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U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services and the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) are extending the joint agency pilot program for Canadian citizens seeking L-1 nonimmigrant status under the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) through April 30, 2019. Earlier this year, the USCIS California Service Center (CSC) and the CBP Blaine, Washington, port of entry (POE) announced this pilot program which was scheduled to run from April 30, 2018, through Oct.

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) is continuing to implement the June 28, 2018, Policy Memorandum (PM), Updated Guidance for the Referral of Cases and Issuance of Notices to Appear (NTAs) in Cases Involving Inadmissible and Deportable Aliens (PDF, 140 KB).

Are you seeking to adjust your status and become a U.S. permanent resident under a family-sponsored or employment-based preference immigrant visa? If you have not yet had a relative or employer file an immigrant visa petition on your behalf, please learn more about the Adjustment of Status Filing Process.

On Nov. 15, the Public Engagement Division (PED) held a stakeholder teleconference to discuss the USCIS Updated Guidance for the Referral of Cases and Issuance of Notices to Appear (NTAs) in Cases Involving Inadmissible and Deportable Aliens policy memorandum (PM) that was issued on June 28. USCIS representatives provided an overview of the memorandum, shared an update on the continued implementation of the PM, and addressed many questions submitted in advance.

USCIS has published a policy memorandum (PDF, 121 KB) (PM) clarifying the requirement that a qualifying organization employ a principal L-1 beneficiary abroad for one continuous year out of the three years before the time of petition filing (“one-year foreign employment requirement”).

This bulletin summarizes the availability of immigrant numbers duringNovember for: “Application Final Action Dates” (consistent with prior Visa Bulletins) and “Dates for Filing Applications,” indicating when immigrant visa applicants should be notified to assemble and submit required documentation to the National Visa Center. 

Visa Bulletin content has changed.  Learn more by reading Updated Instruction for Using the DOS Visa Bulletin.

The congressionally mandated Diversity Immigrant Visa Program is administered annually by the Department of State. Section 203(c) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) provides for a class of immigrants known as “diversity immigrants” from countries with historically low rates of immigration to the United States. For Fiscal Year 2017, 50,000 Diversity Visas (DVs) will be available. There is no cost to register for the DV program. Applicants who are selected in the program (“selectees”) must meet simple, but strict, eligibility requirements in order to qualify for a diversity visa.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is creating a parole program to allow certain family members of Filipino and Filipino-American World War II veterans to receive parole to come to the United States.  This parole program was announced in November 2014 by President Obama and Secretary Johnson as part of the executive actions on immigration and is detailed in the White House report, Modernizing and Streamlining Our Legal Immi

H-1B and L-1 petitions filed on or after Oct. 1, 2015, should not include the additional fee that was previously required by Section 402 of Public Law 111-230, as amended by Public Law 111-347, for certain H-1B and L-1 petitions. The additional fee required by Public Law 111-230, as amended, expired on Sept. 30, 2015.

On Oct. 5, 2015, USCIS began applying secure laminates to certain secure forms that authorize travel to the United States. The affected forms are:

• Form I-797F, Transportation Letter, and
• Form I-512L, Parole Authorization Letter.  

The secure, transparent laminates provide an extra layer of fraud protection and authenticity. They contain state-of-the-art technology to deter counterfeiting, prevent tampering and allow for quick and accurate authentication by frontline inspectors in the field.

To improve efficiency, USCIS recently rebalanced the workload distribution of certain Form I-140 petitions and employment-based Form I-485 applications between the Texas Service Center and the Nebraska Service Center.  Unless you are submitting a Form I-907 together with a Form I-140 petition for a worksite in one of the states listed below, please continue to file your forms as indicated on the form instructions and at:

Since Oct. 1, 2015, the USCIS National Benefits Center (NBC) no longer issues final approval of Forms I-600, Petition to Classify Orphan as an Immediate Relative, filed on behalf of children from the Republic of Korea (ROK).   Instead, NBC will transfer cases that appear to be approvable to the USCIS Field Office in Seoul (USCIS Seoul). This internal change will not impact the processing of these cases.