The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) have alerted customers of certain Notices of Approval (Forms I-797) issued to between January 20, and 27, 2010, with incorrect or missing information. The issuance of these incorrect approval notices impacted Petition for Nonimmigrant Worker (Form I-129) and Application to Extend/Change Nonimmigrant Status (Form I-539). USCIS has started mailing all corrected approval notices to affected petitioners and applicants, and advices them not to use the earlier defective approval notices.

For complete information, please click: USCIS to Issue Revised Approval Notices for Certain Forms I-129 and I-539

The American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) held a meeting with the Vermont Service Center (VSC) Liaison Committee on January 21, 2009, discussing the common problems faced by the users while filing Form I-539. Readers may note that Form I-539 is used by nonimmigrants requesting extensions of their stay and change of status from one nonimmigrant visa category to another nonimmigrant category. It is mostly used by F and M nonimmigrants seeking reinstatement of status, by K-3/4 nonimmigrants to request extension and by individuals seeking V nonimmigrant status. In order to overcome the common problems associated with the filing of I-539, the VSC provided following tips:

• the applicant and beneficiary names should be identical in their passports as well as in the Form I-539;
• Provide a copy of biographical page of the applicant’s passport and visa stamp (if applicable) as well as a copy of their I-94 arrival/departure record;
• The B-1/B-2 applicants should provide the reason/explanation for the request of extension by themselves rather than the attorney;
• Provide documentation demonstrating financial ability to support stay in the U.S. and where a copy of return ticket is not provided, show proof of enough funds;
• On applications requesting a change of status to F-2 or M-1 or requesting a reinstatement to F-1 or M-1, the DSO and the Student must sign the I-20. Additionally, the original must be provided to the service.