State Department: All visa-issuing embassies and consulates are now back online.

From the US State Department:

Technological Systems Issue

JUNE 29, 2015

Visa Systems Issues

• All visa-issuing embassies and consulates are now back online. We are scheduling visa interviews and issuing nonimmigrant and immigrant visas.
• We issued more than 410,000 nonimmigrant visas from June 21 through June 29. Consular staff worked through the weekend to diminish our backlog, the bulk of which has now been cleared.
• We have issued all remaining H-2 visas for temporary workers that were pending during the June 9 – June 19 timeframe. Mexico posts are now processing all H-2 visas as normal.
• We are still experiencing problems with some online immigrant visa application forms. We hope to have a fix in place for this by early next week.
• We deeply regret the inconvenience to travelers who are waiting for visas, as well as their families and U.S. businesses that have been affected.

Q: How can you clear your backlog so quickly?

• As posts have been brought back online, we have been processing pending biometric checks. As those results are obtained and automatically transferred back to posts, our overseas staff has been completing the final adjudication steps to issue the visas.
• Between June 9 and June 19, 335,000 visas that ordinarily would have been printed were stuck in clearance. Of that number, nearly 300,000 have now been printed. We expect to eliminate the remaining backlog this week.
• Between June 9 and June 19, we advised affected applicants that they could reschedule their appointments for a later time. Most applicants interviewed between June 9 and 19 had submitted their applications before June 9. Their interviews went ahead as scheduled. All posts have now reopened appointments, and many have added capacity to accommodate rescheduled applicants.
• New appointments continue to be scheduled every day. Please see travel.state.gov for information on appointment wait times at specific posts.

Q: How are cases being prioritized?

• We continue to facilitate urgent cases for those individuals who need to travel imminently, and will continue to do so until the systems return to full capacity.
• We apologize to travelers and recognize that this has caused hardship to some individuals waiting for visas as well as families and employers.

Q: What about the foreign agricultural workers (H2A visa holders?)

• We have issued all remaining H-2 visas for temporary workers that were pending during the June 9 – June 19 timeframe. Mexico posts are now processing all H-2 visas as normal.

Q: What about domestic passports?

• Domestic passport operations are functioning, with some processing delays. However, most of the passport workload is being processed within customer service commitments posted on travel.state.gov.

Q: What about overseas passports?

• Overseas passport applications are being processed. There have been delays in some cases, but posts overseas are able to issue emergency passports in urgent cases.

TPS Registration Period Extended for Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has extended the deadline for initial registration from May 20, 2015, to Aug. 18, 2015, for eligible nationals of Liberia, Guinea, and Sierra Leone (and people without nationality who last habitually resided in one of those three countries). 

For more information, please visit USCIS

Immigration Lawyers Podcast Episode 1 - EB 5 Immigrant Investor Renewal ...

DHS Announces Nepal TPS Designation (Temporary Protected Status)

From USCIS:

Release Date: June 24, 2015

WASHINGTON—Secretary of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson announced his decision to designate Nepal for Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for 18 months based on the conditions resulting from the devastating magnitude 7.8 earthquake that struck Nepal on April 25, 2015, and the subsequent aftershocks. As a result, eligible nationals of Nepal residing in the United States may apply for TPS with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). The Federal Register notice published today provides details and procedures for applying for TPS.

The TPS designation for Nepal is effective today, June 24, 2015, and will be in effect through December 24, 2016. The designation means that, during the designated period, eligible nationals of Nepal (and people without nationality who last habitually resided in Nepal) will not be removed from the United States and may receive an Employment Authorization Document (EAD). The 180-day TPS registration period begins June 24, 2015 and runs through December 21, 2015.

To be eligible for TPS, applicants must demonstrate that they satisfy all eligibility criteria, including that they have been both “continuously physically present” and “continuously residing” in the United States since June 24, 2015. Applicants also undergo thorough security checks. Individuals with certain criminal records or who pose a threat to national security are not eligible for TPS. The eligibility requirements are fully described in the Federal Register notices and on the TPS Web page at www.uscis.gov/tps.

Applicants may request that USCIS waive any or all TPS-related fees based on inability to pay by filing Form I-912, Request for Fee Waiver, or by submitting a written request. Fee-waiver requests must be accompanied by supporting documentation. USCIS will reject any TPS application that does not include the required filing fee or a properly documented fee-waiver request. All USCIS forms are free. Applicants can download these forms from the USCIS website at www.uscis.gov/forms or request them by calling USCIS toll-free at 1-800-870-3676.

Applicants seeking information about the status of their individual cases can check My Case Status Online or call the USCIS National Customer Service Center at 1-800-375-5283 (TTY 1-800-767-1833) at no cost.

For more information about USCIS and its programs, please visit www.uscis.gov or follow us on Twitter (@uscis), YouTube (/uscis), Facebook(/uscis), and the USCIS blog The Beacon.

Supreme Court Sides with Consulate in Visa Denial Non-Reviewability

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday upheld the government's broad discretion to give only a cursory explanation for refusing to grant a visa to the spouse of an American citizen. The justices divided 5-to-4, concluding that a consular officer's citation of unspecified "terrorist activities" was enough to justify barring a spouse without further explanation.

Fauzia Din came to the United States as a refugee from Afghanistan in 2000, seeking "security" as a woman, and "freedom." She subsequently became a U.S. citizen and in 2006 returned to Afghanistan to marry an Afghan native whom she and her family had long known.

To read more, visit NPR

Photo by David

EB-5: July 2015 Processing Times Change Slightly

The EB-5 Immigrant Investor Processing Times have had changed slightly for July 2015. The initial Immigrant Investor Form I-526 Petition and Package processing times was decreased by half a month, but the Form I-829 and Form I-924 processing times have increases.

For more information about the EB-5 program, please contact the JQK Law Firm at (310) 582-5904.

Form I-526 (Immigrant Petition by Alien Entrepreneur)

• 13.4 months (Decrease .6 months)

Form I-829 (Petition by Entrepreneur to Remove Conditions) 

• 13.1 months (Increase of .4 months)

Form I-924 (Application for Regional Center)

• 12.2 (Increase of .1 month)

USCIS Discontinues Electronic Form I-539, Form I-526, and Regional Center Document Library

From USCIS:

On June 15, 2015, USCIS stopped accepting electronically filed Forms I-539, Application to Extend/Change Nonimmigrant Status, and Forms I-526, Immigrant Petition by Alien Entrepreneur. USCIS also discontinued the Regional Center Document Library.

This change will not adversely affect customers who have pending or draft cases that were created before June 15. We will adjudicate those cases to completion and allow the standard 30 days for customers to complete and submit their draft cases.

Recently, USCIS updated the Form I-539 and Form G-28, Notice of Entry of Appearance as Attorney or Accredited Representative. To ensure that the paper and electronic versions of these forms are consistent with each other, we must temporarily remove the current electronic versions until we develop these updated forms in our new USCIS online filing system, which launched in March 2015.

Filing a Form I-539 or Form I-526

Customers who need to file a Form I-539 or Form I-526 must now file the paper version of the form. If you already started an electronic Form I-539 or Form I-526, you will have 30 days from the day you began your application/petition to complete and submit it online.  If you are unable to complete your electronic form within this 30-day time period, you will need to file a new paper application or petition.

For instructions on how to file a paper Form I-539, please visit our Form I-539 page.

For instructions on how to file a paper Form I-526, please visit our Form I-526 page.

If You Filed Electronically Before June 15, 2015

If you filed a Form I-539 or Form I-526 electronically, you will still be able to access your account to check your case status, change your address, and respond to requests for evidence while USCIS processes your case. If you filed a Form I-526 electronically, you will still be able to review and attest existing deal packages created by the Document Library Manager. However, Document Library Managers will not be able to create new document libraries or deal packages.

For More Information

If you have any questions about filing a Form I-539 or Form I-526 or accessing a Regional Center Document Library, please contact us through our online help form or call customer service at 1-800-375-5283 (1-800-767-1833 (TDD)). If you have questions about filing Form I-526 or accessing a Regional Center Document Library, you can also email us atUSCIS.ImmigrantInvestorProgram@uscis.dhs.gov.

For more information on USCIS and its programs, please visit www.uscis.gov or follow us on Twitter (@uscis), YouTube (/uscis), and the USCIS blog The Beacon.