In recent days, news of a potential change in policy related to the American Competitiveness in the Twenty First Century Act (AC21) has begun to spread throughout the legal and immigrant communities. Sources claim that the Trump Administration is considering regulatory changes to the policy...
As previously announced, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) is scheduling an in-person interview for any I-485 applicant who filed the I-485 adjustment-of-status application on or after March 6, 2017 based on an I-140. Many of these pending adjustment applications are being transferred to...
On December 6, 2017, Kirstjen Nielsen was sworn in as the new U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary. Ms. Nielsen's hiring comes months after former DHS Secretary John Kelly left his post to take the position as President Trump's Chief of Staff. Ms. Nielsen...
The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) now allows most applicants for naturalization to file their N-400 forms online. Any applicant who is filing based on military service, filing from outside the United States, or requesting a waived or reduced filing fee is not eligible...
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...
A federal court in the District of Columbia has ruled unlawful the June 2017 decision by the Trump Administration to delay the implementation of the new entrepreneur parole rule. The federal court ruled that the DHS could not sufficiently justify its decision to skip the...
As previously reported, the big news for employment-based immigrants is the adopted decision of Matter of V-S-G- Inc., recognizing that an employee waiting for the approval of the adjustment-of-status application (form I-485) has a recognized legal interest in the underlying I-140 petition. When Matter of...
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...
There have been extensive delays in the issuance of employment authorization documents (EADs) and advance paroles (APs). At the Murthy Law Firm, we have noticed that I-765s for EADs are taking around five-to-seven months to process, while the I-131s for AP applications are taking up...
Because a spending bill has yet to be passed, there is a possibility that the U.S. government will be forced to temporarily shut down, starting December 9, 2017. Such shutdowns are rare and there still is a chance that it will be avoided. But, in...
