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)...
In an unusual and highly disappointing move, the U.S. Department of State (DOS) issued a revised October 2015 Visa Bulletin. The most significant change is that the dates for filing (DF) in the employment-based, second preference (EB2) category for India have been moved backward to...
The USCIS announced that, as of September 24, 2015, they must briefly suspend final action on pending employment-based (EB) form I-485 applications. The reason for this development is that the EB visa numbers for Fiscal Year 2015 (FY15) have been depleted. This is a very...
Because of a political fight at the federal level related to the annual budget, there is a possibility that the U.S. government will be forced to temporarily shut down, starting October 1, 2015. Such shutdowns are rare and there still is a chance that it...
Every month, the U.S. Department of State (DOS) provides an explanation of visa bulletin developments and discusses trends in the movement of priority dates and other issues of interest. This information comes directly from Charles Oppenheim, Chief of the Visa Control and Reporting Division. This...
