USCIS recently released an excellent FAQ about the visa wait times, and the reasons why it takes so long to immigrate under the preference system. I still think that with time, things will get even worse. In order to keep families from being apart for years, Immigration reform must address…
The HIV ban removal will be remembered as a historic decision, through this final rule, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), amended its regulations to remove “Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) infection” from the definition of communicable disease of…
A Blog reader called me the other day and wanted to know when his priority date will become current. His I-485 adjustment was filed in August 2007 when visas opened up for 30 days, and since that time retrogressed. The applicant is from India and like many others in his…
The U.S. State Department has officially released information about this year’s DV-2011 green card lottery, which begins on October 2, 2009. Don’t wait too long and sign on the registration process by reading through this year’s instructions. For those of you who were curious, the DV-2011 list of ineligible countries…
The State Department has advised AILA liaison that due to the large number of approvals issued in the past few weeks, employment-based visa numbers are no longer available for this fiscal year that concludes on September 30, 2009. This affects all categories of employment based immigrant visas. Numbers will become…
Employers and potential employees (and some immigration lawyers) are very confused when it comes to H1B visa numbers this year. The major reduction in the number of filings for H1B petitions has risen questions from employers regarding whether there is a set closing date for filing H1B cap petitions for…
According to a recent Newsweek article, Immigrants irrespective of their legal status are actually good for the job market, and boost the economy. Lou Dobbs, take note: immigrants are good for our economy. The most skilled create jobs in technology and engineering, says Duke professor Vivek Wadhwa, who estimates that…
USCIS has reminded all applicants for Adjustment of Status, Asylum, Legalization and Temporary Protected Status to obtain an Advance Parole (AP) document before traveling abroad. AP allows an applicant to re-enter the U.S. after traveling abroad. In order to obtain Advance Parole, individuals must file Form I-131, Application for Travel…
The USCIS California Service Center is in the process of identifying all pending Adjustment of Status (AOS) applications in the EB-5 category based on the pilot program, and all non-Minister Religious Worker I-485s. All applicants with pending AOS application and for a non-minister Religious Worker in the EB-5 category can…
U.S. Department of State’s visa bulletin brought some relief for some EB-2 applicants. The cutoff date for India and China moved forward to October 1, 2003 which had recently retrogressed to January 1, 2000. No explanation was provided for the change to October 1, 2003. Summary of August 2009’ visa…