Category Archives: Newsletter

Registration for Diversity Visa Lottery Now Open Registration for the 2015 diversity visa lottery is now open through Nov. 3, 2014. For fiscal year 2016, 50,000 diversity visas will be available. These visas are randomly given to applicants who meet eligibility requirements and who come from countries with historically low rates of immigration to the U.S. Newly Vigilant U.S. Will...

Newsletter - Immigration Update: June 3, 2015 Department of State Releases September Visa Bulletin The U.S. Department of State (DOS) has published the September 2014 Visa Bulletin. Foreign nationals having a priority date before the established cut-off date are eligible to file adjustment of status or immigrant visa applications for permanent residence. For employment based visas, the second-preference (EB-2) category...

Joe Biden Calling For Legal Assistance For Unaccompanied Minors During a conference earlier this week, Vice President Joe Biden brought attention to a catastrophic shortage of lawyers for migrant children facing removal. Currently, federal government provides a quick legal orientation program for detained immigrants – although the detainees may seek legal help on their own they are not entitled to...

Department Of State Reports Database Crash, Delays Visa Issuances The Department of State’s Consular Consolidated Database (CCD) has been experiencing technical malfunctions, resulting in delays in issuance of U.S. visas and U.S passports at U.S. Consular Posts. The problem is not specific to any country and is affecting U.S. Consular Posts worldwide. According to the Department of State, it is...

Site Visits For L-1, E-2 Visa Extensions Through USCIS USCIS is now conducting random site visits for L-1 and E-2 status extensions processed by USCIS. Obama Considering Possible Refugee Status For Honduran Children In order to stem the surge of migrants at the Southwest border and prevent many children from making a dangerous journey north, the Obama administration is considering...

Texas Legislators To Offer Border Bill Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX), the Senate’s No. 2 Republican, and Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-TX) will introduce a bill intended to address the humanitarian crisis at the southern border and make it easier to return immigrant children from Central America back to their home countries, reports the New York Times.The bill would allow Central American...

NYC to Issue Municipal ID Cards in 2015 Mayor Bill de Blasio signed a bill this week launching NYC’s municipal ID program in 2015, reports the Wall Street Journal. De Blasio said lack of ID has made life difficult for the city’s estimated 500,000 undocumented immigrants. City officials are pushing banks to accept the cards as a form of ID...

Obama Seeks To Speed Deportations At The Border On Monday, President Obama asked Congress for over $2 billion to help cope with the surge of tens of thousands of unaccompanied child immigrants from Central America to the Texas border and to grant the administration “additional authority to exercise discretion” in sending them home. The recent influx of undocumented minors has...