The Department of State has enabled the Status Check website which allows participants in the "green card lottery" to check whether their entry has been selected. At the same time, we wish to note that the Department of State does not notify winners by email so any email notifying of a winning green card lottery [...]
USCIS has just announced that they are launching a new website which is intended to provide new data reports covering agency performance in a number of areas. The website can be accessed at http://www.uscis.gov/data/. Data Reports Available Currently, there are ten data sets available on the website. Four of the data sets will be updated [...]
The Kentucky Consular Center (KCC) is a centralized processing facility for petition-based nonimmigrant visa programs and for the Diversity Visa program (also known as "green card lottery"). Located in Williamsburg, Kentucky, KCC serves a variety of important functions affecting many visa applicants and foreign nationals who are selected under the Diversity Visa lotttery. There are [...]
The Department of State announced yesterday that effective March 3, 2011, the U.S. consulate in Mumbai, India would limit the number of applicants it can process due to the building's aging infrastructure. While a new multi-million dollar facility is under construction (scheduled to open later this year), the current facility of the consulate seems incapable [...]
About the Six-Month Club Under U.S. law, every passenger who wishes to be admitted into the U.S. must have a valid passport while they are in the U.S. Furthermore, passengers must not only have a valid passport for the time they wish to be in the U.S., but also for an additional six months on [...]
We have clients and our office handles a number of U.S. visa applications submitted in Canada. Accordingly, we wish to report on a new appointment service for all U.S. visa applicants in Canada, which becomes effective on September 1, 2010. As of September 1, 2010, all services -- including calling for information and scheduling an [...]
The Texas Service Center (TSC) recently launched a pilot program pursuant to which employment-based I-485 applicants can facilitate TSC processes relating to specific stages of the employment-based adjustment of status. A special email address has been designated for this purpose: [email protected]. Procedure and Process After sending an email pursuant to this pilot program, applicants will [...]
The Department of State (DOS) issued an advance copy of the interim final rule on the Schedule of Fees for Consular Services, Department of State and Overseas Embassies and Consulates. The notice was published today at the Federal Register. According to the notice, the new rule will become effective on June 4, 2010 (15 days [...]
Late spring and early summer are generally busy period for recent foreign college graduates as far as employment immigration is concerned. On one hand, foreign college graduates are either applying for their initial term OPT, their 17-month STEM extensions (if they qualify) or their H-1B work visas. Our office fields many questions from prospective or [...]
Generally, the U.S. Department of State likes to process visas at the consulate located at the applicant's home country. Howevre, U.S. consulates in Mexico and Canada have the practice of allowing third-country nationals (TCN) to apply for a U.S. visa stamp in addition to their home country. However, recent AILA interactions with the Department of [...]