The July 2012 Visa Bulletin was released today and the headline was the establishment of a cut-off date of 2009-01-01 for EB-2 ROW (all countries other than those listed separately). Although DOS has recently warned of potential retrogression for EB2 ROW, the backward movement of 3+ years still came as a surprise to many. After … Read more
Today I went with a group of co-workers to volunteer at the Ronald McDonald House of San Diego. Our job was to cook and serve dinner to more than 100 people, so that they could “relax” and have a hot meal at the end of the day. These families have one thing in common: They … Read more
I was teaching my son how to play Chinese Chess the other day, but couldn’t remember the whole rhyming song that explains the basic rules. So today while driving home, I made one up 🙂 马走日 象走田 炮打须隔山 小卒步步向前走 大俥纵横无阻拦 双士护两侧 老将守家园 中国相棋乐无边 Sorry if you don’t read Chinese, and I don’t think I’ll be … Read more
The 2012 solar eclipse came and went, and it sure was fun to watch. I tried the simple method using binoculars to project the sun’s image onto a white board, and it worked surprisingly well. Basically, I held a pair of binoculars and pointed the wide end at the sun (never look through the eyepiece … Read more
May 10, 2012: According to the delivery confirmation from U.S. Post Office, my N-400 application package was delivered early this morning to USCIS (P.O. Box in Phoenix, AZ). May 11, 2012: USCIS accepted my application and entered it into their system (as I later found out from the email notification I received). May 15, 2012: … Read more
Today is the start of my journey to U.S. citizenship. I mailed my N-400 application to USCIS this morning, and will be blogging and recording each step along the way until the Naturalization Certificate arrives. I will try to be as specific as possible, with hopefully enough details to help other DIYers. At a minimum, … Read more
USCIS began accepting new H-1B petitions on April 2, 2012. If approved, beneficiaries of these petitions may start working in H-1B status on or after October 1, 2012 – the first day of FY 2013 cap season. The following table includes every cap count released by USCIS. The table will be updated on a regular … Read more
Over the past ten years, my parents have visited us six or seven times. Every time they fly between China and the U.S., however, my anxiety level would skyrocket for the duration of their entire trip. I keep telling myself they’ve done it so many times without a glitch, but mentally just can’t help it. … Read more
A prediction from Charles Oppenheim about EB-2 retrogression has sent a shock wave among I-485 applicants, likely prompting a protest against the much easier venue classified as EB1-C for international managers. Mr. Oppenheim, Chief of the Visa Control and Reporting Division at the Department of State, announced at the AILA Midwest Regional Conference on March … Read more
The Department of State today released the Visa Bulletin for April, 2012. The rapid forward movement of EB-2 in recent months has unfortunately come to a stop. Cutoff dates for both China and India EB2 categories remained the same as March: May 1, 2010. The Visa Office warned about potential slow down or even retrogression of cutoff … Read more
