The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced on August 24, 2015 that the agency's older eFiling system is being decommissioned. This system, which the USCIS now refers to as the "legacy eFiling system," has been replaced by the more modern Electronic Immigration System (ELIS). This...
The Murthy Law Firm has learned about a significant procedural change for nonimmigrant (temporary) visa applications at U.S. consulates in India. More specifically, this shift in procedure relates to the online DS-160 form, which typically must be completed prior to scheduling an appointment to apply...
You say your status expired months or years ago and you want to know whether there is any way to go back in time to fix it? This recording from the Murthy Law Firm discusses a special part of the law that allows for nonimmigrant...
The U.S. Department of State (DOS) released the September 2015 Visa Bulletin, which is the final visa bulletin for fiscal year 2015. To the disappointment of many, the employment-based, second preference (EB2) category for India and China retrogresses to January 1, 2006. On a far more...
The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) issued a reminder to nationals of Liberia, Guinea, and Sierra Leone of the August 18, 2015 deadline for temporary protected status (TPS) registration. Eligible individuals must apply by the deadline in order to obtain the corresponding immigration benefits. Eligibility...
The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) issued an explanation regarding signature waivers for permanent resident cards (i.e. green cards). This is in reference to situations in which a form I-551 (commonly, a "green card") bears the notation signature waived, rather than the green card...
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has launched eFOIA a new, free mobile application that allows users to submit and track Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests. This is part of an ongoing effort to improve the FOIA process and response time within the DHS. DHS...
Maria M. Odom, the Citizenship and Immigration Services Ombudsman (CIS Ombudsman), has submitted her office's 2015 Annual Report to Congress. This annual report includes lists of problems within the immigration system identified by the CIS Ombudsman's office, as well as recommended solutions. Background on the CIS Ombudsman The...
It has been announced that the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) intends to negotiate for an expansion of preclearance operations to ten additional overseas airports. Preclearance facilities, which are operated by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), are designed to improve U.S. security while simultaneously...
On July 15, 2015, the White House released a report outlining recommendations for changes to the U.S. immigration system, in order to "…bring the system into the 21st century." The report identifies avenues for making improvements to the immigration system and is titled, Modernizing and Streamlining...
