The new public charge rule requires immigrant and non-immigrant visa applicants to provide a detailed DS-5540 public charge questionnaire in order to determine whether they are likely to become a public charge at any time in the future. While a K-1 visa is officially a non-immigrant visa allowing for single
Why did the EB 5 China final action date jump forward in the March 2020 visa bulletin? There have been a number of questions as to why the final action date for EB-5 investors from China leaped forward 4.5 months in the March visa bulletin. United States Department of State’s
Following the Department of Homeland Security (“DHS”) lead, the U.S. Department of State (“DOS”), which oversees consular processing for immigrant and non-immigrant visas at U.S. Embassies and Consulates, has implemented its new public charge rule as of February 24, 2020. Immigrant visa applicants will be required to complete a Form
The U.S. Department of State (“DOS”) March visa bulletin is out and in a big surprise, the Final Action Date priority date [link to article] for Chinese EB-5 investors leaped forward by 5 months, from December 1, 2014 in February to May 15, 2015. We are looking forward to reading
Ryan Barshop and David Enterline of Enterline and Partners will speak at the American Immigration Lawyers Association (“AILA”), Bangkok District Chapter (“BDC”), “8th Annual Consular Processing Conference” in Taipei, Taiwan. AILA is an international organization of more than 15,000 attorneys and law professors who practice and teach immigration law. Ryan
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (“USCIS”) released an updated policy memorandum advising the Department of States (“DOS”) on adjudicating Form I-130 Petitions for Alien Relatives at U.S. Embassies and Consulates through Direct Consular Filing (“DCF.”) The policy memorandum clarifies that USCIS will no longer accept and adjudicate routine I-130 Petitions
The investment capital that an EB-5 Investor may use for his or her investment, called the “lawful source of funds” (“SOF”), can come from any source as long as the investor can prove that the capital or funds were obtained lawfully. Some common SOF are salary and bonus income, dividends
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (“USCIS”) announced it is changing the way it will process Form I-526, Immigrant Petition by Alien Investor, moving from a first-in, first-out basis to a visa availability approach. The Form I-526 Petition is filed by someone wanting to immigrate to the U.S. via the EB-5
The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled in favor of a Trump Administration policy expanding the government’s ability to refuse immigrant visas and issue green cards to immigrants who are likely to become a Public Charge. The 5-4 ruling, which was divided on ideologically lines, will allow the new rule to
United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (“USCIS”) has proposed to increase its filing fees for family-based immigrant visas and naturalization applications in 2020. Below are examples of the proposed fee increases. Spouse and Family-Based Immigrant Visas: Filing fees are scheduled to increase a nominal 3.74 percent from US$535 to US$550.
We have previously written about what lawful permanent residents can do if their Form I-551 “Green Card” has been lost, stolen, or destroyed and they are outside of the United States. In these articles, we have mentioned obtaining a travel letter or ‘Boarding Foil,” so they may return to the
United States President Donald Trump has extended an earlier Presidential Proclamation restricting certain immigrant and nonimmigrant visa categories from consular processing in response to the growing COVID-19 pandemic. The Executive Order (“EO”), which was first issued in April 2020, restricted certain immigrant visa applicants from receiving their visas for at
We have covered several issues in our series on how to protect your lawful permanent resident status and green card if you have been outside the United States and have been unable to return because of COVID-19. COVID-19 Reference Guide If you are able to reenter within 1 year of
An I-131A visa is for lawful permanent residents (“LPR”) whose Form I-551 “green card” was lost, stolen or destroyed while traveling outside the United States, or whose green card has expired, and who have been outside the U.S. for less than one year. Such LPRs can apply at a U.S.
The “Final Action Date” priority date for Vietnamese EB-5 investors moved forward slightly in the Department of State November 2020 visa bulletin from August 15, 2017 to September 1, 2017. The priority date indicates that any investors who filed their I-526 Petitions on or before September 1, 2017 now have
At a recent IIUSA EB-5 Forum, Charles Oppenheim, the Chief of the Visa Control and Reporting Division at the U.S. Department of State (“DOS”) – the man who decides the DOS Visa Bulletin every month – responded to a question regarding visa allocation for persons from Hong Kong. The question
The United States Department of State (“DOS”) has announced that routine visa processing at Embassies and Consulates will resume on a post-by-post basis consistent with DOS’s guidance for safely returning to the full services. As on the ground conditions improve, DOS will begin providing services leading to the eventual full
Are you a conditional permanent resident waiting for the approval of a Form I-829 Petition (for EB-5 immigrant investors) or a Form I-751 Petition (for spouses of U.S. citizens) to remove the condition from your permanent resident status but have not been able to return to the U.S. because of
Update: Between the writing and publication of this article, a federal judge granted a motion for a preliminary injunction against the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) fee rule discussed herein. As long as this preliminary injunction is in place, the existing fees remain as before. Effective October 2, 2020,
The U.S. Customs and Border Protection Agency (“CBP”) has not announced any special relief to a lawful permanent resident (“LPR’) who has remained outside the United States for more than one year because of COVID-19 travel and movement restrictions. Currently, a LPR who was remained outside the United States irrespective
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