Mark A Ivener, A Law Corporation

Category: DOS


DOS Makes ‘Significant Progress’ in Bringing Visa Processing Back Online and Clearing Backlogs

The Department of State (DOS) announced that it has made “significant progress” in bringing back online the Consular Consolidated Database (CCD), used to print and approve visas and passports. The system had crashed in July 2014 and has continued to experience outages, resulting in processing backlogs. DOS said it has caught up with issuances for… Read More

DOS Extends Special Immigrant Visas for Afghans

The Department of State announced that its authority to issue special immigrant visas (SIVs) to certain Afghan nationals under the Afghan Allies Protection Act of 2009, as amended, has been extended.  In addition to the 3,000 visas for Afghan principal applicants originally allocated for use in fiscal year 2014, another 1,000 SIVs may be issued… Read More

Consular Visa/Passport System Crashes

According to reports, the Department of State’s Consular Consolidated Database (CCD), used to print and approve visas and passports, has been having significant problems, including outages, since July 19, 2014. The CCD is back up and running in a limited capacity, the Department said, but the Bureau of Consular Affairs is still working through the… Read More

August Visa Bulletin Shows Advances in China and ‘Other Workers’ EB-3 Preference Categories, India EB-2 Preference

The Department of State’s Visa Bulletin for August 2014 notes that cut-off dates for the China-mainland born employment third preference, and third preference “Other Workers,” categories have advanced for the month of August and could do so again for September. The bulletin notes two reasons for this advance: (1) a decline during the past two… Read More

White House Requests $3.7 Billion for Border Crisis

As the United States continues to grapple with an influx of undocumented children and others along the southern border, on July 8, 2014, President Barack Obama requested a $3.7 billion supplemental appropriation to fund activities at the Departments of Homeland Security (DHS), Justice (DOJ), State (DOS), and Health and Human Services (HHS). In its request… Read More