Immigration News  |
| Changes in immigration that impact your life. |
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| DOS Releases February 2010 Visa Bulletin |
| January 11, 2010 |
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| The Department of State (DOS) has recently released the Visa Bulletin for February 2010. The February 2010 Visa Bulletin shows three-week advancement in priority date cut-offs for EB-2 for China. In the third employment-based preference category (EB-3) for professionals and skilled workers, cut-off dates will advance approximately seven weeks for China and worldwide, except India and Mexico whereas all other categories will remain unchanged from the January 2010 bulletin. |
| DOS Proposed Rule on Exchange Visitor Program Secondary School Students |
| December 28, 2009 |
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| The U.S. Department of State (DOS) has issued a proposed rule to amend the Exchange Visitor Program regulations to amend existing regulations regarding the screening, selection, school enrollment, orientation, and monitoring of overall quality assurance on behalf of student participants; and the screening, selection, orientation, and quality assurance monitoring of host families. DOS will accept comments from the public until February 22, 2010. |
| Entries Up for DV-2011 Program |
| October 15, 2009 |
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| The Department of State (DOS) issued a consular affairs update stating that in first week of the DV-2011 Program, it has received over 900,000 entries, submitted by people around the world, which marks 63 percent increase over the same period last year. DOS expects to receive more than 13,000,000 entries for the DV-2011 Program. |
| DOS Published Final Rule on Amended Requirements for Religious Workers |
| October 7, 2009 |
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| The Department of State (DOS) on October 6, 2009 published a final rule for religious workers, which established the requirement that consular officers should ensure that R-1 visa applicants have obtained an approved USCIS Form I-129 petition from DHS before issuance of a visa. The R-1 final rule is effective from October 6, 2009. |
| State Department Releases June 2009 Visa Bulletin |
| May 8, 2009 |
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| The State Department has recently released the Visa Bulletin for June 2009. As per the June 2009 Visa Bulletin, the waiting period for the second employment-based green card (EB-2) category will increase considerably for India next month. The State Department will impose a cut-off date of January 1, 2000 for EB-2 India – a retrogression of more than four years – in order to make sure that annual quotas are not exceeded. The third employment-based preference category (EB-3) will remain unavailable for all countries and waiting periods for all other employment-based categories will be unchanged. |
| DOS Announces Upcoming Passport Day |
| March 23, 2009 |
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| DOS announced that March 28, 2009 is "Passport Day in the USA." It is an outreach event to inform the public about travel document requirements, provide passport information, and accept passport applications. U.S. citizens without a valid passport book or passport card are encouraged to apply on this day. |
| Department of State Issues April 2009 Visa Bulletin |
| March 09, 2009 |
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| The Department of State (DOS) has released the Visa Bulletin for April 2009. The April 2009 visa bulletin still shows employment based third preference (EB-3) visas as oversubscribed while the employment based second preference (EB-2) is current for all areas of chargeability except for China and India. |
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