The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) recently acknowledged problems with data transmission involving the National Benefits Center (NBC). The NBC had not been receiving proper information regarding the entry of appearance for attorneys and representatives (Form G-28). As a result, important case-related notices were...
The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced in November 2011 that it will be allowable to "bundle" together L-1 petitions for multiple employees when filed for identical positions by the same employer. The L-1 petitions may be bundled in order to streamline and improve...
The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) issued an update on October 19, 2011 regarding the processing of forms for naturalization to U.S. citizenship and proof of U.S. citizenship. The new filing instructions direct the applicants to file all USCIS N forms at a centralized...
The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has published updated inventory charts showing pending employment-based (EB) adjustment of status (I-485) cases. These charts contain details of pending I-485 cases by EB preference, country of chargeability, and the month and year of the priority date. The...
As the holiday season approaches, MurthyDotCom and MurthyBulletin readers should be mindful of federal holiday schedules in connection with their immigration cases. These schedules are important for expectations of appointment availability at the local U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) offices and U.S. consulates, as...
MurthyDotCom and MurthyBulletin readers were previously advised of changes in U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) procedures regarding transmission of certain receipt / approval notices to attorneys. The change was not favorably received. Therefore, on October 20, 2011, the USCIS announced that the changes will...
The USCIS Office of Transformation Coordination (OTC) recently provided an overview of the current status of the USCIS Transformation. Transformation is a large scale USCIS program to upgrade from paper-based operations to electronic systems. One important part of this series of changes is the phasing...
On September 19, 2011, the Murthy Law Firm began receiving "courtesy copies" of case approval notices (Form I-797C) from the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), rather than the "original" approval notices (I-797A or I-797B). This is at variance with long standing procedures, and was...
The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has issued an interim policy memorandum that changes the timeframe for responding to various requests for evidence (RFEs). The interim memorandum became effective immediately for RFEs issued after July 7, 2011, the date of the memo. The purpose...
The American Competitiveness in the Twenty-First Century Act, known as AC21, became law more than a decade ago. As of this writing, the USCIS has issued neither proposed nor final regulations interpreting the provisions of AC21. Rather, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has...
