Legal Updates

The new final rule on the public charge ground of inadmissibility was announced on September 8, 2022. Under the final rule, a public charge is defined as "an alien who has received one or more public benefits, as defined in the rule, for more than 12 months within any 36-month period." For those not familiar with the public charge ground of inadmissibility, an alien who is likely at any time to become a public charge is generally inadmissible to the United States and ineligible to become a lawful permanent resident. Read more

A great resource from VECINA for Ukrainians arriving under U4U to set the expectations for the process at the airport.  Read more

Individuals seeking political asylum in the United States must file an Application for Asylum and for Withholding of Removal within one year of their arrival to the United States, though there are a few limited exceptions to the one-year filing deadline. In addition to the one-year filing deadline, there could be other bars to asylum such as firm resettlement in another country or criminal history. A person may apply for asylum in the United States regardless of their country of origin or their current immigration status. In order to apply for asylum protection, applicants must show.... Read more

Among the first priorities for many arriving under the Uniting for Ukraine program is to obtain due benefits. However, there are quite a few instances in which local SSA and other benefits-granting offices are not aware of which benefits Ukrainians are eligible for and how to administer those benefits to recent arrivals. For example, we have heard of situations in which health insurance providers want a Social Security Number, but the local SSA office informs people that they cannot issue an SSN before applicants receive an Employment Authorization Document (EAD). Or, some SSA offices don’t want to issue a non-working SSN in states where Ukrainians are eligible to receive certain benefits without having an SSN (for example, in New York State).  For the purposes of obtaining benefits, all family members can apply for non-working SSN at their local SSA local office. If they are applying for Medicaid, they should be able to get a letter from the benefits-granting agency stating they need an SSN in order to be able to process their Medicaid application. They can take that letter to the SSA, which should then issue them a non-working SSN. The SSA offices can confirm these provisions directly in their Program Operations Manual, found at  https://secure.ssa.gov/poms.nsf/lnx/0110211195 and https://secure.ssa.gov/poms.nsf/lnx/0110211600 It also helps to come to the SSA with a form from […] Read more

USCIS is implementing the second phase of the premium processing expansion August 1. Unfortunately, the I-765 is not included in this phase, either. Phase 2 will offer premium processing for certain petitioners who have a pending Form I-140 under the EB-1 and EB-2 classifications. Please see the attached update. Similar to the first phase of the expansion, this phase only applies to certain previously filed Form I-140 petitions under an E13 multinational executive and manager classification or E21 classification as a member of professions with advanced degrees or exceptional ability seeking a national interest waiver. Petitioners who wish to request a premium processing upgrade must file Form I-907. Beginning August 1, 2022, USCIS will accept Form I-907 requests for: More info: ? USCIS to Implement Second Phase of Premium Read more