U.S. citizens (USC) and Lawful Permanent Residents (LPRs) may file immigrant visa petitions with the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) on behalf of a spouse or child, so that these family members may immigrate to or remain in the United States. Sadly, certain cases exist where U.S. citizens and LPRs misuse their control of this process to abuse their family members. Consequently, most battered immigrants are fearful to report the abuse to the police or other authorities out of fear of losing their immigration benefits.
Agency is prioritizing naturalization ceremonies during the COVID-19 pandemic
Release Date: July 1, 2020
WASHINGTON — U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services is celebrating the Declaration of Independence and the birth of the great country by hosting naturalization ceremonies across the United States from July 1 through July 7. Despite the pandemic, USCIS continues to welcome new citizens, demonstrating American resiliency and the importance of independence.
In response to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services is extending the flexibilities it announced on March 30, 2020, to assist applicants and petitioners who are responding to certain:
WASHINGTON – The Student and Exchange Visitor Program (SEVP) announced modifications Monday to temporary exemptions for nonimmigrant students taking online classes due to the pandemic for the fall 2020 semester. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security plans to publish the procedures and responsibilities in the Federal Register as a Temporary Final Rule.
Temporary exemptions for the fall 2020 semester include:
| Processing Queue | Priority Date |
|---|---|
| Analyst Review | March 2020 |
| Audit Review | September 2019 |
| Reconsideration Request to the CO | May 2020 |
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services today consolidated existing policy guidance in the USCIS Policy Manual regarding officers’ application of discretion in adjudications.
Number 44
Volume X
Washington, D.C
A. STATUTORY NUMBERS
This bulletin summarizes the availability of immigrant numbers during August for: “Final Action Dates” and “Dates for Filing Applications,” indicating when immigrant visa applicants should be notified to assemble and submit required documentation to the National Visa Center.
FAQs: Covid-19/Coronavirus applying for B-2 status || Working from Canada on or off H-1b || How can I qualify for EB-1C/International Managers or Executives ||
OTHER: STEM OPT EAD || Travel on I-539 || AC21 portability || Day trading on H1b (I-140 approved) or on H4? || Can I withdraw the COS to H4 once my H1b is approved? || Green Card expiring, filing I-90? || Disorderly conduct arrest record in the I-485 form || Entry restrictions on visitor visa || Reckless ticket and oath ceremony || Immigration processing delays || Pay on H-4 EAD expiry || Travel to India while the i-539 application is pending ||
USCIS has updated the USCIS Policy Manual with clarifying guidance on the deployment of investment capital under the EB-5 Immigrant Investor Program. It addresses the deployment of capital by a new commercial enterprise before jobs have been created. It also further explains the deployment of capital after an immigrant investor meets the program’s job creation requirements.
WASHINGTON—Today, the Department of Homeland Security announced a final rule (PDF) that adjusts fees for certain immigration and naturalization benefit requests to ensure U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services recovers its costs of services.
Unlike most government agencies, USCIS is fee funded. Fees collected and deposited into the Immigration Examinations Fee Account fund nearly 97% of USCIS’ budget.
| Form Type | Case Type | Completed 0-180 Days | Quarterly Completions |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cumulative total of all completions | 35.22% | 1431 | |
| I-129CW | CNMI-Only Nonimmigrant Transitional Worker | 100% | 3 |
| I-129E2 | CNMI Treaty Investor | 100% | 1 |
| I-129F | Petition for Fiancée | 78.57% | 14 |
| I-129H1B | Nonimmigrant Specialty Occupation Worker |
Note that the “A” Visa, G Visa, and NATO Visa are similar diplomatic visas. The “A” Visa applies to diplomats and foreign government officials, and their assistants; the G Visa applies to national representatives to international organizations; the NATO Visa applies to NATO representatives, staff, and families. Anyone in the diplomatic field may wish to review the descriptions for all three of these visas.
WASHINGTON—Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano has re-designated Somalia for Temporary Protected Status (TPS) and has extended the existing TPS designation for Somalia from Sept. 18, 2012 through March 17, 2014, allowing eligible nationals of Somalia to register or re-register for TPS in accordance with the Federal Register notice.
According to DOL updates as of 4/2/2012, they are working on PERM application filed in the following months:
Analyst Reviews: January 2012
Audits: September 2011
Reconsideration Requests to the CO: March 2011
Gov’t Error Reconsiderations: Current
Appointment: 9:40am
Arrived around 9:15am, there were about 50people in the waiting area, checked in with the receptionist, and sat down for my interview. 30mins, 45mins, 60mins, 90MINS went by still no one called my name. Finally someone around 11am called me, so walked all the way down to the other end of the hallway.
After the formalities, I was asked if I had brought anything that I hadn't already submitted, I handed him proof of selective service registration.
I was asked the following questions:
1. What is one promise you make when you become a USC?
Just wanted to share my timeline and some lessons learned. The whole process took a little over 6 months and now I'm a citizen of the United States of America.
Final Timeline:
06/06/11: Mailed N-400 (Dallas lock box) Priority Mail from NoVA
06/07/11: USCIS received date
06/23/11: NOA received, FP scheduled for 07/20/11
07/20/11: FP done - walk-in at scheduled time
08/19/11: YL received
11/14/11: Online change of status to testing and interview
11/16/11: IL received & Status changed twice
12/21/11: Interview
12/23/11: Oath ceremony
Alexandria Bay, N.Y. – U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Field Operations today announced the opening of the Cape Vincent port of entry. Cape Vincent is a seasonal port and will be open from May 1 until Oct. 31. The CBP hours of operation are 8 a.m. until 8 p.m.
You can use Immigration.Com "Advanced Search" feature to locate information more intelligently than just through a "word match," a literal search. Note that we are FOREVER working to get this better and better. So, each time you visit, you may find new items and improvement.
Using "Advanced Search" on Immigration.Com
Hello, everyone. This is Rajiv S. Khanna for immigration.com, the Law Offices of Rajiv S. Khanna, P.C.
I wanted to show you the “Advanced Search” feature on immigration.com. I enjoy it because it does focus your search considerably. We have a lot of information. It can be hard to parse through the information.
Every day we do something new and try to get better and better and better. I still have a lot of work to do on the website. The team has a lot of work to do on the website. But we have enough information at least to get you going and keep you in the right direction.
Let me start with the “Advanced Search” feature.
If you press on the “Search” button with nothing in it, just search. It brings you to this button, where you have “Advanced Search.” So you go into “Advanced Search.” The top portion is “Search,” but the bottom portion is “Advanced Search.” Click on “Advanced Search.”
You can search by putting in a search term which contains any of the words, contains a specific phrase, for example, “Adjustment of Status”--that phrase should be there; or containing none of the words. Some words you may not want.
I particularly like the fact that you can search in particular categories. These are categories, which are like tags. When you have tags, like a tag cloud. So these categories that are much more specific. And then, on top of that, you have types. There are content types. For example, let’s say I want to know if there’s a Community Story—you know, people’s experience. We tried to data mine some of these from our own forums.
If there’s a particular Community Story for citizenship. Find and click on the category, “Citizenship” under “Citizenship and Naturalization.” I know what specific story we’re looking for. Let’s put in the word “Detroit.” So I want somebody’s Community Story of what happened during Citizenship/Naturalization in Detroit.
And, after that, when I hit the “Advanced Search” button, I’m led right to the story, “Interview in Detroit.” This is somebody’s story about what happened in Detroit.
Another neat thing that we have is that, if you look at the bottom, we have these tags dimmed. The reason they are dimmed is because I’m not quite happy with the way we have cross-referenced information. But this is just the beginning. I’ve been doing this for the last several years. I’m still not happy, and we’re going to do more, a lot more, making information easily accessible to all of you.
So, let’s look at this. If I click on one of these tags, it will actually bring up the content, all the content, that has been tagged with that particular tag. So, if you look at this, all the particular content that has been tagged. If I look at any content. Let’s say, for example, if I go to “H-1.” I click on “Work Visa,” I go to “H Visa,” and I go to “H Visas for Nurses,” for example. If there’s any tags at the bottom of this and there should be. There’s not going to be a lot of information, but whatever information that we have will be all there for you. Every piece of information that was tagged with that came up.
So, I think this should help you find your way around immigration.com. And I love doing this, and I thank you for being here.