The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has announced that "… petitions filed on or after October 1, 2015, should not include the additional fee that was previously required by … Public Law 111-230 … for certain H1B and L-1 petitions." This filing fee, which only...
A Federal Court has denied a motion for relief in connection with the October 2015 Visa Bulletin. The motion requested a temporary restraining order (TRO) requiring the USCIS to accept form I-485 filings based upon the initially published October visa bulletin.The motion is part of...
According to reports in both the United States and Indian press, progress has been made toward including India in the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Global Entry program. This program facilitates travel by individuals who have undergone additional security checks. Prescreened, low-risk travelers participating...
All U.S. embassies and consulates across the globe will be closed to the public on Friday, October 9, 2015. The U.S. Department of State (DOS) determined that this one-day closure is necessary in order to perform a system upgrade. Some overseas application service centers (ASCs),...
Excitement over the October 2015 Visa Bulletin turned to disappointment, frustration, and anger on September 25, 2015, when the U.S. Department of State (DOS) issued a revised version of the visa bulletin, superseding the original version. The cutoff dates for filings in the revised October...
Congress approved a spending bill late this afternoon that will fund the federal government's operations through December 11, 2015. This serves to avoid a government shutdown, at least for the next two months.The bill passed today was also used to extend the regional center (RC)...
The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) charges a fee to individuals who obtain immigrant visas at U.S. consulates abroad. This fee covers processing costs, including the cost to produce the individual's permanent residence card ("green card"). In response to requests from stakeholders, the USCIS has...
As previously indicated, the Murthy Law Firm is generally recommending against filing adjustment-of-status applications (form I-485s) based on the cutoff dates listed in the original version of the October 2015 Visa Bulletin, which was released on September 9, 2015. This recommendation is based on a...
The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) periodically releases updated information reflecting the number, type, and location of F-1 and M-1 students and J-1 exchange visitors. One key highlights in the August 2015 report is a small, but notable decrease in the number of F-1 and...
1. The visa numbers in the October 2015 Visa Bulletin allowing for I-485 filings suddenly changed on September 25, 2015. What happened?At this time, no one outside of the government knows for certain what happened. It appears that the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS)...
