Yesterday, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS)’s U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced a final rule that will transform how USCIS interprets and implements the “public charge” ground of inadmissibility under Section 212(a)(4) Immigration and Nationality Act (INA). This new rule is a major change from prior policy and affects all people applying to receive lawful permanent residency through the adjustment of status process in the United States, including...

An Applicant/Beneficiary for an immigrant visa or for adjustment of status must demonstrate that he or she is not inadmissible due to his or her likelihood to become a public charge. This requirement is based upon the U.S. government’s concern that Applicants/Beneficiaries will become lawful permanent residents and then become reliant on public benefits such as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP or “food stamps”) or Temporary Assistance for Needy Families...

The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS) has announced that starting on October 1, 2017, it will begin “phasing-in” mandatory in-person interviews on employment based applications for adjustment of status to lawful permanent residence (Form I-485) and petitions for relatives of asylees or refugees (Form I-730). The USCIS announced it will also begin incremental expansion of interviews for other type of applications for immigration benefits. The USCIS announcement is a significant...

In September 2015 the U.S. Department of State (DOS) and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS) jointly announced a new framework for foreign national beneficiaries in the employment based and family based visa preference categories. This new framework is implemented through the new Visa Bulletin which took effect on October 1, 2015. The new Visa Bulletin provides two separate charts for each of the Employment Based and Family Based visa preference...

As previously reported, on September 9, 2015, the U.S. Department of State (DOS) and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS) announced an important change to the visa processing system in the United States. Under the new scheme, the the agencies announced that beginning in October 2015 the monthly DOS Visa Bulletin would contain two (2) separate charts for each of the Employment Based and Family Based Visa Preference categories. The new...

On September 9, 2015, the U.S. Department of State (DOS) and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS) announced an important change to the visa processing system in the United States. In order to understand the changes, we should first review the basics of our immigrant visa system and then discuss the changes announced this week. The Basics … The Immigration & Nationality Act (INA) sets limits on the number of immigrant...

Today, United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) and the United States Department of State (DOS) announced new procedures for determining when applicants may file their applications to receive permanent residency in the United States. The changes will be reflected in a new monthly Visa Bulletin, published by DOS. Previously, the monthly Visa Bulletin provided only one set of dates: the priority dates which had become current (i.e., available for an...

Attorneys and clients alike are experiencing frustration with the processing times of cases at the local USCIS office.  On April 13, 2015, the Denver Field Office issued a processing time report, which is essentially a snapshot of the cases they were working with on February 28, 2015.  On that date, the local office was processing I-485 Applications for Adjustment of Status that were filed on June 8, 2014, which represents a...