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The 3 Agencies Involved in Immigrant Visa Cases: USCIS, NVC, and the U.S. Consulate/Embassy
I want to preface this post by saying that all three of these agencies are involved when a family member or employee is being petitioned for, and that person is not currently in the U.S. and will be processing at a U.S. consulate/embassy abroad. However, there are instances when a person is going through the immigration process that involves the I-601A stateside waiver process (you can read more about that process on this blog post), and dealing with these three agencies would also apply in those cases. For anyone who wants to be petitioned for, or if the person is self-petitioning, to become a green card holder in the U.S.,…
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June 2019 Visa Bulletin
The U.S. Department of State publishes a visa bulletin every month that shows where they are in the process of issuing green cards. This bulletin allows people to see how long it could be before a visa becomes available for them to be able to apply for their green cards. The reason that this bulletin exists is that there is a cap on the number of green cards that are issued each year. This amount has not been increased in decades, and the number of people who have applied to get a green card has far exceeded the number of visas available, which has created a backlog. For certain types…
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If You Are A Restaurant Owner, Petitioning for A Specialty Chef Is An Option
The restaurant industry is in dire need of good chefs based on what I hear from restaurant owners. I’ve had the privilege of working with several restaurants who are petitioning for specialty chefs to get their green cards. Every year, the U.S. government gives out a certain number of employment-based visas. For all countries except for China, India, and the Philippines, the category that would correctly be used for specialty chefs is the EB-3 skilled worker category, and there is no waiting period other than processing times. What I mean by waiting period is that for certain countries where a lot of people have applied for that particular category of visas because there aren’t enough visas to give out, there…
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What You Need to Know About Your Social Media Accounts and Your Immigration Case
If you don’t think what you post on social media has any relevance to your immigration case, think again. Immigration officers/officials, ICE agents, and government attorneys in immigration removal cases can easily look up someone’s social media accounts just like anyone. In fact, it is something they do. They want to see if they can find evidence that supports your application for whatever immigration benefit you are applying for, or if there may be any incriminating evidence that can be used against you. To emphasize how much social media matters to immigration officials, on March 30, 2018, the Department of State published a notice about revising the DS-260 immigrant visa…