Most months, Charles Oppenheim, Chief of the Visa Control and Reporting Division for the U.S. Department of State (DOS), provides visa bulletin explanations and predictions. There is precious little new information provided for the December 2017 Visa Bulletin. No updated predictions were provided for the...
The Murthy Law Firm continues to receive inquiries from those concerned about whether the program that allows certain H-4 spouses to apply for employment authorization documents (EADs) will be altered, or even terminated. For the time being, the H-4 program remains unchanged. But, there have...
The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) is cautioning employers that official requests to review employment eligibility verification (form I-9) records are never sent by eMail. The USCIS reports that criminals are using a fraudulent eMail address - news@uscis.gov - to demand I-9 records from...
On October 20, 2017, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's Office of Inspector General (OIG) released a report criticizing the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) Administrative Site Visits and Verification Program (ASVVP) and the use of targeted site visits. The report, entitled "USCIS Needs...
The December 2017 Visa Bulletin was released by the U.S. Department of State (DOS) this afternoon. As expected, the latest visa bulletin provides little-to-no relief to the heavily oversubscribed employment-based categories. There was no change at all in the dates for filing (DF) chart from...
Today, the ninth circuit court of appeals handed the Trump Administration a partial victory, overturning a portion of the injunction that had been instituted on October 17, 2017 by a federal judge in Hawaii. The injunction had prevented the travel ban from being enforced against...
The U.S. Department of State (DOS) and the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) recently announced that they have formalized a partnership to facilitate information sharing between the agencies. This interagency cooperation is being undertaken with the stated goal of protecting U.S. workers and combating fraud...
In light of the Board of Immigration Appeals decision in Matter of Ruzuku, which directed the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to accept sibling-to-sibling DNA tests as probative evidence to be considered in determining whether a qualifying family relationship exists, the U.S. Department of...
The U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia issued a court order on October 27, 2017 to enjoin (i.e. prevent) the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) from refusing to certify requests for certification of military or naval service (form N-426) for MAVNI (Military Accessions...
Effective immediately, the U.S. Mission to Turkey is resuming limited visa services for nonimmigrants at the U.S. embassy and consulates in Turkey. According to a statement issued by the U.S. Mission to Turkey, this was done following assurances made by the Government of Turkey related...
