Transcript:
Hello, everyone. Thank you for joining us today. We got a packed session. It’s our Trump 2.O webinar series.
We have a ton of updates about a lot of the immigration changes that have occurred over the past several months. Some newer updates on some of the older policies that were implemented, how we’re seeing those play out in practice, just day-to-day trends that we’re seeing now that some of these policies have had some time to go into effect and be utilized by these government agencies.
And then some just general news about immigration operations worldwide. There’s been some updates with the ongoing war in Iran. There’s been some consular and embassy closures. We’ll dive into that.
But to start, we’re going to recap some of the changes that we saw late last year, earlier this year, starting with changes to naturalization.
There were some policy developments and changes to the naturalization applications. The civics test was expanded to include a larger pool of questions. The naturalization interviews themselves, how those were conducted, the level of detail, the intricacies of those interviews changed a little bit.
There was a modification to the adjudication standard. Government and how they interpret good moral character was adjusted to focus on both positive and negative factors. We’ll get into that in a second but just to start fundamentally.
These naturalization interviews, the interview process itself has changed. So they’re a lot more in depth and a little bit tedious. You know, we’ve gotten a lot of feedback from clients discussing the way that their interviews were conducted.
And it was a lot of administrative work being done by the officer live during the interview, going through the entire form and through hundred and four hundred verbatim, asking clients and individuals the security questions on the form about their arrest, criminal history, immigration violations, just to ensure that their verbal answers were matching up with what was written on the forms.
So we’re seeing longer interviews, very tedious interviews, but I haven’t seen a shift in approvals. As long as you’re prepared for the interview, you meet the eligibility requirement, there hasn’t really been a change in the approvability of cases.
We have, however, adjusted our strategy in preparing cases, and that’s because of the new adjudication standard related to good moral character.
So in the past, good moral character was assessed mostly by reviewing any potential negative factors. So if there were permanent bars or conditional bars to citizenship, you know, such as prior criminal history, those were reviewed under a very straightforward lens.
They were looking at negative factors, whether or not it was a permanent or conditional bar. And if it was a conditional bar, if there was rehabilitation that had occurred to demonstrate that you are now a person of good moral character, despite any wrongdoing in the past.
As of now, the standard has shifted to focus on both negative and positive factors. In addition to negative factors, officers are looking to see if there are any positive factors present to affirmatively show that you’re a person of good moral character.
And those positive factors can range from community involvement, family caregiving responsibilities, to tax compliance, lawful employment, financial responsibility. Every little facet of an individual’s life can be looked at under a microscope to determine if the person is truly of good moral character.
There’s also been still a focus on negative bars. There seems to be heightened focus on negative bars. But the introduction of positive factors into the analysis has resulted in us shifting our practice.
We’re now being a lot more proactive in the evidence that we submit up front. You know, we’re having clients submit evidence of positive factors up front to prevent delays or issues during the adjudication process because you don’t want that. You want everything to run smoothly. You want it to be as stress-free as possible. And the best way to do that is proper preparation upfront.
So we’ve been including tax returns, for example, showing tax compliance, payroll records, history of education in the United States. Anything that’s going to show that this person is satisfying the laundry list of positive factors that were introduced with these policy changes.
Now, one other thing that was changed with naturalization interviews, not necessarily changed.
There had been a longstanding waiver of a practice known as neighborhood checks or investigations that was lifted, essentially enabling USCIS officers to conduct these neighborhood checks.
So it’s essentially a personal investigation where officers are permitted to reach out to neighbors, employers, coworkers, to gather information about the applicant for citizenship.
I haven’t seen this occur with any of our clients. No one at our firm has had this happen to anyone applying for naturalization. We’ve had many, many people go for naturalization interviews. We’ve filed a ton of cases since the changes to naturalization occurred. And knock on wood, we haven’t had anyone subject to these neighborhood investigations.
With that said, it doesn’t mean that it won’t occur. Officers are permitted to do this. So it is something to be mindful of if you’re filing a naturalization application, especially if you’re someone with potential negative factors that you’re hoping to overcome.
Just keep in mind that these neighborhood checks are a possibility.
So in practice, with all these changes to naturalization, there hasn’t, like I said, there really hasn’t been a change to the approvability of cases. As long as you’re eligible, you’re submitting the right documentation, you’re preparing for the civics test, you’re in good shape.
The civics test, the questions, the pool of questions did expand, but it’s still publicly available information. You can find all the answers and all the questions to a civics test on the USCIS website, and you can study those to ensure that you’re fully prepared for that test.
What I am seeing is longer interviews, heightened scrutiny for criminal issues, and there has been waves of cancellations and rescheduling of appointments. That seems to have died down a bit. That was occurring more often at the beginning of this year, but there have been instances of individuals receiving appointment cancellations and reschedulings.
And what I will say, if you get a cancellation notice, it’s not necessarily a bad thing. Just know, keep an eye out that there’s going to be a notice to reschedule for a new appointment that you’re going to get on your USCIS account or in the mail.
So don’t panic. You will get a new appointment. Check your USCIS account. Check the mail because there will be a new notice that’s issued.
All right, moving on, we are going to talk about increased vetting of visa applicants.
So this was a change that occurred late last year, early this year, where pursuant to executive orders, there has been an increase in vetting of visa applicants across the board.
And this has resulted in delays, appointment delays, lack of availability in certain countries, increased refusals, particularly for applicants with a criminal history.
But ultimately, for individuals that don’t have any underlying issues from an immigration or a criminal standpoint, cases are functioning and it’s essentially business as usual. It may take a little bit longer to get an appointment in certain countries, but for the most part, as long as you’re doing everything correctly, not much has changed.
If you are applying for a visa in a certain category or you’re subject to increased scrutiny due to being from one of the travel ban countries, I would definitely expect delays.
In particular, the changes to social media screening has created delays for certain categories.
Initially, it was only affecting H‑B applicants, individuals applying for FM or J student or exchange visas, but effective March thirtieth, that changed and there was an expansion.
To the social media vetting to include a bunch of other categories. We have the the h‑three to h‑four, we have k visas, we have r visas, and then we have a bunch of others like st and u.
So individuals from these categories need to make sure that they change their social media profiles to public or open because the department of state department of state is going to be screening and vetting your social media as part of the process and if you want to get issued the visa and you want to prevent delays, this is how you’re going to have to do it.
You know, you’re going to have to make your social media open, um, in public, uh, because if it’s not, if it’s private, it’s ultimately going to cause delays. Um, and it could even result in a visa being refused.
Now in general, uh, you know, the enhanced vetting and screening of visa applicants has really had a bigger impact on individuals with a prior criminal history, um, compared to, uh, everyone else.
If you don’t have a criminal history, you’re eligible for the visa. It’s pretty much business as usual. Still requires proper planning.
But for those with a prior criminal history, there has been a pretty significant impact.
And what we’re seeing is that prior deference is not being applied. If you need a waiver or if you have a criminal history that doesn’t require a waiver, even past approvals are not resulting in repeat approvals.
People that have been approved for multiple waivers or have had multiple visas without an issue are starting to have issues.
For example, I’ve seen an individual with a decades‑old DUI that generally is not going to be problematic become an issue, result in administrative processing.
I’ve seen, you know, old DUIs result in visa refusals, and that’s just one example.
You know, if you’re an individual that is subject to, you know, inadmissibility, you know, say you, um, have a sub a controlled substance violation in your past that requires a waiver, that waiver process is, um, a little less predictable.
You know, even if you’ve had a waiver approved in the past, it no longer guarantees that your subsequent waivers will be approved.
You know, they’re being reviewed independently. There’s no prior deference being given to these waivers.
So criminal histories are creating a lot of issues for visa applicants. It’s something that we’re screening for heavily when we do visa applications.
And individuals with a criminal history, if you’re working with a lawyer or you’re doing this yourself, it’s important that it’s disclosed and you plan appropriately and provide the appropriate documentation or it’s going to almost certainly cause delays and issues.
All right, so that’s enhanced visa screening.
You know, in practice, like I said, it’s mostly just creating delays and lack of appointment availability.
For those without a criminal history or prior immigration violations, you know, you shouldn’t be scared off by what you’re seeing in the media.
It’s still absolutely doable to apply for U.S. visas. You just have to make sure that, you know, you’re doing everything correctly.
So proper planning, coordination, that’s more important than it ever has been.
Alright, so in addition to the vetting, the increased vetting that we just talked about, there was also guidance issued to expand health‑related considerations under public charge grounds of inadmissibility.
And for a little bit of context, the public charge ground of inadmissibility is essentially in the simplest terms explained as if the government believes that you are someone that cannot support yourself while you’re in the United States and will ultimately end up relying on the government for assistance, they can deem you inadmissible to the country.
And this determination has been expanded to allow officers to assess health‑related considerations such as diabetes or cardiovascular disease, neurological conditions, mental health disorders.
The rationale is essentially if an individual has, you know, health issues, related issues that could result in dependence on U.S. government resources, specifically health‑related resources, these considerations can be used in determining if someone is ineligible for entry based on public charge.
I haven’t seen a huge use of this expanded rationale in practice. We’ve had clients go for visas and entry every single day, and this has not come up.
I did hear about a case where a Canadian nurse was applying for entry. She had a history of mental health issues, and she was refused admission and told to go get mental health screening, which she did.
She returned to the border and was admitted. But this was really an isolated incident.
I haven’t heard too much outside of this. That doesn’t mean it’s not happening. It’s just not happening to our clients.
It could certainly be happening to others. It just doesn’t seem to be something that is currently a widely used ground or consideration used against individuals during the admission or the visa process.
Moving on, there has been an update to the travel ban and how the travel ban and increased vetting is impacting individuals from the travel ban countries.
So not only has the list of travel ban countries been expanded, but USCIS has also put a pause on adjudications of immigration benefits for individuals from the ban countries.
So effective January first, the list of travel ban countries was expanded from nineteen to thirty nine. So there are now thirty nine countries that are subject to either a total or partial ban on entry.
And this was followed up by USCIS policy memos that placed holds on asylum applications, benefits requests and diversity visa adjustment applications for individuals from these travel ban countries. And benefit requests essentially includes everything.
So if you’re a national of one of the travel ban countries and you’re submitting an application to USCIS for a benefit, that could be a change of status, an extension of stay, you’re going to experience delays.
According to USCIS, these pauses are put in place until they can complete internal enhanced screening and vetting and an internal review or even a re-review of certain cases to ensure that you truly are eligible for the benefit that you’re applying for.
And they’re using your nationality as a negative factor.
So we’re seeing RFEs issued claiming that your nationality is a negative factor and that they need evidence of other positive factors to overcome this.
We’re also just seeing extreme delays across the board.
You know, if you’re an employer or an individual and you are subject to this travel ban and you’re in the United States and you need to file a petition with USCIS, it needs to be done as early as it possibly can.
And you need to account and plan for potential delays because these delays are occurring.
The delays are essentially indefinite. There’s no timeline associated with the enhanced vetting and the screening of these applications. So there’s really no predictability as to if and when a case is going to actually get through the system, get approved.
A lot of it is unknown, so planning is critical. You need to expect delays. You need to plan for these delays. USCIS does claim that the holds are lifted on a case-by-case basis following an internal review, but like I said, the timing, the actual timeline, is really unknown.
It could be months. You just really never know.
This is a perfect example of an administrative black hole where the government has these policies in place. There’s no mandatory timeline or anticipated timeline associated with it. You’re just entirely at the mercy of the government.
Like I said, planning is critical.
We’re also seeing this impact individuals at the border.
So for example, dual citizens, Canadian citizens in particular, if you have Canadian citizenship but also dual nationality with one of the travel ban countries, it is resulting in enhanced scrutiny at the border upon entry.
With that said, there is some positive news on that front.
We’ve had some recent applicants that were born in Iran apply for TN status at the border and were approved and admitted to the country. They’re dual Canadian citizens.
We prepped them appropriately with the required documents to show that they did not serve in the IRGC, the branch of the Iranian military that the U.S. government has deemed a terrorist organization.
They were reviewed and adjudicated at the border by customs and approved.
This is a really good sign that there’s still hope and there’s still ways to get applications approved and people admitted to the country, even if your nationality is viewed as a negative factor under the travel ban.
So in sum, what we’re seeing, cases can still be filed. You can still apply for entry at the border.
RFEs are still being issued. Apply for entry at the border if you’re a dual citizen of a non-travel ban country.
RFEs are being issued for USCIS filings. And because of the nationality issue being a negative discretionary factor, it’s just requiring a lot of planning, a lot of strategizing when cases are being filed.
All right.
Speaking of Iran, the ongoing conflict war in Iran has resulted in significant closures and service interruptions affecting visa processing globally, particularly in the Middle East.
There are full suspensions at many consular locations in the Middle East, including Abu Dhabi, Baghdad, Dubai, Jerusalem, Kuwait City, Tel Aviv.
There’s limited visa services and uncertainty in other areas. Islamabad is an example, although they may be resuming interviews in the near future.
So that is something to monitor.
And then there are locations in the area where there aren’t a current suspension, such as Istanbul. Ankara is another area without a suspension.
So this is something to monitor.
U.S. citizen services are still being offered for emergency situations in places with a suspension.
But it’s being advised to avoid consulates and embassies in these areas due to the ongoing conflicts.
So something to keep in mind.
Stay alert. Check the consulate’s webpage for additional instructions.
Reach out to an immigration lawyer if you are in need and you are located in the Middle East in an area where the conflict is affecting consular operations.
This is very fluid, and we will be posting updates on our social media and on our website to monitor this and keep people informed.
Moving on to employment based visa interviews.
So this is a very specific update in regards to timing at the U.S. Embassy in London.
There were recent changes to the processing times in London to indicate that they’re processing immigrant visa applications from twenty twenty four, which indicates a two year delay.
This may or may not be truly indicative of the actual processing times at the embassy, but it’s a good example to show that they are backed up.
It sheds light to show that the embassy is backed up.
This is not uncommon for busier locations around the world. Immigrant visas in general are always subject to a backlog in many categories.
Consular locations have limited resources.
And appointment availability is always subject to change depending on the resource availability, the number of applicants.
There are a ton of factors that can influence the availability and the timelines associated with applying for an immigrant visa.
So just a little insight into operations in London. That was also very fluid. More info to come on that.
And then the last update I want to share is with regard, this is also a very specific update, but it is a good update. And I always like to end with some good news.
So E-tube visa adjudications in Toronto.
I had done a webinar a couple months ago and things were looking a little grim.
You know, there were appointment cancellations, random appointment cancellations. There was very limited availability for interviews.
We had clients that had submitted in August that were hoping to get an interview within a couple of months. And then all of a sudden the consulate’s calendar went blank.
There was no appointments available until the next year.
These people waited months and months and months for an interview just to receive an email a day or two before their interview saying, sorry, we canceled it. We’re rescheduling you for another month out.
So things were looking a little bleak, but probably since February, mid February, operations in Toronto are running extremely smoothly.
The appointment availability seems to have stabilized. It’s still four to six weeks to get a visa appointment in Toronto for visa applicants, but operations are business as usual.
I haven’t seen a cancellation or a rescheduled appointment in a couple of months now.
The only real change is with regard to the day of your interview. The post is very busy and the line outside is very long.
I’ve talked to a lot of clients that have gone to a visa interview in Toronto recently.
They said they had to stand outside because the line outside the door started increasing in length very early in the morning.
So we’re advising individuals to get there as early as they can for their visa interview.
But again, good news. Operations in Toronto seem to have stabilized.
Haven’t seen a cancellation in a while.
So things are going well, particularly with E‑one and E‑two visas in Toronto.
All right, so that’s our laundry list of updates on a lot of the Trump era policy changes.
This webinar was really focused on the nitty-gritty immigration practices, what we’re seeing from a practice standpoint, from a visa processing standpoint, from an adjudication standpoint.
We want to make sure that everyone is getting up‑to‑date and accurate information about current trends for individuals that are going through an immigration process.
You know, there’s a lot of conflicting information. It’s a very confusing and often concerning time to apply for a U.S. visa or apply for status in the United States.
But I can assure you, as long as you’re doing it the right way, you’re doing everything correctly, you’re eligible for the visa category you’re applying for, things are still running smoothly.
It’s still a great time to move to the United States for work, to open a business in the U.S. It’s still a wonderful time to do that.
There are still plenty of pathways to allow people to move to the States to work in the U.S.
You can’t believe everything that you see on the news. A lot of it is misleading misinformation.
It’s always best to speak to an expert.
If you’re interested in learning more about moving to the U.S., working in the U.S., it’s always best to speak to an expert, speak to someone like us that does it day in and day out.
We work with clients every day to help them realize their American dream, get a job in the United States, open a business in the United States, reunite with family in the United States.
This is our livelihood. This is what we love to do.
So please reach out. Follow us on social media.
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We take pride in keeping up to date with immigration news. We post daily.
So if you’re looking for a place to get your immigration news, the latest and greatest, check us out.
And yeah, thanks everyone for tuning in.
I hope you have a great rest of your day.
And like I said, if you need anything, we’re always here.
Thank you.
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