increase | Scott Legal, P.C.

New Expanded Premium Processing Services and Increased Costs Effective October 19

USCIS announced today that the new expanded premium processing services will take effect on October 19. Premium processing guarantees that USCIS will take adjudicative action on the application within 15 days. If USCIS fails to do so, the agency will…

Jenny ZhanOctober 16, 2020

Immigration News

Congress Passes Stopgap Spending Measure and Premium Processing Services Expanded

Congress has passed a stopgap spending measure to ensure that the US government and several immigration operations will be extended through to December 11, 2020. The spending measure extended the four expiring immigration programs including the E-Verify, the EB-5 Regional…

Jenny ZhanOctober 9, 2020

News

Judge Blocks USCIS Application Fee Increase

California District Court Judge White has blocked the Department of Homeland Security’s fee increase, originally slated to take effect on October 2, 2020. The October 2 fee increase would have significantly increased the costs for most employment-based applications and other…

Jenny ZhanOctober 5, 2020

Immigration News

USCIS to Increase Application Fees

The Department of Homeland Security has announced new application fees that will take effect on October 2, 2020. This new announcement will increase the application fees for most application types. USCIS is a for profit agency that uses application fees…

Jenny ZhanAugust 10, 2020

EB-5 Visa Immigration Investor Visas

USCIS Issues New EB-5 Adjudication Procedure Process

USCIS announced on January 29 an operational change in the EB-5 application adjudication process. Previously, USCIS adjudicated EB-5 applications in a first come first serve basis. Applications that were received first will be processed first. From March 31, 2020, USCIS…

Jenny ZhanJanuary 30, 2020

Immigration News

DHS Extends Deadline for Public Comment Period for Proposed Fee Changes

DHS has extended the public comment period for the proposed fee changes to December 30. This extension gives stakeholders more time to weigh in on the recent proposal that would significantly increase most USCIS filing fees. For the detailed breakdown…

Jenny ZhanDecember 9, 2019

EB-5 Visa Immigration Investor Visas

Congress Passes Short Term Funding and New EB-5 Rules Come into Effect Today

On November 18, Congress passed a temporary continuing resolution to fund the government through to December 20. This means that the EB-5 regional center program through to December 20. However, unlike all previous extensions, the new EB-5 rules also come…

Jenny ZhanNovember 21, 2019

H-1B and E-3 Visa Immigration

Premium Processing Fee to Increase on December 2

Fees for Form I-907 Premium Processing will increase from the current $1410 to $1440 on December 2. Premium Processing Service means that USCIS will issue a decision (approval, denial, Request for Evidence, or Notice of Intent to deny) within 15…

Jenny ZhanNovember 21, 2019

Immigration News

DHS Proposal to Increase Visa Application Fees

The Department of Homeland Security has proposed a fee schedule that would increase the filing fees for most applications. The proposal also seeks to increase the premium processing timeline to 15 business days instead of the current 15 calendar days.…

Jenny ZhanNovember 21, 2019

Immigration News

Congress Passes Short Term Spending Measure Extending EB-5 and Other Immigration Programs

On September 26, 2019, Congress has passed a short-term spending bill through until November 21, 2019. This means that the programs that were slotted to expire on September 30 have been given an extension without change for another 2 months.…

Jenny ZhanSeptember 26, 2019

EB-5 Visa Immigration Investor Visas

New EB-5 Rules Revealed: Drastic Changes to Investment Amount and TEA Qualification

Despite the fact that the EB-5 investment immigration program has been renewed again, again, and again, every time it has come close to expiration without change, USCIS has finally published the long-waited updates to the EB-5 program. These changes differ slightly from the proposed…

Jenny ZhanAugust 5, 2019

EB-5 Visa Immigration Investor Visas

New EB-5 Rule Clears Federal Review

On June 28, 2019, the new EB-5 rule has been cleared by the Office of Management and Budget’s review. The rule was originally sent to the OMB in February 2019. The contents of the regulation will remain confidential until the…

Jenny ZhanJuly 1, 2019

EB-5 Visa Immigration Investor Visas

New EB-5 Rule Sent to Office of Management and Budget for Review

The Department of Homeland Security has sent a new EB-5 regulation to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for federal review. The contents of the regulation will remain confidential until the regulations are published. However, in January 2017, DHS…

Jenny ZhanFebruary 25, 2019