The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service ("USCIS") just announced that they have released the revised FormN-400, Application for Naturalization. The main changes in the new N-400 form are the new questions required by anti-terrorism and child soldier prevention statutes, the (according to USCIS) clearer eligibility instructions and the addition of a dynamic 2D data barcode [...]
Many of our clients and readers (especially those who have family-based immigrant visa cases) are aware that a family-based Form I-485, Application to Adjust Status, required an interview to be conducted at a local (to the applicant) service center. The requirement for these interviews is set under 8 CFR §245.6 which also indicates that interviews [...]
Yesterday, May 8, 2013, the Congressional Budget Office ("CBO") released an updated report to Congress analyzing the current immigration population in the United States. The report is interesting not only in the context of the ongoing debate on the proposed Comprehensive Immigration Reform (CIR) bill which is currently in Congress but also to get a [...]
USCIS has released a report on the number and characteristics of naturalization applications for 2011. The report focuses on the applicants who were 18 and over and who became U.S. citizens during 2011. According to the data, in 2011, the total number of persons naturalizing was 694,193. The leading countries of birth of new [...]
Effective Monday, October 25, 2010, USCIS started issuing a redesigned U.S. naturalization certificate (Form N-550). The new certificate includes enhanced security features and, important for some, it is designed to be "a higher-quality certificate, which will now be easier to showcase in a standard 8 ½ by 11 inch frame." See a sample. New Features [...]
As our office continues to handle an increasing number of citizenship application, we thought it would be interesting to share some naturalization statistics, grouped by decade, for the past four decades. According to numbers provided by USCIS, the period between 2001 and 2010 noted a slowdown in the number foreign nationals becoming U.S. citizens. The [...]
We wrote in September about the gap in expected revenue by USCIS following the filing fee increase of Summer 2007. We noted that the agency has a $282 million shortfall in expected revenues. As a result of the announced 2007 fee increase, USCIS saw a surge in applications and hiring in 2007, ahead of a hefty [...]
As an E-Verify designated agent, we provide E-Verify verification services to many small and mid-size businesses and allow them to assure E-Verify participation without the hassle of running E-Verify inside their operations. An E-Verify designated agent, we work with our E-Verify company clients to ensure that they follow the rules and procesures required by E-Verify. This [...]
The August 2009 Visa Bulletin was just released by the State Department. The only change, in comparison to the July 2009 Visa Bulletin, is the forward movement in the EB-2 China and India categories which changed from January 1, 2000 to October 1, 2003 . All other categories remain unchanged. Here is a summary of [...]
The House Subcommittee on Immigration, Citizenship, Refugess, Border Security and International Law held a hearing yesterday, April 30, 2008, on the topic of "Wasted Visas, Growing Backlogs." Michael Yates from USCIS and Stephen Edson from the State Department testified in front of the Committee. Please read the full article on details of their testimony.