The U.S. Department of State (DOS) has updated the Foreign Affairs Manual (FAM) with regard to how consular officers should analyze whether a foreign national will be considered a public charge. This update to the FAM also addresses the use of affidavits of support, which...
The M-1 visa classification is designed for the benefit of foreign national students who are coming to the United States for a temporary period to pursue nonacademic or vocational studies. Vocational studies are often referred to as job training programs, and include programs such as...
In what has become almost routine, the federal government is teetering on yet another potential government shutdown. The deadline for passing a spending bill to extend government operations is midnight on Thursday, February 8, 2018. Failure to pass such a bill would result in the...
This afternoon, Democrats and Republicans in the U.S. Senate came to an agreement on a stopgap bill to fund the federal government through February 8, 2018. The U.S. House of Representatives is expected to approve the bill and send it to President Trump to sign...
A partial shutdown of the federal government is now in effect because Congress was unable to pass a new budget or continuing resolution. This also means that several immigration programs, including the regional center portion of the employment-based, fifth preference immigrant investor program is temporarily...
With less than a week left to pass a spending bill to extend government operations, there is a possibility that the U.S. government will be forced to shut down temporarily as of midnight on January 19, 2018. Such shutdowns are rare, and there is a...
Answer USCIS generally has nothing to do with a visa application at the consulate. One can eMail the consulate directly, but this works inconsistently. Two to three months is the norm for 221g requests at this point. (08.Jan.2018)In frequent sessions of our Chat, Sheela Murthy and...
Answer Very likely, the H1B filed in April could be approved only for consular processing, not for a change of status. This means that, assuming the H1B case is selected in the lottery and approved, one in this situation would probably need to depart the U.S....
Once again, Congress has passed a short-term bill to fund the federal government for a few weeks. The federal budget is now extended through January 19, 2018. This bill also extends the employment-based, fifth preference (EB5) regional center program for the same time period.No action...
Last night, the U.S. Senate passed a stopgap bill to fund the federal government through Friday, December 22, 2017. This bill also serves to extend the employment-based, fifth preference (EB5) regional center program for the same time period. This stopgap bill was passed by the...
