U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) today announced the launch of our Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) Immigration Records SysTem (FIRST), which will eventually allow users to submit, manage, and receive FOIA requests entirely online. Before this change, USCIS only accepted FOIA requests by mail, fax, and email, and requesters typically received their documents on a compact disc by mail.
Can I keep the notarized copy of my green card instead of original green card? Because I think it’s risky to carry GC all the time and have fear of it getting lost. cost and wait time for replacing GC is very high.
When I will travel out of town or government buildings I can take my GC with me. But for other day to day routine travel can I keep my GC safe at home ? What is the maximum penalty I have to pay if random checked by immigration officer (very unlikely) I provide my driving license and notarized copy of GC? Is it very serious offense ? Have you seen people getting into immigration(USCIS) trouble for not carrying original GC?
Do we have to do police complaint if GC is lost? If yes then can you please explain the procedure, and forms to fill.
Note: This is a verbatim transcript of the referenced audio/video media delivered as oral communication, and, therefore, may not conform to written grammatical or syntactical form.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) announced the start of a six-month testing period of Incident Driven Video Recording System (IDVRS) in operational environments.
On April 15, 2018, USCIS used a computer-generated random selection process to select enough petitions to meet the fiscal year (FY) 2019 cap of 4,999 for the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI)-Only Transitional Worker (CW-1) program.
Are you getting the right immigration help?
Many people offer help with immigration services. Unfortunately, not all are authorized to do so. While many of these unauthorized practitioners mean well, all too many of them are out to rip you off. This is against the law and may be considered an immigration services scam.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Rajiv and his team bring an unprecedented level of expertise in the matters relating to immigration, and I, personally, and my organization have used their services on a number of occasions with a 100% success rate. The principal reason is their mastery of the overall process in general, but more importantly their keen understanding of the subtleties and nuances of unique circumstances that need special treatment/attention. We are gung-ho on them and have no hesitation in recommending them to anyone.
Well I managed to wrestle my way through cluster-crap Dar es Salaam traffic today and made it to the US Embassy at 1:45pm and was immediately whisked in.
When I walked into the consular section I was flabbergasted by the number of people there (I could easily count 50 people) and knew I'd be there for at least 2-3 hours.
Anyway the guard who ushered me in told me to go hand my green pickup slip at the counter which I did and was told to sit and wait.
I had my oath ceremony there a few months back. Family and friends are allowed in but make sure not to bring noisy kids with you because they may kick out noisy kids. Your "entourage" won't be allowed to sit with you though as they will be told to sit down either way in the back or where the jury usually sits.
They will give you a package with a few things in. I remember there was a passport application, a congratulation letter from President Obama, a brochure about voting, a copy of the oath and the lyrics of the Pledge of Allegiance which you will have to sing.
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.
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.
Just came back from the Oath Ceremony at White Plains' Court House. It was emotional, finally it is over. I was able to apply for my passport at the same place right after the ceremony. The Actually Ceremony only took about 15 minutes, it was the process before hand, waiting for the Immigration officers to check everyone's info that took a while. Thanks god and everyone, and good luck to all who is currently on the process...See you all in Family based forum!
My interview happened on August 23rd, was based on as Asylum based Green Card. I got to 26 Federal Plaza in Manhattan on time and sat down. About 45 minutes later, I, along with 5 other names were called and asked to come through a door. We were led into another smaller room and asked us to sit down. And told us we'd be called. It was probably a different part of the floor where other immigration officers sat. it's also possible we had special circumstances in our cases. I was called first and met an EXCEPTIONALLY professional, polite, and pleasant Immigration Officer.
SAN FRANCISCO – The efforts of an Immigration Services Officer during an interview at U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services’ San Francisco Field Office uncovered two violations of law by Jie Zhong. The officer suspected Zhong took part in a fraudulent marriage with the purpose of cementing his claim to permanent residency and, later, U.S. citizenship.
USDOL had denied a series of cases for many employers represented by various law firms. The ground of denial was that when "engineering" was one of the acceptable majors for an IT job, that created too much ambiguity for a case to be approved. DOL stated that there are fields of engineering, such as Agricultural Engineering, which are clearly inapplicable to IT positions.
This ruling had become a nation wide issue.
Thank you very much for providing legal advising regarding filing Business immigration. I appreciate the value of the advice you provided. I have always been impressed by the quality of work put in by your staff at all stages.
First of all I just want to thank you to Rajiv, Vijay and everyone else in the office that has been with me throughout the journey. They have been very professional, efficient and reliable. Rajiv has been so quick in replying emails to me every time I have any questions and I really appreciate it. Sometimes unexpected situations came up and the way Rajiv addressed and handled such issues made me feel extremely grateful that he was there. His calm spirit and the way he talks just make me feel like there are no existing problems, just situations, which can always be fixed. I remember when I asked my sister why she chose this law firm (she introduced Rajiv’s law firm to me), she said that when she first met with Rajiv, he just gave her this vibe that everything will be alright and that he seemed really kind (and he is), compared to other lawyers that she has met before.
I also would like to thank you Vijay from the bottom of my heart because Vijay has been extremely patient and nice to me. I have been working with Vijay since the beginning of my application and he has always been there for me whenever I need. Even though I bugged him a million times via phones/emails, he is still very patient and kind to me and helps guiding me with all the GC paperwork. So thank you Vijay for your complete support during this journey.
My timeline for the EB3 Green Card is as followed:
Jan 24 - Filing I-140 & I-485 concurrently (I-140 is premium processing)
Jan 26 – Application received
Feb 7 – I-140 approval notice
Feb 19 - Fingerprint notice
Feb 28 – Fingerprint Appointment
Mar 28 – EAD/AP card approved
April 20 – Interview notice
May 21 – Interview day
May 24 – Case was approved
Again, thank you so much to Rajiv, Vijay and everyone who has been handling my case from the start to finish. You guys are the best and I would highly recommend Rajiv and his team without any hesitation in regards to any immigration cases.