OUTSIDE THE BOX THINKING, DELIVERING CUTTING EDGE SOLUTIONS!

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The United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) will be holding a teleconference on Wednesday, October 11, 2017 between 3:00 to 4:00 pm (Eastern). The subject of the event will be the expanded use of in-person interviews for certain applications and petitions at USCIS field offices. Representatives from USCIS will be discussing the expanded use of in-person interviews and will hold a question and answer session at the end of the discussion.

Effective October 1st, USCIS began to phase-in interviews for adjustment of status applications based on employment (Form I-485, Application to Register Permanent Residence or Adjust Status), and refugee/asylee relative petitions (Form I-730, Refugee/Asylee Relative Petition) for beneficiaries who are in the U.S. and are petitioning to join a principal applicant who was admitted to the United States as a refugee or granted asylee status in the United States.

Event Information:

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The Board of Alien Labor Certification Appeals (BALCA) recently overturned the decision of a Certifying Officer (CO) to deny labor certification for the position of “Home Health Care Aide”

After receiving & reviewing an Employer’s Application for Permanent Labor Certification, the CO issued an Audit notification. He asked the employer to provide more information about their print advertising for the job.

The CO denied the application declaring that the Employer failed to deliver sufficient documentation for the mandatory print advertisements. The Employer did not provide copies of the advertisement that contained both the name of the newspaper as well as the date of publication, He cited the Employer was in violation of PERM regulation 20 C.F.R. 656.17(e)(1)(i)(B)(3) and 656.17(e)(2)(ii)(C).

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Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) has changed is truly an understatement! On September 5th, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) started the completed phase out of the DACA program as ordered by President Trump.

President Trump says he has a “great love” for these young immigrants that were protected under the DACA program and hopes “Congress will be able to help them and do it properly.” He has also promised to revisit the subject if Congress doesn’t act but no one really knows what that means.

DACA phase out

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Processing Time reports for all of the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS) Service Centers were released on 9/22/17 with processing dates as of 7/31/17.

If you filed a petition with one of the Service Centers, please review the links below to determine the applicable processing time associated with your particular case.

California Service Center (CSC)

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MVP Law Group, P.A. makes available the information and materials in this forum for informational purposes only. The information is general in nature and does not constitute legal advice or any contractual obligations. Further, the use of this site, and the sending or receipt of this information, does not create an attorney-client relationship between us. Therefore, your communication with us through this forum will not be considered as privileged or confidential.

Question #1 – Employment Authorization (EAD)

I filed for my EAD renewal back in May and it is still pending. My current EAD expires next week. What are my options?

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UPDATED

The Department of State, Office of Visa Services is warning the public of an increase in fraudulent emails and letters sent to Diversity Visa (DV) program (Visa Lottery) applicants. They warned that scammers may try to pose as U.S. government officials, trying to deceive applicants and possibly trying to take their money and private information. They warned DV applicants to only interact with the U.S. Department of State (DOS). Applicants should visit https://www.dvlottery.state.gov/ for official U.S. government information on the program.

DOS began taking online registration for the FY2019 Diversity Visa Program on 10/18/17. The registration period will end on Wednesday, 11/22/17. Again, please visit https://www.dvlottery.state.gov/ for official U.S. government information on the program and more details.

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On Monday, September 18th, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) resumed premium processing for all H-1B visa petitions subject to the Fiscal Year (FY) 2018 cap. The FY 2018 H-1B visa cap has been set by Congress at 65,000 visas plus 20,000 additional visas set aside for applicants with a master’s degree or higher.

When a petitioner requests the agency’s premium processing service, USCIS guarantees a 15-day processing time and if that can’t be met, the agency will refund the petitioner’s premium processing service fee and continue with expedited processing of that application.

For more detailed information about this subject please review the USCIS news release, “USCIS Resumes Premium Processing for Some Categories of Applicants Seeking H-1B Visas”.

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Processing Time reports for all of the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS) Service Centers were released on 9/18/17 with processing dates as of 7/31/17.

If you filed a petition with one of the Service Centers, please review the links below to determine the applicable processing time associated with your particular case.

California Service Center (CSC)

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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 those questions and provide the Q&A on our H-1B Visa Lawyer Blog.

If you have a burning question, are seeking assistance with a difficult immigration related case, wish to discuss your views on Comprehensive Immigration Reform, DREAMers, Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, priority dates, the monthly visa bulletin, adjustment applications, etc., please contact us by submitting your question/comment/viewpoint in our comment box provided on our H-1B Visa Lawyer Blog.

Our next “Q & A Forum” will take place this Friday, September 29, 2017. Act now and submit your questions!

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