Many MurthyDotCom and MurthyBulletin readers are among those who have to wait for years to obtain their permanent residence (or "green cards") due to their priority dates and/or immigrant visa numbers not being current. There are other individuals who also find themselves waiting, often for...
The Citizenship and Immigration Services (CIS) Ombudsman, January Contreras, addressed matters of concern in May 2011 at an American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) meeting attended by a number of attorneys from the Murthy Law Firm. The CIS Ombudsman's role is to assist with U.S. Citizenship...
[Part 1 of this news article, H1B Portability: A Change in USCIS Policy? Part 1 of 2 (13.May.2011), is available on MurthyDotCom.]In Part 1 of this article, a narrowing of the USCIS's interpretation of the American Competitiveness in the 21st Century Act (AC21) was discussed...
The U.S. Department of State (DOS) has had to void the results of the 2012 Diversity Visa Lottery. These results were posted on the DOS website in early May 2011. However, due to a computer programming error, the selection of winners was not made in...
The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) addressed questions related to proposed changes within the PERM labor certification process. The purpose of the changes is to enhance system integrity. The DOL also intends to propose legislation to allow for an employer-paid filing fee in connection with...
In the past ten years, the cultural acceptance of same-sex relationships in the United States has increased greatly. What was once a fringe idea has now become a more frequent topic of debate. At the time of this writing, five states and the District of...
Apparently, many people still use the term INS (for Immigration and Naturalization Service) when referring to the governmental entity responsible for immigration enforcement and benefits. As many of our readers are aware, the INS ceased to exist on March 1, 2003. The term is simply...
The U.S. government will not experience a shutdown at this time, thanks to a last-minute, temporary spending measure. This will provide funding to cover government operations for a few days, after which it is expected that an agreement will be reached for the rest of...
The EB1, Extraordinary Ability (EA) and Outstanding Professor / Researcher (OPR) category has high standards for successfully obtaining approval. These two EB1 categories have become even more difficult, in large part due to a change in the way supporting evidence is analyzed by the USCIS....
[This was first announced to visitors to MurthyDotCom on 29.Mar.2011. See EB2 India Expected to Advance in May 2011. Be certain to check our website regularly for important updates.]The U.S. Department of State (DOS), Visa Control and Reporting Division, announced on March 29, 2011 that...
