After the recent devastation throughout the U.S. east cost caused by Hurricane Sandy, our office is receiving a number of inquiries by foreign nationals regarding relief options and alternatives in various U.S. immigration situations. USCIS has also indicated that they would provide relief in a number of situations understanding that a disaster may affect the [...]
The U.S. State Department has just released the December 2012 Visa Bulletin which is the third Visa Bulletin for the FY2013 fiscal year. The major headline in the upcoming month’s Visa Bulletin is the lack of movement in EB-2 India and the possibility of a cutoff date for EB-5 China being introduced in a few [...]
We would like to remind our clients and readers that the Department of State DV-2014 Diversity Visa (a.k.a. “green card”) lottery is currently open but is scheduled to close at noon, Eastern Standard Time (EST) (GMT-5), on Saturday, November 3, 2012. If you are planning to submit a DV-2014 entry, please do so well before [...]
In the past, USCIS had been somewhat flexible with student status and filing for employment optional practical training work authorization (OPT). More recently, USCIS has been closing those gaps and enforcing the eligibility requirements and filing deadlines more strictly. With this more stringent and literal implementation of the rules, it is imperative that foreign students, [...]
There is a more recent version of this article. Please see our most recent report from Mr. Charles Oppenheim. Our office just came back from a 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, [...]
Almost all non-US nationals who have traveled to the U.S. at least once are familiar with the little white (or green) card inserted into one's passport upon admission into the U.S. (sample) Many people do not fully realize the significance of the Form I-94 -- most importantly, it records the entry date into the U.S. [...]
The U.S. State Department has just released the November 2012 Visa Bulletin which is the second Visa Bulletin for the FY2013 fiscal year. The major headline in the upcoming month's Visa Bulletin is the lack of movement in EB-2 India and that EB-2 ROW is now back to "Current." Many have been looking forward [...]
It is very likely that anyone who has had a case filed and pending with USCIS has used the online status check and has also checked the "normal" processing times for the type of a case they have had filed. Many of our clients and readers are well aware of these two resources and we [...]
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 [...]
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secreatary Napolitano has just announced that DHS has designated Taiwan as a Visa Waiver Program (VWP). As a result, Taiwan passport holders will be able to travel visa-free to the United States starting on November 1, 2012. The VWP will enable citizens of Taiwan to travel to [...]