All Entries
The full digest in part order. Use the A–Z index to look up a subject by name, or search.
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Immigration & Nationality
Applying for a Visa in a Third Country: Rules, Risks, and Refusals
A consular officer may accept a visa application from someone who lives elsewhere, but posts restrict the practice, and a refusal in a third country can leave the applicant stranded.
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Immigration & Nationality
Cap-Exempt H-1B Employers: Universities, Nonprofits, and Affiliations
Four kinds of employer are exempt from the H-1B cap. The hardest category is the nonprofit related to or affiliated with a university, and the test for that was rewritten by regulation.
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Immigration & Nationality
Citizenship for Adopted Children: IR-3, IR-4, and Automatic Acquisition
A child who is a permanent resident under eighteen and in a citizen parent's legal and physical custody becomes a citizen automatically. The visa classification decides when that moment arrives.
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Immigration & Nationality
Consular Nonreviewability: The Limits of Challenging a Refusal
Consular nonreviewability is the rule that federal courts will not second-guess a visa refusal. The exception recognized in Mandel is narrow and grew narrower after Munoz in 2024.
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Immigration & Nationality
Cuban Adjustment and Central American Relief: Who Still Qualifies
Two country-specific statutes remain in use. The Cuban Adjustment Act allows residence after one year of presence, and NACARA offers defined Central American and Soviet-bloc classes a route.
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Immigration & Nationality
Denaturalization: Grounds, Procedure, and What Triggers a Case
Denaturalization takes two forms: a civil suit in federal court to set aside a naturalization order, and revocation that follows a criminal conviction for unlawfully procuring citizenship.
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Immigration & Nationality
Derivative Beneficiaries: Who Can Follow to Join an Employment Petition
A spouse and unmarried children under 21 take the principal's employment-based classification and priority date, but only if the relationship existed at the right moment.
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Immigration & Nationality
Dual Intent by Visa Class: Which Categories Tolerate Immigrant Intent
Nonimmigrant categories sit on a spectrum from express statutory dual intent through permissive treatment to a strict requirement of an unabandoned residence abroad.
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Immigration & Nationality
E-1 Treaty Trader Visas: Substantial Trade and Company Nationality
An E-1 treaty trader must show a qualifying treaty, an enterprise with the treaty country's nationality, and trade that is substantial, continuous, and more than half between the two countries.
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Immigration & Nationality
Enforcing an Affidavit of Support: Suits by Sponsored Immigrants
The affidavit of support is a contract the sponsored immigrant can enforce in court, at a percentage of the federal poverty guidelines, until one of five ending events occurs.
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Immigration & Nationality
Hague and Orphan Adoption Routes to an Immigrant Visa
Intercountry adoption runs on two tracks. Which one applies depends on whether the child's country is a Hague Convention partner, and the tracks differ in order and in timing.
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Immigration & Nationality
I-140 Revocation and Whether the Priority Date Survives
An approved I-140 that has been approved for 180 days generally survives an employer's withdrawal, and so does the priority date — unless the revocation is for fraud or material error.
