The Department of State ("DOS") has reported that they are transitioning to an online immigrant visa application as of September 3, 2013. Immigrant visa applicants who are processing their immigrant visas (green cards) through the National Visa Center (NVC)/U.S. Consulate will now need to complete the DS-260 form online (Application for Immigrant Visa and Alien [...]
Our office handles a substantial number of ETA Form 9089 – Permanent Labor Certification (“PERM”) applications and we are closely monitoring the current PERM processing times not only for the benefit of our clients but also to be able to predict longer-term trends in PERM processing. The Department of Labor (“DOL”) has provided an update [...]
In a memorandum dated August 9, 2013, USCIS has released guidance and clarifications pertaining to the options and timelines for Diversity Visa (DV) selectees who choose to process their green card from within the U.S. by filing I-485, Application to Adjust Status. The memo seeks to provide clarification to those DV selectees who choose to [...]
The U.S. State Department has just released the September 2013 Visa Bulletin which is the last Visa Bulletin for the FY2013 fiscal year. The major headline in the upcoming month’s Visa Bulletin is the continued significant forward movement in EB-2 India, the significant forward movement in EB-3 and the fact that FB-2A remains current for [...]
U.S. diplomatic posts in 19 cities in the Mideast and North Africa will remain closed until Saturday, August 10, though the closures could be extended beyond this date and to other posts. Per the Department of State, the following U.S. embassies and consulates are affected: Manama, Bahrain Bujumbura, Burundi Djibouti Cairo, Egypt Amman, Jordan Kuwait [...]
USCIS has just released new Reports on the E- Verify Program that focused on the accuracy of the program, employer opinions, employer and employee experiences in Arizona after state legislative mandates went into effect, and E-Verify Employer Agent (EEAs). The overall results from each of the studies show that the E-Verify users have confidence in [...]