Challa Law's Commitment to Community Outreach  

At Challa Law, we are heavily committed to community outreach programs and charitable work, especially in and around the locals areas surrounding Richmond, VA and Raleigh-Durham, NC.  

Recently, Lakshmi Challa attended the Go Red Luncheon in downtown Raleigh, NC to spread the word about women's heart health.  The event was sponsored by the Heart Association where CLO is an active donor.

Heart Disease is more fatal than any other disease: 

• Heart disease is the leading cause of death of American women, killing more than a third of them.
• More than 200,000 women die each year from heart attacks- five times as many women as breast cancer.

In other community news, CLO was a proud sponsor of the Atlantic Tire & Service Golf Classic hosted by the Morrisville Chamber of Commerce. Contributions from the tournament will help fund Chamber operations which then allows them to continue offering the highest quality services and programs to the Morrisville business community. 

In celebration of CLO's NC branch's one year anniversary, the entire team from CLO has committed itself to community work serving Durham, NC.  On May 19, 2012, CLO will be volunteering at the Durham Rescue Mission, providing and serving an entire meal for over 120 men.  

U.S. Department of State Confirms EB-2 Annual Limit for India and China for FY 2012 Has Been Reached

The Department of State (DOS) recently announced that as of April 11, 2012, the new immigrant visa numbers for Indian and Chinese EB-2 applicants has been exhausted.  Therefore, no green cards will be issued for these categories until the beginning of the new fiscal year starting October 1, 2012. 

As of DOS's June 2012 Visa Bulletin, EB-2 or Indian and Chinese nationals will be designated as "U."  This means that immigrant visa numbers of the EB-2 category for either nationality will be unavailable for ANY priority date.  

DOS gave the following statement as to why the visa numbers for EB-2 Indian and Chinese are unavailable:

"Despite the retrogression of the China and India Employment Second preference cut-off date to August 15, 2007, demand for numbers by applicants with priority dates earlier than that date remained excessive.  Such demand is primarily based on cases which had originally been filed with the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) for adjustment of status in the Employment Third preference category, and are now eligible to be upgraded to Employment Second preference status.  The potential amount of such 'upgrade' demand is not currently being reported, but it was evidence that the continued availability of the Employment Second preference numbers for countries other than China and India was being jeopardized.  Therefore, it was necessary to make the China and India Employment Second preference category 'Unavailable' in early April, and it will remain so for the remainder of FY-2012."  

 USCIS has confirmed that it will continue to accept adjustment of status (I-485) applications for EB-2 Indian and Chinese applicants if their priority date is within the EB-2 cutoff dates established in the April and May 2012 Visa Bulletins.  This announcement just means that DOS is unable to give EB-2 visas to USCIS service centers and field offices to approve pending EB-2 I-485 applications for Indian and Chinese applicants.  Instead, request from USCIS for visas in the India and China EB-2 category will be put on hold by DOS to be authorized at the beginning of the next fiscal year. 

U.S. and Canada to Increase NEXUS Benefits 

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced in an early May release that U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) will work together with Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) to deliver on key commitments under the US-Canada Beyond the Border Action Plan for Perimeter Security and Economic Competitiveness.  Among some of the initiatives of this plan include: increasing benefits to NEXUS members; streamlining NEXUS membership renewals; and expediting processing at the border.  The Border Action Plan's goal is to help facilitate lawful trade and travel between the countries while simultaneously enhancing security.  

The NEXUS program allows pre-screened travelers faster processing by US and Canadian officials crossing the border at designated air, land, and marine locations.  In order to expedite processing CBP and CBSA plan on waiving the interview for members who have not changed their information and who have maintained low-risk status.  Ultimately, the US and Canada want to increase efficiency to better focus their resources and investigative efforts on travelers of high or unknown risk.