Find out how COVID-19 is impacting immigration to the United States
The outbreak of the novel coronavirus has been declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization (WHO). Numerous countries, including the United States, have implemented travel or entry restrictions at their ports of entry. These changes will impact nonimmigrant visa holders as well as certain immigrants. The outbreak has also disrupted immigration services and proceedings within the United States.
The New York Times is keeping a rolling list of updates about travel restrictions around the world, and the State Department lists restrictions by country. The American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) has published a report looking at the ways different countries are responding to the outbreak.
Aug. 31
*USCIS announced that, starting Aug. 28, posts will be authorized to give K visa applications high priority. Currently, Boundless can help you complete your marriage green card application, but not a K-1 visa application. Head over to our K-1 visa partner today for help putting together all required forms and documents and submitting them to the government, starting at $429.
Aug. 25
*U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced that the agency would avert its plans to furlough about 13,400 employees come Aug. 30 and that it would continue operating through the end of fiscal year 2020. USCIS Deputy Director for Policy Joseph Edlow said in a statement that aggressive spending cuts will “increase backlogs and wait times across the board, with no guarantee we can avoid future furloughs,” adding that congressional funding will be necessary to keep the agency afloat in 2021.
Aug. 19
*USCIS will allow employees to use their Form I-797 (Notice of Action) — the approval notice for the Employment Authorization Document (Form I-765) — as proof of employment eligibility if the approval notice was issued between December 1, 2019 and August 20, 2020. The decision comes after processing delays of Employment Authorization Documents due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Source: Boundless