Interviews at the San Diego Field Office We have great news for our local readers. The USCIS San Diego Field Office is scheduled to resume interviews on July 6, 2020, with priority given to adjustment of status applications filed by doctors and front-line workers fighting to mitigate the effects of…
Articles Posted in Initial Interview
USCIS Update: Very Long Processing Times, What’s Happening?
Our readers and clients have eagerly been asking why the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has reported extremely long processing times on their webpage. Others are concerned about when their field offices will reopen and reschedule their interviews. In this post we hope to provide some clarification regarding…
USCIS Prepares to Reopen Some Offices on June 4
We have very exciting news for our readers. Yesterday, May 27th the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) confirmed that it is preparing to reopen some domestic offices and resume services to the public on or after June 4th. As you know, on March 18th USCIS made the difficult…
COVID-19 UPDATE: Are Green Card Interviews Being Waived?
UPDATE: Green card interviews are being waived for at least some applicants during COVID-19 Unprecedented times call for unusual measures. Recently USCIS announced the closure of field offices nationwide—until May 3rd–to help slow the spread of COVID-19. This announcement was immediately concerning given that green card applicants (family and employment-based)…
USCIS Announces Public Charge Implementation Beginning February 24, 2020
In this post, we would like to provide our readers with an important update released by the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) with respect to the public charge rule. Given the Supreme Court’s recent ruling in favor of the government, the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS)…
Guide to the I-130 Consular Process to Immigrate Foreign Spouses
Image Courtesy of Scotland Shop In this informational post we discuss the I-130 Consular Process for spouses. Consular processing refers to the process by which a U.S. Citizen immigrates their foreign spouse to the United States from abroad. Depending on the foreign spouse’s country of residence, and the volume of…
DHS Implements Visa Waiver Program Travel Restrictions
On January 21, 2016 the Department of Homeland Security confirmed that the Visa Waiver Program Improvement and Terrorist Travel Prevention Act would begin to be implemented. As a result of the recent terrorist attacks in San Bernardino county and abroad, Congress passed the Act in an effort to protect Americans…
Op-Ed: Why Revising the K-1 Fiancé Visa and AOS Process Doesn’t Make Sense
Tashfeen Malik, a Pakistani citizen, and her husband Syed Rizwan Farook, a naturalized United States Citizen, are known globally as the couple behind the San Bernardino shootings, which took the lives of 14 people and left 21 injured. Twenty-eight-year-old Syed Farook was identified as an environmental health services inspector employed…
Technological Issues with Passport and Visa Issuance Systems Resolved for US Consulates Worldwide
The Department of State has issued an alert announcing that as of June 26, 2015 all visa issuing US embassies and consulates are now able to continue visa processing. Staff at US consulates and embassies were able to work over the weekend and resolve backlogs which are expected to be…
TOP 5 Challenging Questions Couples Face at the STOKES/Fraud Interview
What are the most challenging questions for couples at a STOKES/Fraud Interview? By Attorney Marie Puertollano, Esq. What happens when a US Citizen Spouse and the intending immigrant spouse fail an interview pending an application for permanent residence? Normally couples who have failed to provide sufficient documentation to an immigration…