After pleading guilty to a charge of counterfeiting a passport application, Ramon Francisco of the Dominican Republic who resided in Connecticut was sentenced to 14 months in prison October 28. During the investigation by the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Office of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), it was discovered…
The Department of State has released its latest Visa Bulletin. Click here to view the December 2010 Visa Bulletin. The December 2010 Visa Bulletin still shows employment based third preference (EB-3) visas as oversubscribed while the employment based second preference (EB-2) is current for all areas of chargeability except for…
MVP “Q & A Forum” – This Friday, November 19th, 2010 We wanted to find a new way to engage our reader base. Every other Friday, we will post the ten (10) best/most frequently asked questions received during the week from our h1bvisalawyerblog, Facebook, and Twitter readers. We will answer…
US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) recently released information on their new relaxed deportation policy. This new policy mainly affects immigrants who are married or related to US citizens and legal residents. Before this policy was instated, if an immigrant was going through deportation proceedings they would automatically be deported…
To celebrate Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender Pride in the month of June, the US Department of State announced its policy regarding gender change on passports and Consular Reports of Birth Abroad. Beginning on June 10, 2010 an applicant may change the gender on their passport or Consular Report of Birth…
The Administrative Appeals Office (AAO) Processing Times were released with processing dates as of November 1, 2010. If you filed an appeal, please review the links below to determine the applicable processing time associated with your particular case. Administrative Appeals Office The current processing time for an I-129 H-1B Appeal…
On October 20, The Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR) launched its new website www.justice.gov/eoir, which was created due to efforts to give the site a fresher look with more organization and easy to use applications. All types of individuals like respondents, representatives, non-governmental organizations, the press, and public use…
The United States Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS) has updated the count of H-1B petitions received and counted towards the 65,000 cap. As of November 5, 2010, 46,800 H-1B Regular CAP subject non-immigrant visa petitions have been filed with the USCIS towards the 65,000 cap. As of November 5, 2010,…
Even though the District of Columbia legalized same sex marriage earlier this year, the federal government doesn’t recognize the marriages and therefore same sex couples do not receive the same benefits as heterosexual couples. Erwin de Leon and Rev. John Beddingfield are just one of the many couples in the…
The Board of Alien Labor Certification Appeals (BALCA) recently vacated and remanded the final determination of a Certifying Officer (CO) denying labor certification (LC) for an alien worker for the position of “Chefs and Head Cooks.” The CO originally denied certification on May 5, 2008 because the sponsorship of the…