USCIS announced today that  it will postpone the implementation of its June 28th policy memo that instructs USCIS officers to issue a Notice to Appear (NTA) for a much wider range of cases. (New USCIS Policy Puts More Foreign Nationals at Risk of being Placed in Removal Proceedings). USCIS was given 30 days from when the policy memo was implemented to provide operational guidance on how to process the issuance of NTAs. As of today, USCIS has not provided that information. Therefore, the implementation of the June 28th policy memo will be postponed until new operational guidance is finalized.

An update on the expected timeline will be provided once that information becomes available.

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) issued new policy guidance that instructs USCIS officers to issue a Notice to Appear (NTA) for a much wider range of cases. An NTA is a charging document given to a foreign national that begins removal proceedings and instructs the individual to appear before an immigration judge. Although USCIS has the legal authority under current immigration laws to issue NTAs, the agency’s main focus has been to adjudicate immigration benefits. Previously, the USCIS would only issue NTAs under limited circumstances. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) instead relied upon enforcement agencies such as U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to handle NTAs.

The new policy now places more of this responsibility on USCIS and instructs officers to issue an NTA upon denial of an immigration benefit request where the individual is removable. The revised policy generally requires USCIS to issue an NTA in the following types of cases: Continue reading

On May 18th, USCIS issued a reminder to F-1 Students on Optional Practical Training (OPT) that transferring to another school or beginning study at another educational level automatically terminates the student’s OPT and corresponding Employment Authorization Document (EAD).  Continue reading