On Thursday, June 11, 2009, Senators Robert Menendez, Kirsten Gillibrand and Patrick Leahy introduced the Orphans, Widows and Widowers Protection Act (S. 1427). This legislation would provide essential immigration protections for those impacted by the death of a sponsoring relative. The legislation imposes specific requirements that must be followed for…
On Wednesday, May 20, 2009, Senators Edward Kennedy, Robert Menendez, Charles Schumer, and Kirsten Gillibrand introduced the Reuniting Families Act (S. 1085). This legislation would amend the Immigration and Nationality Act/Family Based Immigration System by promoting family unity among other important purposes. The legislation is intended to help families unite…
Processing Time reports for all of the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS) Centers were released on May 15, 2009 with processing dates as of March 31, 2009. If you filed a petition with one of the Service Centers, please review the links below to determine the applicable processing time…
The United States Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS) announced on April 27, 2009 that they have made minor changes to the process of applying for a replacement Permanent Resident card. These changes apply to all applicants applying via paper form, including those applying because their previously issued card was never…
Processing Time reports for all of the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS) Centers were released on April 16, 2009 with processing dates as of February 28, 2009. If you filed a petition with one of the Service Centers, please review the links below to determine the applicable processing time…
The Department of State has released its latest Visa Bulletin. The May 2009 visa bulletin still shows employment based third preference (EB-3) visas as oversubscribed while the employment based second preference (EB-2) is current for all areas of chargeability except for China and India. Click here to view the May…
Every year, thousands of U.S. citizens petition the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) to allow their foreign fiancé to come to the United States under a K-1 visa . Under a K-1 visa, the foreign national must marry the petitioner within 90 days of arriving in the United States,…
No matter what avenue you take towards permanent resident status (“green card”), whether it is family-based petition, employment-based petition, or diversity visa based, the priority date of your petition determines the order of visa availability for each particular category. Priority Dates for Family-Based Petitions For family based petitions, the priority…