The United States Department of State (“DOS”) in coordination with the American Immigration Lawyers Association, Department of State Liaison Committee (“AILA DOS Liaison”) recently published an advisory on changing venues for immigrant and K-1 visa processing for LGBT (Lesbian Gay Bi Transgender) applicants. Since the United States Supreme Court issued
Are you considering filing a petition or application for a U.S. visa or immigration benefit? These tips may help. The United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (“USCIS”) updated its website with Recommendations for Paper Filings to Avoid Scanning Delays. Published on November 16, 2022, these filing tips are very useful
The EB-5 immigrant investor regulations allow an investor to make a partial investment at the time of filing the Form I-526 and Form I-526E, Immigrant Petition by an Investor and to make the remaining investment at a later date. This is confirmed by the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services
The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (“USCIS”) is extending certain COVID-19-related flexibilities through January 24, 2023. The flexibilities, which have been extended multiple times, the latest in March 2022 and again in October 2022 are to assist applicants, petitioners, and requestors have more time to reply to various USCIS requests.
On October 6th and 7th, 2022, the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (“USCIS”) approved two more Form I-829, Petitions by Entrepreneur to Remove Conditions on Permanent Resident Status (“I-829 Petition”) because of filings in Federal Court seeking Writs of Mandamus. The approvals came less than 2 months after filing
The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (“USCIS”) has announced its final rule for the public charge ground of inadmissibility to go into effect on December 23, 2022. USCIS will begin to apply the new rule to applications postmarked on or after that date. Until then, USCIS will continue to apply
The United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (“USCIS”) announced it will automatically extend Lawful Permanent Resident (“LPR”) Form I-551 “Green Cards” from 12 months to 24 months to an LPR who files a Form I-90, Application to Replace Permanent Resident Card (“Form I-90.”). Form I-90 is used for many purposes
The U.S. Department of State (“DOS”) has published the October 2022 Visa Bulletin and the “Final Action Date” Priority Dates for Chinese and Indian EB-5 investors under the “5th Unreserved” visa category has retrogressed (moved backward in time). What is the Priority Date? Following the return of the Regional Center
For most people who are immigrating to the United States there two main categories of immigrant visas: family immigration visas and employment and investment immigration visas. These are the Immediate Relative (“IR”) category, the Family-Based Preference (“FB”) category and Employment-Based Preference (“EB”) category. For the FB and EB categories, there
Beginning October 3, 2022, all Vietnamese immigrant and nonimmigrant visa applicants whose passports were issued starting July 1, 2022 must include a Vietnam government endorsement page that states the place of birth. Visa applicants who do not have an endorsement page will not be permitted to attend their visa interviews
The United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (“USCIS”) has posted several alerts on its EB-5 Immigrant Investor Program webpage updating the public on the status of Form I-526 and Form I-829 Petitions. The alerts read: “Alert: We will continue to adjudicate Form I-829, Petition by Investor to Remove Conditions on Permanent Resident
The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (“USCIS”) has updated its Policy Manual to provide guidance on the type of “published material” that persons applying for an Employment Based First Preference Immigrant Visa category (“EB-1”) can present as evidence when applying for the visa category. Persons with “extraordinary ability in the
Immigrant visa applicants who have a criminal history often face significant obstacles in being able to immigrate to the United States. Immigrant visa applicants who have been found guilty of a “Crime Involving Moral Turpitude” (“CMIT”) are ineligible to immigrate to the United States and obtain a “green card”. Even
The EB-5 Reform and Integrity Act of 2022 (“Act”) was passed by Congress and signed by President Biden on March 15, 2022. Most of the provisions of the Act will become effective 60 days from enactment, which will be the middle of May 2022. The Act includes many changes to
The EB-5 Reform and Integrity Act of 2022 (“Act”) was passed by Congress and signed by President Biden on March 15, 2022. Most of the provisions of the Act will become effective 60 days from enactment, which will be the middle of May. The Act includes many changes to the
The doctrine of consular nonreviewability refers to visa decisions decided by consular officers at U.S. Embassies and Consulates cannot be appealed to courts within the United States. The doctrine applies very broadly to decisions made by consular officers whether they apply to foreign nationals who have been refused an immigrant
The Department of State (“DOS”) March 2022 visa bulletin continues to show EB-5 regional center visa categories (I5 and R5) unavailable (U) because the EB-5 regional center program remains expired. Read more: the regional center program (“Program”) having lapsed on June 30, 2021. Visas in non-regional center visa categories (C5
There has always been a challenge with some U.S. government offices incorrectly listing Vietnamese citizen’s names on government documents such as visas and Form I-551 “Green Cards” because Vietnamese passports list names in order of last name (or “family name” or “surname”) followed by middle name then first name. Moreover,
On January 5, 2022, the Department of Homeland Security (“DHS”), on behalf of the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (“USCIS”), filed a motion to dismiss its appeal of a U.S. District Court’s ruling in the case Behring Regional Center LLC v. Alejandro N. Mayorkas, et al. (“Behring v. Alejandro”).
Six months have passed since the EB-5 Regional Center Program (“Program”) expired and Congress has still not taken any steps towards its renewal. Originally enacted in 1993, the Program was a pilot, or test, program and was never made permanent. The Program had been extended on a regular basis for
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