The U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments on the constitutionality of portions of Arizona's controversial immigration law, S.B. 1070, on April 25, 2012. As many MurthyDotCom and MurthyBulletin readers are aware, S.B. 1070 was partially blocked on April 11, 2011 by a federal appeals court. Thereafter,...
For the past four weeks, starting on April 2, 2012, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has been accepting H1B petitions to be counted against the fiscal year 2013 (FY13) H1B Cap. As of the latest count at the time of this writing (through...
The U.S. Department of State (DOS) recently announced major changes to nonimmigrant and immigrant visa fees. These fees are charged to applicants who apply for visas (sometimes referred to as visa "stamping") at U.S. embassies and consulates abroad. These new fees became effective April 13,...
The Murthy Law Firm has recently been contacted by a number of former University of Northern Virginia (UNVA) students facing immigration difficulties. Many of these problems are tied to the students having worked while on Curricular Practical Training (CPT). This issue arises when the former...
The U.S. Department of State (DOS) has confirmed that the limit on immigrant visa numbers for fiscal year 2012 (FY12) has been reached. This information was communicated to USCIS on April 11, 2012, and was expected, based on the Murthy Law Firm's earlier communication with...
Developments in the employment-based, second preference (EB2) category for India and China in late 2011 / early 2012 generated both excitement and disappointment for many EB2 candidates. The rapid forward movement of cutoff dates in the visa bulletin for EB2-eligible candidates from India and China...
The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) is continuing improvement efforts on the immigrant waiver application process. The USCIS published an April 2, 2012 notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) in the Federal Register, as a required step toward instituting such changes. Waiver for Unlawful Presence Changes proposed...
The U.S. Department of State (DOS) has released the May 2012 Visa Bulletin. As expected, based upon an earlier DOS announcement, the May Visa Bulletin has a retrogressed cutoff date of August 15, 2007. This was discussed in DOS Issues New EB2 Cutoff Projection (23.Mar.2012)....
The U.S. consulates and embassies are currently implementing a U.S. Department of State (DOS) pilot program announced in January 2012. This program allows individuals who meet certain conditions to avoid interviewing at U.S. consulates when seeking their visas. This Visa Interview Waiver Program (IWP) is...
The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has changed the paper used for Form I-797C, Notice of Action, effective April 2, 2012. The Form I-797C is now printed on plain bond paper, rather than the special paper previously used. The purpose of this change is...
