Weekly Round-Up: Employment Authorization; Border Immigration; Anti-Corruption : Immigration Law Blog

F-1 College students Searching for Employment Authorization Can File On-line

On April 12, 2021, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Companies (“USCIS”) introduced that F-1 college students searching for Optionally available Sensible Coaching – extra generally often known as “OPT” – will be capable to file their Kind I-765, Software for Employment Authorization, on-line by means of their account with USCIS. Tracy Renaud, Senior Official Performing the Duties of USCIS Director, acknowledged “USCIS stays dedicated to maximizing our on-line submitting capabilities,” noting that on-line submission makes processing sooner and simpler for each the applicant and USCIS and that eleven USCIS types are actually accessible for digital submitting.

The web submitting possibility permits candidates to obtain notices about their software, in addition to test on case standing, on-line as an alternative of by means of the mail. Nonetheless, solely college students submitting below sure classes associated to OPT could file their employment authorization purposes on-line; if the applicant believes they’re eligible for employment, they test the relevant federal rules or seek the advice of with an lawyer earlier than finishing a submission.

Biden Administration Settles on Border Plan with Mexico, Honduras, and Guatemala

The Biden administration has reached a take care of Mexico, Honduras, and Guatemala as a part of an effort to extend border safety and to cut back the variety of immigrants, together with undocumented youngsters, from arriving at the US/Mexico border.

These three nations have agreed to deploy a complete of over 18,000 regulation enforcement officers – 10,000 from Mexico, 7,000 from Honduras, and 1,500 from Guatemala – all through their borders, in addition to arrange checkpoints on main journey routes, to discourage giant contingents of touring migrants. Jen Psaki, White Home Press Secretary, acknowledged that the settlement was the results of “a sequence of bilateral discussions.” Psaki additional indicated that the target of the troops was “to make it harder to make the journey and make crossing the borders harder.”

This plan is a component of a bigger total technique to handle a rise in immigration and detentions on the southern border – undocumented immigration rose within the final yr of the Trump administration and has continued below the Biden presidency.

Massive Scale Plan to Scale back Corruption in Central America

In one other try and stem undocumented immigration, the Biden administration has introduced a multi-billion greenback plan with the presidents of Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador to crack down on corruption within the area. This plan is a part of a January promise from the Biden administration to arrange a regional job power in these nations to battle corruption, together with by threatening freezes on the U.S. financial institution accounts of officers partaking in fraud, bribery, or different types of corruption.

Whereas corruption is only one of many causes inflicting folks to flee Central America – others embody gang management and violence, financial despair, and pure disasters – it nonetheless stays a really robust issue. Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador have publicly pledged to eradicate authorities corruption, and the Biden administration is instructing these Central American nations to help efforts crucial to profitable democracies, together with free elections, an unbiased judiciary, and the safety of human rights for all folks.

In case you have any questions on this weblog put up or another immigration issues, please be happy to contact me at wcmenard@norris-law.com or 484-544-0022.