On Friday, the New Jersey Immigrant Trust Directive went into effect–essentially ending any cooperation between the State and Immigration & Customs Enforcement (ICE) on immigration enforcement matters. Announced in December of 2018 by New Jersey Attorney General Gurbir S. Grewal, the Immigrant Trust Directive effectively declared New Jersey a “sanctuary state.” Effective last Friday, the directive prohibits state, county, and local law enforcement agencies, including police, prosecutors, READ MORE READ MORE

ABC-7 New York reported yesterday that Joe Giudice–husband of Real Housewives of New Jersey star Teresa Giudice–has been released from federal prison and is on his way to a federal immigration detention facility, where he will await the decision of an appeal of an Immigration Court order deporting Giudice to his native Italy. According to ABC-7 sources, Giudice will “be transferred directly to an immigration detention center, READ MORE READ MORE

Yesterday, United States Citizenship & Immigration Services (USCIS) announced it immediately resumed premium processing for all H-1B petitions, following a halt on the service for several months to allow USCIS to bring current applications that were then pending for extended durations. Premium processing is an optional service available for an additional fee of $1,410, which allows for 15-day processing of certain immigrant and non-immigrant employment-based visa petitions. READ MORE READ MORE

Starting April 1, 2019, United States Citizenship & Immigration Services (USCIS) will accept new H-1B Quota-Based Visa Petitions for the 2020 Fiscal Year, for an employment start date of October 1, 2019. USCIS’ regular H-1B visa cap limits annual H-1B approvals to 65,000 visas, with an additional 20,000 H1-B visas for individuals who earned a master’s degree or higher from a U.S. university or college (advanced degree READ MORE READ MORE

Blogs > Immigration Law Blog Last Thursday, I was honored to speak to the Hudson Gateway Association of Realtors (HGAR) on the growing intersections between immigration and the real estate industry in New York State, specifically the EB-5 Investor Visa Program. The program allows foreign entrepreneurs (and their spouses and unmarried children under 21) to apply for a green card (permanent residence) if they: (1) make the READ MORE READ MORE