secure, and Trustworthy Development and Use of Artificial Intelligence” with special actions related to immigration and the advancement of AI.

This newest episode of the Immigration Nerds podcast looks at how President Biden’s Executive Order is impacting immigration, the progress for the implementation of these actions and the deadlines being met, and, perhaps, most importantly, what challenges confront the adaptation of immigration policies to rapidly evolving AI technologies. Immigration Nerds Host Lauren Clarke is joined by special guest Sophie Alcorn for a review on AI and immigration.