news views and analysis

If you were like me, the last few weeks have been a rollercoaster ride vis-a-vis the GreenCard filing and the USCIS in general. On July 02, 2007 USCIS issued a revised bulletin and stumped the aspirations and dreams of hundreds of thousands of green card applicants. Indians all over the US resorted to Gandhigiri and sent flowers by the thousands to USCIS Director. Other organisations like the AILA got on the class action lawsuit bandwagon, and rightly so.

All this had a collective effect on the USCIS and they have decided to rescind their earlier order and will now allow the first July Bulletin to be active till August 12, 2007.

On July 2, 2007, USCIS announced that it would not accept any additional employment-based applications to adjust status. USCIS made that announcement after receiving an update from the Department of State that it would not authorize any additional employment-based visa numbers for this fiscal year. After consulting with USCIS, the Department of State has advised that Bulletin #107 (dated June 12) should be relied upon as the current July Visa Bulletin for purposes of determining employment visa number availability, and that Visa Bulletin #108(dated July 2) has been withdrawn.

“The public reaction to the July 2 announcement made it clear that the federal government’s management of this process needs further review,” said Emilio Gonzalez, USCIS Director. “I
am committed to working with Congress and the State Department to implement a more efficient system in line with public expectations.” USCIS’s announcement today allows anyone who was eligible to apply under Visa Bulletin No. 107 a full month’s time to do so.

Applications already properly filed with USCIS will also be accepted. The current fee schedule will apply to all applications filed under Visa Bulletin No. 107 through August 17, 2007. (The new fee schedule that becomes effective on July 30, 2007, will apply to all other applications filed on or after July 30, 2007). [link]

So if you are in the process of filing and were left hanging in the air, stop reading this blog and call your lawyers. Get the wheels in motion. Note that the fees go up on August 01, by about three times and therefore you better hurry and get your application in before the end of the month.