Immigration Nerds

What is a plate of food supposed to do in a room full of diplomats? Make the room go quiet.

Craig Harnden was seven when he asked his mother what you call someone who cooks for a living. From packet cake mixes in a Bristol kitchen, he went on to Michelin-starred kitchens in England — including seven years at Raymond Blanc’s Le Manoir aux Quat’Saisons — and four and a half years on Richard Branson’s Necker Island. Then a job at the French Laundry fell through, and he spent two years lost: couch surfing, out of work, in debt. A recruiter finally called with a job he never would have chosen for himself — head chef at the British Embassy in Washington. Fifteen years later, he is still there.

He joins host Lauren Clarke to talk about the mother who called his cooking “edible,” the mentors who taught him what it means to cook, the hard first years in Washington, the afternoon tea for 700 guests on the first day of the King and Queen’s state visit — nine and a half thousand sandwiches, crusts off, real butter — the dish he eats the minute he lands back home, and the kitchen of immigrants that makes it all work: a Polish sous chef worth a six-month wait, and two women from the Dominican Republic.

Plus, Erickson Immigration Group partner Rob Taylor with the news: what the new H-1B integrity executive order does and doesn’t do, expanded social media vetting for TN, TD and I visa applicants, movement in the October 2026 visa bulletin, a federal court blocking the $100,000 H-1B fee, and steep new fees DHS has proposed for OPT and STEM OPT filings.

Resource Links: British Embassy Washington

GUEST: Craig Harnden, Head Chef, British Embassy Washington

HOST: Lauren Clarke

NEWS NERD: Rob Taylor

PRODUCER: Adam Belmar

Interview Date: 10/2/26

What if the thing an immigration lawyer did all month was lunch?

Once a month, on a Sunday, a group of AILA DC attorneys and paralegals sits down at a restaurant chosen to match the book they have all just read — a Salvadoran kitchen for Jonathan Blitzer’s Everyone Who Is Gone Is Here, Dominican food for Angie Cruz’s Dominicana. They call it the Belonging Book Club, and since late 2024 it has become the place where people in a hard profession get to be readers first.

Ariel Rawls of Grossman Young & Hammond runs it. She picks the restaurants, posts the polls, and drives a couple of hours from central Virginia to be the first one at the table. She joins host Lauren Clarke on the single question at a committee meeting that started the whole thing, why the food does more than feed people, the five-hundred-page first pick that nearly sank it, the afternoon a Palestinian milk drink sent one member straight back to her childhood, and what a novel can show a lawyer that a client never will.

Plus, Erickson Immigration Group partner Rob Taylor with the news: a federal judge blocks the duration-of-status rule for F-1 and J-1 visa holders, DHS moves to eliminate the 60-day grace period for workers who lose a job, and a new executive order tightens oversight of the H-1B program.

Resource Links:

AILA DC Chapter — Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (Belonging) Committee

Bookclubs — where the Belonging Book Club runs its polls and meetings

GUEST: Ariel Rawls, Attorney, Grossman Young & Hammond; Chair, AILA DC Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee

HOST: Lauren Clarke

NEWS NERD: Rob Taylor

PRODUCER: Adam Belmar

Interview Date: 9/17/26

The wage floor for H-2A got rewritten on August 3, 2026, and farm workers stand to lose up to $5.4 billion a year. The worker protection rule is rescinded, demand is at a record high, and a federal court just called the whole thing unlawful. LJ D'Arrigo, Immigration Practice Leader at Harris Beach Murtha, returns for his third visit to tell Lauren Clarke what it means at the kitchen table — and why dairy is no longer out to pasture. Plus, Rob Taylor reports on the $103,265 H-1B fee proposal and the immigrant visa appointment pause.

GUEST: L.J.” D’Arrigo, Immigration Practice Leader, Harris Beach Murtha

HOST: Lauren Clarke

NEWS NERD: Rob Taylor

PRODUCER: Adam Belmar

Interview Date: 8/27/26

Resource Link:

No Longer Out to Pasture: USCIS Clears H-2A Path for Dairy Employers

https://www.harrisbeachmurtha.com/insights/no-longer-out-to-pasture-uscis-clears-h-2a-path-for-dairy-employers/

On June 30th, the Supreme Court struck down the president's birthright citizenship order 6–3 in Trump v. Barbara, with Chief Justice Roberts writing that children born to parents unlawfully or temporarily present here are citizens at birth. Six weeks later, two new executive orders arrived — one narrowing who qualifies for birthright citizenship, one titled "Ending Birth Tourism."

Host Lauren Clarke is joined by Jack Chin, the Edward L. Barrett Jr. Distinguished Professor of Law at UC Davis and one of the country's leading scholars on the 14th Amendment's Citizenship Clause, to pull the two orders apart. Why the citizenship order likely fails where it stretches the "closed set" of exceptions the Court recognized. Why the birth tourism order may survive unchallenged — and why it's still, in Chin's words, a solution in search of a problem, aimed at an estimated 20,000–26,000 births out of 3.6 million a year.

Plus: what this means at the consulate for pregnant applicants and women of childbearing age who aren't birth tourists at all, where consular non-reviewability leaves them, and how to build a visa package that heads the question off.

First, EIG partner Rob Taylor covers the week's news: a proposal to eliminate the 60-day grace period, USCIS denials without RFEs, mandatory e-filing, a proposed N-400 fee hike, 175,000+ visa revocations since January 2025, and stepped-up H-1B enforcement.

Resource Links:

https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2026/08/ending-birth-tourism/

https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2026/08/continuing-to-protect-the-meaning-and-value-of-american-citizenship/

GUEST: Professor Jack Chin, UC Davis School of Law

HOST: Lauren Clarke

NEWS NERD: Rob Taylor

PRODUCER: Adam Belmar

Disclaimer: This episode is intended for educational and informational purposes. Views and opinions expressed by guests are their own and do not necessarily reflect the views of Erickson Immigration Group or its attorneys.

For nearly 50 years, international students could stay in the United States as long as they continued to make progress in their programs. No fixed deadline. A PhD candidate who needed a sixth year could take it. A doctor could finish a residency and move into a fellowship. An adviser at the school made that call.

On September 15, that ends. Students arriving after that date get a firm expiration date — four years at most — and must file a formal application, with a fee, to stay any longer. The government hasn't said how it will decide those applications, or how long they'll take.

Immigration attorney Dan Berger joins Lauren Clarke to explain who this reaches, what happens if you miss a deadline, and why he expects a court challenge within weeks.

Resource Links:

https://www.brookings.edu/articles/what-does-the-new-duration-of-status-rule-mean-for-international-students-and-workers/

https://www.internationalstudent.us/

GUEST: Dan Berger, Partner, Green & Spiegel

HOST: Lauren Clarke

NEWS NERD: Rob Taylor

PRODUCER: Adam Belmar

INTERVIEW RECORD: Tuesday 7/28/26 @ 17:30 ET

Work permits for TPS holders from Haiti, Syria, and five other countries expire July 17th and 24th — dates that have already shifted twice. Plenty of shows are re-litigating the Supreme Court's ruling. We're asking a harder question: what actually happens right now to the workers and businesses caught in the middle?

Luis Zaldivar, Business Engagement Director at the American Business Immigration Coalition, joins host Lauren Clarke to put faces on the numbers: the CNAs who've cared for the same nursing home residents for years, the construction site managers, the restaurant operators — many of them here for decades. Luis explains why "just hire someone else" doesn't work in a 4% unemployment economy, what happens to senior care prices and capacity when a workforce vanishes in weeks, and the family decisions playing out behind closed doors: the house, the kids, the country they'd be returning to. He also lays out the surprising flip side of the Court's ruling — DHS now has full authority to extend these permits on its own, no Congress required — and the three steps every employer should take this month.

Plus, News Nerd-in-Chief Rob Taylor covers the USMCA non-renewal and what it means for TN visas, new USCIS E-Verify and I-9 guidance for TPS workers, consular appointment suspensions in Abu Dhabi and Dubai, fee increases in Australia and Japan, and South Korea's newly permanent digital nomad visa.

Resource Links: https://abic.us/

GUEST: Luis Zaldivar, Business Engagement Director, American Business Immigration Coalition (ABIC)

HOST: Lauren Clarke

NEWS NERD: Rob Taylor

PRODUCER: Adam Belmar

INTERVIEW RECORD: Wednesday 7/15/26 @ 17:00 ET

As America counts down to its 250th birthday, Forbes is counting something else: the 250 most successful living immigrants in the country. In this episode, host Lauren Clarke sits down with Forbes Senior Editor Alex Knapp, co-editor of the new Forbes 250: America's Most Successful Living Immigrants list, to pull back the curtain on how a list like this actually gets made — and what it reveals about the country that made it possible.

Alex walks through the methodology, from the well-known billionaires to the late additions sparked by the SpaceX IPO, and explains why "success" on this list means a lot more than a net worth figure. You'll hear why Arnold Schwarzenegger landed at #1 despite not being the richest person on the list, how the sriracha guy fled communist Vietnam and reshaped American food culture, and why Katalin Karikó — who arrived with a few hundred dollars hidden in a teddy bear — may have done more to save American lives than almost anyone else on the list.

Plus: India leads the living list by a wide margin, with Canada and Israel rounding out the top three countries of origin — and Alex shares why Hungary may deserve its own book. Rob Taylor also joins with the latest immigration news, including the Supreme Court’s ruling striking down President Donald Trump's executive order limiting birthright citizenship, visa bulletin movement, the H-1B fee back in effect, and the incoming duration-of-status rule change for F-1 and J-1 holders.

Immigration makes us all better. This list makes the case.

Resource Links:

https://www.forbes.com/sites/alexknapp/2026/06/10/forbes-250-americas-most-successful-living-immigrants/

GUEST: Alex Knapp, Forbes Senior Editor

HOST: Lauren Clarke

NEWS NERD: Rob Taylor

PRODUCER: Adam Belmar

Your neighborhood pool may be short-staffed this summer — and the reason probably isn't what you think. Lauren Clarke sits down with Mark Overmann, Executive Director of the Alliance for International Exchange, to unpack the quiet crisis hitting seasonal businesses from the Jersey Shore to the Ozarks. The J1 Summer Work Travel program has been filling the gap in America's seasonal workforce for more than 50 years — but this summer, a State Department deprioritization order and a 6x slowdown in visa interview processing times have left up to 19,000 vetted, job-ready students stranded without an interview slot. Mark explains how a cultural exchange program became the backbone of seasonal staffing, why this is a policy and a capacity problem at the same time, what a bipartisan group of House members is doing about it, and what needs to change before summer 2027. Plus, Rob Taylor with the immigration news: Federal Court Kills Trump's $100K H-1B Fee, a new proposed rule raising the bar on EAD eligibility, and updated USCIS guidance on adjustment of status for dual-intent visa holders.

Resource Links:

https://www.alliance-exchange.org/

GUEST: Mark Overmann, Executive Director, Alliance for International Exchange

HOST: Lauren Clarke

NEWS NERD: Rob Taylor

PRODUCER: Adam Belmar

What if the most powerful immigration story you heard this week came from a picture book?

Jacqueline Alcantara is a first-generation American and award-winning illustrator who has lived the experiences she draws. She's the author of Tíos and Primos — a children's book pulled from her own childhood of crossing language barriers to connect with family in Honduras — and the illustrator behind Just Shine, the #1 New York Times bestselling picture book written by Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor about her mother's journey from Puerto Rico to the Bronx. Two books. Two immigrant stories. One illustrator who knows exactly what it feels like to stand in a room full of family and not quite have the words.

Jackie joins host Lauren Clarke to talk about what picture books can do that policy debates simply can't. Plus, EIG partner Rob Taylor shares the latest news, including an update on the USCIS memo quietly reframing adjustment of status as discretionary — and what that means if you're currently in the green card process.

Resource Links:

http://jacquelinealcantara.com/tios-and-primos

With the 2026 FIFA World Cup kicking off in roughly four weeks, Immigration Nerds welcomes back Ryan Propis, Vice President of Security and Facilitation at the US Travel Association, for a progress report on US readiness. Since his September appearance, a lot has changed — visa wait times are down, the FIFA Pass expedited appointment system is live, new CBP staffing and biometric technology investments are in the pipeline, and TSA's Touchless ID program has expanded to over 60 airports. But is there a widening global perception gap between what international visitors think they'll encounter in the US and what's actually waiting for them? Propis breaks down the facts on device searches, travel proclamations, proposed visa fee increases, and ESTA application changes — and makes the case for why getting the World Cup experience right isn't just good for this summer, but for US travel competitiveness for years to come.

Resource Links:

https://www.state.gov/fifa-world-cup-26

https://www.ustravel.org/

GUEST: Ryan Propis, Vice President of Security and Facilitation, US Travel Association

HOST: Lauren Clarke

PRODUCER: Adam Belmar

INTERVIEW RECORD: Monday 4/27/26