08/17/2005: October New Fiscal Year Visa Number Allocation and USCIS Preparation for Adjudication of EB-3 485 Applications
Early next month, September, DOS will release the October 2005 Visa Bulletin and people will see the impact of new fiscal year visa number allocation on EB-3 visa number availability. As the State Department has already predicted, EB-3 visa number may become current for world-wide, and even for China and India, some numbers may become available inasmuch as their priority dates are older than the new cut-off dates which the October 2005 Visa Bulletin will establish.
Report indicates that the Service Centers have been continuously processing EB-485 cases even though their visa numbers are currently unavailable and they cannot decide the cases. They are getting ready for October 1, 2005! No wonder why the EB-3 I-485 applicants have been receiving biometic appointment letters en masse lately. This is certainly not a bad news at all.
Here are a few pointers which may help the people who have been anxiously waiting for the EB-3 visa numbers becoming available for them:
First, when you receive the biometric scheduling, you should never reschedule it as it can cause a delay in processing your EB-3 I-485 applications. For Indians and Chinese, you may learn that such rescheduling will turn out be one of the most serious mistakes you would ever have made in the immigration journey.
Second, when RFE is received for either I-140 or EB-3 I-485 applications, you should send in responses as promptly as possible so that your cases will get ready for adjudication when the EB-3 visa numbers will become availabe on October 1 and thereafter.
Third, you should not do anything that can trigger transfer of EB-3 I-485 applications to the local district offices for interview or issuance of RFE. Once the cases are transferred to the local offices, the cases are subject to the local offices processing queue and decisions can be delayed substantially. Same will be true with the RFE. Those who have changed employers using AC 21 180-rule may want to assess the advantages and disadvantages of proactively reporting their employment changes with the help of their legal counsels.
Fourth, you should not do anything that will either cause a delay in completion of the name checks or trigger trasfer of the case to local district offices for clarification of issues that surfaced through the name checks for fact findings through the interviews. Minor violations of criminal law or local ordinance that require fingerprinting may trigger transfer of the cases to local offices, no matter whether it involves a deportable offense or not. Exit from the U.S. may also be reported by BCP inspectors through the database and the surrendered I-94 documents, which can cause some delays in adjudications, even though in most cases international travelling should not and have not affected adjudication of I-485 applications.
If you have any violation of status in whatever forms after filing I-485 applications, your contact with the agencies through extension or change of nonimmigrant status should be minimized as their findings of violation of nonimmigrant status post-filing of I-485 will seriously affect your eligibility for adjustment of status.
Early next month, September, DOS will release the October 2005 Visa Bulletin and people will see the impact of new fiscal year visa number allocation on EB-3 visa number availability. As the State Department has already predicted, EB-3 visa number may become current for world-wide, and even for China and India, some numbers may become available inasmuch as their priority dates are older than the new cut-off dates which the October 2005 Visa Bulletin will establish.
Report indicates that the Service Centers have been continuously processing EB-485 cases even though their visa numbers are currently unavailable and they cannot decide the cases. They are getting ready for October 1, 2005! No wonder why the EB-3 I-485 applicants have been receiving biometic appointment letters en masse lately. This is certainly not a bad news at all.
Here are a few pointers which may help the people who have been anxiously waiting for the EB-3 visa numbers becoming available for them:
First, when you receive the biometric scheduling, you should never reschedule it as it can cause a delay in processing your EB-3 I-485 applications. For Indians and Chinese, you may learn that such rescheduling will turn out be one of the most serious mistakes you would ever have made in the immigration journey.
Second, when RFE is received for either I-140 or EB-3 I-485 applications, you should send in responses as promptly as possible so that your cases will get ready for adjudication when the EB-3 visa numbers will become availabe on October 1 and thereafter.
Third, you should not do anything that can trigger transfer of EB-3 I-485 applications to the local district offices for interview or issuance of RFE. Once the cases are transferred to the local offices, the cases are subject to the local offices processing queue and decisions can be delayed substantially. Same will be true with the RFE. Those who have changed employers using AC 21 180-rule may want to assess the advantages and disadvantages of proactively reporting their employment changes with the help of their legal counsels.
Fourth, you should not do anything that will either cause a delay in completion of the name checks or trigger trasfer of the case to local district offices for clarification of issues that surfaced through the name checks for fact findings through the interviews. Minor violations of criminal law or local ordinance that require fingerprinting may trigger transfer of the cases to local offices, no matter whether it involves a deportable offense or not. Exit from the U.S. may also be reported by BCP inspectors through the database and the surrendered I-94 documents, which can cause some delays in adjudications, even though in most cases international travelling should not and have not affected adjudication of I-485 applications.
If you have any violation of status in whatever forms after filing I-485 applications, your contact with the agencies through extension or change of nonimmigrant status should be minimized as their findings of violation of nonimmigrant status post-filing of I-485 will seriously affect your eligibility for adjustment of status.