The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) is not issuing Prevailing Wage Determinations (PWDs) as of this writing. The PWD is a required step in the PERM labor certification (LC) process, and the DOL stopped issuing them in July 2011. Thus, the entire system for initiating...
The U.S. Department of State (DOS) recently conducted a second random lottery to select "winners" of the 2012 Diversity Visa (DV) lottery. The DV 2012 new "winners" have been finalized and posted. All DV 2012 applicants must check the official lottery website in order to...
In an unexpected and encouraging move, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced an initiative on August 2, 2011, to encourage immigrant entrepreneurs and start-up companies to the United States. This USCIS initiative will be especially helpful to people from countries like India and...
The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has issued an interim policy memorandum that changes the timeframe for responding to various requests for evidence (RFEs). The interim memorandum became effective immediately for RFEs issued after July 7, 2011, the date of the memo. The purpose...
The American Competitiveness in the Twenty-First Century Act, known as AC21, became law more than a decade ago. As of this writing, the USCIS has issued neither proposed nor final regulations interpreting the provisions of AC21. Rather, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has...
Recently, BALCA rendered an opinion on two separate cases regarding the use of expired Prevailing Wage Determinations (PWDs) in PERM labor certification cases. The appeals body within the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) is the Board of Alien Labor Certification Appeals (BALCA). The useful information...
On July 15, 2011, the U.S. Department of State (DOS) issued a travel warning to U.S. citizens living in or traveling to Mexico. We advise MurthyDotCom and MurthyBulletin readers of this warning, as it voices concerns of possible violence aimed at the U.S. Consulate in...
The 2011 Annual Conference of the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) was held in mid-June in San Diego, California. As in years past, several Murthy Law Firm attorneys attended the conference. This is one way we keep up to date with the latest developments in...
At the Murthy Law Firm, we receive many questions about immigration petitioning for relatives. While there are many nuances to this topic, we have simplified the initial, fundamental question: who may file for permanent immigration benefits to provide the "green card" for their relatives. These...
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...
