This evening, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced that, effective November 19, 2018, implementation of the policy memorandum on the issuance of notices to appear (NTAs) is being expanded to include various additional categories of foreign nationals. More specifically, the NTA memo may...
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has released updated instructions for civil surgeons regarding medical screening for tuberculosis (TB) for applicants for permanent residency, otherwise known as green card applicants. The new instructions replace the tuberculin skin test (TST) as the initial tuberculosis...
The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) recently announced a new measure to help prevent fraud in the O-1 or O-2 petition process. If a labor union issues a negative O visa consultation (i.e. A consultation that objects to the issuance of an O-1 or...
The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced today that, effective November 1, 2018, the medical examination and vaccination record (form I-693) required for most I-485 applicants will be valid for two years from the date it is signed by a civil surgeon. In addition,...
This morning, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) reversed course, updating the adjustment-of-status filing charts webpage yet again to indicate that the more favorable dates for filing (DF) chart dates may be used for both family- and employment-based cases in the October 2018 Visa Bulletin. No...
Earlier today, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) updated the adjustment-of-status filing charts webpage to indicate that only the less favorable final action (FA) chart dates may be used for employment-based cases in the October 2018 Visa Bulletin. The USCIS had previously indicated that...
This evening, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced that the policy memorandum on the issuance of notices to appear (NTAs) will be phased in incrementally, beginning on October 1, 2018. Effective October 1st, the USCIS "… may issue NTAs on denied status-impacting applications,...
The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) is scheduled to hold a teleconference on Thursday, September 27, 2018, from 2 to 3 p.m. (Eastern Time, U.S.) to discuss the June 28, 2018, policy memorandum on the issuance of notices to appears (NTAs). More details on...
The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has released a table of the national average processing times by fiscal year for various types of forms, through the first half of FY18. The U.S. government fiscal year runs from October 1st through September 30th. The data shows that...
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is increasing the fee charged by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) for premium processing. Effective October 1, 2018, the fee for premium processing will increase from $1,225 to $1,410. Background on Fee Increase For an added fee, premium...
