Latest News

All stateside visa applicants and those with urgent travel plans now have to wait a minimum of two business days for return of their passports if their visas have been approved. Clients should plan their travel accordingly.

The Department of State has released the latest version of its Telephone Directory (PDF), which includes key officers of foreign service posts and contact information, including posts’ telephone and fax numbers, business hours, and Web addresses.

During the past year, the Departments of Homeland Security (DHS) and State have continued to review conditions in Nicaragua. They have concluded that an 18-month extension of temporary protected status (TPS), from July 5, 2007, to January 5, 2009, is warranted because there continues to be a substantial, but temporary, disruption of living conditions in… Read More

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced on April 12, 2007, that it completed the computer-generated random selection process to determine which H-1B petitions subject to the congressionally mandated H-1B cap for fiscal year (FY) 2008 would be accepted for processing. Among other things, petitioners who received receipt notices dated before April 12, 2007, cannot… Read More

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) issued a final rule effective May 16, 2007, to permit petitioners to file O and P nonimmigrant petitions up to one year before the petitioner’s need for the worker’s services. The rule is intended to enable petitioners who are aware of their need for the services of an O… Read More

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is updating its electronic records system to consolidate information from different systems of records notices and add new sources of data. The update includes Basic Pilot Program information used to determine whether a newly hired employee is authorized to work in the U.S. The notice is available at here.… Read More

The Department of State’s Visa Bulletin for May 2007 notes that the employment third preference “other worker” category for unskilled workers was expected to reach the annual numerical limit by the end of April. As a result, the category became unavailable beginning in May and will remain so for the remainder of fiscal year 2007.… Read More

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) issued a final rule, effective June 18, 2007, to provide flexibility to the agency in setting the time allowed to applicants and petitioners to respond to a Request for Evidence (RFE) or to a Notice of Intent to Deny (NOID). Specifically, the final rule maintains the current 12-week standard… Read More

In Hoosier Care, Inc., v. Chertoff, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit noted that the DHS’s Administrative Appeals Office (AAO) had ruled that two workers’ college majors were not relevant postsecondary education for prospective positions in a residential care facility for profoundly disabled children and adults, because neither agriculture nor transportation is… Read More

In Hillcrest Baptist Church v. U.S.A., the plaintiffs filed a complaint for relief after U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services denied their adjustment of status applications. The government moved to dismiss because the plaintiffs had not renewed their applications in removal proceedings and, thus, had not yet exhausted their administrative remedies. The U.S. District Court for… Read More