Employment Visas
The Visa Bulletin is like a monthly newsletter for immigrant visas. It tells us whether family and employment-based categories are current or backlogged. The Department of State (DOS) and USCIS team up to publish it every month. It's has two charts: the Final Action Chart (shows priority dates
Extraordinary Ability
USCIS frequently is juggling around case types between various service centers to try and assure that all case types are adjudicated as quickly as possible. Fairly recently they started transferring EB-1A Extraordinary Ability cases to Nebraska from the Texas Service Center. Even more recent certain H-1Bs were sent from Vermont
Extraordinary Ability
Invariably when working with scientists it becomes apparent that USCIS's definition of your "most important" work and our client's definition of their "most important" work are very different. This leads to issues over what findings should be discussed in the memo and
Adjustment of Status
The Department of State just came out with the Visa Bulletin for February 2016. Unfortunately there was not much movement on either the family or employment front. Below we summarize what movement there was. Family Based Immigrant Visas: Final Action Dates: Most categories moved forward between 1-2 months. Dates For
Adjustment of Status
I have had many potential clients ask me this question, and I wish I could give a sim ple “yes” or “no” answer. There are two things I can say for sure. First, just the fact that you have an attorney, while it does not make it more likely, in
Extraordinary Ability
We will be hosting a free webinar for those interested in self-sponsored green card (Extraordinary Ability and National Interest Waiver applications). It will be on January 27th, 2016 at 12:00 pm. If you are interested you can sign up by sending your name and email address to webinar@leavyfrank.
Extraordinary Ability
Those who are filing for either O or P status should know that, surprise, the processing time listed on the USCIS website for O and P visas is incorrect. Currently, USCIS California Service Center is listing a processing time of 2 weeks. Unfortunately the actual time period is 8-10 weeks,
Adjustment of Status
The Department of State recently released the December 2015 visa bulletin and Mr. Charlie Oppenheim, the person at the Department of State in charge of the Visa Bulletin also recently gave AILA an update on his predictions for future movement of the Bulletin. I will summarize both of these documents
Adjustment of Status
USCIS has updated its directions in terms of when the new "Dates for Filing Visa Applications" chart can be used to determine when you can file your I-485, or if you need to wait for the "Final Action Date" to become current. To refresh people'
Adjustment of Status
Just about 1 month ago I wrote a blog post on using premium processing for EB-1 (both Outstanding Researcher and Extraordinary Ability) and EB-2 National Interest Waiver applications. Well, USCIS just put in place a new policy that may cause, at least some people, to change their minds and not
Adjustment of Status
Because of the new format of the Visa Bulletin, it will be easier for me to break these updates into two sections: Section 1 will discuss the Final Action Date; and, Section 2 will discuss movements in the Dates for Filing section. Final Action Date Movements: Family Based: Most categories
Extraordinary Ability
Premium Processing is a service offered by USCIS for which anyone filing an I-140 (or with an I-140) can pay USCIS an extra $1225 and they will guarantee processing your case within 2 weeks or they will refund your money (and, according to USCIS, continue processing the case in an