In a decision dated as of March 26, 2010, the Administrative Appeals Office (AAO) has spelled out what we think is an an important policy change affecting employment-based permanent residency applicants who are beneficiaries of a labor certification either as a substitute or as the initial beneficiary of a subsequently-substituted labor certification. Brief Background on [...]
As many of our clients and readers know, the H-1B program allows stay in the U.S. on H or L status of up to six years. Time spent abroad during this period may be "recaptured" and added towards the six years of H-1B time. However, many foreign nationals who are not eligible to extend their [...]
USCIS published a notice in the Federal Register with proposed changes to Form I-129 which is used for H-1B, L-1, TN, among other visa type filings. Please see the DRAFT proposed Form I-129 (and draft instructions). The proposed changes are significant and are likely to impact most, if not all, employers who file Form I-129. [...]
The Texas Service Center (TSC), in a meeting with AILA, has provided some helpful updates regarding processing of petitions filed with TSC. Processing Times TSC has confirmed that the pending application reports posted on the USCIS status check website are generally correct. I-485s filed prior to March 26, 2009 that are still pending should be [...]
In November of last year and in February of this year, we wrote about a temporary change USCIS made with respect to H-1B petitions filed without certified Labor Condition Applications (LCAs). The reason for this temporary change in policy was to accommodate LCAs which have been delayed past the 7-day LCA processing window. Pursuant to [...]
During a recent AILA conference, the Vermont Service Center (VSC) Director Dan Renaud told the audience that the performance review structure for adjudicating officers has recently changed. Pursuant to the new performance review structure, officers get credit for issuance of Requests for Evidence (RFES), in addition to issuing approvals and denials, under the previous performance [...]
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 [...]
As our office continues to handle an increasing number of citizenship application, we thought it would be interesting to share some naturalization statistics, grouped by decade, for the past four decades. According to numbers provided by USCIS, the period between 2001 and 2010 noted a slowdown in the number foreign nationals becoming U.S. citizens. The [...]
The Department of State (DOS) announced recently that it is changing the procedure for K-3 (spouse) visa applications filed at U.S. consulates abroad. The procedure is effective February 1, 2010, and applies in cases where the I-130 immigrant petition and the I-129F K-3 petitions are both approved and sent to the National Visa Center (NVC). [...]
Our office has handled many cases where a specific USCIS benefit or application must be approved on an expedited basis. Also, we have received numerous inquiries from applicants who seek to expedite the processing of a pending application due to long processing times. It is helpful to describe the criteria which USCIS (and our office, [...]