Siskind Susser is excited to announce that Lynn Susser was recently elected to ABIL, the Alliance of Business Immigration Lawyers. ABIL is comprised of over 20 lawyers from top tier immigration practices with years of expertise and a comprehensive understanding of immigration law. For more information on ABIL, including a map of ABIL attorneys worldwide, visit their website at www.abil.com.
The following articles are excerpts from ABIL’s monthly Immigration Insider, available here on their website.
USCIS Launches ‘Refresh’ of InfoPass Appointment Scheduler
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) recently launched a “refresh” of InfoPass, an online system that allows users to schedule appointments at USCIS offices.
New features include a mapping function that USCIS said makes it easier to find a local office in the United States and a visual style that matches the rest of uscis.gov, as well as a new web address.
The announcement is at https://www.uscis.gov/news/alerts/try-uscis-improved-infopass-appointment-scheduler. InfoPass is at https://my.uscis.gov/appointment.
Various Categories Oversubscribed for August, State Dept. Reports
The Department of State’s Visa Bulletin for the month of August 2016 reports that various employment-based categories are oversubscribed:
India E4 and certain religious workers categories. The bulletin notes that there has been extremely high demand in the EB-4 and SR categories, primarily for Juvenile Court Dependent cases filed with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) for adjustment of status. This has now required the implementation of E4 and SR Application Final Action Dates for India, which has reached its per-country limit. The bulletin says that this action will allow the Department to hold worldwide number use within the maximum allowed under the FY 2016 annual limits. The India EB-4 and SR dates will become Current for October.
The August bulletin reflects a final action date of January 1, 2010, for EB-4 visas for special immigrants from India. This means that starting on August 1, 2016, applicants from India who filed Form I-360, Petition for Amerasian, Widow(er), or Special Immigrant on or after January 1, 2010, will not be able to obtain an immigrant visa or adjust status until new visa numbers become available.
The July bulletin previously noted that the establishment of the EB-4 preference Final Action Date of January 1, 2010, “does not mean that applicants are now subject to a wait in excess of six years. That Final Action Date is intended only to stop any further use of numbers by applicants from those countries.”
China and India EB-1 categories. The continued high level of demand for EB-1 visa numbers for USCIS adjustment of status applicants has required the establishment of a cut-off date for August, the bulletin states. This has been done in an attempt to hold number use within the Worldwide EB-1 annual limit. The EB-1 date for these two countries will once again become Current for October, the first month of fiscal year 2017, the bulletin notes.
Worldwide, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, and Philippines E2 categories. Continued high demand for numbers for USCIS adjustment of status applicants has required the establishment of a date for August, the bulletin notes. This action has been required to hold number use within the Worldwide EB-2 annual limit. The date for these countries will once again become Current for October, the first month of fiscal year 2017.
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This newsletter was prepared with the assistance of ABIL, the Alliance of Business Immigration Lawyers (www.abil.com), of which Lynn Susser is an active member.
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Disclaimer: This newsletter is provided as a public service and not intended to establish an attorney client relationship. Any reliance on information contained herein is taken at your own risk.