The Department of State has just issued the October 2024 Visa Bulletin, the first of the new Fiscal Year. This blog post analyzes this month's Visa Bulletin. Visa Bulletin Table A: Final Action Dates - Consular applicants with these priority dates or earlier may be approved for their Green Card (Permanent Residency card) or Immigrant Visa appointment: Table B: Dates of Filing - Adjustment of Status applicants with these priority dates or earlier may file their Form I-485: MU Law Analysis EB-1 and EB-2: The Visa Bulletin for categories EB-1 and EB-2 made nearly no movement from September 20 ..read more

Last week, the Department of State announced that all available Green Cards had been issued for EB-1 and EB-4 categories. The Department of State announced earlier last month that the limits had been reached for EB-3 and EB-3 Other Workers and EB-5 unreserved categories. For any category that is announced as “Unavailable”, Green Cards will not be issued to consular applicants completing an Immigrant Visa interview under that category, and Adjustment of Status applications filed under that category will not be approved until the new fiscal year, which begins October 1, 2024. The following categ ..read more

The Department of State has just issued the September 2024 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. The USCIS will use the Table A Final Action chart for I-485 employment-based filings in September 2024. See: USCIS Visa Bulletin Dates MU Law Analysis There was no movement forward for any employment-based category, and the EB-3 category for Philippines, Mexico, and Rest of World retrogressed an addit ..read more

On Monday, August 5, USCIS announced in a News Alert that it had completed its second round of H-1B CAP selections in the Fiscal Year 2025 H-1B Cap lottery (FY 2025 refers to CAP registrations filed in March 2024). Those with selected second-round registrations received a selection notice in their https://my.uscis.gov/ account, which includes details of when and where to file. An H-1B cap-subject petition must be properly filed within the filing period indicated on the selection notice. Most second-round selection notices indicate a filing window of August 8, 2024 – November 7, 2024. In all ca ..read more

The USCIS has announced in a News Alert that it will select a second round of H-1B registrations in the Fiscal Year 2025 H-1B Cap lottery (FY 2025 refers to CAP registrations filed in March 2024). The second round of selections indicates that not enough H-1B petitions were submitted between April 1, 2024 and June 30, 2024 to meet the total 85,000 H-1B CAP. In its News Alert, USCIS clarified that it will not be conducting a second selection for the advanced degree exemption (the master’s cap), as enough master’s cap petitions were received to meet the 20,000 FY 2025 masters cap. The second roun ..read more

MU Law will be hosting a FREE webinar for our clients and friends on Tuesday, July 30th, 2024 from 1:00-2:00 pm Eastern (12:00-1:00 pm Central). Join us for this FREE webinar to learn more about: Specialty Occupation Criteria Potential H-1B Filing Approaches H-1B Cap Exemption H-1B RN Filing Trends PLEASE JOIN US ..read more

The Department of State has just issued the July 2024 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. Employment-based All Chargeability  Areas Except Those Listed CHINA- mainland  born INDIA MEXICO PHILIPPINES 1st C 01FEB22 01FEB22 C C 2nd 15FEB22 08JUN19 01JAN11 15FEB22 15FEB22 3rd 15FEB22 01APR19 01JAN09 01FEB22 15FEB22 Table B: Dates o ..read more

On May 28, 2024, the USCIS Texas Service Center temporarily suspended the intake of all petitions, applications, and other benefit requests due to widespread and severe weather. This temporary closure has caused delays in the delivery of all immigration applications, petitions, or immigration requests sent to the USCIS Texas Service Center. Courier services will re-attempt delivery once the Texas Service Center re-opens, and petitioners and applicants do not need to take further action. At this time, USCIS has not announced when the Texas Service Center will re-open. If a petition or appl ..read more

The Department of State has just issued the June 2024 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. Employment-based All Chargeability  Areas Except Those Listed CHINA- mainland  born INDIA MEXICO PHILIPPINES 1st C 01SEP22 01MAR21 C C 2nd 15JAN23 01FEB20 01APR12 15JAN23 15JAN23 3rd 22NOV22 01SEP20 15AUG12 22NOV22 22NOV22 Table B: Dates o ..read more

On April 04, 2024, The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) issued a policy alert announcing official guidance in the USCIS Policy Manual clarifying the validity period of Form I-693, Report of Immigration Medical Examination and Vaccination Record, also known as the medical exam. Generally, all green card applicants are required to submit a valid medical exam to prove to the USCIS that the applicant’s green card application cannot be denied for health-related reasons. According to the USCIS, all medical examinations signed by a Civil Surgeon on or after November 1, 2023, will rem ..read more