Last week, the Obama Administration launched its “Stand Stronger” citizenship awareness campaign to promote the benefits of citizenship for green card holders.  Currently, 8.8 million of the 13.3 million green card holders in the U.S. are eligible for citizenship.   Additionally, one out of three green card holders eligible for citizenship have been in the U.S. since 1990.  As part of the campaign, USCIS is expanding services in rural areas, accepting credit card payments for naturalization fees, and utilizing public service announcements to promote the benefits of citizenship.  USCIS will also be expanding its various online resources dedicated to naturalization and making them available in more languages.

USCIS has also given $10 million in grants to various organizations to promote citizenship and will partner with certain municipal governments throughout the U.S. on this project for various outreach efforts.  The Stand Stronger campaign is one of the corner stones of President Obama’s executive action on immigration.

Adjudication of Employment-Based AOS Applications to be Postponed Through the End of FY2015

Yesterday, USCIS suspended final adjudication of Form I-485, Application to Register Permanent Residence or Adjust Status (AOS) for the employment-based categories until the new fiscal year 2016 begins on October 1, 2015, when new visa numbers are available. The suspension occurred because the statutory cap for employment-based preference categories for the fiscal year 2015 has been reached.  The fiscal year 2015 ends on September 30, 2015, therefore USCIS will resume final adjudication of AOS applications beginning on October 1, 2015.  AOS applications will still be accepted by USCIS for applicants who have priority date that is current.

In order to determine eligibility to file Form I-485 to adjust status, please visit the “When to File” part of the Visa Bulletin Info Web page. We anticipate that this temporary suspension will not have any significant impact on adjudications of I-485 applications. Your EIG attorney is always available to answer your questions and concerns regarding the Adjustment of Status process and eligibility.