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Immigration News and Updates
December 20, 2007:
MRV, BCC, and IV Fee Hikes Effective January 1, 2008
The Department of State (DOS) announced that
effective January 1, 2008, the following fee hikes will be implemented:
- The Machine Readable Visa (MRV) fee
charged to nonimmigrant visa applicants will increase to $131 (a $31
increase).
- The fee to process a border crossing card
(BCC) will increase to $131 (a $31 increase)
- The fee to process an immigrant visa (IV)
will increase from $335 to $355 (a $20 increase).
In a separate notice, DOS stated that applicants who paid the prior $100 MRV fee
before January 1 will be processed only if they are scheduled and appear for a
visa interview before January 31, 2008. Applicants who paid the prior $100 MRV
fee and appear for visa interviews after January 31, 2008, must pay the
difference - $31 - before they will be interviewed.
DOS is required by law to attempt to recover the cost of processing visas, and
DOS says the fee hike is due to the cost that the FBI will charge DOS to review
the 10 fingerprints now being collected from each visa applicant.
November 20, 2007:
USCIS Revises Filing Instructions for
Petition for Alien Relative - Form I-130s to be
filed with the Chicago Lockbox
The U.S. Citizenship and
Immigration Services (USCIS) is revising the filing instructions for the
Petition for Alien Relative (Form I-130). Effective Dec. 3, 2007, all applicants
filing stand-alone Form I-130s are encouraged to file their petitions with the
Chicago Lockbox instead of a USCIS Service Center. Petitions filed with the
Chicago Lockbox will be routed to, and adjudicated at, the appropriate USCIS
Service Center. This routing will be based on the petitioner’s place of
residence in the United States. Two separate post office box addresses (see
below) have been established that correspond to the appropriate USCIS Service
Center (either Vermont or California) that will process and adjudicate the
petition. Although Form I-130 will be filed with the Chicago Lockbox,
petitioners will receive receipt notices from either the Vermont or California
Service Center.
Petitioners who reside in Alaska,
Arizona, California, Colorado, Guam, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa,
Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, North Dakota,
Ohio, Oregon, South Dakota, Utah, Washington, Wisconsin or Wyoming are
encouraged to file their stand-alone Form I-130s with the Lockbox using the
following address:
USCIS
P.O. Box 804625
Chicago, IL 60680-1029
Petitioners who reside in Alabama, Arkansas, Connecticut,
Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts,
Mississippi, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina,
Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Puerto Rico, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee,
Texas, Vermont, Virginia, U.S. Virgin Islands, West Virginia or District of
Columbia are encouraged to file their stand-alone Form I-130 with the Lockbox
using the following address:
USCIS
P.O. Box 804616
Chicago, IL 60680-1029
While the changes are effective December 3,
any Form I-130 filed with the Service Center will not be rejected; it will be
forwarded to the designated Chicago Lockbox. Petitioners are encouraged,
however, to begin using the designated Lockbox filing on the effective date in
order to avoid processing delays.
The revised form and filing instructions will be
available through USCIS’ Web site at
www.uscis.gov as soon as they are available.
August 24, 2007:
CIS Notice on Receipting Delays
A tremendous increase in the number of applications filed
with USCIS has resulted in a "front log" of cases awaiting data entry and fee
receipting at USCIS Service Centers and lockboxes.
USCIS is publishing weekly updates on the receipting situation. Their notices
state that "The actual received date will be honored and recorded on the receipt
notice. This date will appear in the “Received Date” box on Form I-797, Notice
of Action. The received date on Form I-797 is different from the “Notice Date,”
which also appears on the Notice and identifies the date the receipt notice was
actually generated."
USCIS says that it is making every effort to address the delay.
July 1, 2007: CIS fee hikes effective July 30, 2007
USCIS will raise the filing
fees for many immigration benefit applications and petitions, effective July 30,
2007. All applications and petitions mailed or filed on or after that date must
contain the new fee. For further information, including the final ruling and
Fee Table please visit: http://www.nafsa.org/_/Document/_/uscis_fee_schedule_effective.pdf
May 5, 2007: CIS announces H-1B Cap Reached for Fiscal year '08 Visas
US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS)
announcement on May 4, 2007 that the H-1B Exemption Cap had been reached on
Monday, April 30, 2007. The "exemption cap" is the 20,000 visas reserved for
foreign nationals with Master's degrees or higher from a U.S. college or
university. Thus, April 30 was the final receipt date for this category of H-1B
applications. Those applications that were received on April 30, 2007 will be
subject to a random selection process, similar to the process used in April to
select applications to meet the congressionally mandated H-1B cap of 65,000.
Thus H-1B applications for cap-subject
positions, or for an exemption from the H-1B cap based on having a U.S. master's
degree or higher, are no longer being accepted.
USCIS will continue to accept applications
from current H-1B workers who wish to change employers, extend their stay,
change the terms of employment, or work concurrently in a second H-1B petition.
USCIS will also accept applications from those seeking H-1B status who will be
employed by US colleges or universities, a category that is exempt from any H-1B
cap. for further information, please visit:
http://www.uscis.gov/files/pressrelease/H1Bfy08CapUpdate050407.pdf
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