- Posts by Abigail Walsh
Partner and Co-Chair, Immigration and Global MobilityAbigail Walsh has over 20 years’ experience in a wide range of immigration matters. She represents multinational and domestic corporations, their employees and private individuals in business immigration matters before U.S ...
DOS Rollback of Interview Waivers Likely to Result in Longer Visa Appointment Backlogs
Effective September 2, 2025, the U.S. Department of State (DOS) will end interview waivers for the vast majority of visa applicants. In-person interviews will be required for most visa categories ...
Under the current administration, Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has significantly increased its unannounced visits to workplaces (or ICE raids) for the purpose of detaining undocumented employees. While ICE raids are generally targeted towards industries known to ...
On July 7, 2025, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced the termination of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Nicaragua and Honduras effective September 8, 2025. The decision was formally published in the July 8, 2025 edition of the Federal Register. Prior to this ...
SCOTUS Releases Decision in Birthright Citizenship Case
The SCOTUS birthright citizenship decision issued, on June 27, 2025, did NOT determine the constitutionality of President Trump’s Executive Order (EO). Instead, the ruling limited the ability of district court judges to grant ...
On June 4, 2025, President Trump signed an Executive Order (EO) banning travel to the US by citizens of 12 countries: Afghanistan, Myanmar, Chad, Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, and Yemen. The EO imposes travel restrictions ...
DOS Instructs Consular Posts to Expand Social Media Vetting for Student Visa Applicants Traveling to Harvard
Politico has reported the release of a new Department of State (DOS) cable titled “Action Request: Expanding Screening and Social Media Vetting for Visa Applicants ...
On May 19, 2025, in Noem, et al. v. National TPS Alliance, et al., the U.S. Supreme Court permitted the Trump Administration to end Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Venezuelans. The court left open the door to challenges by migrants if the Trump administration tries to cancel ...
Department of State Issues May 2025 Visa Bulletin with Limited Movement for EB-3 India
For May 2025, USCIS determined that all Employment-Based (EB) preference categories must use the Final Action Dates chart in the Visa Bulletin. The Final Action chart remains unchanged as compared to ...
USCIS Has Randomly Selected Enough Beneficiaries with Properly Submitted Registrations to Reach the Fiscal Year 2026 H-1B Cap
On March 31, 2025, USCIS announced that it had randomly selected enough beneficiaries to reach the H-1B cap in the initial round of the lottery. It notified all ...
Increase in Cap-Gap Extension Period
Currently, F-1 student visa holders who present an Employment Authorization Document (EAD) and an H-1B receipt will have their EADs extended until October 1 of the same calendar year. Under a final rule published by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration ...