Tag Archives: immigrant visa

May 2016 Visa Bulletin

Posted on by

May 2016 Visa Bulletin Released

The Department of State has released the 2016 May Visa Bulletin.

Employment Based-2 and Employment Based-3 categories for India moved only a few weeks. The filing date is July 1, 2009 for EB-2 India. El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras have their own chargeability in the employment-based category but not in the family-based category.

Family Based-2 for all non-listed chargeabilities is June 15, 2015 (spouses of LPRs). There is no filing date for the family-based categories. That will be released later this month, according to the State Department.

April 2016 Visa Bulletin

Posted on by

April 2016 Visa Bulletin Released

It is that time again: The April 2016 Visa Bulletin has been released by the Department of State. You can find all of the final action dates and filing dates posted for Employment- and Family-Based categories.

The expected jump did not come for EB-2 India category. Charlie Oppenheimer had predicted 3 month leaps, but we will keep our eyes peeled for that leap in May.

There was only slight movement in the Family-Based categories.

The reason that there are limits and cutoff dates is because there is a limited allocation of immigrant visas, prescribed by country, category, and preference. Here is the State Department’s explanation of calculations:

  1. Procedures for determining dates. Consular officers are required to report to the Department of State documentarily qualified applicants for numerically limited visas; USCIS reports applicants for adjustment of status. Allocations in the charts below were made, to the extent possible, in chronological order of reported priority dates, for demand received by March 9th. If not all demand could be satisfied, the category or foreign state in which demand was excessive was deemed oversubscribed. The cut-off date for an oversubscribed category is the priority date of the first applicant who could not be reached within the numerical limits. If it becomes necessary during the monthly allocation process to retrogress a cut-off date, supplemental requests for numbers will be honored only if the priority date falls within the new cut-off date announced in this bulletin. If at any time an annual limit were reached, it would be necessary to immediately make the preference category “unavailable”, and no further requests for numbers would be honored.

  2. Section 201 of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) sets an annual minimum family-sponsored preference limit of 226,000. The worldwide level for annual employment-based preference immigrants is at least 140,000. Section 202 prescribes that the per-country limit for preference immigrants is set at 7% of the total annual family-sponsored and employment-based preference limits, i.e., 25,620. The dependent area limit is set at 2%, or 7,320.

Social Media Accounts to Be Scrutinized

Posted on by

US Will Scrutinize Social Media Accounts for Visa Applicants and Asylum Seekers

Congress is pressuring the Department of Homeland Security to investigate visa applicants’ and asylum seekers’ social media accounts. The purpose of this further scrutiny is to weed out potential applicants who have ties to unsavory organizations or who share beliefs or sympathies that align with terrorist organizations.

Much of the pressure emanates from the San Bernardino shooting. Ms. Malik came to the United States on the fiancé visa. While she had not published suspicious messages on her social media accounts, the Saudi woman had exchanged private online messages that would have raised concerns had they been available for background checks.

The move to analyze applicants’ social media accounts has support from both Republicans and Democrats in Congress. The purpose of studying applicants’ social media accounts and internet profiles to determine whether they are security risks to the United States. A pilot program is underway to scrutinize the social media accounts of fiancé visa applicants.

Behold the Indian Visa God!

Posted on by

Behold the Indian Visa God!

Hinduism is known for having many gods. Add the Visa God to the list.

USCIS approves visa petitions and US consulates overseas grant visas. However, it seems that the residents of Hyderbad, India have found a source that positively influences USCIS and consulates to grant visas: Lord Balaji at the Chilkur Balaji temple.

India, partially by virtue of its enormous population, receives many of the available immigrant and nonimmigrant visas. Competition can be intense in the country with a limited number of visas available for a large population. Looking for an advantage, visa applicants have taken to making the pilgrimage to the temple and pray to Lord Balaji for luck with their visas.

There is a set ceremony for hopeful applicants. Worshippers make 11 laps around the inside of the temple. There are reports of applicants offering their passports and coconuts, which are prevalent in Indian cuisine.

Students decades ago reported that their visas were granted if they made the pilgrimage to the temple. Their reported success has led to the ritual of thousands of applicants running to the temple for good luck with their immigrant or nonimmigrant visa. In fact,  even the Wikipedia page for the temple recognizes it as the Visa Temple.

In addition to immigrant visas, many Indians enter the United States on an F-1 Student visa or H-1B specialty occupation visa. The H-1B visa is subject to a lottery and would be appropriate for any source of inspiration or good luck.

Predicting Immigrant Visas

Posted on by

Predicting Immigrant Visas: Check in with Charlie Oppenheim

EB-5 pilot program

Charlie Oppenheim is infamous in immigration circles for being the man at Department of State for providing predictions on how the immigrant visa categories change month to month. Because of the limited number of immigrant visas for each preference, category, and chargeability, there are long waits for popular classifications, ie India EB-2 and EB-3, China EB-2 and EB-3, and just about every family-based preference. Here are some interesting and useful tidbits from the check in with Mr. Oppenheim.

Charlie believes that the final action dates for the EB-3 China category have the potential to advance five months each month. He believes the EB-2 China category will continue its quick monthly advance.

EB-2 India is one of the most backlogged categories and it only moved one month and a half from February to March. Charlie anticipates movement of 3 months for the final action date in the future.