Adjustment of Status
It is official now: As of December 23, 2016 USCIS applications fees will be rising an average of about 21%. For those interested, all the new fees are listed on the USCIS web page here. In terms of the most common applications, I am listing the old fee and new
Adjustment of Status
DOS released the November Visa bulletin and there has been some forward movement. Importantly, USCIS is still allowing the Dates for Filing to be used for almost all applications (except EB-5 applications) to determine when you are able to file the adjustment application. Below we will go through each category
DOL
The DOL recently reported that Prevailing Wage requests for both H-1B and PERM cases are taking about 5 months to process. For those planning to file an employer sponsored PERM case, this means really advance planning is needed. Prior to advertising it is important to have the prevailing wage determination,
DOL
The current labor certification process known as PERM has been around for several years now. While it was originally touted as being a streamlined, easier way to do the labor certification process that would get rid of backlogs, etc. it has not turned out that way at all. Instead, it
Adjustment of Status
USCIS, for the first time in almost a year, has agreed that the Date for Filing, as opposed to the Final Action Date, can be used for the October Visa Bulletin. What does this mean? For Employment Based Cases: EB-1: Will be Current for All. EB-2: While the Worldwide numbers
Backlog
The Department of State released the visa bulletin for October 2016 recently. Below is a summary of movement and changes. Family Based Immigrant Visa Numbers F1 - Unmarried Sons and Daughters of US Citizens: This category moved forward about 1 week to September 22, 2090 for every country except Mexico
H-1B1
USCIS published a proposed regulation that would allow them to ask for social media ids (Facebook, Twitter, etc.) for certain nonimmigrants seeking entry into the US. It would affect those filing the online application for a visa waiver entry. The "optional" question would be placed in the application
Immigration
The Department of State, on August 19, 2016, updated its medical exam requirements per a decision by the Center for Disease Control (CDC). The CDC, looking at Gonorrhea testing requirements, found that only testing those who are exhibiting systems of the disease was insufficient to protect the American public. As
Immigration
Recently the American Immigration Lawyer's Association asked USCIS about the lengthy adjudication times. Particularly they also asked about the fact that USCIS will list the processing times "as of" a particular date, which is usually 30 or more days previous to the update, making the processing
Immigration
In September of 2015 I wrote a post about appealing self-sponsored and EB-1B cases and the statistics of those type of appeals. As I reported then, the chances of winning on appeal are extremely small - less than 6% in most cases. So, in general, for the majority of case
Immigration
The Department of State released the September Visa Bulletin today. While there are no real surprises, below is a listing of the updated information on the new bulletin. Family Based Immigrant Visa Numbers: Unmarried Sons and Daughters of US Citizens (F1): This are moved the most in the family category
Adjustment of Status
Charlie Oppenheim, the officer at the Department of State in charge of visa numbers and the Visa Bulletin, recently released an update to his predictions for the upcoming months. Below is a summary of some of that update. Family Based Visa Numbers According to Charlie, in September most of the