Green Card

These are topics related to appeals and motions for reconsideration or reopening of decisions (MTR) by govt. agencies such as USCIS, USDOL, etc.

The process though which a person within USA obtains a change in their status to green card holder. This is usually the last step for (most not all) green card process.

Advance Parole or AP (Form I-131): The authorization to travel outside the US while your adjustment of status is pending. Note, Form I-131 is also used for Reentry Permit, an application by a US green card holder to be away from USA for over one year.

Used mostly in the context of the last step in green card processing (Adjustment of Status), preadjudication means USCIS is proceeding to make decision on the file even though priority date is not yet current. The idea is that way when the PD gets current, all they need to do is send approval notice and then the green card. So if the AOS is preadjudicated, you still need to wait for the PD to become current.

AC21 is the name given to a law that provides for several matters including the ability to change jobs while an employment-based green card is pending (I-485 AC21 portability) and to start working for an H-1B employer as soon as transfer petition is filed with the USCIS.

An alternative to obtaining the last step in the green card through the consulates outside USA. This is an alternative to adjustment of status.

Child Status Protection Act

EB4 category is for religious workers.

Petition for a conditional resident who obtained status through marriage to apply to remove the conditions on his or her residence.

Includes topics of loss of physical green card papers or the card itself as well as loss of green card through abandonment and criminal activity.

PERM audits typically involve questions from the USDOL regarding the PERM filing.

A publication of the US State Department that keeps track of the green card backlogs and informs us which "Priority Dates" are current so the applicants can expect to get through the last step of their green card processing. This is published every month around the 14th and tells us the availability for the following month. Note that certain categories of applicants ("immediate relatives") such as spouse of a US citizen are not shown in the visa bulletin because they are entitled to have their applications considered without any wait.

Violence Against Women Act