As many of our readers and clients are aware, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS) provides some tools for applicants to obtain case processing information. The online case status check is one of them. In addition, USCIS posts each month a schedule of the standard processing times for most of the types of cases [...]
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service ("USCIS") has proposed a change to the relevant regulations requiring all employers who wish to file for an initial H-1B cap petition to preregister with USCIS. The proposal is for an electronic registration program for petitions subject to numerical limitations for the H-1B nonimmigrant classification. In the future, other classifications [...]
On November 23, 2010, the pre-announced increase in the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service ("USCIS") filing fees went into effect. All applications and petitions filed must now include the new and correct filing fee, or the filings will be rejected. We have written in the past about the need of this fee increase and our [...]
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 [...]
The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS) is set to begin accepting H-1B visa applications pursuant to its Fiscal Year 2011 (FY2011) quota. The first day on which USCIS will accept new, cap-subject H-1B petitions, is April 1, 2010. About the H-1B Program and the Annual Cap The H-1B visa category was created in 1990 [...]