Think Immigration: What’s Changed in Immigration Law over the Last Two Years? What Hasn’t!

According to IBIS World, there were over 52,000 people employed in the “Immigration Lawyers & Attorneys industry” in 2023. With such a large and diverse group within the industry, reaching unanimous consensus on anything is nearly impossible. Opinions vary widely on politics, policy, procedures, firm management, and areas of practice. Yet, after nearly five years as an immigration lawyer, I can confidently say that there is one point of agreement among most practitioners: being an immigration attorney is hard. Often regarded as the second most complex area of U.S. law—surpassed only by the U.S. tax code—U.S. immigration law cannot be mastered in five minutes, overnight, or even within a single year. It is a perpetually evolving area of law, subject to the whims of the legislative, executive, and judicial branches at any moment.

The following examples illustrate just a fraction of the extensive changes that have occurred to U.S. immigration law in the past two years alone:

• More than 1,000 new opinions and decisions have been published by the federal district and circuit courts, as well as administrative agencies such as the BIA, OCAHO, BALCA, and AAO.
• The U.S. Supreme Court has published decisions covering topics such as aggravated felonies, criminal entry, judicial preclusion, consular nonreviewability, state standing, Chevron deference, exhaustion of administrative remedies after Santos-Zacaria, and limiting the administrative state.
• The Biden Administration has taken over 500 immigration-related executive actions, covering virtually every aspect of the immigration system, including but not limited to: extending temporary humanitarian protections to hundreds of thousands of noncitizens, narrowly focusing interior enforcement to specific priority cases, implementing new border processes that seek to incentivize arrivals at official ports of entry and disincentivize irregular arrivals, developing processes that make it easier for STEM students to become permanent residents, providing guidance as to when USCIS may excuse the untimely filing of extension- or change-of-status applications, initiating a pilot program to resume the renewal of H-1B visas in Canada or India, granting employment authorization to F-1 students in special circumstances due to severe economic hardship, publishing new USCIS fees and form editions, broadening the terms for science and art for Schedule A, and expanding the list of underserved medical areas.
• There have been over 150 updates made to the USCIS Policy Manual and over 120 updates to the Department of State’s Foreign Affairs Manual, covering topics such as biometrics, filing periods and timeframes, public charge changes, statelessness, asylum adjudications, bona fide determinations for U applicants, protected persons under INA §1367, family-based conditional permanent residence, CSPA issues, citizenship for adopted children, exchange visitors, H-2B workers, L-1Bs and sole proprietors, on-site inspections of religious workers, international entrepreneurs, evaluation of eligibility for outstanding professors and researchers, physician NIWs, employer’s ability to pay proffered wage, EAD document validity period, and NIV waivers for graduates of U.S. universities.

As immigration attorneys, we have a duty to remain thoroughly informed about the latest developments in U.S. immigration law so we can provide precise and effective representation and counsel to our clients; however, staying abreast of the incessant changes in U.S. immigration law is an exceedingly overwhelming task. In an ideal world, there would be a centralized, government-operated system that consistently consolidates all changes to U.S. immigration law in one easily accessible place. But staying informed about these changes necessitates daily monitoring of the individual websites and publications of each agency, court, office, and department—a virtually impossible task for an immigration lawyer responsible for managing their own demanding caseload and clients.

Fortunately for the immigration bar, one individual has dedicated the past three decades to undertaking this herculean task to the benefit of us all: Ira Kurzban. Since 1990, Kurzban’s Immigration Law Sourcebook has been trusted by not just immigration attorneys, but also immigration judges, federal judges, and other government officials. And as U.S. immigration law has undergone myriad changes over time, Kurzban’s has evolved alongside it. Indeed, in its first published edition in 1990, Kurzban’s consisted of barely 500 pages of material. The new 19th edition now consists of over 2,700 pages of comprehensive, authoritative, and concise analysis of all areas of U.S. immigration law, including all changes made to the U.S. immigration law as of July 23, 2024.

I’m excited to share that the 19th edition of Kurzban’s is officially shipping now! Whether you’re a seasoned immigration lawyer, a government official, or a new immigration attorney just starting your career, it is imperative you have the latest edition of Kurzban’s Immigration Law Sourcebook. It is the only source available that collects, organizes, and analyzes all changes to U.S. immigration law in one easily accessible place.

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AILA Members: Through November 13, 2024, save $75 on Kurzban’s with the code KZNOWSHIPPING.

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