On October 6, 2014, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced the creation of a new website, myE-Verify, that is related to the E-Verify program and is intended to help workers combat fraud and protect against identity theft. It also will serve to educate employees...
The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) often issues a variety of inked stamps in the passports of foreign nationals. These stamps are simple in appearance, but the government has long used specialized security ink for such stamps. Starting in the summer of 2014, the...
Foreign nationals may be deemed ineligible for admission (i.e. "inadmissible") to the United States for a variety of reasons. Common grounds of inadmissibility include: medical grounds, criminal grounds, and immigration violations (including fraud or material misrepresentation in connection with an immigration benefit). In most situations,...
The U.S. Department of State (DOS) announced major changes to immigrant and nonimmigrant visa fees charged to applicants for visa "stamps" at U.S. embassies and consulates. The new fee structure took effect on September 12, 2014, and the DOS has provided instructions for those with pending...
Each quarter, the Student and Exchange Visitor Program (SEVP) releases a report that provides key data from the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System (SEVIS) on the makeup of international students who choose to study in the United States. A look at these quarterly reports...
As reported in a series of NewsFlashes posted on MurthyDotCom at the end of July 2014, the U.S. Department of State (DOS) began experiencing problems with one of its key computer systems, the Consular Consolidated Database (CCD). This has caused some ongoing delay in visa processing...
The process of applying for both nonimmigrant and immigrant visas at U.S. consular posts abroad may raise questions of exactly what information is checked and how that information is gathered during the screening process. A June 2014 Congressional Research Service report provides an overview of the...
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has continued to enhance the Study-in-the-States web portal. The Study-in-the-States WebSite was initiated in 2011 to assist international students and school officials. The most recent improvements include a mobile-ready version of the website. Study-in-the-States Initiative The Study-in-the-States Initiative was launched in...
The U.S. Embassy in New Delhi, India held Student Visa Day on June 19, 2014. A press release on the event notes that a record number of individuals have applied for student visas in India thus far in fiscal year (FY) 2014. In fact, the embassy...
Word comes directly from Murthy Law Firm attorneys attending the 2014 American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) Conference, in Boston, that the Student and Exchange Visitor Program (SEVP) is planning to implement a slew of system changes over the next few years. While most of the...
