A Federal Court has denied a motion for relief in connection with the October 2015 Visa Bulletin. The motion requested a temporary restraining order (TRO) requiring the USCIS to accept form I-485 filings based upon the initially published October visa bulletin.The motion is part of...
The U.S. Department of State (DOS) has issued instructions for entry in the fiscal year 2017 (FY17) diversity visa (DV) lottery. The DV lottery, often called the "green card" lottery, grants 50,000 visa numbers each year to qualified applicants. Registration for FY17 began on October...
Excitement over the October 2015 Visa Bulletin turned to disappointment, frustration, and anger on September 25, 2015, when the U.S. Department of State (DOS) issued a revised version of the visa bulletin, superseding the original version. The cutoff dates for filings in the revised October...
The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) charges a fee to individuals who obtain immigrant visas at U.S. consulates abroad. This fee covers processing costs, including the cost to produce the individual's permanent residence card ("green card"). In response to requests from stakeholders, the USCIS has...
As previously indicated, the Murthy Law Firm is generally recommending against filing adjustment-of-status applications (form I-485s) based on the cutoff dates listed in the original version of the October 2015 Visa Bulletin, which was released on September 9, 2015. This recommendation is based on a...
Answer If the case is filed prematurely and rejected, this would not prevent the I-140 from being used again for a later I-485 filing. The worst that could happen, other than wasting money and effort, is either (a) the case is wrongly accepted and denied later...
Answer Things are rather chaotic right now. October is the first month of a new fiscal year, so final action (FA) dates WILL move within the next 12 months. What is unknown is how much they will move and precisely when. We are hoping that the...
Answer Yes, the USCIS now allows the filing of the I-485 without an I-693. The USCIS typically then requests the medicals via a request for evidence (RFE). At the Murthy Law Firm, we generally recommend that our clients include the I-693 at the time of filing,...
Answer The answer depends, in part, upon how long the I-140 was pending, as that is part of the CSPA calculation. There are unanswered questions about the impact of the DF chart on the CSPA - but the starting point would be to calculate his CSPA...
The recent overhaul of the U.S. Department of State (DOS) visa bulletin system, which goes into effect on October 1, 2015, has generated enormous excitement. While the changes to the visa bulletin tend to primarily benefit those applying for permanent residency (green cards) through the...
