Pappas Law Group

The U.S. Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) has recently published a delayed update of the poverty guidelines for the remainder of 2010.  The poverty guidelines are usually published every year in late January or early February.
The reason for the delayed update of this year’s poverty guidelines was due to legislation enacted in late 2009 and early [...]

The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has announced yesterday that it will conduct an agency-wide policy review to examine and potentially change its policies concerning the adjudication of applications for benefits and customer service.
The USCIS has selected the following ten (10) areas to examine in its policy review:

National Customer Service;
H-1B visas;
Citizenship & Naturalization;
Employment based green cards in general;
Employment based green cards under the 1st, [...]

The House of Representatives earlier this week passed the International Adoption Harmonization Act of 2010 (H.R. 5532).  The bill would amend the immigration law regarding the eligibility of foreign born adopted children to obtain permanent residence (green cards). Â
The bill if signed into law, will allow an adopted child to immigrate to the U.S. as long as the adoption is completed and the application for permanent [...]

The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) seeks public comments on its proposal to increase filing fees for the adjudication of applications, and to recover costs in administering the immigration laws.
The proposal was posted yesterday in the Federal Register.  The proposed increase would raise filing fees for most applications by 10%.
The comment period begins on June 11, 2010 and ends on July 26, 2010.  Individuals interested [...]

The Los Angeles Times reported today that the U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Services (USCIS) is considering raising filing fees for certain applications, mainly, the application to become a permanent resident.
The filing fee for Form I-485 (Application to Register Permanent Resident or Adjust Status) is currently at $ 1,010.  USCIS’ plan is to raise the fee to $ 1,085.
The [...]