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USCIS & DOS Announce New Procedure for Immigrant Visa & Adjustment of Status Processing

USCIS & DOS Announce New Procedure for Immigrant Visa & Adjustment of Status Processing
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...
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4123 Hits

DHS Announces Temporary Protected Status for Yemen

DHS Announces Temporary Protected Status for Yemen
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...
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3064 Hits

Managing Partner David Kolko Volunteering in Dilley

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...
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2648 Hits

USCIS Announces Changes to Immigrant Fee Processing System

USCIS Announces Changes to Immigrant Fee Processing System
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...
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4619 Hits

Marijuana Remains Problematic for Immigrants

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...
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2739 Hits

Kolko & Associates Announces New Website Launch

Kolko & Associates, P.C. is pleased to announce the launch of its new website at www.KolkoAssociates.com.  The site provides the latest content in immigration law and contains resources and information for those seeking assistance with their immigration cases.
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2891 Hits

Senior Associate Bryon M. Large, Sr. selected as one of The Best Lawyers in America

Senior Associate Bryon M. Large, Sr. selected as one of The Best Lawyers in America
Kolko & Associates, P.C. is delighted to announce that our own Senior Associate Bryon M. Large Sr. has been selected by his peers for inclusion in The Best Lawyers in America 2016 in the field of Immigration Law.  Best Lawyers is one of the oldest and most highly-respected peer review guides to the legal profession worldwide. Congratulations Bryon!
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4031 Hits

Federal judge orders release of detained immigrant children

In a decision issued this past Friday, a federal judge in the District Court for the Central District of California found that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) was in violation of a court settlement agreement due to its practice of detaining families who were apprehended as part of the “surge” of asylum-seekers crossing the Southern border since last summer. The Judge also strongly admonished DHS for the “deplorable” conditions in...
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2817 Hits

USCIS Issues Final Guidance on When to File an Amended or New H-1B Petition after Simeio Decision

USCIS Issues Final Guidance on When to File an Amended or  New H-1B Petition after Simeio Decision
By Zuzana Geremes, Paralegal On April 9, 2015, USCIS published a draft guidance based on its Administrative Appeal Office’s precedent decision, Matter of Simeio Solutions, LLC, which held that employers must file amended H-1B petitions when a new Labor Condition Application for Nonimmigrant Workers is required due to a change in the H-1B worker’s worksite location. More specifically, the Simeio decision stated that an amended H-1B petition must be filed under...
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3029 Hits

Women and children asylum-seekers in family detention now being released on bond

Last month, Secretary of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson made a major announcement regarding the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) policy of detaining women and children asylum-seekers from Central America in family detention centers in remote parts of Texas and New Mexico. Secretary Johnson announced that detained families who have passed the initial step in the asylum process – showing that they have a credible or reasonable fear of persecution in their home...
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2775 Hits

The Rights and Responsibilities of Foreign Nationals under the Affordable Care Act

The Rights and Responsibilities of Foreign Nationals under the Affordable Care Act
By now, most immigration attorneys have been asked whether a particular foreign national client is eligible for health insurance under the Affordable Care Act (ACA), also known as “Obamacare.”   The answer to this question is complicated. Whether a foreign national is eligible for enrollment in a healthcare exchange under the ACA and/or required to obtain basic health insurance coverage requires a detailed analysis and consideration of immigration law, tax law...
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3707 Hits

DACA 3-Year Approvals Reduced to 2 Years

DACA 3-Year Approvals Reduced to 2 Years
In the wake of the pending litigation and injunction in Texas regarding the new deferred action programs for students and parents, a federal judge has ordered USCIS to be in full compliance of an injunction he previously issued. There are thought to be approximately 2,000 employment authorization documents (EAD’s) circulating that are not in compliance. Over the past several weeks, USCIS has been sending notices to DACA recipients who are affected....
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5388 Hits

ICE publishes new guidance on care of transgender detainees

ICE publishes new guidance on care of transgender detainees
US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) published new guidance in June on the care of transgender adults in immigration detention, in a Memorandum titled "Further Guidance Regarding the Care of Transgender Detainees." The Memorandum provides guidelines in several areas of detainee care, including intake procedures, determining housing placement, medical care, conducting searches, and access to clothing and commissary hygiene products. Notably, the guidance provides that transgender individuals may be assigned housing...
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3382 Hits

How do I write a hardship letter?

How do I write a hardship letter?
We do a fair number of hardship waivers in our office each year, and I am frequently asked by my clients how to write a good hardship letter. While many attorneys have different styles for putting together a hardship waiver application, most attorneys will agree that the letter is one of the most important pieces of the case. The difficult part about a hardship letter is that the attorney shouldn’t write...
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141860 Hits

State Department announces that U.S. Embassies and Consulates are back online

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The U.S. Department of State has announced that the worldwide "Visa Freeze" is over, and U.S. Embassies and Consulates around the world are able once again to schedule visa interviews and issue U.S. visas. The State Department expects that the backlog of cases should be cleared by this week. The separate problems with the online fee payment system and the online application for immigrant visas have not been resolved. The State...
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3091 Hits

Senior Associate Attorney Bryon M. Large, Sr. Reelected to AILA Board of Governors

Senior Associate Attorney Bryon M. Large, Sr. Reelected to AILA Board of Governors
Kolko & Associates, P.C. is proud to announce that Senior Associate Attorney Bryon M. Large, Sr. has been reelected to serve on the Board of Governors of the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA). AILA is a professional organization of more than 14,000 attorneys and law professors who practice and teach immigration law. The Board of Governors is AILA’s principal governing body and responsible for determining the Association’s policies. The Board is...
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2942 Hits

State Department technological problems result in worldwide “Visa Freeze”

State Department technological problems result in worldwide “Visa Freeze”
The U.S. State Department has announced that due to a computer hardware failure, it is currently unable to issue most immigrant and nonimmigrant visas. The technical problem impacts visas that were approved on or after June 8, 2015. In addition, the State Department announced that due to the technical issue, visa applications filed on or after June 9, 2015 could not be scheduled for interview. Thus, in most cases, people who...
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  2865 Hits
2865 Hits

Kolko Attorneys Attend National AILA Conference

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This week, the attorneys from Kolko & Associates, P.C., are off to the annual conference of the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA). AILA is a 14,000 member strong association of immigration attorneys from around the world practicing American immigration law. Each year, AILA hosts a major annual conference in a different city. This year's conference is being held in National Harbor, MD, just outside of Washington, D.C. The AILA Annual Conference...
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2711 Hits

DHS Extends Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Somalia

On June 1, 2015, Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Jeh Johnson announced the extension of the Temporary Protected Status (TPS) designation for Somalia for a period of 18 months, beginning September 18, 2015 and extending through March 17, 2017. Somali nationals (and eligible individuals without nationality who last resided in Somalia) previously granted TPS and who continue to meet the eligibility requirements for TPS may re-register during the 60-day period...
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2703 Hits

Immigration Court Backlog Continues to Rise

Denver Immigration Court
The Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC) recently reported that the backlog for the immigration courts grew to an astounding 445,607 as of April 30, 2015, nationwide. The backlog appears to be the result of a changed focus for the courts to hearing cases involving recent arrivals and unaccompanied minors. Representing 15.7% of the docket, unaccompanied minors cases appear to be moving quickly as there were just over 700 fewer cases at...
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2692 Hits

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Kolko & Casey, P.C. is a full service immigration and naturalization law firm providing professional legal services to individuals and businesses throughout Colorado, the Rocky Mountain West, the United States, and the World. Our professional staff speaks English, Spanish, Korean, and Portuguese and we can arrange for translators in any other language.