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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”).

The “Pending Employment-Based Form I-485 Report,” displays the total number of pending adjustment of status applications, per preference classification. The report shows how many pending adjustment of status (green card) applications in each preference classification have priority dates in a given month and year. You can use this chart to determine how many applicants in your preference classification have priority dates in the same month and year as your own.

On July 1, 2016, the Nebraska Service Center (NSC) will begin accepting Form I-129 for H-1B and H-1B1 (Chile/Singapore Free Trade) petitions if the petitioner requests a “Continuation of previously approved employment without change with the same employer” (Box b. on Part 2, Question 2, Page 2 of the current Form I-129) with a requested action in Question 4 to:

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services expanded the capabilities of “Emma,” a virtual assistant that allows customers to quickly find accurate immigration information. Now, Emma can answer questions and direct users to relevant USCIS web pages in Spanish as well as English.

USCIS posted updated editions to the following forms:

On May 20, USCIS announced that it had received a sufficient number of petitions to reach the numerical limit (the “cap”) of 12,999 workers who may be issued CW-1 visas or otherwise provided with CW-1 status for fiscal year (FY) 2016.  May 5 was the final receipt date for CW-1 worker

USCIS posted an updated edition of Form I-131, Application for Travel Document. The new edition is dated 05/03/16. USCIS will also accept the 01/22/16 and 03/22/13 edition.

For more information, please visit Forms Updates page.  

USCIS published new editions of Form G-1041, Genealogy Index Search Request, and Form G-1041A, Genealogy Records Request. The new edition date for both forms is 05/19/16. Starting 08/08/2016, USCIS will only accept the 05/19/16 editions. Until then, you can continue to use the 12/17/12 editions.

For more information, please visit Forms Updates page.

The Department of State’s Visa Bulletin for July 2016 reflects a final action date of January 1, 2010, for EB-4 visas for special immigrants from Mexico.

In July, the Nebraska Service Center (NSC) will begin processing cases involving Form I-918, Petition for U Nonimmigrant Status. Sharing this workload with the Vermont Service Center (VSC) will balance workloads between centers and provide flexibility as USCIS works towards improving processing times, efficiency and customer service to this victim population.