A Brief Respite from the Madness: Consular Interviews for Certain Visas Waived for 2022
SMA Law Firm2023-12-18T10:07:46-05:00The good news on the U.S. immigration front has been few and far between since Covid-19 shut down the world in March of 2021. It’s hard to fathom all the barriers that the U.S. government created in that lapse of time, including country-specific bars to entry which kept millions of people from traveling to […]
Finally, the U.S. is open for business again. Travel Ban Lifted!
SMA Law Firm2024-11-06T10:56:47-05:00Good news for U.S. businesses, foreign investors and entrepreneurs, and the U.S. economy in general: For almost 20 months, the U.S. was closed for business, at least to people from 36 countries. Now it is finally open again and the effects, both short-term and long-term will be very positive.
As soon as Covid hit and […]
Trump vs. Biden
SMA Law Firm2024-11-06T11:16:58-05:009 months into the Biden administration, what are the fundamental differences between the administrations when it comes to immigration?
Consistency is one. The Trump administration was anti-immigrant from the beginning and was consistent for four years in closing the doors to immigrants, both physically and metaphorically. The administration changed the way that immigration law was […]
The National Interest Exception (NIE) is here to stay, for now.
SMA Law Firm2024-11-19T15:13:43-05:00The National Interest Exception (NIE) is here to stay, for now. Recently the administration announced that Presidential Proclamation 10143, which suspends direct travel to the United States from the Schengen countries, UK, Ireland, South Africa, Brazil, Iran, China, Iran, and India, would be in place “for the time being”. In doing so, it also […]
US Government’s Discrimination of Foreign Nationals in 2021
SMA Law Firm2024-12-02T13:52:12-05:00We watch the news each day and we see a common theme in America: Marginalized groups want what they deserve: to receive the same treatment and protections as allowed by law, which translates into equal opportunities. The reality is that minorities and women do not receive the same treatment and that the law does […]
National Interest Exemption Gutted
SMA Law Firm2024-12-02T13:54:24-05:00On March 2, significant changes were made to the criteria for granting National Interest Exceptions to Presidential Proclamation 10143 (extending PP 9993), which suspends travel from Schengen countries, the Ireland and UK to the United States.
The exception was extremely useful in facilitating direct travel from these countries for foreign nationals who make a strong economic […]
Expendable to Essential
SMA Law Firm2024-12-02T14:30:21-05:00As the President pushes for meat-processing plants to re-open or stay open, the number of workers getting infected with Covid-19 continues to rise. Approximately 30% of workers at those plants are immigrants, some of whom are documented and some not. Pre-corona, these same plants were the targets for raids by the Immigration and Customs […]
A Lion’s whimper – President Trump’s Executive Order
SMA Law Firm2024-12-02T14:43:32-05:00President Trump signed into effect a new executive order entitled “Suspension Of Entry Of Immigrants Who Present A Risk To The United States Labor Market During The Economic Recovery Following The 2019 Novel Coronavirus Outbreak”, on April 22, 2020.
While this sounds ominous and has the appearance of the great lion, king of the jungle, […]
Greetings from the Epicenter
SMA Law Firm2024-12-02T14:45:10-05:00As someone who grew up in New York City, I was always told that the Big Apple was the center of the universe. In this global world, it was always cool to think that I was in such an important place and that was part of my motivation to move back here in 2011 […]