If you’ve been following the news lately, you’ve probably heard that USCIS is planning to furlough a majority of its employees because it needs more money. USCIS Deputy Director Joseph Edlow has stated that USCIS, which is part of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), will have to furlough most of its employees by the end of August unless Congress approves additional funding for the agency.

Last week, United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced that it is preparing to reopen some domestic offices to the public for non-emergency services beginning June 4th. USCIS will follow the Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s guidelines to protect both the public and USCIS workers.

NOID USCIS 

Have you received a Notice of Intent to Deny in an immigration case and need help figuring out what to do next? Think for a moment about your taxes. How do you feel when you file income tax returns? Do you get excited about the refund you’re expecting?

USCIS has posted a page outlining of some of the Executive Announcements announced by President Obama on November 20, 2014.

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced last week that beginning June 1, 2014, it will limit the validity period for all Forms I-693, Report of Medical Examination and Vaccination Record, to one year from the date of submission to USCIS. This new policy applies to any Form I-693 filed with an application that USCIS adjudicates on or after June 1, 2014

USCIS announced today that it will begin processing Cap-Subject H-1B petitions filed for premium processing on April 28, 2014.

USA Today has cited a recent brief by the National Foundation for American Policy (NFAP). The brief notes increases in the denial rates of L-1B specialized knowledge transferee petitions. The USA today report also includes commentary from groups both in favor of and against higher levels of legal immigration. that the number of L-1B petitions filed has increased in recent years. Earlier this month, USCIS responded to a Freedom of Information Act Request filed by a representative of the American Immigration Lawyers Association by releasing statistics on the number of L-1B petitions filed, approved, and denied in FY 2012 and 2013.

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.