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USCIS Reopens and Premium Processing Restarts!

USCIS is reopen as of June 4, 2020. What does that mean. We all know that USCIS did not cease operations three months ago. It simply stopped doing interviews at its local offices and taking fingerprints at its application support centers (and of course, it stopping swearing in new citizens). All of those activities restart, in most US cities, on June 4. What that means for each city depends not only the level of COVID-19 infections there, but, now, also on the level of civil unrest. Stayed tuned to our Facebook page for updates and videos about these daily changes.

USCIS also announced that it is resuming premium processing for a variety of case types, but only under specific conditions. This seems odd, given that USCIS also announced that it will have to close down in July because it is running out of money! You would think the agency would open all case types for “premium” processing, just to get the money it needs to avoid shutting down!

Finally, late on Friday afternoon last week, the Trump administration issued a proclamation limiting students visas for nationals of China. Read below for more on this proclamation.

At Kuck Baxter Immigration, we are dedicated to providing you up to the minute information through Twitter, Facebook, Linkedin, our Blog, and our Podcast. Don’t forget to check these out, and don’t hesitate to send your questions or comments. Information and knowledge are power.

Tambien, puede leer estas noticias en Espanol!

Upcoming Events and Kuck Baxter Immigration Media

We have been doing daily Facebook Live events every day on the Kuck Baxter Immigration Facebook Page, in both English and Spanish. You are always welcome to stop by and ask your questions live or send a private facebook message.
During normal times, we regularly speak at community events, continuing legal education seminars, Human Resource conferences, and at universities and colleges around the US. If you would like us to speak to your group for free, let us know! Also, check out our website and come on out to an event! We also do a Facebook live every week, in both English and Spanish, every Friday at 2 pm. Follow us on our Facebook page and catch the action! You can also follow us on our YouTube page, which has hundreds of videos encompassing every immigration topic.

Have You Checked Out Our Blog and our Podcast?

Our Blog is updated each week with information, breaking news, and answers to questions you need to know!

You can also listen to our Top 50 rated podcast, “The Immigration Hour” podcast, that we post each Tuesday. T Download it and listen at your leisure. If you have comments on the podcast, or topics you would like us to talk about on The Immigration Hour, let us know!

Here is the Immigration News You NEED to Know Now

UP-TO-DATE IMMIGRATION NEWS

Trump Proclamation Limits Chinese Students and Researchers in the United States – President Trump has issued a proclamation limiting Chinese students wishing to study in the United States to undergraduates under certain conditions, and limiting Chinese researchers.
USCIS To Begin Resuming Public Services June 4 – USCIS is preparing some domestic offices to reopen and resume non-emergency public services “on or after” June 4, 2020.
Premium Processing to Resume for Certain Petitions – USCIS will resume premium processing for Forms I-129 (Petition for a Nonimmigrant Worker) and I-140 (Immigrant Petition for Alien Workers) soon.
DHS Extends Border Restrictions with Mexico and Canada Until June 22 – The restrictions, which temporarily limit the travel of individuals from those countries into the United States at land ports of entry along the border, limit travel to “essential travel” as defined in the notices.
DHS ‘Temporary Final Rule’ Eases Certain H-2B Requirements Through Sept. 11, 2020 – DHS has published a temporary final rule to ease certain H-2B requirements “to help secure the U.S. food supply chain and reduce the economic impact of the coronavirus (COVID-19) public health emergency on H-2B employers.”
Secretary of Labor Issues Final Rule Authorizing His Discretionary Review of BALCA, ARB Decisions – The Office of the Secretary of Labor issued a final rule, effective June 19, 2020, to establish a system of discretionary secretarial review over cases pending before or decided by the BALCA, and to make technical changes to regulations governing the timing and finality of decisions of the ARB and BALCA.
For Details on these and other topics, click www.immigration.net!

Government Agency Links

Follow these links to access current processing times of the USCIS Service Centers and the Department of Labor, and the Department of State’s latest Visa Bulletin with the most recent cut-off dates for visa numbers:
USCIS Service Center processing times online: https://egov.uscis.gov/cris/processTimesDisplay.do
Department of State Visa Bulletin:

Kuck Baxter Immigration — In The News

Charles Kuck spoke to Univision News about the effect of the USCIS shutdown on people’s pending immigration cases, and the negative effects of a delayed naturalization. The video is at shorturl.at/dfkqQ
Charles Kuck was quoted by the Times of India in “Class Action Lawsuit Against H-1B Denials for Market Research Analysts Gathers Steam.” Mr. Kuck said, “USCIS does not like being sued. The class action lawsuit actually resulted in USCIS re-opening and approving the plaintiff’s H-1B applications for market research analysts. We would love for more employers and employees to join our suit—there is no cost in doing so.” The article is at https://bit.ly/2AQrSCM.
Charles Kuck was featured on Univision’s Conexion show discussing, “What is the Impact of Trump’s Executive Order Limiting Legal Immigration?” The video is at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-CwHxutj9JI.
Charles Kuck spoke to 11 Alive News in Atlanta on how the Trump Immigration Proclamation will impact Immigration Applicants: https://www.11alive.com/article/news/health/coronavirus/will-president-trumps-executive-order-related-to-immigration-impact-you/85-625e737e-b9fc-4ff4-b032-358420e9bc88
Charles Kuck spoke to BuzzFeed News about helping people understand what IS and what IS NOT impacted by the Trump Proclamation: https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/adolfoflores/us-citizens-parents-green-cards-trump-immigration-ban
Charles Kuck had an editorial published in the Atlanta Journal Constitution calling for the reinstatement of DACA by the Trump Administration:
Charles Kuck talked about the impact on immigrant families of the Covid-19 Crisis with the Atlanta Journal Constitution: https://www.ajc.com/news/breaking-news/immigrants-refugees-georgia-vulnerable-amid-coronavirus-pandemic/pJJFmzOZzyiUTJRyiEBzoM/
Charles Kuck‘s comments were featured in an article on H-1Bs with Brietbart (not the place you might normally see a pro-immigration lawyer being quoted!): https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2020/04/03/indias-h-1b-companies-ask-labor-department-to-let-foreign-workers-stay-amid-crash/
Charles Kuck participated in Georgia Public Broadcasting’s “Political Rewind” to talk about immigrants in detention and who they are being impacted by the current situation (and also about other “hot” political topics of the day) : https://www.gpbnews.org/post/political-rewind-jails-risk-becoming-georgias-next-hotspot
Kuck Baxter Immigration LLC published its US legal guide for Corporate Immigration. It can be found at https://iclg.com/practice-areas/corporate-immigration-laws-and-regulations/usae
mber/Firm News
Kuck Baxter Immigration LLC has an office in Adel, Georgia, near the Irwin, Folkston, and Stewart Detention Centers, which hold more than 6,000 detained immigrants. The new office is managed by our Senior Counsel Elizabeth Matherne, the former Director for the Southern Poverty Law Center’s Irwin Detention Project.
We have changed the location of our podcast–The Immigration Hour— to Stitcher. We are entering our 13th year of continuous broadcasts. Listen each week for our latest take on immigration and immigration law!
You can follow us on Twitter @KuckBaxter or @CKuck
You can also get constantly updated news on our Facebook page.
Feel free to reach out with any questions or for help in your immigration case at 404-816-8611 or [email protected].