The U.S. Mission in China is temporarily suspending all visa services due to China’s recent spike in COVID-19 cases. Only emergency consular services are available at the U.S. Consulates in

Continue Reading U.S. Embassy and Consulates in China Suspend All Visa Services

The U.S. Senate passed by Unanimous Consent an amended version of H.R. 1044, the Fairness for High-Skilled Immigrants Act of 2019 that was passed by the U.S. House of Representatives
Continue Reading Senate Passes Per-Country Cap Elimination Bill that Affects Employment-Based Visa Programs Such as EB-5

On Jan. 31, 2020, President Trump issued a Proclamation, effective Feb. 21, 2020, imposing even more limitations on visa issuance and travel to the United States for additional countries entitled “Proclamation on Improving Enhanced Vetting Capabilities and Processes for Detecting Attempted Entry.” This Proclamation follows his first travel ban from March 2017 where the Secretary of Homeland Security was ordered to develop an assessment model to assess national security and public safety threats in identifying whether countries would be removed or added to the list. From the March 2017 travel ban, 200 countries were reviewed and assessed, and in September 2017, President Trump issued a revised version of the travel ban.

Since then, DHS has continued to review and assess security concerns from each country, utilizing updated methodologies, which includes a foreign government’s willingness and frequency in sharing information, and working with the intelligence community to assess risk of terrorist travel.  A review of each country’s performance per the criteria established in 2017 was also conducted, and as a result, it has been recommended to President Trump that he exercise his authority to suspend entry into the United States for an additional six countries as follow: Burma (Myanmar), Eritrea, Kyrgyzstan, Nigeria, Sudan, and Tanzania.Continue Reading President Trump Issues New Proclamation on Travel Ban, Adding Six Additional Countries

Under a new State Department policy, virtually all visa applicants to the United States are now required to submit information about social media accounts they have used in the past
Continue Reading The United States Will Now Require Visa Applicants to Provide Social Media Information