On Wednesday, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services accepted Ombudsman Maria M. Odom’s recommendation to implement a parole policy for eligible U visa petitioners living abroad who are waiting to receive a U visa.  This could be of great help to immediate family members of individuals in the US that have been victims of a crime and are waiting for U visa eligibility are subject to a long wait for U visa eligibility due to the backlog.  Please contact us at [email protected] if you would like to find out more on how the new policy might benefit you and your family.

The U.S. State Department has released a proposed rule, set to be published in the Federal Register on Thursday, that would amend the requirements for the approval of individuals and accreditation of agencies that provide adoption services in cases involving other countries.  There are country specific accreditations that are being put into place which are aimed at improving the quality of adoptions  between foreign national children and US parents.  You can read the proposed rule here, ​https://s3.amazonaws.com/public-inspection.federalregister.gov/2016-20968.pdf.