I think what the administration does with Haiti this year should be some indicator of Nepal's fate next year. Any thoughts?
http://www.blackstarnews.com/us-politics/policy/senators-gillibrand-and-schumer-ask-for-tps-extension-for-haitians

Haiti has over 5 times more TPS recipients (~50,000) than Nepal (~8,950) by the way. If the recovery situation does not improve by next year (which I think it won't thanks to Nepalese politicians), Nepal should get a TPS extension. However, if the administration decides to take a hardline approach towards TPS altogether, then people better have alternative options planned ahead in time. Never too early to have a backup plan folks. Anyway, worst case, there should be a 6-month extension to allow for a smooth transition as is the case when TPS is terminated for a country.

Both Republicans (including Marco Rubio) and Democrats have voiced their support for the renewal of Haiti's TPS given the bleak conditions in the country. Now with Bannon sidelined a bit and Trump slowly moving to towards the center (thanks to Kushner, Ivanka, Cohn), Haiti's TPS might be renewed to show Trump's humanitarian side. That would be a helpful precedent for Nepal next year. Let's hope there are also some voices from both sides calling for TPS renewal for Nepal next year.

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/opinion/editorials/fl-editorial-haiti-tps-20170418-story.html

Wed, 2016-11-30 14:02
Six Changes to Immigration Under President Trump -- What we expect.
Charles KuckKuck Immigration Partnerswww.immigration.net/



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Many were so shocked by Trump's election that they had not given thought to the specific changes he could, and likely will make once he becomes President on January 20, 2017. Here is a list of six things that President Trump is likely to changes in current immigration policy:

1. DACA. Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, was effective as of June 15, 2012, and has provided a work permit and relief from the fear of deportation to more than 750,000 undocumented young woman and men from the ages of 15 to 31, who came here as children and graduated from our high schools and colleges. Virtually all of them work, pay taxes, own cars, and contribute to our society. It is virtually certain that President Trump will terminate this program on January 20, 2017, as he has promised to do. What is uncertain is whether he will allow those with work permits that would remain facially valid to keep working until the end of their allotted time. We believe he will, as it would be the easiest to implement policy, rather than having to individually change each expiration date in the relevant government databases. All DACA recipients should be talking to an experienced immigration lawyer today to see if they will have any other legal options to obtain some sort of status in the United States. We recommend that, at least until December 1, that all DACA beneficiaries who have work cards expiring before May 1, 2017 file to extend their cards now, with the hope the cards will be extended, and you will be able to continue working on them until expiration. If you have not done so, you should also consider getting an emergency travel document for a very sick relative, if there is one in your family, so you can have a legal entry on your record, should you, in the future, marry a US Citizen.

2. DAPA. The Deferred Action for Parental Accountability program that Obama announced on November 20, 2014, which never went into effect as a result of a court order. This program was created by a policy memo and can be eliminated by a policy memo. The effect will be minimal since the policy was never carried out, but it did create a great deal of excitement for the 3-4 million people who's lives it would have helped. This policy memo will certainly be withdrawn on January 20, 2017, as Trump has promised.

3. Parole in Place ("PIP"). PIP was created by USCIS policy memo under the Bush Administration and allows the spouse and parents of active and retired military personnel to file a petition with the USCIS to allow for them to "enter" or be paroled into the United States, thereby allowing the person to obtain permanent residence through their spouse or child without having to depart the United States and be subject to the 10 year bar for unlawful presence. Essentially, this is a benefit only to those who serve or who have served our country. The word in DC is that this program is going to be eliminated by the Trump administration, but we do not know when, Our advice is to file any such applications now to try to get an approval before this program is eliminated.

4. TPS. Temporary Protected Status is authorized by the President to national from certain countries where war, natural disaster, or other such calamity prohibits removal to that country. Currently more than 350,000 people are on TPS. Many have had TPS for more that 15 years. Nine countries currently are under TPS, including El Salvador, Honduras, Syria, Nepal, Somalia, and Nicaragua. There is a strong possibility, especially for countries where the disasters that caused TPS to be issued occurred many years ago, or where the necessary infrastructure repairs have occurred, that TPS will no longer be extended. Honduras and El Salvador may not have their TPS renewed after the current expirations in 2018. People on TPS from those countries (and the other countries as well) should be speaking now to an experienced immigration lawyer to see if they have other immigration options.

5. Prosecutorial Discretion or PD and the "10 year law." PD is based upon a policy memo issued by the Obama administration in 2011 and then revised in 2014. It sets the standards by which ICE has operated in the apprehension, detention, release and prosecution of immigration cases. This policy memo has made some lawyers very complacent in their handling of immigration court cases, preferring to take administrative closure (PD) rather than fighting winnable cases. We believe that the PD memo will be withdrawn by the end of January 2017, and in its place ICE will return to pursing removal and deportation cases against everyone they encounter, and that ICE attorneys will pursue removal cases to the fullest extent permitted by the law. This means that people who intentionally put themselves in removal proceedings to seek a work permit by filing baseless asylum cases can expect to have their cases fully litigated, facing a 2% approval rate for such cases. It is sad that so many were led into the trap of easy work permits without realizing the ultimate consequences of such an action.

6. Raids and Detention. Many people are worried that Trump will send our "Deportation Squads" to round people up. Frankly, that is not going to happen. Such actions are simply unconstitutional, and cost lots of money, money the government does not have. Of course, ICE will continue to look for people with prior removal orders, those with criminal arrest and convictions, and anyone with a DUI in their past. ICE will detain those people and try to process them quickly for deportation. Everyone, of course, is entitled to a hearing and to fight their case, but after a few weeks in detention many people give up and want to leave. ICE detains people for this very reason, so if you have a good case, you have to stay and fight it, because once you are deported, you are not coming back for ten years. The bottom line here is that there will NOT be raids of homes or neighborhoods looking for random people on January 20, 2017, BUT ICE will surely double down on their efforts to find people with prior orders of deportation and even minor crimes in their past.

Thursday, December 1, 2016

Immigration Policy Choices Under the New Administration

Epstein Becker Green
Epstein Becker Green logo
Robert S. Groban, Jr.Pierre Georges BonnefilPatrick G. BradyJungmin ChoiJang Hyuk ImMatthew S. Groban
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USA November 21 2016
Now that the election is over, focus turns to the U.S. immigration policy of President-elect Donald J. Trump’s administration over the next four years. Forecasts of this type are never easy with any new President; the task is even more difficult this year because immigration policy dialogue during the campaign focused so heavily on illegal immigration and the Mexican wall. The critical questions to which our clients seek answers concern the policies that will define “business” immigration.

In this Special Immigration Alert, the Immigration Law Group at Epstein Becker Green will discuss 10 areas that impact business immigration and explore potential paths that the Trump administration might follow in addressing them.

Executive Orders: During the campaign, President-elect Trump indicated that he would vacate all executive orders issued by the Obama administration In the immigration area, the relevant executive orders would, in large part, consist of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (“DACA”) and the Deferred Action for Parents of Americans (“DAPA”). As our readers know, DACA and DAPA have been subject to numerous legal challenges since these executive orders were issued. Nevertheless, thousands of foreign nationals (“FNs”) received work authorization under these programs and are now employed within the United States. If DACA and DAPA are vacated, these FNs would lose their temporary protection against removal and their right to work in the United States. Employers need to start planning now for this possibility.
Temporary Protected Status (“TPS”): Under the immigration laws, the U.S. President has authority to grant TPS to citizens of any country who are temporarily unable to return to their home country due to ongoing armed conflicts or natural disasters. Those in TPS status are granted temporary refuge here and permitted to work. If it follows several recommendations of the Center of Immigration Studies, as some Trump supporters have suggested, the Trump administration could restrict the circumstances under which TPS grants are issued and terminate current grants earlier, requiring affected FNs to return home sooner.

Thanks for sharing these articles nyeshangaale. I wouldn't be surprised if there is a decision to terminate TPS for Honduras and El Salvador. And I came across this today...

USCIS Recommends to End TPS for Haitianshttps://sflcn.com/uscis-recommends-to-end-tps-for-haitians/

Reviving this old post so we can discuss what will happen to tps. I know it's just guessing game but does anyone have any idea what will happen.

Likely to be extended fully in my view. Few recipients from Nepal compared to the rest. Not much rebuilding done back home.

Also new DHS chief might be kind on Nepal.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/11/us/politics/kirstjen-nielsen-homeland-security-secretary.html

https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2015/10/what-the-nepal-earthquake-teaches-us-about-disaster-resilience/

No guarantees though. Worst case scenario - termination of TPS with 18 months to leave like for Haiti.

That's my guess too. Did Nepal government asked formally for extension though?

Trump will not extend TPS guys and he should not. Neither I am a Republican nor a Trump supporter. It is my personal view. If someone in TPS wanted to go home they could have done in last three years. Now if they don't want to go home they can be illegal. Matter of fact they used to be illegal before TPS (exception: some opportunist filing TPS and working and violating their visa).

Nepal has come far along in the last three years. Politicians came to UN and bragged about making the best constitution and indeed the constitution was enacted after the earthquake. Nepal has successfully conducted two elections after the earthquake. The GDP expansion of Nepal in 2017 was 7.5%. All these events are the important milestones to show that the country is marching in a good direction of prosperity.

Trump administration ended El Salvador tps with 18 month delay!

In my analysis there are two scenarios:
There will be one final extension of 18 months.
TPS holders will be granted some form of path to residency along with people under DACA by the Congress.

I will cut my shaft if tps holders will be granted path of residency under DACA by congress.

K huncha K huncha. Dimag kharab bhaisakyo.

Tps nabhaye k bhayo you can still get jobs it’s not only you almost 400000 people dude let it be

I think they will cut DV and provide a path to Greencard for TPS holder as this will give both parties some sense of accomplishment and this will be good for Nepal too. So stick with your TPS and at some point, there will be merit-based immigration which will make it easier for more Nepalese.

merit based immigration will make it easier for more Nepalese. ? I don't think so, I don't know what kinda merit and point classification they would make but I am pretty sure for few years it would be just Indians and Chinese. so it will be definitely harder for average Nepali OPT student.