Can we really expect to see 60,000 approval notices mailed out this month?
The story coming out of the CIS is that they worked their little fingers to the bone, getting cases ready for close out. This is how they suddenly used up 60,000 employment based immigrant visas. Right. And the check is in the mail.If this is true, there is a very easy way to tell. We will see fully 60.000 EB adjustment of status approvals for the month of July. That will be hard to miss, since that number is equal to about 75% of the CIS EB approvals for an entire year. Shipping out that many approvals will make headlines and will be all over the Internet.
Why do they have to approve 60,000 cases in July? Because if they don’t we know that they haven’t been telling the truth (big surprise there). The INS (now CIS) standard operating procedures for adjustment of status provide the following instructions:
INS Standard Operating Procedures: Adjustment of Status
Section 8: Post adjudications
Page 8-2
If an adjudicator finds that the I-485 application is ready for approval, he/she indicates that the case is “Recommended for Approval” and sends a sheet to INS clerical or the contractor requesting a visa. INS clerical or the contractor contacts the Department of State (DOS) to verify that a visa is currently available. Once DOS verifies that a visa is available the clerk will route the case back to the adjudicator . The adjudicator will approve the case and send it back to INS clerical or the contractor for card production activities.
The more recently updated CIS Adjudicator’s Field Manual provides similar, but even more explicit orders:
AFM 23.5(b)
(5) Procedure for Ordering a Visa Number from the Department of State . Visa numbers are requested by USCIS offices directly from the Visa Control Office of the Department of State. The request is only to be made after:
The applicant has been interviewed and found to be eligible for adjustment of status (or, for cases adjudicated at a service center, simply found to be eligible for adjustment of status); and
The requestor has verified that the current visa bulletin indicates that a visa number is available for the country and classification involved, and that the current bulletin has not been superseded by an advisory from the Visa Control Office.
The Department of State has guaranteed to USCIS that so long as the current visa bulletin and any superseding advisories indicate that a number is available, a number will be assigned.
There are currently two different procedures for ordering visa numbers from the Department of State: by fax and through IVAMS.
(A) Ordering by Fax . Offices can order a visa number by sending a fax listing the applicant’s country of chargeability, preference classification symbol, priority date, and A-number to the Visa Control Office. While visa numbers can be requested at any time, the Visa Control Office can only respond during normal business hours. A sample fax format is contained in Appendix 23-7.
(B) Ordering Through IVAMS (formerly known as INSAMS) . The Immigrant Visa Allocation Management System (IVAMS) was deployed to all USCIS Field Offices in 2002. Offices using IVAMS are given a special card which (when passed through a reader) allows them direct Internet access into the Visa Control Office’s computer system. The visa number is requested on-line and issued instantaneously. Unlike the fax system, IVAMS is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. IVAMS is now the primary means to order visa numbers. The fax option is used as a backup.
It’s pretty clear that CIS adjudicators cannot order a visa number until they have found the adjustment application approvable, that is, everything is complete including all required security background checks. Only then may they request a visa number for the case and the must then close out the case immediately.
This means that 60,000 employment based adjustment applicants should receive the good news within the next two weeks. The system for printing and mailing notices of approval is automated, so there shouldn’t be any delays in sending out those 60,000 approvals.
Anyone care to be on how may cases were actually approved? My guess is somewhere around 1,500 to 1,800 - if we are very lucky. Wait until the end of the year. We are once again going to see tens of thousands of wasted (unused) employment based immigrant visa numbers.
This entry was posted on July 5, 2007 at 1:18 pm and is filed under General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response or trackback from your own site.
The story coming out of the CIS is that they worked their little fingers to the bone, getting cases ready for close out. This is how they suddenly used up 60,000 employment based immigrant visas. Right. And the check is in the mail.If this is true, there is a very easy way to tell. We will see fully 60.000 EB adjustment of status approvals for the month of July. That will be hard to miss, since that number is equal to about 75% of the CIS EB approvals for an entire year. Shipping out that many approvals will make headlines and will be all over the Internet.
Why do they have to approve 60,000 cases in July? Because if they don’t we know that they haven’t been telling the truth (big surprise there). The INS (now CIS) standard operating procedures for adjustment of status provide the following instructions:
INS Standard Operating Procedures: Adjustment of Status
Section 8: Post adjudications
Page 8-2
If an adjudicator finds that the I-485 application is ready for approval, he/she indicates that the case is “Recommended for Approval” and sends a sheet to INS clerical or the contractor requesting a visa. INS clerical or the contractor contacts the Department of State (DOS) to verify that a visa is currently available. Once DOS verifies that a visa is available the clerk will route the case back to the adjudicator . The adjudicator will approve the case and send it back to INS clerical or the contractor for card production activities.
The more recently updated CIS Adjudicator’s Field Manual provides similar, but even more explicit orders:
AFM 23.5(b)
(5) Procedure for Ordering a Visa Number from the Department of State . Visa numbers are requested by USCIS offices directly from the Visa Control Office of the Department of State. The request is only to be made after:
The applicant has been interviewed and found to be eligible for adjustment of status (or, for cases adjudicated at a service center, simply found to be eligible for adjustment of status); and
The requestor has verified that the current visa bulletin indicates that a visa number is available for the country and classification involved, and that the current bulletin has not been superseded by an advisory from the Visa Control Office.
The Department of State has guaranteed to USCIS that so long as the current visa bulletin and any superseding advisories indicate that a number is available, a number will be assigned.
There are currently two different procedures for ordering visa numbers from the Department of State: by fax and through IVAMS.
(A) Ordering by Fax . Offices can order a visa number by sending a fax listing the applicant’s country of chargeability, preference classification symbol, priority date, and A-number to the Visa Control Office. While visa numbers can be requested at any time, the Visa Control Office can only respond during normal business hours. A sample fax format is contained in Appendix 23-7.
(B) Ordering Through IVAMS (formerly known as INSAMS) . The Immigrant Visa Allocation Management System (IVAMS) was deployed to all USCIS Field Offices in 2002. Offices using IVAMS are given a special card which (when passed through a reader) allows them direct Internet access into the Visa Control Office’s computer system. The visa number is requested on-line and issued instantaneously. Unlike the fax system, IVAMS is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. IVAMS is now the primary means to order visa numbers. The fax option is used as a backup.
It’s pretty clear that CIS adjudicators cannot order a visa number until they have found the adjustment application approvable, that is, everything is complete including all required security background checks. Only then may they request a visa number for the case and the must then close out the case immediately.
This means that 60,000 employment based adjustment applicants should receive the good news within the next two weeks. The system for printing and mailing notices of approval is automated, so there shouldn’t be any delays in sending out those 60,000 approvals.
Anyone care to be on how may cases were actually approved? My guess is somewhere around 1,500 to 1,800 - if we are very lucky. Wait until the end of the year. We are once again going to see tens of thousands of wasted (unused) employment based immigrant visa numbers.
This entry was posted on July 5, 2007 at 1:18 pm and is filed under General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response or trackback from your own site.