Category: Visa Bulletin

The Department of State’s Visa Bulletin for the month of January 2016 notes that the non-minister special immigrant program (SR visa, employment fourth preference) expired on December 11, 2015. No SR visas may be issued overseas or related final action taken on adjustment of status cases. Visas issued before this date are only issued with… Read More

The Department of State’s Visa Bulletin for December 2015 includes information on visa number availability in the coming months. For the employment fourth preference (certain religious workers) category, the bulletin notes that the non-minister special immigrant (SR) program expires on December 11, 2015. No SR visas may be issued overseas, or final action taken on… Read More

On November 18, 2015, the Department of State (DOS) will replace the legacy Volume 9 of the Foreign Affairs Manual (9 FAM) with the 9 FAM-e. The 9 FAM-e will become the authoritative source for visa guidance. DOS said the new 9 FAM-e represents the revision and reorganization of more than 4,000 pages of the… Read More

On September 24, 2015, the Department of State issued an update that supersedes the previously released October Visa Bulletin. By moving many filing dates back, the update radically changed the recently announced benefit offered by a revised procedure for determining immigrant visa availability and filing adjustment of status applications. The revised process allows foreign nationals… Read More

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced on September 24, 2015, that it had suspended through September 30, 2015, the adjudication of all employment-based Form I-485 (Application to Register Permanent Residence or Adjust Status) adjustment applications pending with USCIS through that date, because the Department of State reported that the statutory cap was reached for… Read More