U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Earlier known as INS. USCIS is responsible for providing immigration benefits to applicants. Homepage http://wwww.uscis.gov
On May 12, 2016, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) will begin premium processing for cap-subject H-1B petitions requesting premium processing, including petitions seeking an exemption for individuals with a U.S. master’s degree or higher.
USCIS has created a new Workload Transfer Updates page on their website where customers can keep track of workload transfers between the five service centers. Occasionally, USCIS will transfer cases from one service center to another in order to balance workloads and ensure timely processing. In the past, USCIS has issued a Web alert for each transfer. Now, the new Web page will list all of the transfers that USCIS makes as well as any additional information that customers should know about the transfer.
For two weeks after premium processing resumes for H-1B cap-subject petitions, USCIS will not use pre-paid mailers to send out final notices for premium processing H-1B cap-subject petitions. Instead, USCIS will use regular mail. USCIS will be doing this due to resource limitations as work to process all premium processing petitions in a timely manner. After the two week period, USCIS will resume sending out final notices in the pre-paid mailers provided by petitioners.
The Department of State’s Visa Bulletin for May 2016 reflects a final action date of January 1, 2010, for EB-4 visas for special immigrants from El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras.
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced on April 7, 2016, that it has received enough H-1B petitions to reach the statutory cap of 65,000 visas for fiscal year (FY) 2017. USCIS has also received more than the limit of 20,000 H-1B petitions filed under the advanced degree exemption, also known as the master’s cap.
The Administrative Appeals Office (AAO) of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has launched a search tool for most non-precedent decisions since 2005.
Non-precedent decisions apply existing law and policy to the facts of an individual case. The decisions are binding on the parties to the case, but do not apply new or alternative interpretations of law or policy.
As you study for the U.S. history and government (civics) test, make sure that you know the most current answers to these questions. Periodically, answers change to reflect the results of federal and state elections and appointments or to clarify content and ensure consistency in terminology. The revised answers to the questions below are effective immediately.
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Workload Transfer from the Vermont Service Center to the Nebraska Service Center
USCIS recently began transferring certain casework from the Vermont Service Center (VSC) to the Nebraska Service Center (NSC) to balance workloads and decrease processing times.
The NSC will now process some:
Form I-129, Petition for a Nonimmigrant Worker, for petitioners requesting H-1B nonimmigrant classification;
DHS extended the designations of Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone for Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for an additional six months. Although there have been significant improvements in the conditions in all three countries since their designations for TPS in November 2014, the lingering effects of the Ebola Virus Disease outbreak and continued recovery challenges support this six-month extension. The extended designation is effective May 22, 2016, through Nov. 21, 2016.
USCIS has received a sufficient number of petitions to reach the congressionally mandated H-2B cap for the first