Category Archives: Immigration
USCIS Revises Form I-9 (Verification of Employment Eligibility)
US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) recently published a revised version of Form I-9, Employment Eligibility Verification. By January 22, 2017, employers must use only the new version, dated 11/14/2016. Until then, they can continue to use either the version dated 03/08/2013 or the new version. Among the changes in the new version, Section 1 […]
USCIS Fees to Increase
Fees for immigration transactions will increase by an average of 21 percent beginning on December 23, 2016. Applications or petitions mailed, postmarked, or otherwise filed on or after December 23, 2016 must include the new fees. While the fees for some petitions will remain the same, others will see significant increases. According to USCIS, the […]
Instructions for 2018 Diversity Lottery
The Department of State has issued detailed instructions for the Diversity Immigrant Visa Program (DV-18). annually. Each year, the Congressionally enacted Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) provides for a class of immigrants known as “diversity immigrants” from countries with historically low rates of immigration to the United States. For Fiscal Year 2018, 50,000 Diversity Visas (DVs) will […]
Immigration Processing Times
Follow these links to access current processing times of the USCIS Field Offices and Service Centers, the Department of Labor, or the Department of State’s latest Visa Bulletin with the most recent cut-off dates for visa numbers: USCIS Field Office and Service Center processing times online: https://egov.uscis.gov/cris/processTimesDisplay.do Department of Labor processing times and information on […]
Increased Wait Times for H-1B and L-1 Visas at U.S. Consular Posts in India
The American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) reports that U.S. Consular Posts in India are currently experiencing extraordinary wait times for nonimmigrant visa (NIV) interview appointments. At the time of this writing, the current wait times for all NIV categories other than B, F, and J are: Chennai – 75 days Hyderabad – 93 days Kolkata […]
USCIS Reaches FY2017 H-1B Cap
On April 7th, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced has reached the congressionally mandated H-1B cap for fiscal year (FY) 2017. USCIS has also received more than the limit of 20,000 H-1B petitions filed under the U.S. advanced degree exemption. USCIS will use a computer-generated process, also known as the lottery, to randomly select the […]
