Guyana Becomes Party to Hague Adoption Convention

The Department of State (DOS) noted that Guyana has deposited its instrument of accession to the Hague Adoption Convention [PDF version]. The Hague Convention will enter into force in Guyana on June 1, 2019. This makes Guyana the 100th country to become a party to the Hague Adoption Convention. The DOS is working on determining whether the United States will be able to process Hague Convention adoptions with Guyana under U.S. law.

To learn more about intercountry adoption generally, including Hague Convention cases, please see our growing selection of articles on site [see category].

Please visit the nyc immigration lawyers website for further information. The Law Offices of Grinberg & Segal, PLLC focuses vast segment of its practice on immigration law. This steadfast dedication has resulted in thousands of immigrants throughout the United States.

Lawyer website: http://myattorneyusa.com

Department of State Revokes Visa of ICC Chief Prosecutor

Several outlets have reported that the United States Department of State (DOS) revoked the visa of Fatou Bensouda, the Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC). She is a citizen and national of The Gambia.

The ICC has opened an investigation into whether U.S. persons committed war crimes in Afghanistan. In December of 2018, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo stated that “[w]e will take all necessary steps to protect our people, those of our NATO allies who fight alongside of us inside of Afghanistan from unjust prosecution” [PDF version]. On March 15, 2019, Secretary Pompeo stated: “If you're responsible for the proposed ICC investigation of U.S. personnel in connection with the situation in Afghanistan, you should not assume that you still have, or will get, a visa or that you will be permitted to enter the United States.”[1]

The ICC confirmed on April 4, 2019, that Besouda's visa had been revoked.[2] NPR reported that a DOS official confirmed the revocation of Besouda's visa but did not provide further details due to confidentiality rules.[3] Besouda and other ICC officials may still seek diplomatic visas to enter the United States for any business at the United Nations.

The revocation of the visas of Besouda and other ICC officials highlights how foreign policy and immigration can sometimes intersect. We will post updates on the issue in the future if more detailed information becomes available.

Please visit the nyc immigration lawyers website for further information. The Law Offices of Grinberg & Segal, PLLC focuses vast segment of its practice on immigration law. This steadfast dedication has resulted in thousands of immigrants throughout the United States.

1. Gehrke, Joel. “Pompeo pulls visas for International Criminal Court officials Targeting Americans.” The Washington Examiner. Mar. 15, 2019. https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/policy/defense-national-security/pompeo-pulls-visas-for-international-criminal-court-officials-targeting-americans
2. Wroughton, Leslie and Stephanie van den Berg. “U.S. revokes ICC prosecutor's entry visa over Afghanistan Investigation.” Apr. 4, 2019. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-icc-prosecutor-idUSKCN1RG2NP
3. Chappell, Bill. “U.S. Strips Visa From Intl. Criminal Court Prosecutor Pursuing War-Crime Inquiry.” NPR. Apr. 5, 2019. https://www.npr.org/2019/04/05/710324238/u-s-strips-visa-from-intl-criminal-court-prosecutor-pursuing-war-crime-inquiry

Lawyer website: http://myattorneyusa.com

Kirstjen Nielsen out at DHS - Replaced by CBP Director Kevin McAleenan in Acting Capacity

On April 7, 2019, President Donald Trump announced that Secretary of Homeland Security Kirstjen Nielsen will soon be leaving her position. He added that he will appoint the Commissioner of the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), Kevin McAleenan, to serve as the acting Secretary of Homeland Security.

Nielsen had served as Secretary of Homeland Security since December 6, 2017. McAleenan was confirmed to his current post as the CBP Commissioner on March 21, 2018 [see blog].

Nielsen's resignation and McAleenan's promotion come on the heels of President Trump's decision to withdraw his nomination of Ronald Vitiello for head of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) [see blog].

President Trump has not yet indicated who he will nominate to be the next Secretary of DHS in a permanent capacity. We will update the website with more information once President Trump announces his nominees for both Secretary of DHS and Director of ICE.

Please visit the nyc immigration lawyers website for further information. The Law Offices of Grinberg & Segal, PLLC focuses vast segment of its practice on immigration law. This steadfast dedication has resulted in thousands of immigrants throughout the United States.

Lawyer website: http://myattorneyusa.com

Update on Premium Processing for FY 2020 Cap Subject H1B Petitions Requesting COS

As we discussed in a separate post [see article], the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) will begin premium processing for cap-subject H1B petitioners requesting a change of status on their Form I-129, Petition for a Nonimmigrant Worker on May 20, 2019 [PDF version]. The FY 2020 H1B cap filing season began on April 1, 2019. H1B petitioners requesting a change of status may file the Form I-907, Request for Premium Processing service, concurrently with their cap-subject H1B petitions for change of status. Petitioners who do not file the Form I-907 concurrently will have to wait until May 20, 2019, to request a change of status. The USCIS reiterated that premium processing for all other FY 2020 cap-subject H1B petitions will not begin until June 2019 at the earliest.

The USCIS also announced that starting on May 20 and running through June 3, it will “not use pre-paid mailers to send out final notices for premium processing for FY 2020 cap-subject H1B petitions requesting change of status.” For that period, the USCIS will use regular mail instead. The USCIS's reasoning is this is required “due to resource limitations…” It suggested that using pre-paid mailers is a more time consuming process that “may actually delay the issuance of an approval notice, compared to the standard process or otherwise negatively affect [its] ability to timely process premium processing petitions.” The USCIS anticipates resuming the use of pre-paid mailers after June 3, 2019. The USCIS may implement a similar suspension on the use of pre-paid mailers when premium processing resumes for all other cap-subject H1B petitions.

We discuss premium processing requests for Form I-129 petitions generally in a separate article [see article]. To learn about H1B petitions and other types of work visas, please see our website's sections on work visas [see category] and AC21 [see category].

Please visit the nyc immigration lawyers website for further information. The Law Offices of Grinberg & Segal, PLLC focuses vast segment of its practice on immigration law. This steadfast dedication has resulted in thousands of immigrants throughout the United States.

Lawyer website: http://myattorneyusa.com