Dept. of State Alert: China EB-5 “Unavailable” for Remainder of FY2014

"Effective immediately Saturday, August 23, 2014 the China Employment Fifth (EB-5) preference category has become "Unavailable" for the remainder of the FY-2014. This action is necessary because the maximum level of numbers which may be made available for use by China EB-5 applicants during FY-2014 has been reached.

Department of State Processing: The establishment of a monthly cut-off or "Current" status for a numerically controlled preference category applies to those applicants who were reported documentarily qualified prior to the determination of cut-off dates and allocation of visa numbers for that month. Therefore, all China EB-5 applicants who have been scheduled for interview at an overseas post based on the original establishment of the August and September cut-off dates would have been allotted visa numbers for potential use by their case. Such applicants will not be impacted by the "Unavailability" of the China EB-5 category for the remainder of FY-2014. In this context, "Unavailable" means that no additional numbers are available for "comeback" cases originally scheduled for interview in an earlier month who are just now returning, or for those first requesting an interview. The only exception would be if a post had "otherwise unused" numbers available, because applicants either failed to appear or failed to overcome a refusal during the month (i.e., August or September) of originally scheduled interview.

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) Processing: USCIS offices may continue to accept and process China Employment Fifth preference cases and submit them in the normal manner. However, instead of being acted upon immediately, those cases will be held in the Visa Office's "Pending Demand" file until October 1, 2014. At that time, all eligible cases will be automatically authorized from the "Pending Demand" file under the FY-2015 annual numerical limitation. Each USCIS requesting office will receive an e-mail notification of such authorizations, which will be effective immediately.

Charles Oppenheim, U.S. Department of State, Chief, Immigrant Visa Control and Reporting Division"

AILA InfoNet Doc. No. 14082360 (posted Aug. 23, 2014)

F2A Visas Jump Forward - September 2014 State Department Visa Bulletin

On the 12^th day of every month the U.S. State Department releases the Visa Bulletin, which lists which Visa Preference Categories are current. This means that beneficiaries of Petitions submitted before for these date now have a Visa number available to them and can apply for an interview at the US Embassy, or file to Adjust Status in the United States to obtain Lawful Permanent Residency (LPR / Green Card).

There was great advancement in the Visa availability for Spouses and Children of Legal Permanent Residents/Green Card Holders. The entire category jumped forward 8 months, and the Mexico subcategory moved forward 13 months!

-       Family Based First Preference (All):

o   1 week forward (Total)

o   1 week forward (China)

o   3 weeks forward (India)

o   7 weeks forward (Mexico)

o   8 weeks forward (Philippines)

-       Family Based Second Preference (F2)

o   F2A: (Great moves forward for Spouses and Children of Legal Permanent Residents – Green Card Holders)

§  8 Months forward (All)

§  8 Months forward (China)

§  8 Months forward (India)

§  13 Months forward (Mexico)

§  8 Months forward (Philippines)

o   F2B:

§  2 months forward (All)

§  2 months forward (China)

§  2 months forward (India)

§  6 weeks forward (Mexico)

§  7 weeks forward (Philippines)

-       Family Based Third Preference (F3):

§  No Movement (All)

§  No Movement (China)

§  No Movement (India)

§  4 weeks forward (Mexico)

§  5 weeks forward (Philippines)

-       Family Based Fourth Preference (F4):

§  No Movement (All)

§  No Movement (China)

§  No Movement (India)

§  3 weeks back – retrogression (Mexico)

§  7 weeks forward (Philippines)

-       Employment Based Green Cards:

o   Current Except:

§  EB-2 (India) 13 weeks forward

§  EB-3 (Philippines) 8 weeks forward

Picture by: https://www.flickr.com/photos/maxbraun/

August 2014 EB-5 Processing Times Released by USCIS

The United States Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS) released the August 2014 average processing times for EB-5 Related Applications.

The processing time for I-526 EB-5 Petitions (the first step) has increased slightly, but the I-829 Petition to removed conditions (the second step) has increased by 2 months.

Form I-526 Immigrant Petition by Alien Entrepreneur: 13.4 Months (.2 month increase)

Form I-829 Petition by Entrepreneur to Remove Conditions 7.9 Months (2.2 month decrease!)

Form I-924 Application for Regional Center 5.4 Months (.7 month increase)

To avoid an even lengthier application process, be sure to hire an immigration attorney with experience in this area. Errors or omitted documents will cause months of additional delays and a Request for Evidence (RFE) by USCIS.

Source: USCIS

Picture by Moyan Brenn on Flickr

How To Get A Faster Immigration Decision? What is Premium Processing?

For more information, please visit:

http://www.jqklaw.com/how-to-get-a-faster-immigration-decision--what-is-premium-processing-.html

USCIS begins L-1 verifications

The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), 

which has been sending investigators from its Office of Fraud 

Detection and National Security (FDNS) to conduct site visits 

at the offices of H-1B petitioners, has expanded its 

investigations to include petitions for L-1 non-immigrant 

visas. 

The L-1 visa enables a U.S. employer to transfer an 

executive or manager from one of its affiliated foreign offices 

to one of its offices in the United States...