NEWS

This weekend the Federal district court in Seattle, WA overturned Trump’s executive order banning entry into the US of foreign nationals from seven high-Muslim population countries as well as of refugees. This means that foreign nationals from these countries, as well as refugees, may now enter the US pursuant to the system before the order READ MORE

On October 24, 2016, USCIS announced its filing fee increases to take effect December 23, 2016. It has just confirmed with AILA that any application or petition with a postmark of December 22, 2016, will be accepted with the old fees.

The Department of Homeland Security has issued a final rule with increases in filing fees for US immigrations applications and petitions.   The fee increases will take effect on December 23, 2016.  Applications mailed, postmarked or otherwise filed on or after 12/23/2016 must include the new fees.  The weighted average for the increase was 21%. The READ MORE

USCIS has determined that when filing for legal permanent residency, either based on family or employment sponsorship, the Application Final Action Dates chart in the US Department of State (DOS) Visa Bulletin for August 2016 must be used.  According to the Visa Bulletin for August 2016, for the employment-based filings for India under the EB-2 category READ MORE

The US government will be reopening after the two-week October 2013 shutdown.  This is welcome news for those needing and or wanting to file H-1B, H-2B petitions and PERM labor certifications.  The Department of Labor (DOL), which was closed during the shutdown, is responsible for certifying the Form ETA 9035 Labor Condition Application (LCA), which  must READ MORE

The National Visa Center (NVC) is now accepting immigrant visa documentation by e-mail through an electronic processing system.  The problem is that it is unable to retrieve documents that are submitted via links from document sharing sites.  NVC requires that documents be submitted as scanned PDF attachments and has not indicated how it will work READ MORE

On October 2, 2013, the House Democrats introduced a comprehensive immigration reform bill, “The Border Security, Economic Opportunity and Immigration Modernization Act” (H.R. 15), which uses the Senate’s immigration legislation (S. 744) as its template.  According to the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA), there are enough Democrats and Republicans to support the bill and Speaker READ MORE