Tag: covid-19

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FAQs on Trump’s Proclamation Suspending Immigration

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President Trump issued a proclamation “Suspending Entry of Immigrants Who Present Risk to the U.S. Labor Market During the Economic Recovery Following the COVID-19 Outbreak.” This proclamation became effective on April 23, 2020 and will expire 60 days from its effective date.

1. Who is covered by the Proclamation?
The ban applies to any individual seeking to enter the United States as an immigrant who is outside of the United States on April 23, 2020 and does not have a valid immigrant visa on the effective date, and is not in possession of a valid travel documents (such as a transportation letter, boarding foidl or advance parole document) effective on or after the date of the temporary suspension.

Those severely affected are those outside the United States who are immigrant applicants.

2. Who are exempt from the suspension of immigration?
Among others, these are the categories of individuals who are not affected by the Proclamation:

  • Those adjusting status in the United States.
  • Green card holders or immigrant visa holders at the time of the proclamation. If an individual is already in possession of an immigrant visa or green card before the Proclamation, they can still travel back to the United States.
  • Those with temporary travel documents can still enter the U.S. Examples are individuals in possession of transportation letters issued by the U.S. Embassy, re-entry permits and advance parole issued by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS)
  • Health care workers, professionals and other essential medical workers alleviating the effects of COVID-19 are exempt
  • Temporary visa holders such as tourists, student visa holders and working visa holders. They can still enter the U.S. if their visas are still valid.
  • Minor children (below 21 years old) and spouses of U.S. citizens may still continue to be processed for their immigrant visas and travel to the U.S.

3.  A tourist visa holder plans to visit his U.S. citizen parent during this pandemic, will he still be allowed to enter the United States?
Yes. As long as the tourist visa is still valid, the traveler may still enter the United States as tourist visa holders are non-immigrant visa holders that are not covered by the Proclamation.

4. Are other non-immigrant visas such as student visa holders or those with working visas still allowed to enter?
Yes. As long as the student visa and working visa holders have valid visas, they will still be considered and permitted to enter the United States. For those with working visas, considering the COVID-19 pandemic, they have to make sure that they still have jobs from their U.S. employers to avoid the technicality of having the working visa be declared void. This refers to working visas that are employer specific such as the professional H1B visas.

5. A beneficiary of an approved visa petition was issued a printed immigrant visa on his passport after an interview with the consular officer at the U.S. Embassy. He was not able to enter travel to the U.S. yet and now wants to plan on going to the U.S. He is afraid that the Trump Proclamation will apply to him and would result in his inability to travel to the U.S. Will this individual be prevented from entering the United States because of the Proclamation?
No. The Proclamation does not affect those who are in possession of immigrant visas. Although he has not received his actual green card, he is considered to have gone through a completed process for him to be considered as an immigrant visa holder, hence, he can travel to the United States.

6. If the individual who was issued an immigrant visa by the U.S. Embassy is not ready to travel to the United States during this COVID-19 pandemic, will he risk losing his immigrant visa by revocation?
No. Valid immigrant visas issued before the proclamation and that were not used for travel will not be revoked under this Proclamation. This was confirmed by the Department of States.

7. An adjustment of status applicant left the United States for a temporary visit abroad, will this adjustment applicant be able to return with his advance parole document ?
Yes. An advance parole is considered as a travel document not covered by the Proclamation, hence this individual may travel back to the U.S. using his advance parole document.

8. A lawful permanent resident plans to file a visa petition for his minor children, will he be permitted to file a visa petition with the USCIS?
Yes, lawful permanent residents may still file for visa petitions on behalf of their minor children. What the Proclamation prohibits is the issuance of visas for these individuals. The proclamation exempts only minor children and spouses of U.S. citizens.

9. A visa petition was approved for a parent of a U.S. citizen. The parent was already interviewed before the Proclamation effectivity date of April 23, 2020 but no visa has been issued yet. Can this parent follow up on the issuance of his visa and travel to the United States?
No. Clearly under the Proclamation, parents of U.S. citizens who have not been issued visas or are not in possession of visas and may not be allowed to immigrate for 60 days from April 23, 2020. They are covered by the Proclamation and are not exempt from the ban.

10. Following up on question number 9, what if the parent of a U.S. citizen has a valid tourist visa, can he travel on a tourist visa?
While tourist visas are not covered by the Proclamation, an immigrant visa applicant especially one who was already interviewed by the consular officer may risk being denied entry to the U.S. not based on the Proclamation but as an intending immigrant.

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Updates

Congress Introduces Bills Adding More Visas for Foreign Nurses and Doctors

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The “Healthcare Workforce Resilience Act” was introduced in the House on May 8, 2020 and in the Senate (S.3599) on May 5, 2020 to help address the healthcare shortage in the United States which has become critical during the COVID-19 pandemic. If passed into law, it would cut waiting time for nurses and doctors with approved visa petitions. In summary, it will:

  1. Authorize the recapturing of 25,000 immigrant visas for provisional nurses and 15,000 immigrant visas for physicians.
  2. Visas will be issued according to priority dates regardless of the per country limitations
  3. The Department of States (through the U.S. Embassies) and the Department of Homeland Security (through the USCIS) to expedite the processing of their visas

This proposed legislation will allow nurses with approved immigrant visas and physicians with approved immigrant petitions to come to the United States and work in hospitals and medical facilities where there is a shortage of nurses or unfilled positions. This is the reason also why one of the provisions requires the petitioners of the approved petition must attest that in hiring the professional nurse a U.S. worker has not or will not be displaced.

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What Trump’s Latest Proclamation Suspending Immigration Means to Our Families?

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President Trump issued a proclamation “Suspending Entry of Immigrants Who Present Risk to the U.S. Labor Market During the Economic Recovery Following the COVID-19 Outbreak.” This proclamation became effective on April 23, 2020 and will expire 60 days from its effective date and may be continued.

Coverage and Exemptions

Those severely affected are those outside the United States who are immigrant applicants. It does not affect those adjusting status in the United States. There are several exemptions to the Proclamation, among these categories are:

  1. Green card holders or immigrant visa holders at the time of the proclamation. If an individual is already in possession of an immigrant visa or green card before the Proclamation, they can still travel back to the United States.
  2. Those with temporary travel documents can still enter the U.S. Examples are individuals in possession of transportation letters issued by the U.S. Embassy, re-entry permits and advance parole issued by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS)
  3. Health care workers, professionals and other essential medical workers alleviating the effects of COVID-19 are exempt
  4. Temporary visa holders such as tourists, student visa holders and working visa holders. They can still enter the U.S. if their visas are still valid.
  5. Minor children (below 21 years old) and spouses of U.S. citizens may still continue to be processed for their immigrant visas and travel to the U.S.

Families of Immigrants Severely Affected

There are three categories of family members adversely impacted by this Proclamation.

First on the list are the parents of U.S. citizens and preference categories beneficiaries of petitions filed by green card holders and U.S. citizens.

The parents of U.S. citizens should have been considered as immediate relatives of U.S. citizens and should have been included in the exemption. The goal of the proclamation as stated is to protect U.S. workers, but how are parents of U.S. citizens a threat or in competition with U.S. workers?On the contrary ,should they not be immigrating right now to allow them to assist in caring for their grandchildren especially during this time of COVID-19 pandemic? U.S. citizens parents, with minor children who are still in school, are shuffling between engaging in essential work (such as the health care workers)or work from home and taking care of their children’s online schooling. The presence of a grandparent or any additional member of the family will be beneficial to a typical immigrant household.

Second category of those affected are families of U.S. citizens who are adults, married or unmarried, their siblings and families of lawful permanent residents who are spouses, minor or adult unmarried children. This group of visa applicants will have their visa processing outside the U.S.suspended as a result of this Proclamation. But take note that these are the relatives who have waited for many years, some for more than 2 decades, to be reunited with their families. Considering the lengthy delay before visas become available, the majority of the petitioners are now elderly citizens. It is these elderly U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents who actually need the company of their adult children during this COVID-19 epidemic. Depriving them family reunification at a critical time when they are needed most is certainly detrimental given the importance of family to the immigrants.

The third and last category of immigrants affected are the minor children who are aging out. The Child Status Protection Act (CSPA) may protect certain minor children from aging out but several categories of aging out children may not qualify under the CSPA. With the Proclamation suspending immigration of those in the preference categories, minor children who aged out will be rendered ineligible as minor children or derivative minor children. There will be no protection from them while the Proclamation is in effect resulting in prolonged separation from their lawful permanent resident parents.

Trump has always targeted these families of immigrants and U.S. citizens in his proposals to limit immigration. He has found a ‘convenient’ time to implement his intended policy in the guise of protecting U.S. workers. If it is indeed to protect U.S. workers, why are there more family based immigrants affected over employment based workers who are already in the United States? There is no valuable national interest in suspending family reunification. We are in critical times, the priorities should be focused on directly addressing the COVID-19 crisis and not in weakening our family support system.

(Atty. Lourdes S. Tancinco is an immigrant advocate and legal counsel based in San Francisco CA. She is the principal and co-founder of Tancinco Law Offices and may be reached at law@tancinco.com, tancinco.weareph.com/old, facebook/tancincolaw, or at 1-888-930-0808)

 

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Updates

Tancinco Law COVID-19 Critical Resource List

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Guide to Important Links Related to Immigration & Critical COVID-19 Resources
(Updated 04/17/2020)

U.S. Department of Homeland Security
https://www.dhs.gov/coronavirus/coronavirus-news-updates

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services
https://www.uscis.gov/about-us/uscis-response-covid-19

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement
https://www.ice.gov/coronavirus

U.S. Embassy Manila
https://ph.usembassy.gov/covid-19-information/

U.S. Department of Justice: Immigration Courts
https://www.justice.gov/eoir/eoir-operational-status-during-coronavirus-pandemic

Critical Resources for Foreign Students/Schools
https://www.nafsa.org/about

Primary Federal Government for General Information
https://www.coronavirus.gov/

Critical Information from Different U.S.Agencies in Response to COVID-19
https://www.usa.gov/coronavirus

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Information
https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus

U.S. Department of Labor
https://www.dol.gov/coronavirus

U.S. Department of Labor, Unemployment Insurance Information
https://www.dol.gov/coronavirus/unemployment-insurance

U.S. Department of Labor, Family Leave Information
https://www.dol.gov/agencies/whd/fmla/pandemic

U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA)
https://www.sba.gov/disaster-assistance/coronavirus-covid-19

U.S. Treasury Information on the CARES Act
https://home.treasury.gov/policy-issues/cares

U.S. Internal Revenue Services (IRS)
https://www.irs.gov/coronavirus/economic-impact-payments

 

Filipino Community Resources

Bayanihan Equity Center, San Francisco CA
https://www.sfbec.org/
(415)255-2347

Filipino Bar Association of Northern California
http://fbanc.org/
(415) 484 2209 EDD Form Assistance

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Updates

Green Card Holders Unable to Timely Return to the U.S.

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We have heard of some clients who are unable to return to the U.S. after a temporary visit abroad – for example to the Philippines – due to COVID-19 related reasons. Either (1) they cannot get a flight back to the U.S. or (2) their health situation makes them vulnerable to contracting the corona virus or (3) they already have the corona virus. What will be the impact of their extended stay outside to the U.S. to their status as green card holders?

Let’s look at 3 scenarios:

First, the green card holder has been in the Philippines for more than 6 months. What will happen when s/he finally returns to the U.S?

If you are returning after more than 6 months, there will be the usual strict scrutiny by the CBP officer because you are considered to be seeking admission. Meaning to say, your green card is not just sufficient for entry, they will have to look whether or not there are reasons to deny your entry. But if you mention that the COVID-19 circumstances had prevented you from returning, more likely than not you will have no problem entering the U.S.

Second, the green card holder has been outside the U.S. for more than 12 months.

If you are a green card holder, you should not stay outside the United States for more than 1 year. So what happens if you stayed for more than a year, you will be deemed to have abandoned your residence. You need to obtain the SB-1 or returning resident visa from the U.S. Embassy and explain that your reason for untimely return is a COVID-19 related reason; more likely than not, you will be granted a returning resident visa as long as there is no proof that you have abandoned your resident status in the U.S. If you are in a rush to return and you flew in the U.S. without the returning resident visa, you will be asked by CBP to explain your absence for one year and they may allow you in anyway if it is a COVID-19 related reason.

Third, the re-entry permit of the green card holder already expired.

The same as scenario 2. If you have COVID-19 related reasons, you can return to the U.S. by obtaining a returning resident visa, or flying to the U.S. without it and explaining to the CBP officer that COVID-19 related reason had prevented you from returning. Again, you should show that you have not abandoned your U.S. residence even if you stayed abroad during the validity of your re-entry permit and beyond.

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Updates

Department of State’s Update on Visas for Medical Professionals

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The following is a March 26, 2020 update from the U.S. Department of State.

“We encourage medical professionals with an approved U.S. non-immigrant or immigrant visa petition (I-129, I-140, or similar) or a certificate of eligibility in an approved exchange visitor program (DS-2019), particularly those working to treat or mitigate the effects of COVID-19, to review the website of their nearest embassy or consulate for procedures to request a visa appointment.

For those foreign medical professionals already in the United States:
J-1 Alien Physicians (medical residents) may consult with their program sponsor, ECFMG, to extend their programs in the United States. Generally, a J-1 program for a foreign medical resident can be extended one year at a time for up to seven years.

Note that the expiration date on a U.S. visa does not determine how long one can be in the United States. The way to confirm one’s required departure date is here: https://i94.cbp.dhs.gov/I94/#/home.

Those who need to extend their stay or adjust their visa status must apply with USCIS. Their website is here: https://www.uscis.gov/visit-united-states/extend-your-stay”

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Updates

Updates of Agency Closures: USCIS, Immigration Courts, Embassy

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USCIS : CLOSED UNTIL MAY 3

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) offices have extended their temporary closure from April 1 to May 3 and will reopen on May 4.

As a result of this closure, there will be no face to face interviews, no oath taking ceremonies for new U.S. citizens. Interviews including biometrics scheduled during this period that the USCIS is closed will be rescheduled. USCIS will send new Notices of Interview. Please note that U.S. postal services are still open and if you need to file for applications for extensions or changes of status you can still do so either by mail and when permitted through on-line filing.

IMMIGRATION COURTS (EOIR): NON-DETAINED HEARINGS ARE POSTPONED UNTIL MAY 1
Those who have pending hearings before Immigration Courts and they are not detained, their hearings scheduled between now until May 1 will be rescheduled. Hearings for detained clients/respondents are still ongoing unless the Court grants continuances.

U.S. EMBASSY IN MANILA: VISA PROCESSING AND ISSUANCES ARE PUT ON HOLD
The U.S. Embassy in Manila has suspended temporarily its immigrant and nonimmigrant visa services. However, emergency services are still provided especially for U.S. citizens. Please check the U.S. Embassy website for more information.

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Updates

USCIS Extends for 60 days Deadlines to File Responses to RFEs

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In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services announced this week that it is adopting measures to minimize the immigration consequences associated with responding to requests for evidence (RFEs) and notices of intent to deny (NOIDs) dated between March 1 and May 1, 2020. This rule also applies to notice of intent to revoke (NOIR), notice of intent to terminate (NOIT) or appealable decisions within AAO jurisdiction where the issuance date listed on the request, notice or decision is between March 1, 2020 and May 1, 2020.

As a result, applicants and petitioners who receive an RFEs or NOIDs dated between March 1 and May 1, 2020, any responses submitted within 60 calendar days after the response deadline set forth in the RFE or NOID will be considered by USCIS before any action is taken.

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USCIS/ICE/Immigration Courts in the SF Bay Area Updates

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Do You Have a Scheduled Hearing or Interview at the USCIS or Immigration Court in San Francisco?

See updated information below:

USCIS- San Francisco & San Jose
Interviews scheduled for March 17 through April 6 are cancelled. Officers are attempting to contact all scheduled interviewees to inform them of rescheduling. Most likely new interview dates will be for late May to June. Naturalization applicants with approved N400 and those scheduled for Oath taking on March 18 and March 25 will have their oath taking ceremony rescheduled to a later date.

USCIS- Fresno
Interviews are cancelled beginning March 18 at this USCIS office. All interviewees will receive rescheduled dates for their interviews.

You can also contact the USCIS through your online account or by calling the USCIS customer service number: Dial 800-375-5283 (for people who are deaf, hard of hearing, or have a speech disability: TTY 800-767-1833) to access automated information through an interactive menu 24 hours a day, seven days a week. If you are outside the United States or a U.S. territory, you can call 212-620-3418.

Biometrics ASCs:
Application Support Centers: Starting tomorrow, all six Bay Area ASCs are closed: San Jose, San Francisco, Fresno, Santa Rosa, Oakland and Salinas.

Immigration Courts:
If you have a master hearing (not individual hearing) please note that Master Calendar Hearings with schedule from March 16 through April 10 are postponed. Usual operations remain open specifically for filings except for Seattle.

ICE :
If you are required to do regular reporting before the ERO-ICE, note that the San Francisco ICE located at 630 Sansome Street remains open. But if anyone has a question about reporting, they should utilize the inquiry mailbox SFR-ERO-INQUIRIES@ICE.DHS.GOV to reschedule.

For questions about immigration matters or if you need legal representation or assistance, please contact our office at 1 888 930 0808 or email us at law@tancinco.com, or visit our website at tancinco.weareph.com/old.