Immigration Law Office of Akhtar & Chavez, PLC

01/15/2026

For any beneficiaries of TN and L Visas who want their visa processed at the Michigan/Canada border. Going forward, they are only being processed at the Detroit/Windsor tunnel border.

01/15/2026

Immigrant Visa Processing Pause for Certain Countries:

Visa applications, and interview scheduling will continue but Immigrant Visas will not be issued until further notice. Dual nationals with valid passports from other counties will continue getting immigrant visas. Immigrant visas already issued will not be revoked and nonimmigrant visas (visitors, students, etc.) are not paused.

Effective January 21, 2026, the Department of State is pausing the issuance of Immigrant visas to the national of the following countries:

Afghanistan, Albania, Algeria, Antigua and Barbuda, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bahamas, Bangladesh, Barbados, Belarus, Belize, Bhutan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brazil, Burma, Cambodia, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Colombia, Cote d’Ivoire, Cuba, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Dominica, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Fiji, The Gambia, Georgia, Ghana, Grenada, Guatemala, Guinea, Haiti, Iran, Iraq, Jamaica, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kosovo, Kuwait, Kyrgyz Republic, Laos, Lebanon, Liberia, Libya, Moldova, Mongolia, Montenegro, Morocco, Nepal, Nicaragua, Nigeria, North Macedonia, Pakistan, Republic of the Congo, Russia, Rwanda, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Syria, Tanzania, Thailand, Togo, Tunisia, Uganda, Uruguay, Uzbekistan, and Yemen

09/29/2025

AILA's H1B $100k filing fee update for new H1Bs

06/10/2025

Below is a memo from the CBP explaining who the current travel ban applies to and who is exempt.

05/23/2025

For anyone who is not sure if they have to register for G-325R fingerprinting, use the link below to take the short questionnaire, which will help answer it for you.

https://www.uscis.gov/forms/all-forms/g-325r #:~:text=period%20of%20stay.-,Parents%20and%20legal%20guardians%20of%20aliens%20under%20age%2014%20must,for%20re%2Dregistration%20and%20fingerprinting.

09/20/2024

USCIS' Detroit Application Support Center (ASC) is moving to 13404 East 11 Mile Road, Warren, MI 48089. September 25, 2024, will be the last day of operations at the USCIS ASC currently located at 11411 East Jefferson Avenue in Detroit. USCIS services will resume at the new office location on Monday, September 30, 2024.

Application support centers provide biometric services appointments (such as fingerprints, photographs, and electronic signatures). The Detroit ASC serves USCIS customers in eastern Michigan and northwestern Ohio.

07/13/2024

USCIS has officially released the news that the Detroit Field Office will be moving to 750 Stephenson Highway, Troy, MI 48083 on 8/5/2024.

The biometrics office will remain at 11411 E. Jefferson Ave., Detroit, MI 48214.

06/30/2024

The President announced a new program on June 18 to allow some spouses of U.S. citizens to apply for “parole-in-place”.

This program will allow up to 500,000 people to receive temporary protections and work permits in the United States. It will also permit them to apply for a lawful permanent resident status through their spouses without risking years of separation from their families. More information and the process to implement this program will be provided by the Department of Homeland Security to in the near future.

01/09/2024

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services increased the filing fee for Form I-907, Request for Premium Processing, to adjust for inflation. It is now $2805.

These fees were not changed for the three years after their enactment. The increments are from $1,500 to $1,685 (H-2B and R-1), $1,750 to $1,965 (eligible categories in Form I-539), and $2,500 to $2,805 (all other categories in Form I-129).

12/22/2022

Our office will be closed December 23 (Fri), December 26 (Mon), December 30 (Fri) and January 2 (Mon) for the holidays. We wish everyone a happy holidays and new years!

05/03/2022

Starting May 4, 2022, USCIS announced that the DHS is temporarily amending existing regulations related to expiring employment authorization and Employment Authorization Documents (EADs) for certain renewal applicants. The prior extension period of up to 180 days will automatically increase to up to 540 days from the expiration date stated on their current EADs.

01/27/2022

It is recommended if you are on a nonimmigrant (B-1/B-2, F-1, H1B, R, etc.) you should download your I-94 form every time you enter the U.S. https://i94.cbp.dhs.gov

Review the information on the I-94 and if there are any errors (name, expiration date, etc), contact CBP to request them to correct it.

I-94 is a place for U.S. visitors to find travel records