Latest News

USCIS Publishes Stakeholder Engagement Presentation Slides On Form I-730.

Please check the attachment for Presentation Slides.

This advisory is for Japanese and other foreign nationals from the Pacific stranded in the United States due to the earthquakes and tsunami devastation in the Pacific. If you have exceeded or are about to exceed your authorized stay in the U.S. you may be permitted up to an additional 30 days to depart.

Visitors traveling under the Visa Waiver Program (VWP):

WASHINGTON— As part of the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Blue Campaign to combat human trafficking, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) will permit victims of human trafficking and sexual exploitation and others who have filed civil action against their employer and held A-3 and G-5 visas to remain and work legally in the U.S. while their civil cases are pending.

Effective March 7, 2011, new H&L category visa appointments are no longer available at the U.S. Consulate General in Mumbai. H&L visa appointments may be scheduled in New Delhi, Chennai, or Hyderabad through VFS. More information is found here.

[Federal Register: March 7, 2011 (Volume 76, Number 44)]
[Rules and Regulations]              
[Page 12269-12271]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr07mr11-1]                        

========================================================================
Rules and Regulations
                                                Federal Register
________________________________________________________________________

WASHINGTON - U. S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) today announced it will permanently close its field office in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, on March 31, 2011. 

As of March 25, applications and petitions previously accepted by the USCIS Ho Chi Minh City Field Office may be filed with the U.S. Department of State Consular Section there. Where authorized, the Consular Section will assume responsibility for processing certain cases.

WASHINGTON—U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced that some existing Salvadoran Temporary Protected Status (TPS) beneficiaries will receive interim Employment Authorization Documents (EADs) during the continued processing of their re-registration applications. USCIS mailed approximately 4,500 EADs, to be delivered no later than March 9, 2011, to Salvadorans who have not yet received a final action on their re-registration applications.

The Department has published a notice in the Federal Register on March 1, 2011 that announces the 2011 Adverse Effect Wage Rates, Allowable Charges for Agricultural Workers' Meals, and Maximum Travel Subsistence Reimbursement for use in the H-2A program. This notice provides (1) the 2011 AEWRs for employers seeking H-2A workers; (2) the allowable maximum amount for 2011 that employers may charge their H-2A workers for providing them with three meals a day; and (3) the maximum travel subsistence reimbursement which a worker with receipts may claim in 2011.

On February 8, USCIS posted a notification regarding the delay in processing approximately 36,000 immediate relative petitions that were transferred from the California Service Center to the Texas Service Center. In that notification, we advised that some cases were transferred back to our California Service Center to take advantage of currently available resources.  We also committed to providing you with updates on our progress.