Visa Bulletin - August 2011
Number 35
Volume IX
Washington, D.C.
Number 35
Volume IX
Washington, D.C.
Fact Sheet and QA
Introduction
The Department of Homeland Security and the Department of State announced on, July 13, 2011, that Secretary of State Hilary Clinton and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov signed a bilateral adoptions agreement that will strengthen procedural safeguards in adoptions between our countries.
WASHINGTON—U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced the availability of new data reports covering agency performance in a broad range of data and operational areas. The reports, prepared at the request of agency stakeholders, advance agency efforts to enhance transparency and improve customer service.
Fact Sheet
Office of the Spokesperson Washington, DC
July 13, 2011
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov today announced an agreement on the issuance of nonimmigrant business, tourist, private and humanitarian visas to the Russian Federation, and for business and tourist visas to the United States, as well as short-term official travel visas to both counties in keeping with the joint statement issued during the meeting of President Obama and President Medvedev in Deauville, France on May 26, 2011.
ICE announces changes to the Form I-515A process, and alerting SEVIS users of that as of 7/15/11. SEVP will terminate the SEVIS record of any F or M nonimmigrant who does not comply with the I-515A directive within the 30-day response period.
Diversity Visa lottery DV-2012 entrants can check the status of their DV-2012 Lottery entry starting on or about 7/15/11 at the DOS E-DV website.
USCIS notes from the stakeholder meeting on religious workers, providing an outline of changes resulting from the Religious Worker Final Rule that was published on 11/26/08.
Please check the attachment.
USCIS Publishes Report On Service-wide Receipts And Approvals Of All Form Types For FY2011.
Please check the attachment to see the report.
Correcting a mistake on the Form I-140
NSC would allow for a change of the I-140 classification to correct a clerical error as long as NSC is notified of the requested change to the box selected on the I-140. This has to be done before the case is adjudicated. However, NSC will not allow a change in the classification in response to an RFE but the issue will be considered.
EB3 skilled worker
This report contains information on the Victims of Trafficking (T visa) applications and the Victims of Crime (U visa) petitions. The number of receipts, approvals, denials, and pending cases are displayed by fiscal year and by office.
The PERM Processing Times has been updated. Please click the link below to view the times.
http://www.immigration.com/PERM-processing-dates/perm-processing-times-09032013
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.
If you need help filing an application or petition with USCIS, be sure to seek assistance from the right place, and from people that are authorized to help. Going to the wrong place can:
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.
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.