On September 30, 2009 the U.S. State Department issued an Adoption notice informing the following: Kenya is party to the Hague Convention on Protection of Children and Co-operation in Respect of Intercountry Adoption (Hague Adoption Convention). As such, all adoptions between Kenya and the United States initiated after April 1, 2008, must meet the requirements of both the Convention and U.S.
The U.S. Department of State is cautioning American citizens against filing an application to adopt a child from Liberia while the moratorium on adoption remains in effect. The U.S. Embassy remains in frequent contact with adoption officials, but there is no indication when the moratorium might be lifted.
On September 17, 2009, the State Department Issued an Alert informing of the suspension of adoptions in Sierra Leone. The Government of Sierra Leone’s Ministry of Social Welfare, Gender and Children's Affairs suspended adoptions on May 29, 2009 due to concerns on the legality of adoptions and the welfare of adoptees.&
Notice for Guatemala “hogar” adoption cases
On September 29, 2009, the U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Consular Affairs, Office of Children's Issues issued an alert informing that: The China Center of Adoption Affairs (CCAA) has announced that all prospective adoptive families will be required to work with a U.S. Hague accredited adoption service provider for both transition cases and Convention cases beginning December 1, 2009. This will require all families to work with an agency that is both U.S.
Office of the Spokesman Washington, DC
September 29, 2009
Q: Why is the wait so long for my employment-based green card?
As of September 18, 2009, approximately 46,000 H-1B cap-subject petitions had been received by USCIS and counted towards the H-1B cap. Approximately 20,000 petitions qualifying for the advanced degree cap exemption had been filed. USCIS will continue to accept both cap-subject petitions and advanced degree petitions until a sufficient number of H-1B petitions have been received to reach the statutory limits.
Administrative Appeals Office is an office within USCIS that decides appeals from denials of various petitions by USCIS such as H-1, L-1, I-140 etc .
Filing I-824 together with the I-485 - The right thing to do when filing the I-824 is to file both the I-824 together with the I-485 or wait till the I-485 is approved. USCIS identifies the reasons as to why an I-824 is interfiled. However an I-824 should not be rejected or denied only because it is interfiled and the I-485 is not yet approved.
Note: If an I-824 is interfiled, it may not be approved at the same time as the I-485 and the I-485 processing times will apply.