VisaProAdviserVisas, migration and life abroad
Filing with USCIS and US consulates: green card routes, EAD renewals, I-864 sponsorship, public charge reviews, NOID responses and H-1B risks in US immigration.
8 articles tagged us immigration
How to file an EAD renewal before the card expires, why a receipt notice no longer extends work authorization, online filing, and requesting expedited USCIS processing.
What to do if USCIS alleges fraud on a tourist visa during a marriage green card case: I-601 requirements, extreme hardship, and response deadlines explained.
EB-1A, EB-2 NIW, family-based immigration, and green card lottery — four legal ways to obtain a US green card without an employer sponsor and without millions in investment.
How visa officers assess public charge when issuing immigration visas: age, health, income, education, and financial obligations of the applicant.
Rising fees, unemployment risk, and 100-year green card backlogs are pushing H-1B holders to leave the US. What to replace it with and how to prepare.
Court overturned immigration ban. First applicants are receiving visas, but the process is slowed by retraining of consulate officers on new Public Charge rule.
Most US immigration benefits are handled by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), a Department of Homeland Security agency created in 2003 when the former INS was split up. USCIS decides petitions and applications filed inside the country, such as Form I-130 for relatives, I-485 for adjustment of status and I-765 for work authorization, while visas abroad are issued by State Department consulates.
Every filing receives a receipt notice on Form I-797C with a 13-character receipt number, which is used to check case status online. Before denying a case, an officer may issue a Request for Evidence (RFE) or a Notice of Intent to Deny (NOID), giving the applicant a chance to respond in writing. Family-based immigrant cases also require Form I-864, an Affidavit of Support in which the sponsor takes on a legally enforceable obligation, and it is central to the public charge assessment.
USCIS is often confused with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), which handles detention and removal inside the country, and with Customs and Border Protection (CBP), which inspects travelers at ports of entry. Removal cases are heard by immigration judges of the Executive Office for Immigration Review, part of the Department of Justice rather than DHS.