Entries by Jim Arkell

EB-2 Retrogression

USCIS just released the Visa Bulletin for April 2023. The Final Action Dates are to be used for the April Visa Bulletin. Under the Final Action Dates, the EB-2 priority dates for all countries have retrogressed. The EB-1 priority dates for China and India have once again retrogressed. The EB-2 priority dates for all countries […]

USCIS Announces Premium Processing for Certain F-1 Students

USCIS continues to implement new procedures that ensure increased efficiency. Beginning March 6th, USCIS will accept Form I-907 requests for certain F-1 students who already have a pending Form I-765 if they fall under one of the following categories: pre-completion Optional Practical Training (OPT); post-completion OPT; and 24-month extension of OPT for STEM students. Beginning […]

NIW Premium Processing Now Available

USCIS has just announced that it is implementing the final phase of the premium processing expansion for EB-2 NIW I-140 petitions. Effective January 30, 2023 a new NIW can be filed with premium processing. If you have a pending NIW petition you can request premium processing, regardless of when your case was filed. Until the […]

EB-2 Priority Date Retrogression for December 2022

The recently released Visa Bulletin for December 2022 indicates that the EB-2 visa category will retrogress starting December 1, 2022. This means that concurrent filing will no longer be available for EB-2 based I-140 filings. The priority date under Dates of Filing is now December 1, 2022. The EB-2 priority dates for India and China […]

USCIS EXTENDS FILING DEADLINES

USCIS has again extended filing deadlines. The filing deadlines were extended until January 24, 2023. This means that there is an automatic extension of 60 days available to file a response to a Request for Evidence or a Notice of Intent to Deny, among other Notices and Requests issued between March 1, 2020 and January […]

UPDATE: EB2 NIW Premium Processing

The new filing date upon which Premium Processing can be requested for a pending EB-2 NIW is February 1, 2022. The USCIS premium processing fee is $2500.00 and you will get a decision back within 45 days. We have filed several requests for premium processing on behalf of our clients with pending NIW petitions and […]

EB-1 and EB-2 Green Cards No Longer Available for Current Fiscal Year

On September 7, USCIS announced that there are no green cards available for either EB-1 or EB-2 classifications for the remainder of the current fiscal year. This means that green cards will begin being issued again when the next fiscal year begins in October. As such, if you have a pending adjustment of status with […]

Signature Flexibility and Extended USCIS Deadlines

USCIS has announced that the reproduced signature flexibility that was implemented on March 20, 2020, became permanent policy effective on July 25, 2022. On March 20, 2020, USCIS specified that a document may be scanned, faxed, photocopied, or similarly reproduced provided that the copy was of an original document containing an original handwritten signature and […]