USCIS Outlines Procedures for New Employment Green Card Interviews

On September 28, 2017, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) Ombudsman outlined procedures for new USCIS in-person interviews required for employment-based applicants effective October 1, 2017. 

Interviews will be scheduled by field offices for every applicant who has filed an green card application after March 6, 2017 and notices will be sent to both the applicant and the representing attorney. If additional evidence is needed, USCIS will request prior to the interview.

Employment Green Card Interview

Many individuals applying for employment-based green cards have their interview waived, especially if they have extraordinary abilities and if the employer petitioning on their behalf is the same one that sponsored their initial work visa.

The new policy, which will go into effect on October 1, people applying for green cards based on their employment or for refugee and asylee relatives will be subject to an interview.

The new requirement will apply to anyone moving from an employment-based visa to lawful permanent residency. Visa holders who are family members of refugees or people who receive asylum will also be required to undergo an in-person interview when they apply for provisional status, a stage that precedes receiving a green card, according to USCIS.

The New Dual Chart System: October 2015 Visa Bulletin

For the past several decades, the State Department’s monthly published Visa Bulletin has announced “cut off” dates to determine where immigrant visa applicants were in the various quota queues applicable to family, employment-based and Diversity-based immigrant visa categories. On September 9, 2015, the US Department of State announced a new system for determining eligibility to file for permanent residency.

As of October 1st, in an effort to maximize immigrant visa usage in a fiscal year, the Department of State has established a system where there are two different dates to track. “Application Final Action Dates” (AFADs) are essentially the cut off dates that have always appeared in the Visa Bulletin. “Dates for Filing Applications” (DFAs) are the dates applicants proceeding with consular processing of green cards should be notified to begin gathering documents for submission to the National Visa Center.

The new system applies to the family and employment-based green card categories. The Diversity Visa cut off system is not changed and one chart remains applicable in that category.

The DFAs are anywhere from several months to several years later than the AFADs. Here are the differences on the October Bulletin.

The 2013 China EB-2/EB-3

Beginning with the June 2013 Visa Bulletin, the third preference employment-based immigrant visa category (EB-3) for individuals born in the People’s Republic of China (China) has a more recent cut-off date than the second preference employment-based category (EB-2).

EB PERM categories Update

USCIS recently updated PERM statistics. The statistics will show demand in various EB categories is currently 4% higher than last year.

In the past months around 28,000 PERM applications (out of 54,000 received) have been approved. 83% of total approved applications are filed by H1B visa holders. 

Visa bulletin November 2013

November 2013 Visa bulletin has been released (valid from November 1 to November 30 only). Please see below for more details. 

Family Based:

Family-Sponsored	All Charge -ability Areas Except Those Listed	CHINA- mainland born	INDIA	MEXICO	PHILIPPINES
F1	22OCT06	22OCT06	22OCT06	22SEP93	01JUL01
F2A	08SEP13	08SEP13	08SEP13	01SEP13	08SEP13
F2B	22MAR06	22MAR06	22MAR06	01APR94	01MAR03
F3	08FEB03	08FEB03	08FEB03	01JUN93	08JAN93
F4	22AUG01	22AUG01	22AUG01	22OCT96	22APR90

Employment Based:

Employment-Based Quota Limit Reached for FY 2013

The State Department has confirmed to AILA liaison that employment annual limits have been reached, as is often the case at the end of a fiscal year.

USCIS will continue to process pending adjustment cases, and is able to submit visa number requests for all cases which are being finalized. The State Department will place requests in a “pending Demand” file.