It is not a secret that USCIS' processing times of I-765 work permit documents ("EAD") and I-131 advance parole travel documents ("AP") have increased over the past few months. Our office has experienced some of these delays and our office is increasingly approached by EAD/AP applicants who have either expiring EADs or need to travel [...]
Our office handles a fair amount of appeals with the Administrative Appeals Office (AAO) and we often receive inquiries not only about about the procedural aspects of an AAO appeal but also about the current processing times for AAO cases. About the AAO The AAO is an appeals office which handles appeals of certain decisions [...]
USCIS released the weekly FY2011 information on the numbers of cap-subject H-1Bs filed since April 1. As of October 1, 2010, USCIS has received approximately 40,600 H-1B petitions counting toward the 65,000 cap (an increase of 1,000 over the past week). Similarly, as of October 1, there were 14,900 H-1B visas filed subject to the [...]
The Department of Labor (“DOL”) has provided an update on the current PERM processing dates as of August 31, 2010. Most notable is the decreased processing time for regular PERM applications -- down to 4-5 months now. The processing times are as follows: Regular processing: May 2010. DOL is processing PERM applications with priority dates [...]
USCIS released the weekly FY2011 information on the numbers of cap-subject H-1Bs filed since April 1. As of September 24, 2010, USCIS has received approximately 39,600 H-1B petitions counting toward the 65,000 cap (an increase of 1,300 over the past week). Similarly, as of September 24, there were 14,400 H-1B visas filed subject to the [...]
We wrote earlier in the summer about USCIS' plans and proposed rule to increase certain filing fees. The final rule was published a few days ago in the Federal Register and the new increased filing fees are set to go into effect on November 23, 2010. Increases (and a few decreases) in USCIS Filing Fees [...]
» Update 10/27/2011: See the more recent October 26, 2011 predictions by Charles Oppenheim. Yesterday our office attended a American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) discussion session here in Washington, DC with Charles Oppenheim. Mr. Oppenheim is the Chief of the Visa Control and Reporting Division at the U.S. Department of State. For many, he is [...]
The Department of State will open the DV-2012 Diversity Visa (a.k.a. “green card”) lottery on Thursday, October 5, 2010. The entries for this year’s lottery must be submitted electronically between noon, Eastern Daylight Time (EDT) (GMT-4), Thursday, October 5, 2010, and noon, Eastern Standard Time (EST) (GMT-5), Wednesday, November 3, 2010. Applicants may access [...]
USCIS released the weekly FY2011 information on the numbers of cap-subject H-1Bs filed since April 1. As of September 17, 2010, USCIS has received approximately 38,300 H-1B petitions counting toward the 65,000 cap (an increase of 900 over the past week). Similarly, as of September 17, there were 14,000 H-1B visas filed subject to the [...]
Our office continues to handle an increasing number of naturalization and citizenship applications so it is interesting to share with our clients and readers some recent numbers on the citizenship statistics for Fiscal Year 2009 (FY2009). During FY2009, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS) received 743,715 applications for naturalization (in comparison to the 1,046,539 during [...]