Immigration & Nationality — page 2
The rules that decide who may enter, stay, work, and naturalize — and what happens when a case goes wrong.
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Immigration & Nationality
Successor in Interest: Labor Certifications and Petitions After a Merger
A new employer may keep an existing labor certification and petition only if it assumed the predecessor's essential rights and obligations and the job opportunity is unchanged.
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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.
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Immigration & Nationality
Schedule A Occupations: Nurses, Therapists, and Exceptional Ability
Schedule A occupations are pre-certified by regulation, so no recruitment or market test is run — but the application is still filed with the petition and the notice still has to be posted.
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Immigration & Nationality
Physician National Interest Waivers and Underserved-Area Service
A physician who commits to full-time clinical practice in a designated shortage area or a VA facility can obtain a national interest waiver, but the green card waits until the service is done.
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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
L-1 New Office Petitions and the First-Year Review
A new office L-1 gets one year to become a real operation. The extension is a fresh review of whether the office is doing business and whether the manager is actually managing.
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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
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
Security Advisory Opinions and Extended Administrative Review
A security advisory opinion is an interagency clearance a consular post requests before finishing a visa case. The application stays refused under INA 221(g) until the answer comes back.
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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
Immigration Detainers and Local Law Enforcement Cooperation
An immigration detainer asks a jail to hold someone up to 48 hours past release so ICE can take custody. For most agencies compliance is voluntary, and state law varies widely.
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Immigration & Nationality
ICE Check-Ins, Orders of Supervision, and Alternatives to Detention
People released from immigration custody report periodically and live under written conditions. An order of supervision sets those conditions when removal cannot actually be carried out.
