The U.S. Department of State (DOS) Visa Bulletin for July 2014 contains long-awaited good news for the employment-based, second preference (EB2) category for India. The EB2, India, cutoff date advances to September 1, 2008, effective during the month of July 2014.This forward movement was anticipated,...
On June 9, 2014, the U.S. Supreme Court dealt a blow against hopes for a favorable interpretation of family unity-related provisions within U.S. immigration law. The Court held that the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) had authority to narrowly interpret key protections offered by the...
The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has confirmed that medical examinations required as part of the permanent residence ("green card") process will have a validity limit of one year. This became effective on June 1, 2014. Those with long-pending adjustment of status (AOS) applications...
The results of the U.S. Department of State (DOS) diversity visa (DV) lottery for fiscal year 2015 (FY15) are now available. The DV lottery is a DOS program that runs on an annual basis. Eligibility for participation is limited to people from designated countries with...
On May 12, 2014, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) published a proposed regulatory change in the Federal Register, which would make certain H-4 dependent spouses eligible to apply for employment authorization. This proposal is now subject to a sixty-day public comment period, after which...
The U.S. Department of State (DOS) has released the June 2014 Visa Bulletin. As predicted, the family-based, second preference "A" (FB2A) category retrogresses for all countries of chargeability, as has the employment-based, third preference (EB3) category for all countries, save India. EB3 China was hit especially...
The U.S. Department of State (DOS) has issued the June 2014 Visa Bulletin. As expected, the family-based, second preference "A" (FB2A) category for spouses and (unmarried, minor) children of lawful permanent residents retrogresses by more than a year for all countries of chargeability. Also, the...
Charles Oppenheim, Chief of the Immigrant Visa Control Unit at the U.S. Department of State (DOS), recently provided expectations for cutoff date movement for the remainder of fiscal year 2014 (FY14). There is no one better positioned than Mr. Oppenheim, as the chief of the...
The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has begun issuing requests for evidence (RFEs) for updated medical examinations in connection with long-pending adjustment of status cases (I-485 forms). The reason for this development is that many medical examinations are set to expire on May 31,...
The U.S. Department of State (DOS) has issued the May 2014 Visa Bulletin. There is little to cheer for in this month's bulletin, with no unexpected forward movement in any of the categories. Further, the DOS again warns that retrogression may be necessary for the...
