Extraordinary Ability
USCIS routinly releases approval and denial rates for various application types. Looking at the self-sponsored applications (Extraordinary Ability (EA) and National Interest Waiver (NIW) those rates changed drastically over the last year. For the entire 2024 Fiscal Year (October 1, 2023-September 30, 2024) the following are the rates for these
Employment Visas
The Department of State released the new Visa Bulletin for January 2024 just yesterday. This blog post will try to provide a summary of any movement in this bulletin of relevance. Before getting to the summary of the current bulletin, here is a little bit about what the Visa Bulletin
Adjustment of Status
There have been some movements on the immigrant visa front, and some setbacks. Below is an update on where things are and where they may be going. Employment Based Immigration Visas: EB-1: Current across the Board for now, however according to Charlie, India and China may backlog by summer. EB-2:
Adjustment of Status
Charlie Oppenheim recently released a new update on possible movement of various visa categories. While for the most part there are no surprises, it is good to review what he says on your particular category to ensure you are not surprised in future months. However, overall, it was a short
Adjustment of Status
Re cently USCIS issued a new rule stating that all employment based green card applications will be subject to interview starting on October 3, 2017. Just this week AILA members and the Ombudsperson for USCIS had a Stakeholder Call to discuss the new rule. Here are the details that came
Adjustment of Status
Today, USCIS released the October Visa Bulletin. The big changes are the EB1 coming current (as well as EB2 Worldwide) and a big jump forward in the F4 (siblings of a US Citizen) category for Worldwide, China and, to a lesser extent, India. Below is a summary of the developments
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
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
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
Adjustment of Status
The August 2016 visa bulletin was released by the Department of State yesterday. It features backlogs for ALL countries in the EB-2 category and other changed. However, readers should understand, that while certain countries (India and China) have regular backlogs in the EB-2 category, those for other countries in the