The USCIS recently announced that they will extend the validity of expiring green cards to 24 mos. from 12 mos. when a person has filed an I-90 to renew. This extension is due to major processing delays in the processing of green card renewals.
Category: Green Cards
Premium Processing News
The USCIS has announced a further expansion of premium processing for certain EB1 and EB2 NIW petitions already filed and pending. Check the date of your filing to see if you are now eligible to be upgraded.
Good News for IV in FY2023
The USCIS has published an FAQ on Immigrant Visa (green card) processing which provides great insights for what to expect in FY 2023. Among the highlights are: The USCIS and DOS combined to approve approximately 280,000 Immigrant Visas in FY 2022 exhausting all available visas. Both agencies deserve commendation for the effort made this past… Continue reading Good News for IV in FY2023
October Visa Bulletin
The Department of State (DOS) has released the October Visa Bulletin. This Visa Bulletin is the first of the new 2023 fiscal year. Unfortunately, it brings great disappointment to those in the India EB2 category as the dates have retrogressed from 12-1-2014 to 4-1-2012. All other categories either remained current or saw slight movement forward.… Continue reading October Visa Bulletin
All Employment-based IV for FY 2022 Used
As of Sept 7th, the USCIS has reported that all employment based immigrant visas (green cards) in the EB1 and EB2 categories allowed for FY 2022 have bene utilized. We will provide a further update when more news is available.
Improvements to PERM ?
The DOL recently announced a $7.2 million dollar investment to improve the PERM system. The improvements focus on the areas of cybersecurity and technology upgrades. Many of us would love to see some automation, particularly in the area of Prevailing Wage Determinations (PWDs) Why should it take 7 months to determine the correct occupation for… Continue reading Improvements to PERM ?
September Visa Bulletin
This week, the Department of State released the September Visa bulletin, which is the last visa bulletin for this fiscal year and all of the dates remained the same as the August bulletin. Often the September bulletin will contain retrogression of some categories as visa numbers are used up near the end of the fiscal… Continue reading September Visa Bulletin
USCIS Extends 60 Day COVID Rule Again
The USCIS has recently announced that it has extended the 60 day grace period for responding to RFE’s, NOIR’s, NOID’s and other filings if the request/action is issued prior to Oct. 23, 2022.
Premium Processing Expanded Again
As of August 1, 2022, the USCIS will accept premium processing upgrade requests for EB1 Multi-National Execs/Mgrs I-140’s filed prior to 7-1-2021 and EB2 NIW I-140’s filed prior to 8-1-2021. The processing time will be 45 days from the date of the premium request.
August Visa Bulletin
The Department of State (DOS) released the August Visa Bulletin this past week and there was virtually no forward movement in the Final Action Date chart. Only EB3 China and EB3 India moved and they each moved forward only 1 month. But, on a positive note, all other categories held steady in this, the next… Continue reading August Visa Bulletin
HNM Advocates for Clients
Hammond Neal Moore, Senior Partner, Sherry Neal recently led an effort on behalf of hospital clients to address delays in RN immigrant visa processing. For more info. on her efforts, check out this link.