Charlie talked with the American Immigration Lawyers Association again at the end of March. Here are some updates that he gave on potential movements of priority dates in the future. To summarize: EB-1 usage is high, not a lot of movement. EB-2 usage is normal so steady movement. For more details, see below. Data
When looking specifically at the H-1B visa, there have been many news stories over the last two years – some claiming that the H-1B is primarily used to displace US workers (especially in the IT area), and that it is used to artificially keep wages lower. Others claim the exact opposite, that the H-1B compliments
Many of you have probably noticed the increase in processing times at USCIS lately – I-140s are taking a long time, H-1Bs and other changes of status applications are talking almost a year to process, and I-485s are now well over a year to process as well. Well, the American Immigration Lawyer’s Association has reviewed
Recently, the Department of State and Charlie Oppenheim released the new March 2019 Visa Bulletin. Below is a summary of the movement in each category. Family-Based cases: F1: Final Action dates moved forward to about a month for most countries – October 22, 2011 for All Other Areas, China and India. Mexico had no
USCIS has submitted its proposed regulation to rescind the H-4 EAD regulations that have been in place since February 25, 2015. While this is not a huge surprise, as USCIS has had this on their agenda since the new Administration has been in power, it is still somewhat of a surprise as it has taken
The February 2019 visa bulletin was recently released. Below is a summary of current dates as well as projections from Charlie Oppenheim on how various categories will move in the coming months. As a note, USCIS has stated that, for filing the I-485, you can use the Dates for Filing for Family based case, but
While it is not the first time that there has been a potential, or actual, shutdown of the US Government, it still does raise many questions about what, if any, immigration services will continue during any potential shutdown. Below is a list of agencies and what they will be able to do, and what they
USCIS released a copy of a proposed rule that will be published on December 3, 2018. This proposed Rule, which will have a 30 day comment period, will set up a system that requires employers to pre-register in order to file an H-1B against the H-1B cap and would also change the way that USCIS
A new study from the CATO Institute, a think tank in Washington DC, shows that the denials are up about 37% under the new administration. The CATO institute did NOT include naturalization applications, TPS and Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals applications in its statistics, as these are programs under fire right now by the administration.
USCIS has always disallowed those using their services from using computers, tablets and phones in their field offices. Apparently, they are concerned about the ability of these devices to take pictures and record audio and video (of course, they record everything but that is another story). However, as attorneys are officers of the Court, they