Friday, October 31, 2014

USCIS Visa Bulletin Prediction For Fiscal Year 2015

The American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) recently met again with Charles Oppenheim to discuss the current demand and expected movements in various visa bulletin categories.

Charles Oppenheim is the Chief of the Visa Control and Reporting Division within Department of State (DOS).

Please see the important details below:

EB1 (All Countries): This category is expected to remain current throughout fiscal year 2015.

EB2 ROW (Rest of World): This category is expected to remain current throughout this fiscal year 2015.



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Wednesday, October 29, 2014

DHS To Implement Haitian Family Reunification Parole Program

From USCIS: Starting in early 2015, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) will begin implementation of a Haitian Family Reunification Parole (HFRP) Program to expedite family reunification for certain eligible Haitian family members of U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents of the U.S. and to promote safe, legal and orderly migration from Haiti to the United States.

Under this program U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) will offer certain eligible Haitian beneficiaries of already approved family-based immigrant visa petitions, who are currently in Haiti, an opportunity to come to the United States up to approximately two years before their immigrant visa priority dates become current.

“The rebuilding and development of a safe and economically strong Haiti is a priority for the United States.  The Haitian Family Reunification Parole program promotes a fundamental underlying goal of our immigration system – family reunification.  It also supports broader U.S. goals for Haiti’s reconstruction and development by providing the opportunity for certain eligible Haitians to safely and legally immigrate sooner to the United States,” said Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas.

“The United States strongly discourages individuals in Haiti from undertaking life-threatening and illegal maritime journeys to the United States. Such individuals will not qualify for the HFRP program and if located at sea may be returned to Haiti.”



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Monday, October 27, 2014

New E-Verify Service Combats Fraud, Protects Identity, Educates Workers

From USCIS: U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Director León Rodríguez announced the launch of myE-Verify—a new website designed for employees.  myE-Verify is a one-stop shop for employees to create and maintain secure personal accounts and access new features for identity protection.

“Since its inception, E-Verify has provided employees with valuable online tools and resources regarding the employment eligibility verification process,” said Director Rodríguez. “myE-Verify signifies a significant step forward for added transparency, features, and identity protection.”

myE-Verify gives workers a free and secure way to participate in the E-Verify process by accessing features dedicated for employees, including Self Check and the Employee Rights Toolkit.  For added security, individuals will have their identities verified through Self Check, in order to create a myE-Verify account.



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Saturday, October 25, 2014

USCIS New Secure Ink

On July 1, 2014, U. S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) began using a new secure
blue ink for many of its secure stamps. The older secure red ink will be retired and no longer
used by USCIS on the effective date.

On July 1, 2014, USCIS began using the following list of stamps with secure blue ink:
  • Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Parole Stamp
  • Temporary I-551 Alien Documentary Identification and Telecommunication (ADIT) Stamp
  • Refugee Stamp (Section 207)
  • Asylum Stamp (Section 208)
  • Initial / Replacement Form I-94 Stamp



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Wednesday, October 22, 2014

USCIS FB I-485 & I-130 Processing Statistics As Of July 2014

Please see below latest FB (family based) statistics released by USCIS:

USCIS I-130 - Preference Category Processing Statistics


 CSC VSC NSC National
All Other Pending 4,663 7,401 780 13,611
Pending but adjudication deferred 355,393 140,156 3,206 501,949
Customer action waiting 17,077 2,805 197 20,223
Completed 13,865 3,109 1,080 18,676
New receipts 15,745 4,259 544 20,691

Volume in Texas Service Center (TSC) is currently low.

CSC = California Service Center
VSC = Vermont Service Center
NSC = Nebraska Service Center
 
USCIS FB I-485 Processing Statistics



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Monday, October 20, 2014

USCIS US Citizen I-129F, I-130 & I-485 Processing Statistics As Of July 2014

Please see below latest US Citizen Beneficiary Statistics released by USCIS:

USCIS I-130 - Immediate Relative Category Processing Statistics:


CSC VSC National
All Other Pending 5,611 23,267 265,213
Customer action waiting 5,398 5,176 21,923
Completed 11,013 5,891 55,515
New receipts 720 4,186 44,080

CSC = California Service Center 
VSC = Vermont Service Center 
    
USCIS I-129F Processing Statistics:


CSC VSC National
All Other Pending 4,031 1,066 19,147
Customer action waiting 947 74 2,181
Completed 1,376 98 3,209
New receipts 1,819 87 4,237

USCIS I-485 Processing Statistics:



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Friday, October 17, 2014

USCIS Visa Bulletin Predictions From December 2014 - February 2015

For February 2015 Visa Bulletin prediction, please click here: http://blog.mygcvisa.com/2014/12/february-2015-visa-bulletin-predictions.html

Department of State have posted their visa bulletin prediction for the next few months:

FAMILY-sponsored categories:

Worldwide dates:
  • F1:   Two to three weeks
  • F2A: Three to five weeks
  • F2B: Six to eight weeks
  • F3:   One to three weeks
  • F4:   Two or four weeks

EMPLOYMENT-based categories:

Employment First: Current

Employment Second:
  • Worldwide: Current
  • China: Three to five weeks
  • India: No forward movement

Employment Third:
  • Worldwide: Continued rapid forward movement for the next several months. After such rapid advance of the cut-off date applicant demand for number use, particularly for adjustment of status cases, is expected to increase significantly. Once such demand begins to materialize at a greater rate it will impact this cut-off date situation. 
  • China: Rapid forward movement. Such movement is likely to result in increased demand which may require "corrective" action possibly as early as February.
  • India: Little if any movement
  • Mexico: Will remain at the worldwide date
  • Philippines: Will remain at the worldwide date. Increased demand may require "corrective" action at some point later in the fiscal year. 

Employment Fourth: Current

Employment Fifth: Current

The above projections for the Family and Employment categories indicate what is likely to happen during each of the next three months based on current applicant demand patterns.

Readers should never assume that recent trends in cut-off date movements are guaranteed for the future, or that "corrective" action will not be required at some point in an effort to maintain number use within the applicable annual limits.

The determination of the actual monthly cut-off dates is subject to fluctuations in applicant demand and a number of other variables.


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Wednesday, October 15, 2014

USCIS EB I-140 and I-485 Processing Statistics As Of July 2014


USCIS EB I-140 Processing Statistics 


 TSC NSC National
Pending 14,523 11,201 25,786
Customer Action Wait 1,703 1,521 3,224
Completed 4,577 3,325 7,903
New Receipt 5,074 3,756 8,830

USCIS EB I-485 Processing Statistics



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Sunday, October 12, 2014

December 2014 Visa Bulletin Predictions

For November 2014 Visa Bulletin And Analysis, please click here: http://blog.mygcvisa.com/2014/10/november-2014-visa-bulletin.html

For the official December 2014 Visa Bulletin, please click here: http://blog.mygcvisa.com/2014/11/december-2014-visa-bulletin.html

Please see December 2014 Visa Bulletin Predictions below (for both Family Based and Employment Based):

Quick Summary:

Family Based:

Family-Sponsored All Chargeability Areas Except Those Listed CHINA- mainland born INDIA MEXICO PHILIPPINES
F1 01JUL07 01JUL07 01JUL07 22JUL94 01DEC04
F2A 08APR13 08APR13 08APR13 15NOV12 08APR13
F2B 22FEB08 22FEB08 22FEB08 22OCT94 01FEB04
F3 22DEC03 22DEC03 22DEC03 08NOV93 15JUN93
F4 22FEB02 22FEB02 22FEB02 01MAR97 01JUN91

Employment Based:



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Friday, October 10, 2014

November 2014 Visa Bulletin Analysis

For November 2014 Visa Bulletin, please click here: http://blog.mygcvisa.com/2014/10/november-2014-visa-bulletin.html

Please see below analysis of November 2014 Visa Bulletin:

EB1: All EB1 categories are current and should continue to remain current for fiscal year. Demand continues to be around 1200-1400 every month (per the latest pending inventory).

EB2 ROW: This category continues to remain current. Demand in EB2ROW continues to be very low at an average of around 300-600 per month. 

EB2 China: EB2 China moved forward by 3 weeks in this visa bulletin. It is likely to continue to move forward around 3 to 5 weeks per month.

EB2 India: Also as expected, EB2 India category retrogressed exactly to 15FEB05. We had earlier posted a blog post that EB2 India quota has been used up for fiscal year 2014. This category may not move forward for the next few months.

We have added a blog post exclusive to EB2 India movement in fiscal year 2014. As many of you expected, retrogression was expected in November due to large demand from (a) applicants porting from EB3 India to EB2 India  (since they have been waiting in EB3 India category for more than a decade) and (b) applicants who are filing I-485 for the first time.

Also please see this blog post for updates in EB2 (India, ROW and China) category.



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Monday, October 6, 2014

November 2014 Visa Bulletin

For October 2014 Visa Bulletin, please click here: http://blog.mygcvisa.com/2014/09/october-2014-visa-bulletin.html

For analysis of November 2014 Visa Bulletin, please click here: http://blog.mygcvisa.com/2014/10/november-2014-visa-bulletin-analysis.html

November 2014 Visa Bulletin has been released (valid from November 1 to November 30 only). Please see below for more details.

Family Based:

Family-Sponsored All Chargeability Areas Except Those Listed CHINA-mainland born INDIA MEXICO PHILIPPINES
F1 08JUN07 08JUN07  08JUN07 08JUL94 01NOV04
F2A 01MAR13 01MAR13 01MAR13 22SEP12 01MAR13
F2B 01JAN08 01JAN08 01JAN08 08SEP94  01JAN04
F3 08DEC03 08DEC03 08DEC03 01NOV93 08JUN93
F4 08FEB02 08FEB02 08FEB02 15FEB97 01MAY91

Employment Based:



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Saturday, October 4, 2014

Some Biometric Appointment Notices Issued in Error

From USCIS: Recently USCIS erroneously scheduled some customers for more than one Application Support Center (ASC) biometric appointment (Form I-797C).

If you have already attended an ASC biometric appointment, and received a second appointment notice for the same application type, please call the National Customer Service Center at 1-800-375-5283 (TTY for hearing impaired: 1-800-767-1833) to confirm that you do not need to return to the ASC to have biometrics collected again.



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Wednesday, October 1, 2014

Deferred Enforced Departure Extended for Eligible Liberians in U.S.

From USCIS: U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced it will automatically extend Employment Authorization Documents (EADs) for Liberian nationals covered under Deferred Enforced Departure (DED). Current DED Liberia EADs that have an expiration date of Sept. 30, 2014, will now be valid through March 30, 2015.

This automatic extension of EADs follows President Obama’s announcement today of his decision to extend DED through September 30, 2016, for qualified Liberians and those individuals without nationality who last habitually resided in Liberia.

The six-month automatic extension of existing EADs allows eligible Liberian nationals to continue working in the United States while they file their applications. The extension also gives USCIS time to process and issue the new EADs.

Deferred Enforced Departure for Liberian nationals was scheduled to end on Sept. 30, 2014. However, President Obama determined that there are compelling foreign policy reasons to extend DED for eligible Liberian nationals currently living in the United States under the existing grant of DED.



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