civilservant

https://www.politico.com/story/2019/...-trump-1344956

One wonders how the new head is going to influence decisions and how more 'hardcore' they'll be.

BritInParis

Cuccinelli is apparently an immigration hardliner and Cissna was asked to resign for not being tough enough so expect the rules to be enforced. I would expect him to make life for undocumented migrants much more difficult.

Rete

Doubt that undocumented aliens have more to worry about than they do already, i.e. being picked up, placed in holding and deported. They need to worry about ICE.

Those that need to worry, IMO, are those here on visas that required a bit of fudging to make them eligible for the visa, i.e. certain work visas. We've already have seen this happen and the result has been a slow down at the Consulate level of approval of those visas which has resulted in a backlog.

In the area of marriage and family visas, I can see that there will be tighter adherence to the existing rules in the areas of proof of relationship, etc. Perhaps there will be more Stokes interviewing than we have seen outside of the State of Kentucky. There might even be more home visits to ensure that the couple are living together.

Will be interesting to see what happens after the next election.

scrubbedexpat099

In situations like this then there is a tendency to go after the easy pickings, I would not have thought anyone illegal would have much more to concern themselves about.

civilservant

I agree that it's not so much an illegal issue as a strict adherence to the rules, if only because they can't get the rules changed. I see Officers ability to make independent decisions being reduced further, which will inevitably mean an even stepper climb in processing times.

I, for one, am glad that I have just become a USC and am done with USCIS!

tom169

i agree with this. It's the interpretation of laws that can change quite easily. Next year for me and I should be on the way to naturalization.

vespucci

Like the rules on sponsors of immigrants on welfare:

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/...ts/1211711001/

livinginnyc

While not yet a USC, but have (finally) filled N-400 (after 4 months of procrastinating), I was thinking something similar.

Our whole USCIS process, aside from one or two RFE's has been smooth for the most part, and I feel very lucky to not get interview requests at AOS or ROC stages, which I guess will become a thing of the past. I wish all the best for K1/K3 filers in this current climate. As Rete said, I'm guessing that its about to get a lot slower of a process as they scrutinize further and the backlog gets worse.

Slightly off-topic but also looking forward to being done with biometric appointments... I've never had a pleasant experience at the 3 i've had (I had to do 2x for my 2 year GC due to an error in processing).

Pulaski

The funny thing is the opposite is probably true - that previously officers knew a situation they were looking at was at best "iffy", but because of the "tone at the top" (esp 2008-2016), they were guided to let things slide, be more lenient, and there was not much effort made to eject people even if they were clearly in breach of immigration law. I believe that most USCIS officers, absent "pressure from above" would lean towards being more strict, rather than less, and today there is obviously more "support from above" in properly applying immigration law.

And to your apparent paranoia ("I didn't want to wait any longer with the current political climate. ", "I, for one, am glad that I have just become a USC and am done with USCIS "), I am not sure why you think anything will change for those who are so far inside the visa and naturalization rules that, barring some sort of facist coup, there is literally zero chance that your right to become a US citizen, having easily cleared all the legal hoops on your immigration path will in any way be curtailed.

civilservant

I think paranoia is a pretty strong (and inherently negative) word. I also think you've got the wrong end of the stick.

I wanted the right to vote, bearing in mind the political climate. But yeah, let's go negative

Wake up on the wrong side of the bed this morning?

Pulaski

Maybe not enough coffee yet?

Rete

I fully agree.

TexanScot

It already is - interviews are no longer being waived for EB AOS applicants.

The elimination of concurrent filing of I-140/I-485 is in the works for later in the year too.