RECENT IMMIGRATION NEWS AND UPDATES
THE U.S. MISSION IN TURKEY HAS RESUMED PROCESSING NON-IMMIGRANT VISAS ON A LIMITED BASIS.
Turkish citizens with valid visas may continue to travel to the United States. Turkish citizens are also welcome to apply for a nonimmigrant visa outside of Turkey whether or not they maintain a residence in that country. Please note that an applicant applying outside of Turkey will need to pay the application fee for services in that country, even if a fee has previously been paid for services in Turkey.
MAJOR POLICY CHANGES FOR ALL NON IMMIGRANT VISA EXTENSIONS
USCIS has recently issued an updated Policy Memorandum which supersedes and rescinds the April 23, 2004 memorandum titled “The Significance of a Prior CIS Approval of a Nonimmigrant Petition in the Context of a Subsequent Determination Regarding Eligibility for Extension of Petition Validity”
USCIS is now instructing its officers to apply the same level of scrutiny to both initial petitions and extension requests for certain nonimmigrant visa categories. This applies to nearly all non immigrant classifications filed using Form I-129, Petition for a Nonimmigrant Worker.
U.S. STARTED ACCEPTING REFUGEES
According to the Washington Post’s news, US government will resume accepting refugees into the United States, but it takes three more months to continue assessing screening procedures for applicants from 11 nations deemed “higher risk.”
The announcement, made by executive order, comes as President Trump’s 120-day freeze on refugee admissions was due to expire. Trump has instructed Department of Homeland Security officials to develop “extreme vetting” procedures to make sure “radical Islamic terrorists” do not take advantage of the program.
DV LOTTERY DEADLINE
Due to a technical issue, the DV-2019 entry period that began on October 3 has been closed. Entries submitted during October 3-10 are not valid and have been excluded from the system; they will not count as a duplicate entry. The technical issue has been resolved and a new full entry period began on Wednesday October 18, 2017 and will run until noon Eastern Standard Time on Wednesday November 22, 2017. Only entries submitted during this period will be accepted and considered for selection in the lottery. Please throw away any confirmation number or other documentation that you have if you submitted an entry during Oct. 3-10. Entries will NOT be accepted through the U.S. Postal Service.
PREMIUM PROCESSING FOR H-1B VISA PETITIONS WERE ENABLED
USCIS has recently resumed premium processing for all H-1B visa extension of stay petitions. The Premium processing provides a rush 15-day review period by an immigration officer for a submitted petition on an extra fees. Premium processing is also now available for all H-1B petitions.