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Immigration & Current World Events
There are many significant world events occurring in the last couple weeks, the Tsunami in Japan and protests in the Middle East. Embassies and Consulates around the world may not be open during protests or may only be partially running. The Tokyo Embassy was open on Monday March 14 following the tragic Tsunami. The fact that the Embassy in Tokyo opened today was extremely impressive given the extent of physical and emotional damage from Friday’s Tsunami. Our prayers go out to the people of Japan.
We expect that the various Consulates in the Middle East will be partially open. Protests in areas such as Bahrain may make it difficult for normal Consulate activities such as Immigrant Visa and I-130 filings. The Embassy in Egypt has suspended visa services due to security concerns. We encourage our clients to contact us in advance of interviews and filings to determine if the Embassy/Consulate is open.
Naturalization for Armed Forces
On January 19, 2010, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) issued a final rule that changes the DHS’s regulations by implementing a statutory amendment reducing from three years to one year the length of time a member of the United States Armed Forces has to serve to qualify for naturalization through service in the Armed Forces. In addition, this rule also amends DHS regulations by implementing a statutory amendment to include as eligible for naturalization individuals who served or are serving as members of the Selected Reserve of the Ready Reserve of the U.S. Armed Forces during specified periods of hostility. This rule also eliminates the need to submit G-325B, Biographic Information.
In the past, aliens who served in the U.S. Armed Forces during peacetime were eligible for naturalization only after serving for period of three years and only those who were in active status were eligible to naturalize. Until 2003, the govement reduced the… Continue reading…
USCIS Continues to Accept FY 2011 H1B Petitions
US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced last week that they continued to accept H1B nonimmigrant petitions subject to the Fiscal Year 2011 cap. As of April 8, 2010, USCIS has received approximately 13,500 H1B petitions counting toward the statutory cap of 65,000. The agency has also received approximately 5,600 petitions for individuals with advanced degrees (”master-cap”). With the economy has yet fully recovered and high unemployment rate remains unchanged in the country, we expect the cap will not be exhausted for another few months which can be deemed as good news for those who are eligible for H1b visas.
If you have a job-offer and are considering applying for a H1B visa, please contact Cipolla Law Group today for a case evaluation. We have extensive experience in representing corporations, individuals to obtaining their h1b work visas. Contact us today for a case evaluation and quote.
May 2010 Visa Bulletin
The Department of State has released its latest Visa Bulletin.
The May 2010 Visa Bulletin indicates that Employment based EB3 category are still oversubscribed and EB3 category for Mexico has become “unavailable”. For Employment based EB2 category, it is current for all areas of chargeability or “Worldwide” except for China and India.
Regarding visa availability for family sponsored categories, during the past 15 months, the level of demand family based petitions have been low. As a result, cut off dates for most of these preferences have been moving forward rapidly. If you are considering sponsoring a foreign family member to the United States, you should file your application as soon as you can while the current processing time is relatively short.
Click here to see the full Department of State Visa Bulletin
April 2010 Visa Bulletin Released
The Department of States released the Visa Bulletin for April 2010. No major movement for EB3 category with only 1 month and 2 weeks for Worldwide; approx. 1 month 2 weeks for Mainland China and 2 months 1 week for India. For employment based second category, there is unfortunately no movement for India; but cut off dates for Mainland China has moved forward approx. a month and 2 weeks. Employment based Other Workers category remains the same and it remains current for the rest of the other employment based categories.
Click here to see the bulletin in its entirety
H1B Petitions for FY2011
The USCIS announced on March 08, 2010 that it would begin accepting H1B petitions subjects to Fiscal Year 2011 on the April 1, 2010. H1B visas are non-immigrant employment based visa primarily used by U.S. businesses who employ foreign employees in specialty occupations that require theoretical or technical expertise in specialized fields such as scientists, engineers or computer programmers. An approved H1B visa allows a foreign worker to legally work in the U.S. temporarily and potentially leads to a permanent residence greencard.
In the past, Cipolla Law Group successfully represented U.S. companies and foreign workers to obtain approved H1B visas, including Architects, Biotechologists, Engineers, Musicians, Psychologist, Social Workers, Scientists, Foreign Teachers etc… If you are considering applying for a H1B visa this year, please contact us today for a consultation.
Click here to see the USCIS update.
March 2010 Visa Bulletin
The Department of State released its Visa Bulletin for March 2010, it predicts the availability of Immigrant Visas in March 2010. According to this latest bulletin, priority dates for Employment based immigrant visas continued to advance modestly. For EB2 Mainland China, priority cutoff dates have moved approximately 6 weeks forward to 08 July 2005 and only about a week for India to 01 Feb 2005. For the Third Employment based category, the priority dates have moved approximately two months and three weeks for Mainland China and Worldwide to 15 Dec 2002, and roughly a week for India.
Click here to see the Visa Bulletin in its entirety.
Approval Notices “Recall”?
Yesterday, the USCIS posted an update to alert certain non-immigrant worker and change/extend non-immigrant status applicants that their approval notices may be incorrect/incomplete and should be disregarded.
Between January 20 and January 27 this year, the USCIS issued approximately 500 incorrect approval notices for certain I-129 and I-538 petitions. If you happened to be one of the 500 recipients of these incorrect/incomplete notices, the USCIS advised that you should not attempt to use them. The USCIS has started mailing new approval notices with corrected information to affected I-129 and I-538 petitioners.
Click here to read this USCIS update.
February 2010 Visa Bulletin
The Department of State has released its February Visa Bulletin, it predicts the availability of Immigration numbers during February 2010. There will be a modest advancement for EB2 Mainlanad China as their priority cut off dates have moved approximately 3 weeks forward to May 22, 2005. For the third employment based category, cut off dates will advance approximately 7 weeks for Mainland China and worldwide to September 22, 2002. Applicants from India and other countries within the EB2 and EB3 catagories remain unchanged.
Click here to see the full February Visa Bulletin
US lifts Immigration Ban on HIV/AIDS
After 22 years of immigration ban preventing anyone with HIV/AIDS from entering the U.S., the ban has finally come to an end. As of January 4, 2010, HIV infection is no longer defined as a communicable disease of public health signficance and HIV infection will no longer make an alien inadmissiable under 212(a)(1)(A)(i) of the Immigration and Nationality Act. This is definitely a positive move, as President Obama said in the White House yesterday: “We lead the world when it comes to helping stem the AIDS pandemic, yet we are one of the only a dozen countries that still bar people with HIV from entering…if we want to be the global leader on combating HIV/AIDS we need to act like this”.
In the past, a person with HIV/AIDS who wanted to visit the US, would need to file a Waiver of Inadmissibility. The application usually involved a tremedous amount of stress and an application fee… Continue reading…
