President Obama's administration is in the process of contacting 310,000 Obamacare enrollees, warning them that they are at risk of losing coverage without proper documentation of U.S. citizenship or legal status. To qualify under the exchanges, an individual must be a U.S. citizen, U.S. national, or have eligible immigration status. In letters being delivered in English and Spanish, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services is instructing the enrollees to provide additional documentation regarding their citizenship or immigration status or risk the loss of their health insurance plans, scheduled to be rescinded September 30, 2014. According to a press release from the agency, the recipients of these letters are people who have not yet responded to previous attempts at obtaining their documents. The administration has indicated a desire to keep as many individuals enrolled in the "marketplace" plans as possible and wants to give an opportunity for these enrollees to demonstrate legal status. Reports indicate that to date more than 8 million people have enrolled in healthcare plans pursuant to the Affordable Care Act's health insurance exchanges. If you have questions concerning your status or potential eligibility for insurance coverage under the Affordable Care Act, please contact our office today.

 Reports suggest that the second preference employment-based category for immigrant petitions for Indian nationals may retrogress as early as November. The visa bulletin recently released shows moderate advancement of the cutoff dates in all of the employment-based categories with the exception of EB-2 India, which continues to show a priority date of May 1, 2009. Indications are that significant demand in this category may cause the EB-2 priority date for Indian nationals to retrogress as far back as early 2005. 

In a conversation between Charles Oppenheim, Chief of the Department of State Visa Control and Reporting Division, and the American Immigration Lawyers Association, it was uncovered that the large volume of I-140 petitions in the EB-2 category being filed on behalf of individuals chargeable to India who were previously in the EB-3 category will likely create a large volume of demand for immigrant visa numbers in the EB-2 India category in the coming months. Mr. Oppenheim has also announced that the second preference employment-based EB-2 India petitions would be "unavailable" until the start of the new fiscal year on October 1, 2014, given the high volume of pending cases. USCIS continues to accept and process EB-2 India cases with priority dates earlier than May 1, 2009, but these cases will be held in the Visa Office's "Pending Demand" file until October 1, 2014.

With the potential for retrogression in mind, any eligible EB-2 applicants who are nationals of India should plan on filing their adjustment applications by the end of October as the window of opportunity may be closing. Keep in mind; however, that there is no concrete means to predict movement in the visa bulletin and guidance is always subject to change.
 

Should you have any questions at all concerning the Visa Bulletin and your priority date, please contact us at info@challalaw.com or call (804) 360-8482. 

 The U.S. Department of State has had ongoing technical issues with its passport and visa issuance system since late July 2014. Visa applicants have experienced delays in obtaining their visas and in some instances have even been unable to obtain visas, passports, and Consular Report of Birth abroad.

Recently, the Department of State has indicated that it has made significant progress resolving most of the worldwide backlog of nonimmigrant visas and is now printing visas with very few delays in most cases.  The agency continues to prioritize immigrant visa, emergency nonimmigrant visas, and adoption cases. As delays are still occurring, it is recommended that you check with the appropriate U.S. embassy or consulate for the most updated information available and to plan your travel to the U.S. accordingly.