Processing Time reports for all of the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS) Service Centers were released on 6/14/16 with processing dates as of 4/30/16.
If you filed a petition with one of the Service Centers, please review the links below to determine the applicable processing time associated with your particular case.
Immigration Policy Center Releases Updated State-by-State Fact Sheets (2015)
The Immigration Policy Center (IPC) has released all fifty states, the District of Columbia and the United States (Overall), for a total of fifty-two updated fact sheets with accompanying info graphics and other details. These fact sheets highlight the demographic and economic impact of Immigrants, Asians and Latinos in each state. The Immigration Policy Center (IPC) is the research and policy division of the American Immigration Council (AIC).
As Washington D.C. continues the discussion of Comprehensive Immigration Reform, we thought that it would be a good time to provide some statistics on the Immigrant population in the United States as provided by this IPC research. Once a week we will be posting a blog with information on three states at a time. This week we will highlight; Nevada, New Hampshire & New Jersey.
The United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) will be holding a teleconference on Wednesday, June 29, 2016 between 2:00 to 3:30pm (Eastern). The subject of the event will be “H-2A and H-2B nonimmigrant visa classifications”. The first half will focus on the H-2A classification (temporary agricultural workers) and the second half will focus on the H-2B classification (temporary non-agricultural workers).
The teleconference will include a brief overview of each program and summary of recent updates. USCIS officials will answer the non-case specific questions submitted in advance and if time permits, a live Q&A session. If you would like to submit questions before the teleconference, please email USCISIGAOutreach@uscis.dhs.gov by Friday, June 10, at 5pm (Eastern). Please put “H-2 Teleconference” in the subject line, and specify if your question is related to H-2A or H-2B.
Event Information:
The Board of Alien Labor Certification Appeals (BALCA) recently overturned the decision of a Certifying Officer (CO) to deny labor certification for the position of “Home Health Care Aide”
After receiving & reviewing an Employer’s Application for Permanent Labor Certification, the CO issued an Audit notification. He asked the employer to provide more information about their print advertising for the job.
The CO denied the application declaring that the Employer failed to deliver sufficient documentation for the mandatory print advertisements. The Employer did not provide copies of the advertisement that contained both the name of the newspaper as well as the date of publication, He cited the Employer was in violation of PERM regulation 20 C.F.R. 656.17(e)(1)(i)(B)(3) and 656.17(e)(2)(ii)(C).
The Department of State has released its latest Visa Bulletin.
Click here to view the July 2016 Visa Bulletin
The monthly Visa Bulletin has changed. The bulletin now summarizes the availability of immigrant numbers during the reported month for: “Application Final Action Dates” (consistent with prior Visa Bulletins) and “Dates for Filing Applications,” indicating when immigrant visa applicants should be notified to assemble and submit required documentation to the National Visa Center using Consular Processing (outside of the US) or file on their own with USCIS Form I-485 (within the US).
MVP Law Group, P.A. makes available the information and materials in this forum for informational purposes only. The information is general in nature and does not constitute legal advice or any contractual obligations. Further, the use of this site, and the sending or receipt of this information, does not create an attorney-client relationship between us. Therefore, your communication with us through this forum will not be considered as privileged or confidential.
Question #1 – Criminal Convictions Will a criminal conviction impair my ability to receive a temporary visa?
Answer #1 It depends upon the type of criminal conviction. Depending upon the seriousness of the criminal conviction, it is possible to be inadmissible and/or deportable for certain criminal convictions – crimes of moral turpitude, crimes involving domestic violence. You should speak with an Immigration Attorney to further discuss your situation.
On Wednesday, June 08, 2016, the Filipino World War II Veterans Parole (FWVP) Program takes effect. This program allows certain Filipino World War II veteran family members an opportunity to receive a grant of parole on a case-by-case basis. If these family members are approved for parole they will be able to come to the United States before their immigrant visas are available. They will also be able to apply for work authorization.
USCIS has created a Web Page, “Filipino World War II Veterans Parole Program“, with more detailed information.
The web page provides additional information on:
USCIS has released their second quarter, Fiscal Year 2016 (FY2016) performance data for all form types as a statistical table. They have divided the forms by category: Family, Employment, Humanitarian, Citizenship and Naturalization, and Other as the rows. The columns are divided by case status: Received, Approved, Denied, and Pending. These updated FY2016 statistics (second quarter) cover January 2016 through March 2016. Here is the link to the Q2 table, “All Form Types Performance Data (Fiscal Year 2016, 2nd Qtr)“.
Source of Information:
– USCIS.gov, 5/25/16, Table (PDF):
The Board of Alien Labor Certification Appeals (BALCA) recently affirmed the decision of a Certifying Officer (CO) to deny labor certification for the position of “Producer.”
After receiving & reviewing an Employer’s Application for Permanent Labor Certification, the CO issued an Audit notification. It required the Employer to show proof of the State Workforce Agency’s (SWA) job order as well as all resumes received in connection with the position. The Employer responded and the CO continued to review the application.
The CO denied the application based on two different PERM regulations. PERM regulation 20 C.F.R. 656.17 (e)(1)(i) requires that “two print advertisements are mandatory for all applications involving professional occupations.” These advertisements must run on two different Sundays in the area of intended employment. The Employer placed the ad for the Producer position in the Wall Street Journal (WSJ), which does not qualify as a professional journal, and could not be used in lieu of the mandatory Sunday advertisements as required by the PERM regulations, because the ad was not run on a Sunday. Furthermore, the CO indicated in his denial that the employee did not meet the minimum requirements of the position. He cited PERM regulation 20 C.F.R. 656.17(i)(1).
We wanted to find a new way to engage our reader base. Every other Friday, we will post the ten (10) best/most frequently asked questions received during the week from our h1bvisalawyerblog, Facebook, and Twitter readers. We will answer those questions and provide the Q&A on our H-1B Visa Lawyer Blog.
If you have a burning question, are seeking assistance with a difficult immigration related case, wish to discuss your views on Comprehensive Immigration Reform, DREAMers, Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, priority dates, the monthly visa bulletin, adjustment applications, etc., please contact us by submitting your question/comment/viewpoint in our comment box provided on our H-1B Visa Lawyer Blog.
Our next “Q & A Forum” will take place this Friday, June 10, 2016. Act now and submit your questions!
H1B Visa Lawyer Blog