DiPietro Law Office

08/04/2025

Trying to determine when your immigrant visa appointment is going to be scheduled. Go to

Rights and Protections for Foreign-Citizen Fiancé(e)s and Spouses of U.S. Citizens and Spouses of Lawful Permanent Residents

12/27/2023

Starting February 26, 2024, the USCIS Stabilization Act increases certain premium processing fees from $1,500 to $1,685, $1,750 to $1,965, and $2,500 to $2,805.

https://www.uscis.gov/newsroom/alerts/uscis-announces-inflation-adjustment-to-premium-processing-fees #:~:text=After%20leaving%20these%20fees%20unchanged,Index%20for%20All%20Urban%20Consumers.

07/25/2022

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services is extending certain COVID-19-related flexibilities through Oct. 23, 2022, to assist applicants, petitioners, and requestors. Under these flexibilities, USCIS considers a response received within 60 calendar days after the due date set forth in the following requests or notices before taking any action, if the request or notice was issued between March 1, 2020, and Oct. 23, 2022, inclusive:

Requests for Evidence;
Continuations to Request Evidence (N-14);
Notices of Intent to Deny;
Notices of Intent to Revoke;
Notices of Intent to Rescind;
Notices of Intent to Terminate regional centers;
Notices of Intent to Withdraw Temporary Protected Status; and
Motions to Reopen an N-400 Pursuant to 8 CFR 335.5, Receipt of Derogatory Information After Grant.
In addition, USCIS will consider a Form I-290B, Notice of Appeal or Motion, or a Form N-336, Request for a Hearing on a Decision in Naturalization Proceedings (Under Section 336 of the INA), if:

The form was filed up to 90 calendar days from the issuance of a decision we made; and
We made that decision between Nov. 1, 2021, and Oct. 23, 2022, inclusive.

See https://www.uscis.gov/newsroom/alerts/uscis-extends-covid-19-related-flexibilities #:~:text=U.S.%20Citizenship%20and%20Immigration%20Services,applicants%2C%20petitioners%2C%20and%20requestors.

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services is extending certain COVID-19-related flexibilities through Oct. 23, 2022, to assist applicants, petitioners, and requestors.

07/22/2022

Great news for O-1 Applicants with a petition focused on STEM Fields!

USCIS clarified that being named on a competitive government grant for STEM research can be a positive factor toward demonstrating that a beneficiary is at the top of their field.

A. Standard for Classification In order to qualify as a person of “extraordinary ability” in the sciences, education, business, or athletics (commonly refer

05/24/2022

Exciting Premium Processing News!

USCIS will begin offering premium processing in a staggered approach for these Form I-140 petitions:

• Beginning June 1, 2022, we will accept Form I-907 requests for E13 multinational executive and manager petitions received on or before Jan. 1, 2021.

• Beginning July 1, 2022, we will accept Form I-907 requests for E21 NIW petitions received on or before June 1, 2021, and E13 multinational executive and manager petitions received on or before March 1, 2021.

https://www.uscis.gov/newsroom/alerts/uscis-to-implement-premium-processing-for-certain-previously-filed-eb-1-and-eb-2-form-i-140

05/03/2022

USCIS Increases Automatic Extension Period of Work Permits for Certain Applicants up to 540 days!!

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced a Temporary Final Rule (TFR) that increases the automatic extension period for employment authorization and Employment Authorization Documents (EADs), available to certain EAD renewal applicants, to up to 540 days.

03/30/2022

On March 23, 2022, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) updated its Policy Manual to align
existing guidance on certain first preference immigrants (EB-1A and EB-1B) and nonimmigrants of extraordinary ability (O-1.)

A great improvement is that "published materials" about an EB-1 self-petitioner "need not be a printed article; rather, a petitioner may submit more varied forms of evidence including a transcript of audio or video coverage."

As what constitutes media continues to change and evolve it is great to see that USCIS is recognizing same.

03/10/2022

Not taking this challenge lying down!

03/09/2022

Law Office of Stephanie DiPietro, P.C. is a New York City based law firm with a unique approach to assisting international clients work and thrive in the United States. Since 2014, we have represented clients in a variety of areas including Employment Immigration, Family Immigration, Waivers, and Naturalization, with a special focus on the intersection of visual and performing arts and immigration law.

09/20/2021

November and the lifting of the COVID travel ban can not arrive fast enough for fully vaccinated international travelers. Also, a negative COVID test is required 72 hour prior to departure.

US will lift Covid-19 travel restrictions starting in November, which will also affect travellers from China, Brazil, South Africa and India

07/12/2021

Still waiting on an interview or biometric appointment? This article explains why.

Since the start of the pandemic, USCIS has canceled 280,000 interviews. Application Support Centers which handle biometric appointments are only working at 65% to 70% capacity.

As of March 31, 2021, USCIS has over 7 million pending petitions and applications.

Additionally funding for USCIS has been proposed by President Biden and the House Appropriations Committee. If past, hopefully this will help decrease the substantial backlog.

USCIS has long had a problem with backlogs. But that problem has grown considerably since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

06/09/2021

In 2020, USCIS received nearly 370,000 adjustment-related employment authorization requests.

Updated policy guidance will increase the current one-year validity period on both initial and renewal EADs to two years for certain adjustment of status applicants.

EADs with longer validity is great news!!