The July 2008 Visa Bulletin, released by the U.S. Department of State (DOS), finally shows EB-3 numbers unavailable over for this fiscal year and will most probably remain so till October. Also, F-2A Numbers for Mexico has also become unavailable this July. The July Visa Bulletin will come into effect from July 1, 2008. Employment [...]

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has announced that it will start accepting Premium Processing Service requests for Forms I-140 (Immigrant Petition for Alien Worker) filed on behalf of certain alien workers who are nearing the end of their sixth year in H-1B nonimmigrant status from June 16, 2008. Who Are the Select Few? The [...]

On May 29, 2008, a conglomerate of anti-H1B organizations including the Immigration Reform Law Institute, The Programmers Guild and a few other groups, filed a lawsuit in the U.S District court in Newark, NJ challenging the authority of the DHS in creating a rule such as the OPT extension rule. The lawsuit is urging the [...]

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) is centralizing initial processing of applications for naturalization (Form-400) at its National Benefits Center in Missouri in an effort to cut down on processing time. This, however, will not reflect on where the application is being filed. As it is currently done, applicants will continue to file their Form-400 [...]

Proposed Rule to Re-engineer H-2B Process Changes proposed to temporary Labor Certification Process The Office of Foreign Labor Certification (OFLC) has published its advance copy of a proposed rule modifying the existing H2B process, specifically the Temporary Labor Certification process. The proposed rule will re-engineer the H2B filing and review into a centralized process. Among [...]