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New Classes of Admission for Surviving Spouses and Children of Afghan and Iraqi Special Immigrants
Some Iraqis and Afghans who enter the United States do so as refugees, but others do not. Instead, they are admitted to the country based on service to the United States Armed Forces, typically as a translator or an interpreter. These individuals may…
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Special Immigrant Juvenile Status: an Overview
Children without the care of a parent, and undocumented immigrants, are among the most vulnerable people who encounter the American court system. Most vulnerable of all are abused, abandoned, or neglected children who are undocumented and subject to…
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Biden Administration Grants Temporary Protected Status to Ukrainians and Afghans in U.S.
Over the past several weeks, most of the world has watched in horror at footage of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. In less than a month, millions of Ukrainians have fled to neighboring countries in search of safety. For Ukrainians who came to live t…
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Advantages and Disadvantages of Temporary Protected Status
Over 700,000 immigrants who came to the United States from a dozen other countries have been granted Temporary Protected Status (TPS) by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). As the name suggests, TPS is a temporary status available…
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President Biden Reverses Trump Rule Requiring Immigrant Health Insurance
President Biden has struck down a Trump-era rule requiring immigrants to prove that they would have health insurance shortly after entering the United States. The reversal has removed a barrier to entry for as many as two-thirds of potential immigran…
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Vangala v. USCIS: End of the “No Blank Space Rejection Policy”
Under the Trump administration, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) adopted an agency policy that targeted humanitarian benefits for asylum seekers and survivors of violent crimes such as domestic violence. The policy, known as the “N…
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Refugee vs. Asylum Seeker: What’s the Difference?
Contributor: Van T. Doan
With the COVID-19 pandemic dominating the news for more than a year, the public’s attention has been diverted from other important issues, such as people fleeing their native countries to seek a better life in the United States as a refugee or asyl…
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How the Mendez Rojas Settlement Affects Asylum Seekers
United States law requires that a person seeking asylum in the U.S. must apply for asylum within one year of their last arrival to this country. A recent case, Mendez Rojas v. Wolf, involved a challenge to the federal government’s failure to give p…
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Cancellation of Removal and the Supreme Court Decision in Barton v. Barr
Contributor: Van T. Doan
An April decision of the U.S. Supreme Court in the case of Barton v. Barr addresses the so-called “stop-time” rule eligibility for cancellation of removal for lawful permanent residents (LPR). Under 8 U.S.C. §1229(a), the U.S government is autho…
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Categories: Immigration Law
International Students in the U.S. During Coronavirus
Contributor: Van T. Doan
On July 6, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security issued a policy directive requiring international students to take at least some in-person courses in order to be able to remain in the United States. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, almost all univer…
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Categories: Immigration Law