On July 26, 2013, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) issued new and more detailed answers to Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) on how immigration benefits based on same-sex marriages will be addressed following the landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision in U.S. v. Windsor. These...
The Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) recently sustained an appeal of a family-based petition for a same-sex couple. In this case, Matter of Zeleniak, the BIA found that same-sex married couples may be eligible to apply for immigration benefits under the Immigration and Nationality Act...
As predicted, the family-based, second preference "A" category (FB2A) for spouses and minor children of lawful permanent residents (LPRs, or "green card holders") is current under the August 2013 Visa Bulletin. A more thorough review of this category is provided in the MurthyDotCom NewsBrief, FB2A Could...
As predicted, the U.S. Department of State (DOS) Visa Bulletin for August 2013 provides favorable advancements of both the employment-based, second preference (EB2) category for Indian nationals, and the family-based, second preference "A" (FB2A) category. This undoubtedly comes as welcome news to a great many...
The U.S. Department of State (DOS) Visa Bulletin for August 2013, as predicated, contains significant advancement in the cutoff date in the employment-based, second preference (EB2) category for India. The EB2 India cutoff date, effective during August 2013, advances to January 1, 2008.The family-based, second...
The possibility of permanent residence (or "green card") approval may become a reality for some MurthyDotCom readers. This is due to the possibility of forward movement of cutoff dates in the category for EB2 India in the U.S. Department of State (DOS) Visa Bulletin in...
The U.S. Supreme Court struck down a key section of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) on June 26, 2013. DOMA, which prohibited the federal government from recognizing same-sex marriages, stood in the way of providing marriage-based immigration benefits to legally-married gay and lesbian couples....
The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has issued a large volume of notices retracting many previously-issued requests for evidence (RFEs) on pending applications for adjustment of status (I-485) cases. These notices instruct derivative / dependent spouses and children to ignore the RFEs that were...
The USCIS Texas Service Center (TSC) has issued a large volume of Notices of Action, retracting certain erroneous requests for evidence (RFEs) on pending applications for adjustment of status (form I-485). These notices are intended to remedy the USCIS's admitted error in issuance of a...
This week, the U.S. Supreme Court is expected to release its decision on the constitutionality of the federal government's Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA). This highly anticipated decision may be released on Wednesday, June 26th, based upon the Court's schedule changes and related news reports....
