Immigration Practice - Government Reopens July 2007 Employment-Based Adjustment Filings
The government announced today that it has reversed its July 2, 2007 announcement that the Fiscal Year 2007 employment-based visa numbers had been used up and that it was going to reject adjustment of status filings during July. Instead, Secretary Chertoff advises that USCIS will keep the applications previously filed and re-open filings for a 31-day period from July 18, 2007 through August 17, 2007, in order to provide the same filing window for individuals who would have been eligible had the July 2 actions not taken place. Applicants will be able to pay the July filing fees during the entire window period. The fee increase will not go into effect between July 18, 2007 and August 17, 2007. Unfortunately, it does not appear that today's announcement helps the EB-3 “Other Workers” category whose applications were rejected in June.