Practice resources
Search immigration practice advisories, sample filings, manuals, brief banks, and government guidance from trusted practitioner sources.
ASISTA Practice Alert: 2026 Updates to USCIS Signature Policy (September 3, 2026) from ASISTA.
On August 13, 2026, the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) issued a decision on Matter of Delcarmen-Lara , that overruled Matter of Arrabally and Yerrabelly and held that travel on advance parole is now a "departure" for purposes of the unlawful presence bars at INA § 212(a)(9)(B)(i). Under this new interpretation, a person who has accrued more than 180 days of unlawful presence and then leaves the United States on advance parole will trigger the 3- or 10-year bar to admissibility. The BIA appli
On July 28, 2026, the Ninth Circuit ruled that Cal. Pen. Code § 273.5 is not a crime of violence. This practice advisory discusses the reasoning of the decision and provides advice on next steps for removal defense practitioners and criminal defenders representing noncitizens.
This practice alert explains the holding of the now-vacated decision on the merits from a panel of the Fifth Circuit in Sosnava Rodriguez v. Ortega , No. 26-50183, and collects caselaw in which district judges have granted habeas relief despite the Fifth Circuit’s recent decisions to vacate the panel’s merits decision and enter a stay of the district court orders pending en banc review.
This step-by-step guide will walk you through the steps for filing your first petition for habeas corpus (immigration) in the Central District of California. The guide provides helpful tips and how-tos from registering for PACER, the federal court electronic filing system, to applying for admission to the district bar, to formatting and filing your petition and motion for injunctive relief. The guide includes helpful screenshots and references to the local rules, as well as links to other useful
The Ninth Circuit issued a decision in Eskilian v. Bondi , 172 F.4th 682 (9th Cir. 2026) on April 2, 2026. This case can guide advocates on demonstrating due diligence for equitable tolling for an otherwise time- or number-barred Motion to Reopen. This analysis could be particularly helpful for clients from countries that previously did not accept individuals deported from the U.S., such as Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam, as well as those from former Soviet countries.
ASISTA Practice Advisory: Screening Victims of Notario Fraud and Unscrupulous Representation for U Visa Qualifying Crimes (July 2026) from ASISTA.
In February 2026, the U.S. Department of Justice published an Interim Final Rule (IFR), entitled “Appellate Procedures for the Board of Immigration Appeals.” The IFR made sweeping procedural changes to Executive Office for Immigration Review regulations that relate to appeals filed before the Board of Immigration Appeals. The rule’s effective date was March 9, 2026. Fortunately, several provisions of the IFR are not currently in effect due to a court order finding them legally invalid and partia
3rd Circuit PRECEDENTIAL OPINION Cardenas v Attorney General (March 31, 2026) [pdf] Published March 31, 2026 Topics: Amicus Briefs , VAWA Self-Petition
NIWAP was lead amicus joined by Legal Momentum and the Tahirih Justice Center on a brief submitted to the Third Circuit prepared by the law firm Haynes and Boone. Under VAWA and U.S.C. § 1367, the amici argued that abused immigrant children and stepchildren are entitled to protections regardless of when their abuser obtained lawful permanent residency status. The Amicus Brief urged the 3rd Circuit to reject the Board of Immigration Appeals’ reliance on the Matter of L-L-P, which imposed a timing
This supplemental letter requested by the 3rd Circuit from the parties addressed the following issues: 1) An applicant for cancellation of removal need not show continuing abuse at the time of the application under 8 U.S.C. § 1229b(b)(2)(A)(i)(II) and (2) The Court can, but should not, consider this issue without remand.
On June 3, 2026, a federal district court in California entered a final judgment in the East Bay Sanctuary Covenant v. Trump , vacated the Circumvention of Lawful Pathway (“CLP”) rule, codified at 8 C.F.R. § 1208.33 et seq. The vacatur means that the CLP rule has been set aside and is without legal effect unless and until the ruling is stayed, modified, or reversed on appeal. As a result, noncitizens whose asylum applications were denied solely because of the CLP rule—but who were otherwise foun