Posts Tagged ‘Immigrant Visa’

USCIS Continues to Accept Adjustment Applications with Current Priority Dates

September 16th, 2011 Tushar Mathur

In spite of the State Department’s notification to USCIS that all EB immigrant visa numbers have been exhausted for FY2011, the USCIS today announced that it will continue to accept adjustment of status applications (I-485) based on the September visa bulletin through the entire month of September.  The regulations provide that the visa bulletin published by the State Department controls whether or not there are visa numbers available for an adjustment applicant.  The September visa bulletin does not indicate unavailability of visa numbers in any of the EB preference visa categories. 


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Employment-Based Immigrant Visa Exhausted for FY2011

September 15th, 2011 Tushar Mathur

The State Department's Immigrant Visa Control section has notified the USCIS that all employment based immigrant visas have been used up for fiscal year 2011, as reported by AILA.  No visa numbers
would be authorized effective 09/15/2011 until the end of September (the end of the fiscal year).  Immigrant visa numbers will become available again on October 3, 2011 as FY2012 begins.  USCIS adjudication officers may continue to submit requests for visa numbers as usual.  These requests will be put on hold until October 3, 2011 by the State Department.  Strong demand for employment visas and processing from August is the reason for the exhaustion, according to the State Department.


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Filing of I-130 petitions in foreign countries centralized in Chicago

August 29th, 2011 Tushar Mathur

Starting Aug. 15, 2011, petitioners who live in foreign countries without USCIS offices must file their Form I-130, Petition for an Alien Relative, with the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) lockbox facility in Chicago. The addresses are listed below.  However, Petitioners living in a country with a USCIS office may choose to send their I-130 petition to the USCIS Chicago addresses, OR file  at the USCIS office in that country. The current processing time is approximately five months, as reported by the USCIS.

Please note: Filing addresses and procedures change constantly.  You should always check the current instructions in the form or USCIS.gov website.

For U.S.

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DV-2012 Diversity Visa Lottery Results

August 16th, 2011 Tushar Mathur

The Kentucky Consular Center of the State Department has once again released the results of the DV-2012 diversity lottery.  The winners have been registered and notified by mail.  They may apply for an immigrant visa or adjustment of status (if they are in the U.S.) between the months of October 2011 and September 2012. 

This year there were a total of 14,768,658 applicants (19,672,268 if dependents are counted) who entered the lottery drawing during the 30-day application window of October 5, 2010 – November 3, 2010. 

Applicants should note that only the selected applicants (“winners”) were notified by mail.

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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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USCIS Initiatives for Entrepreneurs and High Skilled Workers – EB2 Workers, NIW Petitions, H1B Self-Petitions, etc.

August 7th, 2011 Tushar Mathur

USCIS Director Alejandro Mayorkas announced recently in a blog post several new initiatives to encourage entrepreneurs and high-skilled workers to bolster the U.S. economy and stimulate job growth.   Director Mayorkas noted that the U.S. has a long history of welcoming innovative entrepreneurs and skilled workers into our country, and in turn they would fuel the nation’s economy by creating jobs, and promoting new technologies and ideas.

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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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March 2011 Visa Bulletin: Further Retrogression for F2A

February 13th, 2011 Tushar Mathur
The State Department publishes the Visa Bulletin every month to advise the public the availability of immigrant visa numbers in each preference category.  The first table is for family-based immigration and the second for employment-based.  If the priority date printed on the receipt of your petition is before the cut-off date in your category, then you’re eligible for an immigrant visa.  “C” means there are visas for all applicants, and “U” means visas are unavailable.
            On the family side, the F2A preference category (spouses and minor children of lawful permanent residents) retrogresses further for China, India, Philippines and the other countries to Jan.

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