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 »
Victoria Chen, lawyer at the North America Immigration Law Group, has recently posted a message on her LinkedIn account voicing something that many have thought about. She brings the attention to the recent influx of new USCIS officers and how they may be behind some of the common mistakes observed in the adjudication of EB2
Can we blame some of USCIS mistakes on influx of new officers? Victoria Chen thinks so Read More »
The United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has announced that it will be issuing a new green card and EAD (employment authorization document) design on January 30, 2023. In a press release, the immigration agency argues that this change will be beneficial in terms of security, as the new design incorporates more modern features than
USCIS releases new green card design Read More »
The United States Immigrations and Citizenship Services (USCIS) agency has published a proposal that would increase the fees most immigration applicants pay. Among the reasons for this increase, USCIS cites the insufficient revenue collected from petitioners to cover the high workload they have. USCIS funds 96% of their operations through costumer fees and not from Congressional funds,
USCIS fees to increase in 2023 Read More »
United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) released their annual report “Fiscal Year 2022 Progress Report”. In this document they summarize the main challenges and progress achieved during the fiscal year, which ran from October 2021 to September 2022. Key Takeaways from the report The report is an easy-to-read 14 page document that is full
USCIS processed a record number of green cards in 2022 Read More »
The United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) is not only aware of the backlogs that many applicants suffer, but is committed to find solutions to tackle this problem. Last month, the USCIS Director Ms. Ur Jaddou, and the CIS Ombudsman, Ms. Phyllis Coven, sat down for a rare Fireside chat. This one-hour long conversation was
USCIS committed to reduce backlogs – but fees may go up soon! Read More »
One of the requirements for EB2 NIW green card is to have an advanced degree. In some cases, this can be substituted by other achievements such as experience or extraordinary abilities (check out this post to learn about all the requirements). Many petitioners hold MS or PhD degrees from non US countries. Regardless of the
Evaluation of Education Credentials report for EB2 NIW Read More »
September 2022 – A few months ago we were talking in this blog about how USCIS was aiming for an expansion of Premium Processing to categories of green card that did not have this option. EB-2 NIW (National Interest Waiver) falls in this category. Last week, on September 15, USCIS moved to the next phase of this
USCIS expands Premium Processing for EB2 NIW further Read More »
