We knew it since January 2023: USCIS had plans to increase processing fees all across the board. The final rule is now public and in this article we will discuss the main changes and how the fee increase affects EB2 NIW green card in particular. USCIS has tamed some of the initially proposed increases, but […]
USCIS increases all fees: the effect on EB2 NIW Read More »
USCIS has issued the data for I-140 approvals for the full Fiscal Year 2023 that ended in September 2023. The agency publishes this data on a quarterly basis and it is a good way to follow trends on percentage approvals and denials, as well as absolute numbers of approvals and denials for the different categories
EB2 NIW Approval Rates are going down Read More »
Ali is a cybsercurity professional who recently obtained his I-140 approval towards an EB2 NIW green card. In this category, the petitioner must prove he is an advanced degree holder (or a person of extraordinary ability) and that he complies with the so-called Matter of Dhanasar. This is a three pronged test that includes detailing
EB2 NIW Success Story: Ali, securing the Internet of Things Read More »
The United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has announced that Premium Processing fees will increase in 2024. This increase will take into account the inflation rate from June 2021 to June 2023, according to the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers. https://youtu.be/MYd5neDch-c How much will Premium Processing increase? Depending on the process, Premium Processing will
Premium Processing fees increase in 2024 Read More »
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ybOTJy6XQOs Many of my YouTube subscribers have asked me if it is a good idea to come to the United States on a visitor visa and submit an EB2 NIW I-140 application, to then adjust their status from the B-1/B-2 visa to a green card. The answer to this question may vary depending on the specific historical
Applying for EB2 NIW on a visitor B1/B2 visa Read More »
Good news for EB-2 (which includes EB2 NIW) in the upcoming January 2024 visa bulletin you can consult here. Dates move forward significantly and that means that applicants waiting to adjust status or complete their process from abroad using Consular Processing are getting closer to receiving their green cards. Why is January an important month? January
EB2 dates advance in January 2024 Visa Bulletin Read More »
In my previous blog post I went over the percentage of approvals and denials in Fiscal Year 2023. Using the same data source from USCIS, it is possible to rank the countries by number of accepted and approved petitions. In this article we will look into the third quarter of Fiscal Year 2023 to understand
Top 10 countries by number of EB2 NIW approvals Read More »
USCIS, the agency that deals with green card processing within the federal government, publishes statistics regularly. Unfortunately, they not always provide separate numbers for the National Interest Waiver (NIW) category, which is part of the EB-2 class. In this case, I was able to find separate approval rates for EB2 NIW and in this article I
Approval rates for EB2 NIW in 2023 Read More »
I have been approached by many prospective applicants for EB-2 National Interest Waiver green card with the following question: Oscar, should I pay extra and use Premium Processing for EB2 NIW? In this article I hope to dissipate some doubts regarding the use of expedited processing in the current environment. We will discuss current processing times,
Premium Processing for EB2 NIW: Should you use it? Read More »
October 2023 Visa Bulletin was released by Department of State and USCIS and it comes with some news. On one hand, Table A (Final Action Dates) does not change much for most countries. In fact EB-2 advances only 7 days from September to October, with a date of July 8, 2023 in October. October is the
The Visa Bulletin for October 2023 allows you to use Table B Read More »
