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Employment-Based Immigration, Family-Based Immigration, Green Card, Lawful Permanent Residency, Policy Change, U.S. Citizenship
Why Could Your Case Be Taking So Long? USCIS Processing Delays Remain at Crisis Level
Nationwide, you and millions of families, businesses, and individuals applying for immigration benefits are waiting longer for U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) to process and approve applications and petitions. Based on previously available USCIS data, in Fiscal Year (FY) 2014, an average case took about five months to process. In FY2020, an average case took more than nine months. Anyone who files applications or petitions with USCIS is affected. You and other people applying for family-based benefits, employment-based benefits, naturalization, travel documents, and employment authorization are all experiencing delays. Between FY2017 and FY2019, USCIS’s processing times for all petitions and application form types rose more than 37%. The dramatic…
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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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President Trump Issues Proclamation Suspending Entry of H-1B, H-2B, L, and J Visas
On June 22, 2020, President Trump issued a proclamation that suspends issuance of H-1B, H-2B, J and L visas until at least December 31, 2020. The suspension could be extended depending on the circumstances at that time. This proclamation also extends the proclamation from April 22, 2020, that bans certain immigrants from coming into the U.S. until the end of the year, which was originally set to expire sixty days later. I had written a blog post about that proclamation here. This current proclamation only affects people who are currently outside the U.S. who want to get one of those types of visas to come into the U.S. If a…
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Changes to the U.S. Immigration System During COVID-19 Pandemic
The term “social distance” is a term we are seeing everywhere now. Most of us have never experienced what we are experiencing now in the world and understandably many are scared, anxious, and nervous. I cannot think of one industry that has not been affected by this. Below is a summary of how our U.S. immigration agencies, systems, and procedures have been impacted. This is a rapidly changing situation so I will continue to monitor it. As of March 18, 2020, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has put a hold on routine in-person services at least until May 3, 2020, to help slow the spread. These in-person services include…
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The Coronavirus (COVID-19) and the Impact on U.S. Immigration
The coronavirus has been a top news story for the past several weeks, and it has had an impact on many things such as travel, people buying supplies in anticipation of having to be quarantined that would keep them from work and school, shortage of masks, the impact on the economy, and many more things. It has also had an impact on U.S. immigration. This week, the local Seattle USCIS office (U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services) closed because an employee had visited a family member at the Life Care Facility in Kirkland, WA, where there was a coronavirus outbreak. That closure affects cases that are being processed at that office…
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October 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. Here is the October 2019 visa bulletin. You can also click here to see it. FAMILY-SPONSORED PREFERENCES Final Action Dates Dates for Filing Family-Sponsored Visa Applications EMPLOYMENT-BASED PREFERENCES Final Action Dates Dates for Filing of Employment-Based Visa Applications The reason that this bulletin exists is that there is a cap on the number of green cards that are issued each…
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DHS Proposes Some Major Changes to the H-1B Process
A possible policy change in the H-1B process could be coming. On November 30, 2018, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced a proposed rule that would require petitioning employers who want to file H-1B cap-subject petitions to register electronically with USCIS during a designated period. The proposed rule would also reverse the order of how H-1B cap-subject petitions would be selected in the lottery. On December 3, 2018, the proposed regulation was published, and public feedback will be allowed until January 2, 2019. Under this potential new regulations, employers would have to register electronically with USCIS during a designated time period. It would begin at least 14 calendar days before…
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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…
