Posts Tagged ‘Department Of State’

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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DOS unable to Issue F, M and J Visas

November 20th, 2011 Tushar Mathur

“The Department of State (DoS) has recently identified difficulties with its Consolidated Consular Database (CCD) communicating with the Student and Exchange Visitor Program’s (SEVP) Student and Exchange Visitor Information System (SEVIS).  DoS discovered this issue on November 14, 2011.  SEVP and DoS are investigating this issue between CCD and SEVIS to bring about a resolution as quickly as possible. Effective immediately, in order to ensure maximum data integrity and consistency, DoS has temporarily halted the issuance of ALL F, M and J visas at all U.S. Embassies and Consulates.  Please note that this may alter prospective students’ or exchange visitors’ travel schedules.”

Source: NAFSA memo to SEVIS Users


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Diversity Visa ("Visa Lottery) still available for most countries; deadline is 09/31/2011

August 16th, 2011 Tushar Mathur

 The Diversity Visa Program runs on a fiscal year schedule.  For DV-2011, September will be the last month for selected applicants to apply for their immigrant visa or adjustment of status.  Diversity visas will not be issued to applicants after September 30, 2011.  The Department of State reports that visa numbers are still available for most countries.  Please see table below.

Region All DV Chargeability Areas Except Those Listed Separately
AFRICA CURRENT Except: Ethiopia 32,700
ASIA CURRENT
EUROPE CURRENT Except: Uzbekistan  UNAVAILABLE
NORTH AMERICA (BAHAMAS) CURRENT
OCEANIA CURRENT
SOUTH AMERICA, and the CARIBBEAN CURRENT


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EB-2 Advancement in May 2011 Visa Bulletin Expected

March 29th, 2011 Tushar Mathur
AILA has obtained information from Charlie Oppenheim, Chief, Immigrant Visa Control and Reporting Division, U.S. Department of State, that the EB-2 category will likely advance in May’s Visa Bulletin due to the recent decrease in demand for EB-1 visa numbers.  According to Mr. Oppenheim, there will be at least 12,000 additional numbers available to the EB-2 category in May.  Finally there is some good news for EB-2 India and China.  


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Seattle Immigration Lawyer | Intro to Getting a Green Card Through Employment

October 9th, 2010 Tushar Mathur

This will be the first of several blog posts covering employment-based immigrant visas—the route to a green card through employment. Only 140,000 immigrant visas are made available per year for immigrants, along with their spouses and children, who wish to immigrate based on their job skills. On top of that, there is a quota that limits every country to seven percent of the available green cards every year. (There is no quota for immediate relatives of U.S. citizens.) And, several categories (known as “preferences”) of employment-based immigrant visa petitions require that the sponsoring employer file a labor certification application with the U.S.

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Diversity Visa Lottery- things you must know

February 28th, 2010 Tushar Mathur

There are nearly fifty five thousand individual who applies for permanent residency in United States. There is no guarantee that winning the Diversity Visa Lottery will give you the permanent residence visa. You are required to full fill certain requirements and pass screening test taken by authorities overseeing lottery for green card or Diversity visa lottery.

Diversity visa lottery is also popularly known as Green card Lottery that puts certain requirement before an individual applicant before his/her permanent residency is approved. One such requirement is that person winning the Diversity visa lottery should be able to present his/her confirmation page information.

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Pandemic Policy in the United States

September 14th, 2009 Tushar Mathur


The under mentioned is in relation to the recent H1N1 virus influenza. The United States government has been ever focused on the health and the well being of the citizens of the United States. The government accepts the fact that there is a huge possibility of the H1N1 virus taking a more ugly shape in the days to come there fore they have already started taking adequate precautions post the declaration of the declaration of the Phase Six Pandemic by the World Health Organization (WHO).

People who are planning to travel to the United States or people already staying in the United States are advised to look in to the websites such as HHS/CDC website, WHO website, and the U.S.

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Visa Bulletin for Oct 2009

September 12th, 2009 Tushar Mathur

The Visa Bulletin for Oct 2009 has summarized the availability of the number of immigrants during October 2009. As per the same a black and white report would be expected from the consular officers on the qualified applicants. The report is to be send o the United States department of state. I have discussed the same briefly here under and is aimed at benefiting you. Hope the under mentioned would keep you updated on the latest from the United States department of State

The limits for the fiscal year 09, has been fixed as per the provisions of the INA Act (Sec 201).

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