Congress is poised to pass an omnibus spending bill that would include a provision to reauthorize the EB5 regional center program. Assuming the bill is signed into law, it would also make a number of important changes to the EB5 program. Overview of Proposed Changes In addition...
The U.S. Department of State has posted the following updated instructions regarding consular services currently available for Ukrainians: The U.S. Mission to Ukraine is not currently offering visa services. Beginning immediately, Ukrainian immigrant visas (IVs) other than adoption cases will be processed at Consulate General Frankfurt,...
The U.S. Department of State (DOS) has issued a temporary final rule that provides consular officers discretion to waive the personal appearance and in-person oath requirement of certain repeat immigrant visa applicants who were issued an immigrant visa on or after August 4, 2019. This...
The U.S. Department of State (DOS) is temporarily making it much easier for many nonimmigrant visa applicants to qualify for a waiver of the in-person interview requirement. Commonly referred to as the "drop box" process, the rule expanding eligibility is scheduled to remain in effect...
For many years, Charles Oppenheim, the U.S. Department of State (DOS) Chief of the Visa Control and Reporting Division, has been providing monthly visa bulletin explanations and predictions. He is scheduled to retire in December 2021, but he did make the time to provide some...
With the ongoing pandemic, there have been severe backlogs in immigrant visa processing at U.S. consular posts. The overwhelming majority of consular posts still have limited capacity to process immigrant visas. Due to the delayed visa interviews during the pandemic, the National Visa Center (NVC)...
The U.S. Department of State (DOS) recently held its monthly YouTube program with Charlie Oppenheim, Chief of the Visa Control and Reporting Division. During the program, Mr. Oppenheim answered various questions submitted by stakeholders, mainly related to predictions for the September 2021 Visa Bulletin, which...
The U.S. Department of State (DOS) recently held its monthly YouTube program with Charlie Oppenheim, Chief of the Visa Control and Reporting Division. During the program, Mr. Oppenheim provided some updated predictions for the rest of fiscal year 2021 (FY21), which runs through September 30,...
With the ongoing pandemic, there have been severe backlogs in immigrant visa processing at U.S. embassies and consulates worldwide. The operation capacity at each post varies based on local conditions and safety precautions. The overwhelming majority of posts still have limited capacity to process immigrant...
With the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the availability of visa services at U.S. embassies and consulates abroad remains limited. The severity of backlogs in visa interviews varies based on epidemic control protocols of each country. U.S. embassies and consulates are taking the necessary precautions to protect...
