Effective Monday, October 25, 2010, USCIS started issuing a redesigned U.S. naturalization certificate (Form N-550). The new certificate includes enhanced security features and, important for some, it is designed to be "a higher-quality certificate, which will now be easier to showcase in a standard 8 ½ by 11 inch frame." See a sample. New Features [...]
USCIS released the weekly FY2011 information on the numbers of cap-subject H-1Bs filed since April 1. As of October 15, 2010, USCIS has received approximately 42,800 H-1B petitions counting toward the 65,000 cap (an increase of 900 over the past week). Similarly, as of October 15, there were 15,700 H-1B visas filed subject to the [...]
Social networks such as Facebook, MySpace and LinkedIn are great and very popluar tools for sharing information with friends, relatives and colleagues. Their popularity is, partially, due to the fact that people are free to disclose personal information to their groups of friends, family or colleagues. Many privacy advocates are urging a more careful use [...]
USCIS released the weekly FY2011 information on the numbers of cap-subject H-1Bs filed since April 1. As of October 8, 2010, USCIS has received approximately 41,900 H-1B petitions counting toward the 65,000 cap (an increase of 1,300 over the past week). Similarly, as of October 8, there were 15,400 H-1B visas filed subject to the [...]
The U.S. State Department just released the November 2010 Visa Bulletin which is the second Visa Bulletin for the new FY2011 fiscal year. As anticipated and as we wrote recently, following our meeting with Charles Oppenheim, there is not much movement across the employment-based categories, while some family-based categories have notable forward movement. Summary of [...]
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 [...]