USCIS Approves 10,000 U Visas for Fourth Straight Fiscal Year

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has approved the statutory maximum 10,000 petitions for U nonimmigrant status (U visas) for fiscal year 2013. This marks the fourth straight year that USCIS has reached the statutory maximum since it began issuing U visas in 2008.

Each year, 10,000 U visas are available for victims of crime who have suffered substantial mental or physical abuse and are willing to help law enforcement authorities investigate or prosecute those crimes. A U-visa petition requires certification of assistance from law enforcement.

USCIS Implements Customer Identity Verification at Field Offices

Beginning September 9, 2013, USCIS will employ a new verification tool called Customer Identity Verification (CIV) in its field offices. Customers will now submit biometric data, specifically fingerprints and photographs, when appearing at USCIS offices for interviews or to receive evidence of an immigration benefit.

Process After Getting Immigrant Visa

Question details

My mother is currently in the US. She entered based on the Immigration Visa on her passport and gave the sealed packet at the port of entry. We went to to the SSN office but were told that we need to wait for the SSN to come (via mail? - they had no clue). She wants to leave in the next few weeks. Questions:
1. Can she reenter without a physical GC in hand? She was told it takes 6-8 months to come at port of entry.
2. How do we get her SSN? Is it mailed automatically?
3. What else should I be aware of before she leaves the US?

Make an infopass appointment and get her passport stamped for temporary proof of green card. She can travel with that. Normally, the physical GC takes just a few weeks. I am not concerned about SSN. That will arrive eventually. But do review my blog videos about I-131 and maintaining green card, etc.

Ability to Pay

Question details

1. Is submitting consolidated returns and audited financial statements for a parent company and its wholly owned subsidiaries sufficient to meet the burden of proof for establishing the company’s ability to pay by a preponderance of the evidence?

2. Where an employee who is the beneficiary of an approved I-140 and is eligible for AC-21 portability ports to a new employer in the same or similar occupation, must the new employer demonstrate the ability to pay the proffered wage from the date of portability?

3. When adjudicating I-485 applications for portability-eligible individuals where the petitioning employer is no longer in business, does USCIS require the subsequent employer to satisfy both the ability-to-pay requirement and the bona fide offer of employment requirement from the date of the employee’s subsequent hire through the approval of adjustment of status?

4. Why are prorated net assets not sufficient evidence to support ability to pay?

5. Why is the Yates Memo not applied if a beneficiary’s W-2 indicates that the actual wage paid to him/her is at least as much as the beneficiary’s proffered wage for the prorated period?

1. USCIS says that it evaluates each consolidated financial statement on a caseby-case basis under the preponderance of evidence standard to determine whether the petitioner has the ability to pay the proffered wage.

2. USCIS says that, in this situation, the new employer is not obligated to demonstrate the ability to pay from the date of portability.

DS-260 Worldwide Deployment

Effective September 1, 2013, the DS-260 Immigrant Visa Electronic Application and the DS-261 (Choice of Address and Agent) will replace the paper based DS-230 Application for Immigrant Visa and Alien Registration (parts I and II) and the DS-3032 (Choice of Address and Agent). This message describes the timeline for deployment and provides guidance to posts.

For more information please read the telegram attached.

Locating A Long-Pending I-485 Application and Priority Dates

Question details

1.How can I locate a long-pending I-485 application that has been transferred multiple times and appears to be “lost”?

2.When the priority date is going to become current for an individual with a long-pending I-485 application, is it advisable to send an advance email to USCIS?

1. According to USCIS, if you have an old I-485 that has been transferred multiple time and you do not know where the case is, you should call USCIS.  It is advisable to follow up in case no useful answer is forthcoming.  USCIS aims to keep close control over its case inventory and tracks cases to make sure all the parts stay together and get adjudicated together.

It is also important for the attorney of record (using Form G-28) and the applicant (using Form AR-11) to keep USCIS apprised of any changes of address.