Our Chatting with Charlie series continues with WR Immigration Director of Visa Consulting Charlie Oppenheim, Partners Dan Maranci and Kimberley Best Robidoux, and Senior Attorney Laura Bloniarz. They give the latest insights to the October Visa Bulletin and information regarding the New I-9 process. Watch below!
The State Department has released the January Visa Bulletin. Below are highlights along with commentary from WR Immigration’s Director of Visa Consulting Charlie Oppenheim on the Visa Bulletin updates, many of which he predicted in his December 15, 2022, “Chatting with Charlie” webinar. Related: Chatting with Charlie webinar series continues in January! See upcoming dates>> EB-1: All countries remain current, except for India and China, which as predicted during the December 15 Chatting with Charlie, an EB-1 Final Action Date (FAD) of February 1, 2022 has been imposed for both India and China and an Application Filing Date (AFD) for adjustment filing for cases with priority dates earlier than June 1, 2022. USCIS will publish on its Visa Bulletin web page whether they will allow either the AFD or FAD to be used for the filing of adjustment of status applications for January. EB-2: The India EB-2 India FAD remains unchanged at October 8, 2011, and the India AFD remains unchanged at May 1, 2012. China EB-2 remains unchanged at June 8, 2019. All other countries stay on November 1, 2022. EB-3 Professionals and Skilled Workers: The India EB-3 FAD will remains unchanged at June 15, 2012, and the AFD remains unchanged at August 1, 2012. The China EB-3 FAD remains unchanged at August 1, 2018, and the AFD stays on September 1, […]
USCIS processing of Forms I-829 Petition by Investor to Remove Conditions on Permanent Resident Status has taken a turn for the worse, and conditional green card holders are suffering with the bureaucratic challenges that arise from USCIS’ delays, which damage their ability to live in the United States and fully derive the benefits of their conditional lawful permanent residency. It appears that USCIS has a pattern and practice of delaying adjudications on Forms I-829 in an attempt to make life harder for immigrants and causing some to give up, despite regulations requiring a decision or interview within 90 days of filing. Wolfsdorf Rosenthal LLP has a solution to compel USCIS to finalize a Form I-829 adjudication within a reasonable amount of time – file a lawsuit in federal court under the Administrative Procedures Act. USCIS reports on its website the following average processing time on a Form I-829. Since 2016, processing times have increased nearly 95%. Fiscal Year Processing Times in Months 2016 19.1 2017 27.7 2018 27.1 2019 33.3 2020 37.2 USCIS now reports processing times of 33 to 59 months for Forms I-829 (though in November 2020 it was up to 234 months!). The 18-month conditional green card […]
