lfdimmigration

[lfdimmigration]

June Bulletin Out, Not Looking Good for EB-2 Dates

Just this week, the Department of State released its June 2024 visa bulletin. First, there has been no change in the Final Action Dates and Dates for Filing: The final Action Date is still January 15, 2023, and the Dates for Filing are still February 15, 2023. Unfortunately, the DOS also indicated as follows towards the bottom of the bulletin in the section in which they give a glimpse of the…

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H-1B Season Starting with Some changes

The H-1B Cap Filing season will reopen in March of this year with some significant changes. The USCIS is introducing organizational accounts and adjusting how the lottery is conducted to ensure fairness. A. Organizational Accounts For both non-cap filings and the fiscal year 2025 H-1B cap season, USCIS will introduce organizational accounts. These accounts will enable multiple individuals…

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Increased Visa Application Fees: A Deeper Look

In a follow-up to our previous blog post, the White House is currently reviewing a rule to update visa application fees for the first time since 2016. The implications of this increase, particularly for companies seeking to sponsor workers for employment-based visas, are significant and deserve a closer look. Draft regulations released last year proposed an across-the-board fee increase of 40%.…

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Immigration: Fueling the Positive Engine of the US Economy

Introduction: Immigration has been a longstanding pillar of the United States, shaping the nation’s identity and contributing significantly to its economic growth. While debates around immigration policy can be divisive, recent articles highlight the positive effects that immigrants have on the US economy. From driving innovation to filling critical labor gaps, immigrants bring unique skills,…

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USCIS Is Raising Premium Fees to Account for Inflation Over the Last 3 Years

The USCIS Stabilization Act, passed on October 1, 2020 established the current premium processing fees and the authority for the Department of Homeland Security to adjust the premium fees on a biennial basis. While USCIS has not used this authority to change the new Premium Processing fees after they were introduced after that date, USCIS has decided that now is the time to increase those…

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January 2024 Visa Bulletin is Out and Finally Some movement.

The Department of State released the new Visa Bulletin for January 2024 just yesterday.  This blog post will try to provide a summary of any movement in this bulletin of relevance. Before getting to the summary of the current bulletin, here is a little bit about what the Visa Bulletin is and the information it contains. Every person who becomes a permanent resident in the US is given an…

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November 2023 Visa Bulletin: Not Much Change

The Visa Bulletin is like a monthly newsletter for immigrant visas. It tells us whether family and employment-based categories are current or backlogged. The Department of State (DOS) and USCIS team up to publish it every month. It’s has two charts: the Final Action Chart (shows priority dates that are current and available) and the Dates for Filing Chart (shows priority dates expected to become…

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New Fiscal Year, New Visa Bulletin - Uncertain Backlogs

Below is a recap of what the October 2023  visa bulleting showed in terms of movement in all categories.  It should be noted that this is the first visa bulletin for the new 2024 fiscal year. A.  FINAL ACTION DATES AND DATES FOR FILING FOR FAMILY-SPONSORED PREFERENCE CASES Family based cases really held fairly steady this month.  While there may have been a little movement forward in some…

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Anti-Immigration Laws passed in Florida - what are they and what has the reaction been?

Florida has enacted two new anti-immigration bills in the last couple of weeks – Senate Bill 264 and Senate Bill 1718.  In summary, Senate Bill 264 says the following: – Mandates that a foreign principal may not directly or indirectly own, have a controlling interest in, or acquire agricultural land or any interest in such land, or in real property on or within 10 miles of any military…

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New Visa Bulletin, New Possible Backlogs

DOS released the March 2023 Visa Bulletin a couple days ago and has indicated that new possible backlogs could be down the road and also appeared to remove some possible backlogs as well. First, last month the Department of State indicated that the Family Based 2A category (spouses and minor children of Permanent Residents) had the possibility of backlogging as soon as this month. Well, this…

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Education Spending, Social Security and Immigration

In looking at news reports over the last several weeks, several jumped out at me. A couple discussed immigration and social security, and several more discussed immigration and education spending. These are two very different issues, but both are being impacted by immigration – both those coming with documentation and those coming without. First, in terms of those coming to the US with…

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USCIS Proposed Huge Fee Increases

Earlier this month USCIS issued a proposed rule increasing prices of filing fees for an assortment of employment-based and other applications. Before discussing the actual increases, it is essential to remember that, as of now, this is a PROPOSED rule, not a final rule. There will be a 60-day comment period, and then USCIS will have to review and process comments and then issue a final rule. All…

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USCIS Expands Premium for ALL NIW applications and EB-13 Applications

USCIS Expands Premium for ALL NIW applications and EB-13 Applications

Today USCIS announced that it would expand premium processing for National Interest Waiver application to ALL pending and ALL initial applications starting January 30, 2023. To remind you, premium processing for the National Interest Waiver (or the EB13) costs $2500 and USCIS will process the application within 45 calendar days. It is important to ensure that if you are going to use premium…

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Can we afford to not reform our immigration system?

Can we afford to not reform our immigration system?

Photo by Andrea Piacquadio on Pexels.com While reviewing immigration news this week, two articles jumped out at me. Both were about the importance of immigration to the US economy. The first was in Yahoo! Finance and reported on a press briefing by the Secretary of Labor on the November Job Numbers. During this briefing, he (the Secretary) first highlighted the fact that there was overall…

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EB-2 Backlogs for All Countries as of December 1, 2022

EB-2 Backlogs for All Countries as of December 1, 2022

The December 2022 Visa Bulletin was released today. In the new bulletin, the Department of State has determined that the EB-2 category needs to be backlogged somewhat because of demand. As a reminder, the EB-2 category includes employer-sponsored applications for positions that require an Advanced Degree (Master’s or higher degree) as well as the National Interest Waiver (NIW) self-sponsored…

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Immigration, Points and Canada - Would a Canadian-like System work in the US?

Immigration, Points and Canada – Would a Canadian-like System work in the US?

Forbes recently published an excellent article looking at efforts to reform the US Immigration system and make it more like the Canadian system. For those who are not familiar with the Canadian system, they have a point-based system designed to bring in those with skills needed in Canada. In addition, Canada has steadily been INCREASING the number of immigrants it allows in, from 405,000 this…

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Attention Students: US Department of Education withdraws certification of ACICS as an accrediting institution

Attention Students: US Department of Education withdraws certification of ACICS as an accrediting institution

Photo by Stanley Morales on Pexels.com On August 19, 2022, the Department of Education announced that it would no longer recognize the  “Accrediting Council for Independent Colleges and Schools” (ACICS) as an accrediting agency. This  will affect Immigrants in several ways, depending on where they are in their course of study. First, for those still in school, either an English Language…