Archive for the ‘Green Card’ Category

June 2012 Visa Bulletin: China and India EB-2 Become Unavailable

May 14th, 2012 Tushar Mathur

For June, the
status of China
and India Employment Second preference (EB-2) categories has become “unavailable.”
The recent increases in the volume of filings for these visa categories have resulted
in major retrogression in the May visa bulletin to August 2007, and
unavailability of visa number in June’s bulletin.   The State Department explained that the
upgrading of cases from the EB-3 category to the EB-2 category is also a major
reason for the exhaustion of visa numbers. 
In order to avoid jeopardizing the availability of visa numbers for
“other countries”, the State Department decided to make EB-2 unavailable for China and India till the end of this fiscal
year.  However, the State Department also
states that they will try their best to return the China and India Employment EB-2
cut-off date to May 1, 2010 (reached in April 2012) as soon as possible,
although it will not likely to happen before Spring 2013.

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Recent Decision on National Interest Waiver

May 10th, 2012 Tushar Mathur

Foreign professionals and researchers applying for employment-based permanent residence status may consider obtaining an
national interest waiver (NIW). 
Normally, a foreign worker who wishes to apply for a green card by
filling a U.S.
job opening must obtain a Certified Permanent Labor Application (“Labor Certification”). 
The Labor Certification is to show that the employer cannot find a U.S. worker who
is qualified, willing and ready to do the job. 
Applicants who apply for a national interest waiver are requesting that
the Labor Certification be waived because it is in the interest of the United States.  
Unfortunately, the jobs that qualify for a national
interest waiver are not defined by statute.

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May 2012 Visa Bulletin – Retrogression in EB-2 – Predictions Added

April 8th, 2012 Tushar Mathur

The State Department has recently released the May 2012 Visa Bulletin. The following are the highlights:

  • As predicted by the Department of State, the EB-2 India and China cutoff dates have retrogressed to August 15, 2007, as a result of large number of filings in recent months. No forward movement is expected for these two countries until the October 2012 Visa Bulletin. The USCIS will continue to accept and pre-adjudicate I-485 applications for applicants with current priority dates through the end of April.
  • There are slow movements for EB-3 categories.
  • FB-1 China, India and “All Other Countries” all move forward by one (1) month to May 1, 2005.
  • FB-2A China, India, Philippines and “All Other Countries” all move forward by five (5) weeks to November 15, 2009
  • FB-2B China, India and “All Other Countries” move forward by five (5) weeks to February 22, 2004.

For the first time, DOS also included specific predictions for the coming months as follows:

VISA AVAILABILITY IN THE COMING MONTHS
FAMILY-sponsored categories (monthly movements) Worldwide dates:
* F1: four to six weeks
* F2A: up to two and one half months
* F2B: three to six weeks
* F3: three to six weeks
* F4: three to five weeks

EMPLOYMENT-based categories (monthly)
EB-1: Current
EB-2:
* Worldwide: Potential need for cut-off date to be established
* China and India: Potentially “Unavailable”
EB-3:
* Worldwide: three to five weeks
* China: up to six weeks
* India: up to two weeks
* Mexico: three to five weeks
* Philippines: three to five weeks
EB-4: Current
EB-5: Current


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Major Retrogression Predicted for Employment Second Preference (EB-2) India and China

March 24th, 2012 Tushar Mathur

In a Chicago conference with the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) held on March 16, 2012, the Chief of  State Department’s Visa Control and Reporting unit, Mr. Charles Oppenheim, stated that the EB-2 India and China visa category will likely retrogress in the May or June 2012 Visa Bulletin.  The extent of retrogression will be quite drastic, reverting the EB-2 cutoff date back to approximately August 2007 from the April cutoff date of May 1, 2010. 

Reasons for Retrogression:  The recent rapid advancement in EB-2 cutoff dates was to use up all available visa numbers for the fiscal year.  To that end, the State Department has generously advanced the cutoff days during the past six months from July 15, 2007 (October 2011 Visa Bulletin) to May 1, 2010 (April 2012 Visa Bulletin).  As expected,  the advancement has allowed thousands of adjustment applications and immigrant visa petitions to be filed during the past few months, resulting in rapid exhaustion of visa numbers for the fiscal year.  Consequently, the State Department must exercise restrain now in the allocation of visa numbers through retrogression.  In fact, Mr.

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EB-5 Investor Visa: Sources of Capital

March 7th, 2012 Tushar Mathur

The U.S. Immigration and Nationality Act sets aside 7.1% worldwide visa numbers to qualified immigrants seeking to enter the U.S. for the purpose of engaging in a new commercial enterprise. The applicant must either have invested or is in the process of actively investing capital not less than U.S. $1,000,000 in the enterprise. This is commonly known as the EB-5 investor visa. Other categories of immigrant visa are usually oversubscribed for countries such as China and India. For instances, many family-based petitions, including those filed by U.S. citizens, are currently backlogged. The EB-2 and EB-3 employment visa categories are similarly oversubscribed.

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U Visa – An important tool for crime victims to obtain legal status

January 6th, 2012 Tushar Mathur

Many immigrants in the United States are hesitant to approach police and other law enforcement officers when they become crime victims. For people who are in the U.S. without legal status, they try to avoid contacts with police officers for fear that their illegal status may be exposed. Even legal immigrants are sometimes afraid to approach police in the U.S. because of cultural differences and language barriers. Most of them do not know that there exists a special visa designed for victims of certain crimes called the U visa.

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Chennai will no longer process Immigrant Visa petitions as of January 1, 2012.

January 6th, 2012 Tushar Mathur

“Important Announcement: The U.S. Consulate General in Chennai will no longer process Immigrant Visa petitions as of January 1, 2012. The U.S. Consulate General in Chennai will no longer process Immigrant Visa petitions as of January 1, 2012. The U.S. Embassy in New Delhi and U.S. Consulate in Mumbai will become the only acceptance centers in India for Immigrant Visas.
The Immigrant Visa allows an individual to live and work in the United States on a permanent basis, as well as provides the immigrant the opportunity to work towards U.S.

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Important issues about the filing of I-485 adjustment application

December 23rd, 2011 Tushar Mathur
The cutoff dates for employment based 2nd preference immigrant visa for China and India have advanced significantly for the past three months.  Since November 2011, the cutoff dates have leaped forwarded by more than 17 months to January 1, 2009.  The rapid advancement means that many EB-2 professionals and advance degree holders are able to submit their I-485 application to adjust status to that of legal resident of the United States.  Simultaneously the applicant may also apply for a general employment authorization document (EAD) and a travel document.   Upon approval of the I-485 application, the applicant will receive her permanent resident card (or green card).  There are some important issues related to this last step of the immigration process.

First and foremost, an applicant must ensure that she is not subject to any grounds of inadmissibility that would cause the denial of her green card.  The U.S.

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