November 2023 Visa Bulletin – No Forward Movement (Almost) Everywhere
The U.S. State Department has released the November 2023 Visa Bulletin which is the second Visa Bulletin for the new fiscal year. The headline in the upcoming month’s Visa Bulletin is lack of pretty much any movement in almost all employment and family-based preference categories. […]
DV-2025 Diversity Visa (Green Card) Lottery Opens October 4, 2023
The Department of State has announced the DV-2025 Diversity Visa (a.k.a. “green card”) lottery dates. The dates for electronic entry submission for this year’s lottery are between noon, Eastern Daylight Time (EDT) (GMT-4), Wednesday, October 4, 2023, and noon, Eastern Standard Time (EST) (GMT-5), on Tuesday, November 7, 2023. Applicants may access the electronic Diversity Visa entry form (E-DV) at [...]
PERM Labor Certification Overview and Processing Times
Our office handles many ETA Form 9089 Permanent Labor Certification (“PERM”) applications and one of the most common questions is what is an overview of the entire PERM process and how long it would take. Below we are providing what we believe is an accurate and realistic timeline of the PERM process. […]
USCIS Removes Biometrics Requirement (and Fee) for All I-539 Applications
Starting October 1, 2023 USCIS is removing the biometrics requirement (and fee) for all I-539 applications seeking to change of extend status. As a reminder, the biometrics requirement and fee were created in 2019 and in 2021 USCIS removed this requirement for H-4, L-2 and certain E applicants. Now USCIS is removing the biometrics requirement and fee for all [...]
What Is Unlawful Presence, When Does it Start, and What are Its Consequences?
Unlawful presence is defined in Section 212(a)(9)(B)(ii) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) to mean that an alien is deemed to be unlawfully present in the U.S. if the alien is (1) present after the expiration of the period of stay authorized by the Secretary of Homeland Security or (2) present without being admitted or paroled. […]
October 2023 Government Shutdown and Immigration: (How) Will It Affect Me?
Many of our clients and readers have been anxiously awaiting news from Washington, DC regarding the funding of the federal government and the threat of shutdown and how it would impact immigration processing. We are providing an overview of what would happen should or when the federal government closes. The biggest impact for employment-immigration matters is likely to be [...]