A foreign national who requires a nonimmigrant visa to travel to the United States normally must fill out form DS-160, an online nonimmigrant visa application. Consular officers use the information entered in the DS-160 to process the visa application and determine an applicant's eligibility for...
The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has issued a temporary final rule that temporarily increases the automatic extension period of certain employment authorization documents (EADs) while the form I-765 renewal application is pending. Under this temporary rule, rather than extending the validity period of...
The Student and Exchange Visitor Program (SEVP) has extended the guidance issued in March 2020 for the 2022-23 academic year. This guidance allows certain continuing F and M students to enroll in more distance learning (e.g., online classes) than normally allowed. This accommodation was made...
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is now accepting applications for temporary protected status (TPS) from nationals of Ukraine and Sudan. In March 2022, the DHS designated Ukraine for temporary protected status (TPS), due to the Russian invasion, which has resulted in a humanitarian...
The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has implemented a risk-based approach to waive interviews for conditional permanent residents (CPR) who have filed a petition to remove conditions on residence (form I-751). This replaces the previous policy, which had mandated interviews for virtually all CPRs...
While a visa applicant can be issued a 221(g) refusal for several reasons, it often signals that the consular officer requires more information before making a final determination about a visa application. At certain U.S. consulates, including those located in India, an applicant who was...
Regular readers of MurthyDotCom have likely come across the terms: lawful status, period of authorized stay, and unlawful presence. These related, yet distinct concepts can play a very important role in one's immigration matters. However, the differences can be subtle and complex. In many situations,...
The U.S. Department of State (DOS) has released the May 2022 Visa Bulletin. All cutoff dates listed refer to the dates in the final action chart (i.e., Chart A), unless otherwise specified. Visa Bulletin Summary Employment-Based, First Preference (EB1) Category The EB1 category remains current for all countries...
Once again, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has extended the response time flexibility, initially announced on March 30, 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This flexibility applies to applicants and petitioners responding to any of the following, issued from March 1, 2020, through...
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has designated Afghanistan for temporary protected status (TPS). This was done based on the ongoing armed conflict and other problems in the region, including economic crisis, drought, food and water insecurity, and lack of access to healthcare.Effective March...
