Immigration and Firm News

The primary trend for family immigration is a slow down in processing of all petition and application types at USCIS, at the National Visa Center, and at US consulates abroad. And, interviews are taking longer as part of the "extreme vetting" campaign.  I mentioned in an earlier post that mandatory interviews for employment based adjustment of status applicants is impacting processing times for family based adjustment of status and naturalization interviews. Here in Seattle, where once upon a … [Read more...]

The Trump Administration is cracking down on fraud and misrepresentation. The US Department of State (DOS) has updated its guidelines or policy in the Foreign Affairs Manual (FAM) concerning what activities are inconsistent with visa status that could give rise to a finding of fraud or misrepresentation in light of when those activities occur. Previously, the DOS used the "30/60/90-day rule." This rule said that there would be a presumption of fraud or misrepresentation if a person entered the … [Read more...]