The U.S. Department of State (DOS) Visa Bulletin for September 2015 contains significant changes for Indian nationals. There is favorable news in the employment-based, third preference (EB3) category for India. The cutoff date for EB3 advances by more than six months, to December 22, 2004....
The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) is responsible for the PERM labor certification (PERM LC) process. The PERM LC process is the first of three stages in most employment-based permanent residence (commonly, "green card") cases. Each quarter, the DOL summarizes key PERM-related data that provides...
Answer A permanent resident can petition for a spouse. These cases fall under FB2A and have a wait time for visa number availability. The affidavit of support isn't needed until the visa number becomes available and the I-485 can be filed. In some marriage-based cases, the...
Answer Nothing happens automatically to the PERM/I-140 at the six-year H1B point. Assuming the employer still supports the case, the PERM and I-140 can be approved, even if one is out of H1B time. And, of course, it may be possible to use the pending...
After a PERM labor certification (LC) case is filed, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) is permitted to audit the case. The purpose of these audits is to verify that the petitioning employer is complying with the applicable legal requirements. These audits can either be targeted...
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...
Each month, the U.S. Department of State (DOS) provides a report with insights into visa bulletin cutoff date movements. This month's report, which follows the release of the August 2015 Visa Bulletin, discusses the unanticipated movement in the employment-based, third preference (EB3) category, and offers a...
