The January 2015 Visa Bulletin was released by the U.S. Department of State (DOS) earlier this evening. As expected, this month's visa bulletin offers little relief for most foreign nationals hoping to become permanent residents of the United States. There is no significant movement in the...
The National Visa Center (NVC) has changed the requirements regarding supporting documentation submitted in immigrant visa applications. As of November 12, 2014, the NVC has begun accepting photocopies of civil documents, rather than requiring originals. Background on the NVC In cases where a foreign national wishes to...
As of October 27, 2014, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) has changed the procedures for processing challenges to PERM labor certification (LC) denials. These changes alter the manner in which the DOL routes a case once the employer submits a request for reconsideration to...
As has been widely reported, President Barack Obama made a nationally televised speech, on November 20, 2014, announcing his plans for a series of executive actions on immigration policy. The centerpiece of his immigration proposal is the Deferred Action for Parental Accountability (DAPA) program, which...
President Barack Obama has directed the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) to review, update, and reform the PERM labor certification (PERM LC) program. This directive is part of the President's efforts to make improvements to the U.S. immigration system via executive action. Background on PERM Labor...
Each month, the U.S. Department of State (DOS), provides visa bulletin insights and predictions, when possible, of future visa bulletin content. This information is provided to the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) by Charles Oppenheim, Chief of the Visa Control and Reporting Division. For December...
President Barack Obama addressed the nation on November 20, 2014, in a televised speech to outline his proposed changes to immigration policies through executive action. These changes are part of a multi-pronged effort by the White House to make needed improvements by executive action to...
The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has issued updated quarterly charts, which contain detailed data on pending employment-based adjustment of status applications (I-485s), as of October 3, 2014. The charts set out the pending I-485 caseload by EB category, country, month, and year of priority...
The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) issued a policy memo on October 17, 2014, regarding restrictions on the use of DNA test results in cases involving claimed sibling relationships. Per the memo, the USCIS will not accept sibling-to-sibling DNA test results as evidence establishing that...
Department of State eMail Restored The external eMail system for the U.S. Department of State (DOS) is operational, as of November 18th. The DOS suggests that those who have not received responses to eMail sent to DOS after the evening of November 14th, may wish to...
