The U.S. Department of State has released the February 2016 Visa Bulletin. EB-2 India has moved from February 1, 2008 to August 1, 2008.

Latest article on p. 57 of Lebanon Times magazine: Choose Your Attorney Wisely.

The Department of State has released the August 2014 Visa Bulletin. Some changes include EB-3 China progressing from October 2006 to November 2008 and EB-2 India moving up to January 2009.

The Department of State has released the June 2014 Visa Bulletin. Some changes include:

The U.S. Department of State released the May 2014 Visa Bulletin. F-2A remains stuck at September 8, 2013 for most areas of the world, with Mexico slightly behind on April 15, 2012. In the Employment-based context, EB-3 and Other Workers for the Philippines has moved up a few months to November 1, 2007, and the EB-3 and Other Workers categories remain at October 1, 2012 for people of all other nationalities. EB-3 China remains ahead of EB-2 China. EB-2 India has moved up one month to November 15, 2004.

USCIS posted an announcement indicating that it will begin processing cap-subject H-1B petitions filed with requests for Premium Processing on April 15, 2014. The announcement also stated that USCIS is anticipating that it may reach the cap during the first week of April. Where more petitions are received than H-1B visas during the first week of April, USCIS conducts a lottery to randomly select the petitions that will be counted in the H-1B cap.

Yesterday, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) indicated in correspondence to stakeholders that it will reopen "all I-601A waiver applications that were denied prior to January 24, 2014, solely because of a prior criminal offense, in order to determine whether there is reason to believe the prior criminal offense might render the applicant inadmissible."

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has released the Administrative Appeals Office (AAO) processing times as of March 1, 2014. In recent years, USCIS added adjudications officers in the hopes of reducing heavily-backlogged caseloads. Where an employment-based, third preference I-140 appeal used to take over two years to be adjudicated at the AAO, the same appeal would now be handled within 6 months according to the newly-released processing time information. The newly released AAO processing times are available here.

The U.S. Department of State has released the April 2014 Visa bulletin. In the Family-Based categories, F-2A (spouses and minor children of permanent residents) is holding at September 8, 2013 for much of the world, In the Employment-Based categories, EB-3 (professionals holding at least a bachelor's degree) Rest-of-World, China and Mexico have progressed to October 1, 2012, while EB-3 India remains backlogged to September 15, 2003 and EB-3 Philippines is backlogged to July 15, 2007.

USCIS released statistics on the number of L-1B Specialized Knowledge Petitions it received, approved, and denied this week. The statistics indicate that USCIS issued Request for Evidence (RFE) in roughly half of L-1B petitions filed in FY 2013. The statistics were released In response to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) Request submitted by the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) USCIS Liaison. The statistics also show that the California Service Center issued RFEs slightly more often than the Vermont Service Center.