The U.S. State Department has just released the November 2013 Visa Bulletin which is the second Visa Bulletin for the FY2014 fiscal year. The major headline in the upcoming month’s Visa Bulletin is that there is no movement for any EB India categories and the fact that FB-2A remains unchanged with a (relatively) recent cutoff [...]
Our office has established a reputation as one of the leading practices for handling appeals with the Administrative Appeals Office (AAO) and we often receive inquiries not only about the procedural aspects of an AAO appeal but also about the current processing times for AAO cases. The AAO processing times are published monthly, at the [...]
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is launching another round of worksite investigations. Recently, ICE has indicated it would conduct another wave of I-9 audits. ICE prioritizes investigations involving critical infrastructure and key resources. However, no industry or company, regardless of size, type or location is exempt from complying with the law and may become [...]
Wednesday, October 30, 2013 12.30-1.30 PM EST The Form I-9 appears deceptively simple, but is fraught with potential compliance issues including financial penalties. Given the intensification of worksite enforcement efforts, it is crucial for employers to assess their I-9 records and practices with an internal audit. This FREE webinar will provide training on how to [...]
The Department of State will open the DV-2015 Diversity Visa (a.k.a. “green card”) lottery on Tuesday, October 1, 2013. The entries for this year’s lottery must be submitted electronically between noon, Eastern Daylight Time (EDT) (GMT-4), Tuesday, October 1, 2013, and noon, Eastern Standard Time (EST) (GMT-5), Saturday, November 2, 2013. Applicants may access [...]
The U.S. State Department has just released the October 2013 Visa Bulletin which is the first Visa Bulletin for the FY2014 fiscal year. The major headline in the upcoming month’s Visa Bulletin is that despite the fact that this is the first Visa Bulletin for the new fiscal year, there is not much movement for [...]
The Department of State ("DOS") routinely publishes the denial rate for B-1/B-2 visitor visas for each fiscal year (October 1 to September 30). The fiscal year (FY) 2012 data has been published and we share it with our clients and readers. It is interesting to note the countries with the highest and lowest denial rates. [...]
The Department of Homeland Security ("DHS") Office of Inspector General ("OIG") has released a report on the L-1 visa program after a thorough analysis of the program, its weaknesses and opportunities for improvement. The report makes a number of recommendations to DHS on how to strengthen the L-1 visa program by making more robust review [...]
The Department of State ("DOS") has reported that they are transitioning to an online immigrant visa application as of September 3, 2013. Immigrant visa applicants who are processing their immigrant visas (green cards) through the National Visa Center (NVC)/U.S. Consulate will now need to complete the DS-260 form online (Application for Immigrant Visa and Alien [...]
In a memorandum dated August 9, 2013, USCIS has released guidance and clarifications pertaining to the options and timelines for Diversity Visa (DV) selectees who choose to process their green card from within the U.S. by filing I-485, Application to Adjust Status. The memo seeks to provide clarification to those DV selectees who choose to [...]