On July 17, 2007, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced that it will immediately resume accepting employment-based Adjustment of Status Applications (Form I-485) for all persons eligible to file. The U.S. Department of State (DOS) has advised that its original July Visa Bulletin, which indicates that all employment-based visa preference categories are "current" for the month of July, will be reinstated. USCIS effectively apologized to the public for the confusion created by the federal government when on July 2nd DOS announced that all visas had been used and that no more applications would be adjudicated or accepted for filing until the next fiscal year.
This is welcome news, and even better, USCIS will accept all eligible I-485 applications through August 17th to give applicants the full one-month opportunity to file that was promised in the original July Visa Bulletin. Moreover, USCIS has done the right thing by keeping the current filing fees for I-485 applications in place until August 17th, despite the fact that all other fees will increase on July 30th. The USCIS announcement is available here.
We advise clients who are eligible to file for adjustment of status (meaning that an I-140 immigrant visa petition on their behalf is currently pending or approved, or that they are eligible to file an I-140 petition now) to immediately prepare for filing, beginning with the obtaining of a medical examination, and to contact our office to coordinate the filing.
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