One of the themes of this year’s USCIS Ombudsman Annual Report is that the agency has been through “a year like no other.” USCIS faced “unprecedented challenges.” With the COVID-19 pandemic came temporary office closures, reduced capacity, and budget cuts. This led to previously unseen levels of backlogs and deepening financial problems, according to the
Nicola Ai Ling Prall
Plans for Additional Restrictions on Immigration
By Nicola Ai Ling Prall on
Posted in Immigration
Just before midnight on April 23, 2020, President Donald Trump’s “Proclamation Suspending Entry of Immigrants Who Present Risk to the U.S. Labor Market During the Economic Recovery Following the COVID-19 Outbreak” went into effect. The proclamation’s purpose was to temporarily suspend the entry of new immigrants (green card holders) into the United States for…
COVID-19 Dramatically Delays U.S. Passport Renewals, Disrupts Travel
By Nicola Ai Ling Prall on
Posted in Immigration
COVID-19 has changed U.S. passport renewal. In the past, U.S. citizens could renew a passport by mail if their current passport was issued on or after their sixteenth birthday and within the last 15 years, or apply for an initial passport or renew in person at a Passport Acceptance Facility (including many local post offices)…