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Yesterday, ICE announced the arrests of 15 OPT students for claiming “to be employed by companies that don’t exist." At its press conference, ICE announced that as a part of its Operation OPTical Illusion, it identified up to 3,300 individuals of interest, and of those individuals, it will seek to deport 1,100. Of the 1,100, USCIS is in the process of revoking the employment authorizations of 700, with the remainder expected to have the validity periods lapse in the next couple of months. These employment authorizations were characterized as being “fraudulently” obtained and seem to have been connected with one company. Obviously, this is not good news for the 1,100. While it is still too early to draw conclusions, it is possible that ICE not only intends to remove these individuals from the United States, but permanently bar them from the United States for engaging in “fraudulent” activity. Apparently, ICE considers…

I recently wrote a blog regarding the OPT scandal advising the victims that “surrender is not an option”, that they needed to be proactive in seeking to resolve the potential drastic consequences. That thought came to mind again when a gentleman contacted me a few weeks ago about his wife’s visa problem. She had been denied an immigrant visa and permanently barred from the United States under Section 212(a)(6)(C)(i) of the Immigration and Nationality Act. The stakes for him could not be much higher: his wife may never be able to join him in the US unless an immigrant waiver would be approved. Yet in talking to him and reviewing the case documents, it was not clear why she had been accused of making a willful, material misrepresentation. I told him that the consular officer should be contacted and asked to provide a clarification about why this draconian decision had…

We continue to receive a surge of questions from those who have been adversely impacted by the situation surrounding AZTech, Integra, Andwill, Wireclass, and other questionable OPT-related companies. Interestingly, we have also been contacted by those who have not felt any adverse consequences yet nor are aware of any impact, but potentially may have some exposure because of their OPT past. What should they do? Reaching out to a lawyer is a good start. Without stating the obvious, these individuals may already have been impacted; they just don’t know it yet. In the eyes of the government, their mere association with a suspect OPT organization opens the door for adverse action: visa revocation; denial of a future USCIS H-1B or green card petition; refusal of an employment authorization or change of status or adjustment of status application; the opening of removal proceedings in the US; expedited removal and/or the imposition…

As more and more individuals have found themselves stranded outside the US due to COVID-19, the question for permanent residents is more than mere inconvenience. A US legal permanent resident is bound by fixed time frames. Specifically, an absence from the US of more than six months consecutively may lead to a presumption of an abandonment of US residence. An absence from the US of more than 1 year may impact the validity of the I-551 green card. In the latter situation, US law provides for a special visa: SB-1 Returning Resident Visa. The SB-1 process actually involves two steps: at the nearest US consulate, the permanent resident submits 1) a DS-117 application to determine whether he or she meets the SB-1 criteria, and if approved 2) an immigrant visa application to determine whether the individual is admissible to the United States. For the SB-1 part of the process, the…

“It ain’t over till the fat lady sings…” The opera expression widely used in sports has taken on a whole new relevance in the immigration world. No longer are government agencies approving applications and deferring to previously-approved applications or adjudications. Rather, they are reopening past applications — from 3, 5, 10, 15, 20 years ago — searching for misrepresentations, inconsistencies, and loose ends to thwart applications for visas, changes to status, and adjustment of status. You are so close to getting that long-desired visa or green card, but the “fat lady” — in these cases, USCIS and the State Department consular posts — doesn’t want the “opera” to end. The boundaries are unlimited. Even relatively obscure provisions of immigration law, such as the “stowaway” provision, are being invoked more and more. A stowaway is someone who obtains transportation without consent and through concealment. Anyone who enters the US by a…