For an employment-based case filed with the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), it is not uncommon for the petitioning employer to be issued a request for evidence (RFE) asking for clarification on mismatched information found in the Validation Instrument for Business Enterprise (VIBE) system....
On November 16, 2016, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's Office of Inspector General (OIG) released a report analyzing concerns related to the issuance of I-551s or lawful permanent resident cards ("green cards"). The report, entitled Better Safeguards Are Needed in USCIS Green Card Issuance,...
Please read the 29.Dec.16 update on this information. Updated Information This afternoon, the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) issued a practice alert related to the new forms. It states, in part: AILA reached out to USCIS … to demand a grace period during which prior form versions could...
Please read the 29.Dec.16 update on this information. The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) released a revised version of the application to register permanent residence or adjust status (form I-485) today and, effective immediately, will no longer accept any other versions of the form. No...
Charles Oppenheim, Chief of the Visa Control and Reporting Division for the U.S. Department of State (DOS), supplies visa bulletin explanations nearly every month. This month's update regarding the January 2017 Visa Bulletin provides insights and predictions related to most of the employment-based immigrant visa...
On December 22, 2016, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) is expected to issue a new version of the application for naturalization (form N-400). Beginning December 23, 2016, the USCIS will accept ONLY this new version of the form. Any previous version of the...
On December 23, 2016, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) is implementing a substantial filing fee increase for nearly all case types. The raised fees apply to cases received by the USCIS on or after December 23rd. A more detailed overview of the raise...
On Saturday, December 10, 2016, President Obama signed into law a continuing resolution designed to fund the federal government through April 28, 2017. Included in the spending bill were various immigration provisions, including an extension of the employment-based, fifth preference (EB5) regional center program, the...
There were no real surprises in the January 2017 Visa Bulletin, which was released on Monday by the U.S. Department of State (DOS). As usual, there is no change in the dates for filing (DF) chart. There is some movement in the final action (FA)...
If the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) denies a petition or application, the petitioner or applicant generally has a deadline of thirty (30) days to file a motion to reopen or a motion to reconsider (MTR). In some cases, there is also an option...
