The pending I-485 inventory charts posted by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) were recently updated. These charts detail the number of pending employment-based (EB) adjustment-of-status (I-485) cases by EB preference category, country of chargeability, and month and year of the priority date. This...
The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has instituted new procedures designed to facilitate prompt resolution of certain specific, clear USCIS case processing errors. The procedures and case types that may be addressed through this expedited case review are explained here for the benefit of...
The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) blog, known as the Beacon, recently posted information on what the USCIS characterizes as three myths regarding the adjustment-of-status (AOS or I-485) process. These three myths, and the USCIS clarifications, are discussed here for the benefit of MurthyDotCom...
The U.S. Department of State (DOS) Visa Bulletin for June 2012 contains the expected "U" - indicating unavailable - in the EB2 category for India and China. The depletion of the EB2 visa numbers for India and China was confirmed in April 2012. The June...
With the ongoing backlog in the employment-based, third preference (EB3) category, many people look forward to using the strategy commonly referred to as an EB3-to-EB2 "upgrade." The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) recently confirmed a long-term favorable policy, which facilitates this strategy. It was...
The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) has audited a significant percentage of PERM labor certification (LC or labor) cases since early 2012. The incidence of PERM audits became noticeably higher around February 2012. As explained here for the benefit of MurthyDotCom and MurthyBulletin readers, many...
The U.S. Department of State (DOS) recently announced major changes to nonimmigrant and immigrant visa fees. These fees are charged to applicants who apply for visas (sometimes referred to as visa "stamping") at U.S. embassies and consulates abroad. These new fees became effective April 13,...
The U.S. Department of State (DOS) has confirmed that the limit on immigrant visa numbers for fiscal year 2012 (FY12) has been reached. This information was communicated to USCIS on April 11, 2012, and was expected, based on the Murthy Law Firm's earlier communication with...
Developments in the employment-based, second preference (EB2) category for India and China in late 2011 / early 2012 generated both excitement and disappointment for many EB2 candidates. The rapid forward movement of cutoff dates in the visa bulletin for EB2-eligible candidates from India and China...
The U.S. Department of State (DOS) has released the May 2012 Visa Bulletin. As expected, based upon an earlier DOS announcement, the May Visa Bulletin has a retrogressed cutoff date of August 15, 2007. This was discussed in DOS Issues New EB2 Cutoff Projection (23.Mar.2012)....
