ALL BRIEFS · PAGE 1

Brief index

Every ATLAS brief, in desk order. Use the desk rail to filter by practice area, or the research console for a direct query.

IMMImmigration Strategy & StatusIMM desk →FINFinancial Regulation & Digital AssetsFIN desk →CORPCorporate Operations & RiskCORP desk →LITLitigation & Dispute ResolutionLIT desk →EMPEmployment & WorkforceEMP desk →FAMFamily TransitionsFAM desk →PROPProperty & DevelopmentPROP desk →PRIVPrivacy, Cyber & AIPRIV desk →IPIntellectual Property & MediaIP desk →ESTEstate, Tax & SuccessionEST desk →CRIMConsumer & Criminal ProcedureCRIM desk →

IMM-01 · 01

Reading the Visa Bulletin: Final Action Dates, Filing Dates, and Retrogression

8 MIN · IMM

The monthly bulletin turns on one comparison: your priority date against a published cut-off. This brief works both charts, the monthly USCIS chart determination, and the arithmetic behind a date that moves backwards.

A visa number is available when your priority date falls earlier than the cut-off published for your preference category and country of chargeability.
Final Action Dates govern approval and visa issuance; Dates for Filing govern only when paperwork may be submitted and documents assembled.
USCIS posts a determination each month stating which chart adjustment applicants may use; consular cases follow National Visa Center practice instead.

Read the full brief →

IMM-02 · 02

Form I-864 Affidavit of Support: Household Size, Income, Assets, and Joint Sponsors

9 MIN · IMM

The affidavit of support is an enforceable contract with the government and the immigrant, not a formality. Household arithmetic decides most cases, and the obligation outlives the marriage that created it.

The sponsor must show income at or above 125 percent of the federal poverty guidelines for a household size the form defines precisely.
Household size counts the sponsor, dependents, the intending immigrants, and anyone still covered by a prior affidavit the sponsor signed.
Assets may fill a shortfall, but the required multiple of the gap differs depending on the immigrant's relationship to the sponsor.

Read the full brief →

IMM-03 · 03

The Public-Charge Ground of Inadmissibility Under Current U.S. Rules

9 MIN · IMM

The list of benefits that actually count against an applicant is short. The list that does not count is long, widely misunderstood, and the reason families forgo help they are lawfully entitled to receive.

The test asks whether a person is likely to become primarily dependent on government for subsistence, judged on the totality of the circumstances.
Only cash assistance for income maintenance and long-term institutionalization at government expense are treated as counted benefits under the framework in force.
Nutrition, most health coverage, housing, school, disaster, and tax-credit programs are not counted, and neither are benefits received by other family members.

Read the full brief →

IMM-04 · 04

Responding to a USCIS Request for Evidence or Notice of Intent to Deny

9 MIN · IMM

A request for evidence is an itemized list of what the officer could not find in your file. Treat it as a list, answer every entry, and file once — the response window is short and generally not extendable.

An RFE says the record is incomplete; a notice of intent to deny says the officer has already reached an adverse conclusion and invites rebuttal.
The deadline printed on the notice controls, regulations cap the response period, and additional time is generally not available on request.
A partial response tells the agency to decide on the record as it stands, which usually means a denial on the unanswered items.

Read the full brief →

IMM-05 · 05

Unlawful Presence Bars: Three-Year, Ten-Year, and Permanent-Bar Risks

9 MIN · IMM

Time alone does not create a bar. A departure does. This brief maps how unlawful presence accrues, which act triggers which bar, and where the exceptions and tolling rules apply.

Unlawful presence and unlawful status are different concepts; a person can be out of status without accruing unlawful presence at all.
More than 180 days but under a year, followed by a qualifying departure, triggers a three-year bar; a year or more triggers ten.
The permanent bar comes from reentering or attempting to reenter without admission after a year of aggregate unlawful presence or a removal order.

Read the full brief →

IMM-06 · 06

The I-601A Provisional Waiver: Eligibility, Hardship Proof, and the Consular Step

8 MIN · IMM

The provisional waiver removes one obstacle — accrued unlawful presence — before a person leaves the United States for an immigrant visa interview. It does nothing about any other bar.

Form I-601A waives only the unlawful-presence ground of inadmissibility. Every other bar survives approval and can still stop the visa abroad.
The hardship must be suffered by a U.S. citizen or lawful permanent resident spouse or parent — not by a child, and not by the applicant.
Approval is provisional: it takes effect only on departure, after a consular officer finds the applicant otherwise admissible.

Read the full brief →

IMM-07 · 07

VAWA Self-Petitions, U Visas, and T Visas: Choosing Among Three Humanitarian Routes

8 MIN · IMM

Three humanitarian routes answer three different questions: who harmed you, what the harm was, and what a law-enforcement agency is willing to confirm. The answers rarely point to the same form.

VAWA self-petitions run on Form I-360 and need no agency signature; the relationship to an abusive citizen or resident does the qualifying work.
U visas require a signed Form I-918 Supplement B certification from a qualifying agency and are capped at 10,000 principal grants per year.
T visas require compliance with reasonable law-enforcement requests, with exceptions for minors and for trauma-based inability to comply.

Read the full brief →

IMM-08 · 08

Cancellation of Removal for Nonpermanent Residents: Proving the Four Elements

8 MIN · IMM

This relief is decided by an immigration judge, not a service center, and it is lost far more often on the presence clock and the hardship standard than on sympathy.

Non-LPR cancellation requires ten years of continuous physical presence, good moral character, no disqualifying conviction, and hardship to a qualifying relative.
The hardship standard is exceptional and extremely unusual hardship to a U.S. citizen or permanent resident spouse, parent, or child — never to the applicant.
The stop-time rule ends the presence clock on service of a notice to appear or on commission of certain offenses.

Read the full brief →

IMM-09 · 09

Immigration Detention and Bond Hearings: Who Is Eligible and What the Judge Weighs

8 MIN · IMM

A bond hearing answers two questions and nothing else: is this person a danger, and will this person come back to court. Everything in the packet should serve one of the two.

Discretionary custody under 8 U.S.C. § 1226(a) allows an immigration judge to release a person on bond or conditional parole.
Mandatory detention under § 1226(c) removes that authority for people detained on specified criminal grounds, and Congress expanded those categories in 2025.
The judge weighs danger to the community first and flight risk second; failing the danger question ends the hearing.

Read the full brief →

IMM-10 · 10

L-1A or L-1B? Corporate Relationships, Qualifying Roles, and the Two Files an Employer Must Build

9 MIN · IMM

An L-1 petition is two cases in one envelope: proof that the two companies are legally related, and proof that the role fits the classification claimed. They fail for different reasons.

L-1A covers managers and executives with a seven-year maximum; L-1B covers specialized knowledge with a five-year maximum.
Both require a qualifying corporate relationship — parent, branch, subsidiary, or affiliate — resting on common ownership and control.
The transferee must have worked abroad for the related entity for one continuous year within the preceding three years.

Read the full brief →

IMM-11 · 11

O-1A and O-1B Petitions: Building Evidence of Extraordinary Ability

8 MIN · IMM

An O-1 record is judged twice — once against a fixed list of regulatory criteria, then again as a whole. This brief maps exhibits to criteria and explains what the second review actually asks.

No one self-petitions for O-1. A U.S. employer, a U.S. agent, or a foreign employer acting through a U.S. agent must file the petition.
The evidence test is satisfied by one major internationally recognized award, or by evidence meeting at least three of the listed regulatory criteria.
Meeting three criteria does not end the analysis. USCIS then makes a final merits determination on whether the whole record shows the required level.

Read the full brief →

IMM-12 · 12

PERM Recruitment Compliance: Timing, Advertising, Applicant Review, and Audit Files

8 MIN · IMM

PERM is a calendar problem before it is a legal one. This brief lays out the recruitment clock, the advertising set, the rejection log, and the audit file an employer must be able to produce years later.

Recruitment cannot start until the Department of Labor issues a prevailing wage determination, and the offered wage must meet or exceed it.
Every employer must run a 30-day state job order and two Sunday newspaper advertisements; professional positions require three additional recruitment steps.
Nothing may be filed until 30 days after recruitment ends, with one narrow exception for a single additional professional step.

Read the full brief →

FIN-01 · 13

Regulation E Error Resolution for Digital Wallets and Payment Applications

7 MIN · FIN

Regulation E turns a consumer complaint into a regulated clock. This brief sets out when the clock starts, which investigation window applies, when provisional credit becomes mandatory, and what must be sent in writing.

A consumer has 60 days from the periodic statement showing the problem to assert an error; late notice generally ends the institution's resolution duty.
The default investigation window is 10 business days, extendable to 45 calendar days only if provisional credit is given and the consumer notified.
New accounts, point-of-sale debit transactions, and foreign-initiated transfers use longer windows — 20 business days and 90 calendar days.

Read the full brief →

FIN-02 · 14

GLBA Privacy Notices and the Safeguards Rule for Financial Technology Companies

8 MIN · FIN

GLBA runs on two tracks that are often confused: what you must tell customers about data sharing, and what you must build to protect the data. This brief separates them and lists what each demands.

Coverage turns on activity, not on holding a bank charter. A company significantly engaged in financial activities can be a financial institution under GLBA.
The privacy track requires an initial notice, an opt-out where nonaffiliated sharing triggers one, and an annual notice unless a statutory exception applies.
The Safeguards Rule requires a written program with a named qualified individual, risk assessment, access controls, encryption, MFA, monitoring, training, and vendor oversight.

Read the full brief →