Hey friends. If you're interested in here in the latest immigration news, watch this video, join
me for this live session. I have a lot of good things to talk about in this one. A lot of news
has happened recently that I want to cover some things I'm going to loop back to.
So in this live session, I'm going to talk about upcoming changes at USC. I S what appears to be
good changes that's ahead for USC. I S we'll also talk about the visa
backlog issue, a pathway to citizenship for 11 million people, uh, essential workers, dreamers,
TPS. I'm going to touch on that. Um, I'll also give you an update about the TPS for Haitians,
as well as an update about, um, TPS for Burmese Burmese. My apologies,
those of you who are from Burma, who are here in the United States, I have an update for you.
And then lastly, friends, we're going to loop back to the New York, um, excluded workers fund. So
stick around all the way until, uh, until the end you new Yorkers, so that we can go through
the, uh, excluded worker fund update. Okay. So for those of you who are new to me, welcome,
I'm Latoya McBean Pompey and immigration lawyer in New York. And I see that folks have joined.
Excellent. Let's go ahead and get started telling me how you're feeling below and, um, and say
hello. Okay. So the first good news is this well, what appears to be good news? Let me back up.
Um, yesterday the Senate judiciary committee, the Senate committee on judiciary, I believe
held a hearing, um, a confirmation hearing for several different officials who have
been appointed by the Biden administration. One of those officials is the InCommon or the, um,
the incoming director for USC. I S I should say, once she is confirmed,
she will be, she will be the director of USC. I S the agency that processes and makes decisions
about your immigration applications and petitions. So this is actually a very important position. So,
Ms. [inaudible], I think that's how you pronounce her name. I think I may have gotten that wrong,
but, or Judah judge Jadelle I think, I don't know if you know it great, but, um, uh, it's an unusual
name, but she had her hearing yesterday and she talked about her top three priorities for us CIS,
and those priorities include the following, addressing the fiscal issues at USC. I S
you guys remember last year, USC CIS had a lot of money problems. So ensuring that the agency
is solvent is a top priority for this incoming director, in addition to resolving dramatically,
um, the, the process in times, which is you guys know, um, that's, it's a huge problem at USC.
I S so she wants to resolve the dramatically increase in processing times and address backlog
issues at USC. I S in addition to utilizing what, um, she's referring to as 21st century tools.
And this is, uh, just a little snapshot of the hearing yesterday, in which she testified she
had her two daughters and her husband behind her. It was really cute, but in any event,
it's really important to understand that this income and director of USC I S um,
is an advocate for immigrants. She worked under the Obama administration, and she's done, um, a
lot of cool things over the years, and she has experience on Capitol hill as well. And she was
also chief counsel at USC, I S um, so she has a lot of experience and she gets it. She understands
processing times. She understands, um, how important it is to get your cases through.
So this is a good thing. Now, I do want to say again, that the Senate did not vote yesterday
to confirm her no vote happened yet. Um, so let's just continue to watch that development.
Now, next issue guys. And you've been, you know, talking to me a lot about this issue
and it's the visa backlog issue. All right. The visa backlog issue is a huge, huge problem.
And just a couple of days ago, the state, uh, the national visa center issued, um, a report.
Uh, they're trying to be more transparent now. And so they issued a report on their,
the backlog issue. And so, um, according to this table, 504,000 people, these are the
number of immigrant visa applicants, whose cases are documentary completed at the NVC and are ready
for interview as of April 30th. So that's 504,000 people. And the number of documentaries complete,
um, I, uh, immigrant visa applicants scheduled for interviews this month in may 22,576.
Okay. So they only scheduled interviews for 22, 2000 people. And the number of people who are
weighed in who are eligible to have an interview right now is 481,000, which is
crazy. And they say here in the note that compared to 2019, on average, 60,000 applicants, um, were
pending the schedule enough, an interview each month, 60,000 is what the average weighed in
number of folks who are weighed in each month should be, but right now it's over 400,000,
almost 500,000 people are waiting. So they're trying to be more transparent by putting out
these reports to let us know how many people are being interviewed and all of that. But, um, on
the one hand, it's helpful to see the numbers, but on the other hand, it's not that helpful, right?
Particularly if you're there waiting, you're one of the 481,000 who are still waiting to get
a, to get your interview so that you can get your visa and come to the United States.
So this is the latest on that. There's still a significant backlog with immigrant visa
processing. So your, what you want to check the local, um, us embassy website of your
country to see any further updates on where they are with scheduling interviews and such,
but, uh, many people are at the NVC, the national visa center level, just in the interview, queue,
waiting for their turn for them to be called in, or get a date I should say for their, um, their
visa. So, um, I'll continue to report out on that. Now what's going on with those who, um, are right
here in the United States and who are watching immigration reform very closely on Capitol hill.
So pathway to citizenship for 11 million people, um, essential workers, dreamers,
TPS holders. We've been talking about these issues, uh, since January. And
so there has not been any significant legislative action since my last update,
no significant legislative action. Many of these bills right now are sitting
in a committee, whether it's a sub committee, um, on immigration or just a committee on judiciary,
but nothing major has happened since, uh, HR six, uh, passed a cup about two months ago on the house
side. Um, now there are, you guys may have been reading about these talks that legislators are
having some bipartisan discussions around the next infrastructure bill. So that's still going on.
It's not from what I'm reading in the press. It's not going great, but Senator Schumer is looking to
do something with the infrastructure bill in July. Okay. July. So that's what he announced just a
couple of days ago that the caucus is looking at, um, doing something around infrastructure in July,
Bernie Sanders, Senator Sanders, who is the chair of the budget committee on the Senate
side is preparing for reconciliation. He's preparing to pass a budget bill that sets the
stage or sets up the reconciliation process. And as we discuss, we've discussed in previous
videos that in other videos that, um, one of the tracks or the strategy that Democrats are
advancing is to link some immigration reform efforts with the reconciliation process.
So, um, this is what's really going on right now from the read, from my read of things,
right. That they're setting the stage, they're going through the motions with these bi-partisan
talks. Um, but, uh, I, it looks like something may happen in the summer according to Senator
Schumer, Senate majority leader. Okay. So let's look back to TPS for Haitians for a moment. Um,
the brief update with that is, uh, as you guys know, a few days ago, I reported out that, um,
if you've been here in the United States as of last Friday, which was May 21st, I believe, uh,
2021, and you're, um, Haitian you're from Haiti, and you don't have status in the United States
at this time, um, or you're a TPS holder, or you were a TPS holder, but you've let it lapse.
The opportunity has now come back to Haitians here in the United States to apply for TPS temporary
protected status. Um, the federal register has not come out yet with the instructions and the
registration period, and further details about how to, you know, get started with the registration
process that hasn't come out yet. So you cannot submit an application for this quite yet. I'll
keep you guys posted, but for those of you who are interested in learning more about
the TPS, um, opportunity for Haitians, check out my last video on this topic, because I go into
greater details about who is eligible and such. You must pass a background check and meet other
eligibility requirements. Now, for those of you who are from, um, Burma, uh we'll you got the good
news back in March that our government, um, is extending TPS for an initial 18
month period through November 24th, 2022. Well, just, um, two days ago, DHS issued the fed
the federal register notice for TPS, um, TPS for Burmese. And so, again, to qualify for this guys,
if you're from Burma, the quote, you, you must have continuously resided in the United States
since March 11th, 2021. And you've been physically present here in the United States since May 25th,
2021. And the registration period is open. Now it's from May 25th, 2021 until November 22nd,
2021. So you don't want to miss this registration period. And they say that this is,
this opportunity is really open to, um, maybe about 1600 people here in the U S
significant nonetheless, right? We're not looking at numbers,
right? We're looking at the difference that this type of program will have on families, right?
And it's more than 1600 people when you count a spouse and children and others. Now, lastly,
New York, new Yorkers, the New York excluded worker fund. Um, so we talked about, uh, several
weeks ago, the fact that the New York legislature has created, um, a fund for those of you who are
left out of the stimulus checks, uh, that have been issued over the past a year.
And so you many people here in New York are eligible under this program to receive a
one-time payment of 15,000 and change. And so if you've lost income during COVID and
you're you meet the other eligibility criteria that I outlined in my video,
you're going to want to benefit from this program. Okay. But the department of labor hasn't started
the application process yet, but here's a link that I want you guys to write down,
to keep track of the news around this access New York, which is run by the mayor's office,
uh, office for economic opportunity has a newsletter that you guys can sign up for so
that you can get the news on when the application period opens up, the application opens up for
you to apply for this fund. And so it's, um, access.nyc.gov/programs/excluded-workers-fund. So
bookmark, or do a screenshot right now of this, uh, link so that you can go on the website,
sign up for their newsletter and stay in the loop as to when the application will
open up to you to apply for this 15,000 and change. Okay. So guys, that's
The, that's the latest, Uh, immigration news that I
wanted to share in this live session. This is a little longer than I would have liked it to be.
I hope you guys are doing well. Um, if you need immigration, help guys contact our office,
book your appointment, get your meeting in. We're doing virtual consultations consultations
via video. Uh, we do Skype. We also do obviously regular telephone consultations as well. Go on
McBean law.com to book your appointment also, um, uh, subscribe to my channel, subscribe to
McBean immigration TV, and follow me on Instagram as well, so that you don't miss out on anything,
guys. I hope you're doing well, and I will see you in the next update and have a wonderful Memorial
day weekend, have a wonderful Memorial day weekend guys stay safe. Bye-bye.