Every once in a while, I decide to get off my high horse and talk a little more (immigration) law than usual. This is one of those times. Many people don’t pay much attention to rulings by the U.S. Supreme Court (SCOTUS) unless they see a decision as directly...
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Immigration
Whistleblower Protections for Immigrant Workers
I was recently reviewing a matter for a prospective client when it became clear to me that he was being taken advantage of, actually exploited, very terribly, by his employer. (What’s worse, his attorney seemed to be “in on it,” and though that too is very terrible,...
Asylum Procedures Recently Changed for Those at the Southern Border
I used to always hear that making changes to Medicare or Social Security benefits for retirees was the third rail of politics. That certainly does not seem to be the case anymore (at least for the last 8 – 10 years). In recent years, immigration policy has become...
President Biden’s Executive Action to Promote Family Unity
Lord only knows what the elections will bring in November. For sure, a new president. What about the House? The Senate? I have no idea. What I do know, however, is that not much is happening in Congress right now, and in the world of immigration, the not-so-new...
Uh Oh. You Missed a Filing Deadline. Now What?
Many years ago, I was appointed by then-Chief Judge Judith Kaye to sit on the Commission to Examine Solo and Small Firm Practice. My specific role on the Commission was to examine the availability and affordability of professional malpractice insurance for solo and...
USCIS Implements Increases to Immigration Filing Fees
I try to balance my use of this space. I try to educate, but I certainly do not shy away from offering my opinion (something I learned from my old friend and colleague, Mike Friedman, Esq.) This piece will be a mix of the former and the latter. U.S. Citizenship and...
Supreme Court to Hear Case Involving “Doctrine of Consular Nonreviewability”
I’ve spent a lot of time in this space hemming and hawing about the world that I practice law in. One thing I’ve written about ad nauseum is the stupidity of having to sometimes advise some corporate clients that the only way they can hire a foreign specialty...
Here We Go Again: FY2025 H-1B Cap Season
My annual missive about the tragicomedy that is the H-1B filing season is once again upon us. I would normally dive into this with some commentary about the H-1B program, how ridiculous it is that our clients have to endure a lottery process to see if they can hire...
The J-1 Exchange Visitor Visa and Upstate New York’s Physician Shortage
I saw an article recently in our local weekly newspaper, Saratoga Today, reporting that the Northern Border Regional Commission (“NBRC”), a federal-state partnership for economic and community development within the most distressed counties of Maine, New Hampshire,...
“Crimmigration”: A Recent 2nd Circuit Ruling Could Help Immigrants with New York “Narcotic Drug” Convictions
Crimmigration, the sometimes-scary intersection between federal and state criminal laws, and U.S. immigration law. More specifically, it is a body of law that has evolved in the immigration law (e.g., statutes, regulations and court decisions) that deals with criminal...