For some time, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS) has been taking steps to reduce the processing times for "stand alone" I-130 petitions filed on behalf of immediate relatives - that is, family-based cases filed for the parent, spouse, or (unmarried, minor) child of...
Foreign nationals may be deemed ineligible for admission (i.e. "inadmissible") to the United States for a variety of reasons. Common grounds of inadmissibility include: medical grounds, criminal grounds, and immigration violations (including fraud or material misrepresentation in connection with an immigration benefit). In most situations,...
The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) generally prohibits a company from filing multiple cap-subject H1B petitions for a single beneficiary in the same cap year. Related companies also face such restrictions, with some exceptions, but this aspect of the rule appears to have gone...
The U.S. Department of State (DOS) announced major changes to immigrant and nonimmigrant visa fees charged to applicants for visa "stamps" at U.S. embassies and consulates. The new fee structure took effect on September 12, 2014, and the DOS has provided instructions for those with pending...
The U.S. Department of State (DOS), through Charles Oppenhiem, Chief of the Visa Control and Reporting Division, provides key insights into the contents of the visa bulletin in monthly conversations with the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA). Chief Oppenhiem has provided information that is of...
The U. S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) confirmed in an August 27, 2014 teleconference with the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) that there are ongoing delays in processing employment authorization document (EAD) applications. Such delays have potentially serious implications for both individuals and employers....
The manual outlining policies and procedures used by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) in serving the public was updated in August 2014. The USCIS Policy Manual is intended to increase uniformity and transparency within the agency, as explained in the MurthyDotCom NewsBrief, USCIS Releases...
The Murthy Law Firm has received confirmation from Charles Oppenheim, Chief of the Visa Control and Reporting Division for the U.S. Department of State (DOS), that the employment-based, second preference (EB2) category for India became "unavailable" on Wednesday, September 10, 2014, and will remain so...
The U.S. Department of State (DOS) has issued the October 2014 Visa Bulletin. This is the first visa bulletin of fiscal year 2015 (FY15). The contents of the October Visa Bulletin largely align with prior predictions. The employment-based, second preference (EB2) cutoff date for Indian...
The U.S. Department of State (DOS) released the October 2014 Visa Bulletin this morning. In the employment-based, second preference (EB2) category for India stays put at May 1, 2009, while EB2 China moves ahead by five weeks, to November 15, 2009. The employment-based, third preference (EB3)...
