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.
BALCA Appeal Times as of January 08, 2016
Bottomline: BALCA appeals take approximately 3.5 to 4 years from the date the appeal is filed.
- Appeals from PERM denials with BALCA office are currently taking about 3.5 - 4 years from date of docket
- Dockets are a few months backlogged right now - after BALCA receives the case from DOL, it takes about 5-6 months for them to issue the Docketing Notice
BALCA Appeal Times (as of July 18, 2016)
Bottomline: BALCA appeals take approximately 3.5 to 4 years from the date the appeal is filed.
- Appeals from PERM denials with BALCA office are currently taking about 3.5 - 4 years from date of docket
- Dockets are being completed within the same month that they are received
FAQs: I-485 Pending Using EAD Consequences || H-4 EAD issues || FAQ: H-1B no notification of termination, 60 days grace period, etc. || Deadline to join new employer after H-1B transfer is approved ||
OTHER: DV lottery || Withdraw BALCA appeal, H-1B extension || H-4 EAD Starting business || Name error on I-140 || Green Card holding parents unable to travel || Traveling with existing L-2 visa || H-1B extension based upon pending green card || EB-1C priority date prediction || F-1 OPT withdrawing H-1B
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) proposed rule on the removal of HIV infection from its list of communicable diseases of public health significance - As of now with respect to the above proposed rule the Chicago Field Office has not received any guidance from HQ. Hence the office will not hold such applications in suspension until further notice.
Please check the attached document to read USCIS memo on timeframe to respond to RFEs on provisional unlawful presence waiver requests.
This Policy Memorandum (PM) restates the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) revocation policy.
Release Date
05/07/2024
Effective April 1, 2024, USCIS centralized the intake process of Form I-360, Petition for Amerasian, Widow(er), or Special Immigrant, and related filings under the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) for self-petitioning abused spouses, children, and parents at the Nebraska Service Center.
Release Date
06/12/2024
USCIS is issuing guidance in the USCIS Policy Manual that interprets that the confidentiality protections under 8 U.S.C. 1367 end at naturalization, which will allow naturalized U.S. citizens previously protected under 8 U.S.C. 1367 (specifically, Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) self-petitioners and those seeking or with approved T and U nonimmigrant status) the ability to fully access e-filing and other customer service tools.
As stated by The New York Times, the House on Thursday gave final approval to a renewal of the Violence Against Women Act, sending a bipartisan Senate measure to President Obama after a House plan endorsed by conservatives was defeated.
To read more on this news story click here
Yesterday, President Obama signed a bill that both strengthened and reauthorized the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA).
For more on this news visit this link
Release Date
05/05/2025
BURLINGTON, Vt. – U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services provided valuable assistance to the investigation that led to the conviction of an Indian citizen for submitting a fraudulent immigration application.
This policy memorandum (PM) provides guidance to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) officers in adjudicating Form I-360, Petition for Amerasian, Widow(er) or Special Immigrant, filed by a self-petitioning adopted child, when the adopted child has been battered or abused. Please click the attachment for more information on the memorandum
The Atlanta NPC Team will implement the following plan to induct applications filed into Audit Review and tag cases for possible Supervised Recruitment. This version of the plan has identified 8 criterions that specify types of cases that will be targeted for Audit Review and tagged for possible Supervised Recruitment. The criterions are detailed and labeled below as tiers one, two four, five, seven, eight, eleven and twelve.
For more information click on the attachment
This policy memorandum (PM) provides guidance to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) officers in adjudicating Form I - 360, Petition for Amerasian, Widow(er) or Special Immigrant , filed by a self - petitioning adopted child, when the adopted child has been battered or abused.
Please click on the attachment to read more.
At the October 28, 2010, stakeholder meeting with the U.S. Department of Labor, DOL discussed their increased staffing capability and a corresponding increased scrutiny of cases where the employer fails to respond to an Audit Notification letter or submits an incomplete response to such a letter. Where DOL identifies a substantial failure by the employer to provide required documentation in response to an Audit Notification letter, DOL indicated that we can expect to see more debarment and/or revocation proceedings.