News Update - July 26, 2007

By Alan Lee, Esq.^†‡

Stingy In Defeat, USCIS Agrees To Old Fees For Some Applications Until August 17, 2007 But Not Others

The USCIS announced Monday (7/23/07) that it would accept the current fees for employment authorization applications ($180) and Advanced Parole/Reentry permit applications ($170.00) filed with employment based adjustment of status cases received by August 17, 2007. These fees are only applicable to employment-based adjustment applicants. This announcement followed USCIS’ capitulation to a storm of criticism and calls for investigation over what has been called “Visa Bulletin Gate” by some. However, USCIS will not accept I-140 Employment based immigrant petitions on or after July 30, 2007 without the new increased fee of $475.00. In addition, it will not accept employment based I-485 adjustment of status filings where the priority date is August 1, 2007, or later.

It should be noted that the August 2007 visa bulletin states a lack of visa availability for any employment-based category. The next time such numbers can become available is at the start of the next fiscal year on October 1, 2007. You can read more about the troubling visa bulletin fiasco in our previous postings on this website and can write your representatives urging an increase in visa numbers or voicing your opinion on any issue through our “Write to Congress” feature (see on bottom of our front page) developed by the American Immigration Lawyers Association.

† The author is a 26+ year practitioner of immigration law based in New York City. He was awarded the Sidney A. Levine prize for best legal writing at the Cleveland-Marshall College of Law in 1977 and has written extensively on immigration over the past years for the ethnic newspapers, World Journal, Sing Tao, Pakistan Calling, Muhasha and OCS. He has testified as an expert on immigration in civil court proceedings and was recognized by the Taiwan government in 1985 for his work protecting human rights. His article, "The Bush Temporary Worker Proposal and Comparative Pending Legislation: an Analysis" was Interpreter Releases' cover display article at the American Immigration Lawyers Association annual conference in 2004, and his victory in the Second Circuit Court of Appeals in a case of first impression nationwide, Firstland International v. INS, successfully challenged INS' policy of over 40 years of revoking approved immigrant visa petitions under a nebulous standard of proof. Its value as precedent, however, was short-lived as it was specifically targeted by the Administration in the Intelligence Reform Act of 2004.

‡ This article © 2007 Alan Lee, Esq.

Copyright © 2003-2012 Alan Lee, Esq.
The information provided here is of a general nature and may not apply to any particular set of facts or circumstances. It should not be construed as legal advice and does not constitute an engagement of the Law Office of Alan Lee or establish an attorney-client relationship.