immigrant — Blog — Nadia Yakoob & Associates

October 2019 Visa Bulletin Released

The Department of State (DOS) has issued its October 2019 Visa Bulletin. October 1 marks the start of the new fiscal year so all the visa categories benefit from new visa numbers. As a result, most categories see sizable movement. Employment-based (“EB”) category 1 for all nationals (except for India and China) advances by six months. EB-1 for China moves forward nearly three years and EB-1 India goes from unavailable to January 1, 2015. The EB-2 category for all nationals is now current, except for China, which, unfortunately, has a two-year retrogression, and India, which advances by four days. The EB-3 category is current for all nationals except for China, which moves forward nearly two years; India, which moves forward three and a half years, and the Philippines, which moves forward by fifteen months.

Immigrant, Visa BulletinNadia YakoobSeptember 19, 2019DOS, visabulletin, immigration, green card, immigrant, visa

Registration for the Annual Green Card Lottery Ends November 6, 2018

The Department of State just announced that the online registration for the annual Green Card lottery, formally referred to as the Diversity Immigrant Visa Program 2020 (DV 2020), will begin at 12 noon, Eastern Daylight Time (EDT) (GMT–4), Wednesday, October 3, 2018, and end at 12 noon, Eastern Standard Time (EST) (GMT–5), Tuesday, November 6, 2018. We recommend registering as soon as possible because the DOS website slows down or freezes due to very heavy traffic towards the end of the registration period.

ImmigrantNadia YakoobSeptember 25, 2018usdos, diversity lottery, dv2020, Department of State, green card, green card lottery, immigrant

USCIS Publicly Discusses Policy Updates on RFEs and NOIDs in Stakeholder Call.

USCIS held a call last week on September 6, 2018, to publicly explain its updated policy on when it could deny petitions or applications without first issuing a Request for Evidence (“RFE”) or Notice of Intent to Deny (“NOIDs”). The new policy took effect this week on September 11, 2018, and will apply to applications and petitions received by USCIS on or after September 12, 2018.

USCISNadia YakoobSeptember 14, 2018uscis, rfe, noid, immigration law, immigrationlaw, immigrant

May 2018 Visa Bulletin Released

The Department of State (DOS) has issued its May 2018 Visa Bulletin. For the most part, priority dates for employment-based categories remain the same from last month’s visa bulletin. The Employment-Based (“EB”)-1 category for Chinese nationals advanced by one month from April’s dates while the EB-3 category for Indian nationals moved forward by 3 months.

USCIS Reaches H-1B Cap for Fiscal Year 2019

On April 6, 2018, USCIS announced it had reached the 65,000 H-1B visa cap and the 20,000 visa U.S. advanced degree exemption cap (the “Master’s cap”) for fiscal year 2019.

USCIS has not specified yet how many H-1B cap-subject petitions it received this year.

H-1B, USCISNadia YakoobApril 9, 2018immigration, H-1B, USCIS, H-1B CAP, legal, visa, immigrant, status

Paying USCIS Filing Fees with Credit Cards: Agency Provides More Guidance

Earlier this week, USCIS provided guidance on how to pay for government filing fees with credit cards. Last month (February 2017), USCIS began accepting credit card payments for 41 fee-based forms processed at USCIS Lockbox facilities. Applicants must use Form G-1450, Authorization for Credit Card Transaction and may pay with Visa, MasterCard, American Express or Discover.

USCISNadia YakoobMarch 30, 2018immigrant, USCIS, visa, credit card, G-1450, law firm

USCIS Suspends Premium Processing for H-1B Cap Cases

USCIS will temporarily suspend premium processing for all FY 2019 cap-subject petitions effective April 2, 2018. This suspension is expected to last until Sept. 10, 2018. USCIS will continue to accept premium processing requests for H-1B petitions that are not subject to the FY 2019 cap, such as extensions and change of employer petitions.

USCIS, H-1BNadia YakoobMarch 21, 2018USCIS, immigration, immigrant, premium processing, H-1B CAP, H-1B, law firm, visa, green card, nonimmigrant, petition

April 2018 Visa Bulletin Released

The Department of State (DOS) has released the April 2018 Visa Bulletin. Most notably, the Employment-Based (“EB”)-1 category for Indian and Chinese nationals retrogresses dramatically from current to January 1, 2012. EB-2 and EB-3 for Chinese nationals, and EB-3 for Indian and Filipino nationals make significant advances while EB-2 for Indians holds steady.