Over the past two years, due to a major shift in priorities by the Department of Homeland Security, as well as a very understaffed court, the Denver Immigration Court put thousands of cases on hold and set hearings out to a “place holder” date of November 29, 2019. In recent weeks, the Colorado Chapter of the American Immigration Lawyers Association has been informed by the Court that it will begin resetting...

Kolko & Associates, P.C. is pleased to announce that Managing Partner David Kolko has been selected as one of 5280 Magazine’s Top Lawyers 2016. Attorney Kolko was among only 400 Colorado Attorneys and 13 Colorado Immigration Lawyers selected for recognition by his peers.  Congratulations David! For more information regarding Managing Partner David Kolko or the services that we offer here at Kolko & Associates, P.C., please contact our office.

On December 29, 2015, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS) announced that it had issued the statutory maximum of 10,000 U nonimmigrant approvals (U Visas) for Fiscal Year 2016 (October 1, 2015 – September 30, 2016). Congress has set an annual statutory maximum of 10,000 available U Visas for qualified applicants. For the seventh (7th) straight year in a row, USCIS has reached the annual limit of 10,000 within the...

On December 18, 2015, President Obama signed into law the 2016 Consolidated Appropriations Act. Included in this Act are important changes to the Visa Waiver Program. The Visa Waiver Program (VWP) is a program that permits citizens of certain designated countries from traveling to the United States without a visa for the purpose of business or tourism. The maximum period of stay in the United States for a person on the...

Dear Santa, With Christmas approaching quickly, I wanted to make sure you knew what gifts we’d love to have this year under our Christmas Trees. We’ve worked really hard this year to help our clients with their immigration problems, but we could use a few more tools around our office to better help our clients. Here is my wish list: • DAPA – Last year, the White House tried to give...

Recently, USCIS released statistics regarding Form I-918 U Nonimmigrant Status Petitions. While the numbers were generally not surprising, they give us a general indication of the strains on the U visa program. U Nonimmigrant Status, commonly referred to as a U visa, is available to people who have been victims of certain crimes, and who have cooperated with law enforcement in the investigation and prosecution of the crimes. The crimes are...

Here at Kolko & Associates, we really love our job. Each of us truly love coming to work and we love that it is our job to help families stay together, help employers bring in necessary employees to further their business, help individuals avoid deportation and help those fleeing harm find a safe life in the United States. For many of our clients, their primary goal is to obtain lawful permanent...

There is a lot of discussion on the Internet lately about refugees, and particular states’ ability to welcome or refuse refugees. Our Thanksgiving tradition in America is a reminder of America’s first refugees arriving to the shores, seeking refuge from religious persecution. America’s modern day refugee laws are centered on the 1980 Refugee Act, which is our codification of the 1967 Protocol and the 1951 UN Refugee Convention. The Act, along...

Yesterday, November 20, 2015, the U.S. Department of Justice filed a petition for a writ of certiorari with the U.S. Supreme Court asking the Court to overturn the injunction currently blocking the Deferred Action for Parents of Americans & Residents (DAPA) and expanded Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) programs. In requesting the Supreme Court’s review of the decision of a 3 Judge Panel of the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals,...

On Monday, November 9, 2015, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the lower court’s preliminary injunction (temporary block) of President Obama’s Deferred Action for Parents of Americans & Residents (DAPA) program and expansion of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrival (DACA) program. The decision of the 3 judge panel was a divided decision; with 2 Judges determining that the 26 states that brought suit had standing to bring suit and...

On October 16, 2015, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) released an advanced copy of its proposed rule for an extension of Optional Practical Training (OPT) for F-1 nonimmigrant students with STEM degrees. The proposed rule will be published on October 19, 2015 and the DHS will accept comments through November 18, 2015. The rule in its current form is a proposed rule and is not yet final. The proposed rule...

Managing Partner David Kolko and Partner Jennifer Casey recently had the opportunity to meet with Democratic Presidential Candidate and former Governor of Maryland Martin O’Malley. Attorneys Kolko and Casey were privileged to engage in a frank discussion with Governor O'Malley about U.S. immigration policy. Discussions included the expanded DACA and DAPA programs, executive action on immigration, the current administration's policies of detention of refugee families at our southern border and current...

In September 2015 the U.S. Department of State (DOS) and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS) jointly announced a new framework for foreign national beneficiaries in the employment based and family based visa preference categories. This new framework is implemented through the new Visa Bulletin which took effect on October 1, 2015. The new Visa Bulletin provides two separate charts for each of the Employment Based and Family Based visa preference...

As previously reported, on September 9, 2015, the U.S. Department of State (DOS) and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS) announced an important change to the visa processing system in the United States. Under the new scheme, the the agencies announced that beginning in October 2015 the monthly DOS Visa Bulletin would contain two (2) separate charts for each of the Employment Based and Family Based Visa Preference categories. The new...

On September 9, 2015, the U.S. Department of State (DOS) and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS) announced an important change to the visa processing system in the United States. In order to understand the changes, we should first review the basics of our immigrant visa system and then discuss the changes announced this week. The Basics … The Immigration & Nationality Act (INA) sets limits on the number of immigrant...

Today, United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) and the United States Department of State (DOS) announced new procedures for determining when applicants may file their applications to receive permanent residency in the United States. The changes will be reflected in a new monthly Visa Bulletin, published by DOS. Previously, the monthly Visa Bulletin provided only one set of dates: the priority dates which had become current (i.e., available for an...

Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Jeh Johnson has designated Yemen for Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for a period of 18 months. The Secretary has determined that due to on-going armed conflict in Yemen, the country is experiencing extraordinary and temporary conditions that prevent its nationals from returning in safety and that permitting such aliens to temporarily remain in the United States is not contrary to U.S. national interests. The 18...

Managing Partner David Kolko is spending his week this week volunteering at the family immigration jail in Dilley, Texas. The Dilley facility is an ICE processing center where refugee women and children are being held in Texas, waiting to fight their cases. These women and children are fleeing gang violence and lawlessness in Central America, primarily Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras. Mr. Kolko is also joined by our recent Spring 2015...

Today, August 31, 2015, USCIS announced that it has simplified the payment process for the USCIS Immigrant Fee. Since February 2013, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS) has charged an “Immigrant Fee” of $165.00 USD to individuals entering the United States on an immigrant visa. Individuals who apply for and receive an Immigrant Visa by processing their visa application at a U.S. Embassy or Consular Post abroad are required to...

Blog Post by Alex Sheppard, Summer 2015 Intern On August 29, 2013, the Obama administration released a memo saying that despite marijuana remaining an illegal drug under federal law, the U.S. Department of Justice would not challenge state laws legalizing marijuana in Washington and Colorado. The memo also stated that the Department would turn its prosecutorial efforts away from the recreational use of marijuana in these states, so long as the...