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A policy put in place by the Obama administration has been challenged but upheld. Foreign STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) graduates who are on student visas continue to have up to three years of work authorization after graduation. The D.C. circuit court found the foreign STEM grads work policy supports the reason behind the F-1 visa program.

A company appealed the denial of a sponsorship application, stating an audit notification was lost as it was placed in a spam folder. Upon appeal, the U.S. Department of Labor affirmed the labor certification denial. The company filed to sponsor a foreign worker for permanent employment. However, by not responding to the audit request, they were denied.

A federal judge found a group of 2022 diversity visa winners who sued the State Department over unlawful delays in scheduling their interviews will not be able to prove their claim. The group of 12 individuals who won a 2022 Diversity Visa in the annual lottery will not be required to complete the interview process, per the judge. The group filed a claim that other lottery winners were able to jump ahead of them in the processing timeline, even though the group had progressed further in the process of applying for their diversity visa.

An individual trying to reopen their removal matter due to an invalid conviction was originally denied due to missing the filing window. The person did not file the challenge within the 90-day filing period after the removal of the conviction. Waiting beyond the end of the required period originally ended the person’s ability to challenge their removal. However, working with an experienced attorney, an alternate method was found.

The initial denial of a request to sponsor a foreign worker has been upheld by the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) on the basis that the wage advertised did not match the wage offered to the individual. This is illegal.

A company submitted an appeal due to the denial of a request to sponsor a foreign worker and was rejected. The basis of the rejection is the lack of reviewing the credentials of a potentially qualified American candidate. The company failed to complete a job interview to assess the educational background and skills of the American applicant. On that basis, the U.S. Department of Labor appellate board supported the agency’s previous finding that rejected the foreign worker sponsorship as the lack of complete review violates regulatory requirements.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) issued an asylum final rule which became effective on February 7, 2022. The updated rule reflects the outcome of a legal effort between Asylumworks et al. v Mayorkas et al. In that legal case, the following rules, issued in June 2020, have been vacated and are no longer in effect: the timeline appeal rule and the broader asylum employment authorization document rule.

A record number of cases have been closed in the first 11 months of the current U.S. government fiscal year. The 375,000 cases processed used the Biden administration court policies to achieve this result, per the Syracuse University Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (Trac) site.

The increase in the number of immigration judges and the resumption of previously used case management tools are noted as resources. Per TRAC, the Biden administration updated policies to give greater authority to immigration courts, basically supporting a faster processing period for these cases to address the backlog of 1.9 million cases and work toward reducing it.

An asylum bid has been denied in the appellate court, with the Sixth Circuit stating the U.S. Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) correctly found the applicants did not provide sufficient proof they would not be protected by their home country's government. The question of the home country’s ability to limit dangerous gang activity is at the heart of the issue. The appellate court found that the BIA ruling, as long as it has a good basis of evidence, is to be upheld.

As many individuals have unfortunately experienced, lengthy immigration delays have increased dramatically in recent years. Both at the USCIS processing stage and during the consular process, it is now not uncommon to face indefinite delays with few or no updates from the relevant authority. One possible course of action is to file an immigration lawsuit.