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The U.S. State Department suspends visa services in Haiti.
The U.S. Embassy in Mexico moves to reduce visa wait times.
And BAL Senior Associate Steven Quezada discusses his series on immigration journeys to the U.S.
Get this news and more in the new episode of BAL’s podcast, the BAL Immigration Report, available on Apple, Spotify and the BAL news site.
It’s April 18, and this is your BAL Immigration Report.
“One of things that I always like doing, I like getting to know my clients, learning about them, their family, especially if I am representing them in one way or the other. Just because of how many people we are helping, I don’t always get to have these types of conversations with them. It has definitely given me a different perspective than what I see from my normal day to day.”
—Steven Quezada, BAL Senior Associate
The State Department has suspended routine visa services at the U.S. Embassy in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. Until further notice, the embassy is only accepting expedited nonimmigrant visa appointments for life-or-death medical emergencies or facilitating travel for a child with a confirmed naturalization interview appointment. All routine immigrant visa appointments are suspended until further notice. The State Department implemented these measures due to escalating gang violence in Port-au-Prince that has resulted in civil unrest and a breakdown of governmental authority.
The U.S. Embassy in Mexico City recently launched a program allowing certain visitor visa applicants to reschedule appointments to an earlier date without additional fees. First-time B1 and B2 visitor visa applicants will receive an email notification if selected to move up their existing appointments in 2025 or later to dates in 2024. Consulate officials expect the program to substantially reduce wait times for hundreds of thousands of applicants. The U.S. Embassy and its nine consulates in Mexico issued a record-setting 2.3 million visas in 2023.
A conversation with Steven Quezada: the voices behind the visa.
BAL Immigration Report: In February, Steven Quezada, a senior associate in BAL’s Dallas office, began publishing a series of interviews on LinkedIn about the experiences individuals have immigrating to the U.S. The goal of his immigration journey series is to provide insights to the challenges and complexities of the U.S. immigration system and offer tips on how people can find success in the U.S. In his practice of law at BAL, Quezada has represented Fortune 500 companies, advising them on a range of employment-based immigration matters before several federal agencies. But he completed his interviews outside of his normal practice, speaking with visa holders across the country, including several student athletes. He said the initial idea for the series came after hearing stories about people who had reservations about coming to the U.S. Quezada wanted to know why.
Quezada: Over the last couple of years, I’ve seen stories — even encountered it firsthand with some of our clients — people now have more trepidation coming to the U.S., whether it’s to study, whether it’s to work, whereas the U.S. used to be just a place where people wanted to come pursue the American dream, wanted to get here. Now we’ve seen some people that are hesitant to do it, whether it’s politics, whether it’s the immigration landscape in the U.S., or just sometimes it’s just fear to try something new and to come to a new country. I’m not an immigrant myself, so me trying to tell stories or to try to relate to certain people’s reservations about coming to the U.S, I thought it’d be better coming from people that are immigrants, people that have come to the U.S., people that have had success here.
BAL: We asked Quezada if there is any particular story that stands out.
Quezada: The one that I think so far that stands out to me the most: I’ve gotten to speak with two Ukrainian nationals — one, she was a rower at Washington State, another one, she was a tennis player at Cal State Northridge — so their accounts are very unique. Not just the immigration aspect that any international student athlete would go through, but just the effects of what their families are going through. Their inability to travel home if they need a new visa stamp, something like that, the consulate may not be open, they may have to evacuate, they may have to go to other countries to do that. Some of their families have even had to seek refuge in in other countries. So hearing their firsthand accounts — they’re here in the United States, they’re studying just like any of their teammates, they’re going to practice, training, competitions — but then in the back of their minds is the fact that their family is back home. They’re being bombed on a daily basis. Their siblings are having to go to school in basements. Their family home has been destroyed.
Doing all of this from the U.S., when I first started doing this, I wasn’t even thinking about the potential impacts of the Russian-Ukrainian war — I hadn’t spoken with any Ukrainian athletes at that point. But then once I did, it definitely brought a whole new experience and viewpoint that I think has probably been the most eye-opening part of how strong these individuals are, that they’re able to still compete at a high level. They’re able to still get 4.0 GPAs all while trying to communicate with their families, knowing that they’re in the middle of that war.
BAL: Each immigration story is unique, but we asked Quezada if there were some common immigration obstacles that the individuals he’s interviewing face.
Quezada: One of them definitely is the limited employment opportunities for them. Since my interviews have been with student athletes, they do have a very demanding schedule outside of just their classwork. Obviously, they’re waking up early for practice, and then they’re going to team meetings, and then go to class and more practice. So in all of that, they don’t really have opportunities to actually have employment to provide for themselves or for some of them to try to make money to send back home to help support their families.
One of the things I’ve heard is just with the F-1 visa specifically, the only employment opportunities that they really have are on-campus jobs, which don’t necessarily align or work well with their class and athletic schedule, and they’re prohibited from trying to seek outside employment. So they can’t go to the local restaurant and be a waiter, for instance, on the weekends or at night, they don’t have that ability to do that, or the ability to be an Uber Eats deliverer or something like that. So they really are restricted in the ways that they can generate money for themselves for their families because of their visa status.
BAL: Quezada said the interviews have given him a new way of looking at his work.
Quezada: One of the things that I always like doing, I like getting to know my clients, learning about them, their family, especially if I am representing them in one way or the other. Just because of how many people we are helping, I don’t always get to have these types of conversations with them. It has definitely given me a different perspective than what I see from my normal day to day. One of the good things that at BAL is the firm really does encourage us to set goals for ourselves — so setting both professional and personal goals. I like getting to meet people, I like learning about their experiences, love sports — just about every sport. So getting to do a hybrid here where I set a goal for myself where I want to get out there, be able to help people tell their stories. It just so happens that some of these athletes were the easier ones to get in contact with, and they’ve all been very willing to share their stories. So it’s been a great experience for me. I think it’s been a great resource for other people just based on the amount of traffic that I see on the articles and how much feedback I get — whether it’s people reaching out, or I know this person that has a great story that you want to talk to, or sometimes it’s their own story. A lot of good feedback from it, and I know that people share it throughout their network. So I know that it’s reaching the audience that I intended it for, which is a really good feeling.
BAL: Quezada plans to continue updating his immigration journey series with additional interviews in the weeks ahead.
In Europe, the European Council adopted a revision to its 2011 single-permit directive aimed at improving migration law for third-country workers in the EU. A single permit grants individuals the right to both work and stay in the EU. The revised law allows permit holders to change employers, simplifies permit application procedures and strengthens the rights of workers by improving protections against labor exploitation. The measure is part of a larger effort by the EU to address shortcomings in legal migration policy and attract more foreign skilled talent.
In Brazil, officials once again postponed the visa requirement for nationals of Australia, Canada and the United States. The visa requirement will now go into effect on April 10, 2025. At that time, citizens of these three countries will need to obtain an e-visa online before traveling in order to enter Brazil. Australian, Canadian and U.S. citizens who already have a valid physical Brazilian visa will not be required to apply for the new e-visa.
Follow us on X, and sign up for daily immigration updates. We’ll be back next week with more news from the world of corporate immigration.
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