WASHINGTON—U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) marked a significant milestone in its efforts to provide relief to victims of crimes by approving the statutory maximum 10,000 petitions for U nonimmigrant status, also referred to as the U-visa. This is the third straight year USCIS has reached the statutory maximum since it began issuing U-visas in 2008.
What is a widget?
A widget is a small, online application that can be embedded on social media sites, blogs, or other web pages.
As part of the Citizenship Public Education and Awareness Initiative, USCIS has developed dynamic and static widgets to highlight specific sections of the Citizenship Resource Center. The widgets are designed to help permanent residents:
The U.S. Consulate General in Dubai will begin a new appointment system for residents of Iran to schedule appointments to apply for a U.S. non-immigrant visa on Wednesday, August 22.
Please check the attachment for details.
Wages for the July 2012 - June 2013 program year are now available and are effective July 1, 2012.
The Foreign Labor Certification Data Center is the location of the Online Wage Library for prevailing wage determinations.
Online Wage Library
Nonimmigrant visa interview waiver checklist provided by Mission India to determine if an applicant is eligible for nonimmigrant visa renewal without appearing for an interview.
Please check the attachment to see the checklist.
The Honors Program in the Office of the Solicitor (SOL) at the U.S. Department of Labor provides challenging professional opportunities for outstanding law school graduates. Honors Program attorneys work with the ten divisions of the Solicitor’s Office, gaining exposure to a broad range of substantive legal work in one of the government’s preeminent legal offices. Upon completion of the two-year program, Honors Program attorneys continue their careers in public service in one of the Solicitor’s national or regional offices.
This report provides an update on trends in I-94 non-immigrant admissions and the estimated number of individual nonimmigrants admitted to the United States. In 2005, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) began an effort to record all land admissions of an I-94 nonimmigrant; previously, only the initial admission was typically recorded. This process was completed at nearly all pedestrian crossings and vehicular lanes along the Southwest and Northern borders by March 2010. Increases in admissions after 2005 as reported by OIS are partly due to the counting changes.
In recognition of Labor Day, the Office of Citizenship has developed a page on the Citizenship Resource Center that highlights USCIS educational resources related to this important holiday. The English and civics portions of the naturalization test include questions on several federal holidays, including Labor Day. |
Filing your request for consideration of deferred action for childhood arrivals involves several steps. You need to submit multiple forms, evidence and fees. Small mistakes in preparing your request could lead to it being rejected. Please read these tips to avoid having your request rejected or delayed because of common filing errors.
According to DOL updates as of 8/14/2012, they are working on PERM application filed in the following months:
Analyst Reviews: June 15, 2012
Audits: December 2011
Reconsideration Requests to the CO: September 2011
According to DOL updates as of 8/14/2012, they are working on PERM application filed in the following months:
Analyst Reviews: June 15, 2012
Audits: December 2011
Reconsideration Requests to the CO: September 2011
Gov’t Error Reconsiderations: Current
This report provides the total number of receipts and approvals, by quarter,
for all applications and petition form types submitted to USCIS for adjudication.
June 2012
All Form Types Performance Data (Fiscal Year 2012, 3rd Qtr)
Data as of June 30, 2012
Published August 21, 2012
March 2012
[Federal Register Volume 77, Number 168 (Wednesday, August 29, 2012)]
[Notices]
[Pages 52379-52380]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2012-21326]
DEPARTMENT OF STATE
[Delegation of Authority No. 344]
Delegation by the Secretary of State to the Assistant Secretary
of State for Consular Affairs the Authority to Determine That it is
Necessary To Waive a Visa Interview as a Result of Unusual or Emergent
Circumstances
The U.S. Embassy in Moscow is pleased to announce that the historic U.S.-Russia visa agreement will enter into effect September 9, 2012. The agreement will facilitate travel and establish stronger ties between Russia and the United States, as it will benefit the largest segment of travelers in both our countries: business travelers and tourists. Starting September 9, Russian and American travelers for business or tourism will be eligible to receive visas valid for multiple entries during a period of 36 months.
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 have been interacting Mr. Khanna and his office for my Green Card processing. They have my taken case as though this is one single case that they are handling and giving all the attention it needs. I am confident with this team, I will eventually get my Green Card and am thankful for the team.