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Special provisions of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) authorize U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) to expedite the application and naturalization process for current members of the U.S. armed forces and recently discharged servicemembers. Generally, qualifying military service includes service with one of the following: Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, Coast Guard and National Guard. In addition, spouses of members of the U.S. armed forces who are or will be deployed may be eligible for expedited naturalization.

The National Visa Center (NVC) will cease collecting original civil documents in support of immigrant visa (IV) applications as of November 12, 2014. Most applicants will be required to submit photocopies of supporting documents (such as birth, marriage, and police certificates) and will be instructed to take their original documents to their interviews for review. This does not include Affidavit of Support forms, which petitioners will still submit to NVC for initial evaluation. 

Effective immediately, the reciprocity schedule for Chinese nationals is revised for the B-1, B-2, B-1/B-2, F-1, F-2, J-1, J-2, M-1, and M-2 nonimmigrant visa (NIV) categories. All other visa validities for nationals of China will remain unchanged. 

For the Reciprocity Schedule please click here.

On Nov.12, USCIS will make Form I-90, Application to Replace Permanent Resident Card, temporarily available in the

The United States will begin issuing visas in accordance with a new reciprocal arrangement on November 12, 2014. Chinese applicants who qualify for a B-category nonimmigrant visa (NIV) may now be issued multiple-entry visas for up to 10 years for business and tourist travel. Qualified Chinese students and exchange visitors and their dependents who qualify for F, M, or J-category visas are now eligible for multiple-entry visas valid for up to five years or the length of their program. U.S.

USCIS recently began transferring some casework from the Vermont Service Center to the California Service Center to balance workloads. The affected casework includes:

• Form I-751, Petition to Remove the Conditions of Residence

How You Will Be Affected

If USCIS transferred your case, USCIS will send you a transfer notice. Your original receipt number will not change and the transfer will not delay the processing of your case. Please note:

Applicants must submit biometrics if the applicant is applying or re-registering for Temporary Protected Status (TPS) and over 14 years old.

On Oct. 29, 2014, the Department of Homeland Security published a final rule amending its regulations governing when USCIS will

• correspond with,
• issue a notice of decision to, or
• provide documents to

an applicant, petitioner, or requester, and/or an attorney of record or accredited representative.

The Department of State’s authority to issue Special Immigrant Visas (SIVs) to Afghan nationals under section 602(b) of the Afghan Allies Protection Act of 2009, as amended, was extended. 1,000 SIVs, in addition to the 3,000 visas for Afghan principal applicants originally allocated for use in Fiscal Year 2014, may be issued until December 31, 2014. We expect that these visas will all be issued before that date. We welcome action by Congress to extend this program. We are making arrangements to quickly resume issuances of SIVs to Afghan principal applicants if more visas are allocated.

A Form I-9 (Employment Eligibility Verification) is admissible in immigration proceedings to support charges of removability against an alien and to determine his or  her eligibility for relief from removal.  For more details please see Matter of Ezra Kibichii BETT (Cite as 26 I&N Dec. 437 (BIA 2014) ) - Interim Decision #3818.