US Immigration News

The National Visa Center (NVC) plays a key part in helping bring family members together. It’s an office within the U.S. Department of State and serves to collect documents and information needed for an immigrant visa interview that will be held at a U.S. Embassy or Consulate outside the United States. A file arrives at

Late last fall, I wrote about how U visas were gone for 2014. Now again, USCIS has run out of U visas. The government fiscal year begins on October 1st. That means that the fiscal year 2015 is from October 1, 2014, through September 30, 2015. When Congress created the U visa, they made it so

Last week, I was up in the Northeast. I spent the weekend in Groton, Connecticut with my brother and his family and then, on Tuesday, I headed north towards Boston for our American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) Annual Conference. En route from Groton to Boston, I stopped in Plymouth, Massachusetts. Or as they like to

Earlier this month, the U.S. Department of Justice released numbers that show the approval and denial rates from Immigration Courts and individual Immigration Judges around the U.S. Nationally, the average asylum grant rate in immigration courts is 53% which, effectively, brings the national denial rate to 47%. In contrast, the Stewart Detention Center in south

When we talk about adjustment of status, we typically think about a newlywed couple where one spouse is a U.S. citizen and the other is not. Much of the information out there about the adjustment of status focuses on the types of documents and questions that the couple should expect USCIS to want and ask. But

On Tuesday this week, USCIS announced major revisions to the Application for Naturalization (N-400). From now until May 2, 2014, lawful permanent residents eligible for U.S. citizenship can decide whether to use the old form or the new form. If you are eligible for U.S. citizenship, I strongly recommend that you file your N-400 before May 2nd to

No, it’s not just a song by Rod Stewart. “Reason to Believe” is a standard created by USCIS when deciding whether or not a provisional waiver can be adjudicated. Let’s take a step back and talk about provisional waivers first. About 13 months ago, USCIS announced that certain people who entered the United States without inspection could proactively apply

When Congress created the U visa, they made only 10,000 visas available per fiscal year. The fiscal year starts in October every year, so on October 1, 2013, we entered Fiscal Year 2014. On December 11, 2013, the Vermont Service Center announced that they had already reached the U visa cap for 2014. That means no