The Department of State just issued the July 2023 Visa Bulletin. This blog post analyzes this month's Visa Bulletin. Visa Bulletin Table A: Final Action Dates -- Applications with these dates may be approved for their Green Card (Permanent Residency card) or Immigrant Visa appointment.   EB All Other CHINA INDIA PHILIPPINES EB-1 C 01FEB22 01FEB22 C EB-2 15FEB22 08JUN19 01JAN11 15FEB22 EB-3 01FEB22 01APR19 01JAN09 01FEB22 Other workers 01JAN20 01SEP15 01JAN09 01JAN20   USCIS The USCIS is expected to use Table A: Final Act ..read more

The United States is about to learn the hard way what happens when an entire generation of nurses retires without enough new clinicians to fill their shoes at the bedside.  That is how an opinion piece in Time magazine presents the US nursing crisis.  The opinion piece co-authored by HHS Secretaries Kathleen Sebelius (Obama) and Alex Azar (Trump) urges Congress to recapture unused visas for qualified international nurses to address the growing US nursing shortage. The Secretaries plainly argue that, This is a whole-of-America crisis and we need a whole-of-government response, includi ..read more

 Effective March 31, 2023, USCIS no longer requires that the medical exam (Form I-693) be submitted to USCIS within 60 days of the civil surgeon’s signature.  Medical exams remain valid for two years after the civil surgeon’s signature, regardless of when the underlying immigration application was submitted to USCIS, including I-485 applications for green cards.  USCIS indicates that this new policy will allow the USCIS to process I-485 applications more expeditiously instead of requesting updated medical exams.  USCIS also clarified that civil surgeons must use the current ..read more

On March 23, 2023, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced the end of certain flexibilities initially introduced during the COVID-19 pandemic. Prior to March 23, 2023, applicants and petitioners were granted an automatic 60-day extension when responding to certain notices and requests. Effective immediately, notices and requests dated after March 23, 2023, must be responded to by the deadline listed in the notice or request. This includes: Requests for Evidence; Continuations to Request Evidence (N-14); Notices of Intent to Deny; Notices of Intent to Revoke; Notices of ..read more