This morning, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down a major provision of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) that, until now, had denied federal benefits to legally married same-sex couples. Although the ruling does not specifically address how this change in the law will impact...
This week, the U.S. Supreme Court is expected to release its decision on the constitutionality of the federal government's Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA). This highly anticipated decision may be released on Wednesday, June 26th, based upon the Court's schedule changes and related news reports....
The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) is working to update and improve the operations of the National Customer Service Center (NCSC). More specifically, the USCIS is taking steps to expand and modernize the existing phone and online USCIS informational systems. Voice Prompts Simplified and Website...
Due to the expected forward movement of cutoff dates for employment-based, second preference (EB2) India, many EB2 applicants hope to become eligible for adjustment-of-status (I-485) filings or approvals during August and/or September 2013. The excitement is noticeable surrounding the prospect of finally receiving approvals on...
The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has recently issued a large volume of identical requests for evidence (RFEs) on pending applications to adjust status (form I-485) cases. The RFEs appear to be an effort to check key issues in long-pending employment-based I-485s. RFEs on EB3s...
The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) is continuing efforts to improve the EB5 immigrant investor visa program, as evidenced by the release of a new policy memorandum that is intended to clarify gray areas in the law and eliminate some of problems historical for...
The USCIS has started to issue a high volume of requests for evidence (RFEs) on pending applications to adjust status (form I-485) cases. The RFEs received to date bear a notice date of June 13, 2013 and originate from the Texas Service Center. These RFEs...
The U.S. Department of State (DOS) July 2013 Visa Bulletin includes some potentially wonderful news for individuals in the family-based, second preference "A" (FB2A) category. This category is for spouses and children of U.S. permanent residents. The FB2A category is usually quite backlogged, requiring years...
The U.S. Department of State (DOS) July 2013 Visa Bulletin carries predictions for future cutoff date movement in the employment-based (EB) categories. Of significant note to many MurthyDotCom readers is that, although the employment-based, second preference (EB2) category for India remains stagnant for the time...
A May 28, 2013 decision, issued by the U.S. Department of Labor's Board of Alien Labor Certification Appeals (BALCA) significantly limits options for fixing incorrect information on a PERM labor certification application. In Matter of Sushi Shogun BALCA has limited the use of the far...
