Significance of Establishing a Priority Date
February 15 2012 | 
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During the entire Green Card process, the Priority Date (PD) assumes special significance. It is this date that is used to determine when an applicant may file for Adjustment and finally adjudication to become a permanent resident. In PERM based Green Card applications, the PD is the date on which the PERM Application (FORM ETA 9089) is filed with the Department of Labor. This is carried on to the Immigrant Petition (Form I-140). Sometimes, the Service may get this date wrong on the I-140 Receipt/Approval Notice. When this happens, it is important to immediately notify the USCIS and have this changed to reflect the correct date. The priority date remains with the candidate even if the candidate leaves the sponsoring employer to commence work elsewhere. The PD may also be retained and applied to later filed petition in a higher category.
HHS Poverty guidelines for 2012
January 27 2012 | | Hits: 19
Effective 1/26/12, Health and Human Services (HHS) provides an update of the HHS poverty guidelines to account for the last calendar year's increase in prices as measured by the Consumer Price Index. Read the updated poverty guidelines for 2012.
Errorneous EB-2 Current Information on Visa Bulletin Released by Mumbai Consulate
January 20 2011 | | Hits: 26
The U.S. Consulate in Mumbai posted February 2011 cutoff dates indicating that India EB-2 is current. AILA has confirmed with the State Department that reports of EB-2 India becoming current in the February 2011 Visa Bulletin are erroneous. Courtesy - AILA
Delayed Update of the HHS Poverty Guidelines for the Remainder of 2010
August 10 2010 | | Hits: 19
This notice provides a delayed update of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)poverty guidelines for the remainder of 2010, and until the 2011 poverty guidelines are published, which is expected to occur in late January 2011. HHS is issuing this delayed update due to recent legislation that prohibited the Secretary of HHS from publishing 2010 poverty guidelines before May 31, 2010, and required that the 2009 poverty guidelines remain in effect until the Secretary of HHS published updated guidelines. The 2010 poverty guidelines can be found here.
USCIS Tells AILA Expediting Reentry Requests Not Feasible
February 22 2010 | | Hits: 12
In a recent AILA Liaison meeting, the USCIS was asked to comment on delays in receipting cases and scheduling biometrics appointments for certain re-entry permits. Apparently it is taking between 2-3 weeks to receive just the receipt notice after filing. Biometrics appointments are taking longer.
Under a new procedure, beginning December 2, 2009, applications filed with the Nebraska Service Center (NSC) are then sent to the central processing center (lockbox) for a receipt notice to be issued. So, until the lockbox facility sends cases back to the NSC, expedite requests cannot be processed. The address to the lockbox,
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, was made available to the public by USCIS and may be used to contact the facility in the case of lengthy delays in receiving receipt notices.
USCIS Website Provides Q&A on Adjustment Delays for Employment Based I-485 Applications
September 28 2009 | | Hits: 11
The USCIS website now contains an extensive FAQ on why the Employment Based Preference categories are backlogged and how to assess when you are likely to obtain relief. The USCIS website can be found here.