Bertoli

Immigrant Visas
Family based immigration visa fees will increase whilst employment based one will decrease.
Type of Visa Previous Fee New Fee
Immediate Relative and Family Preference Applications $230 $325 (↑)
Fiancé(e) visas (K) $240 $265 (↑)
To see the full details of the increases and visa category impacted see: http://travel.state.gov/content/visas/english/fees/fees-visa-services.html#permanent

Your mom can definitely apply for Obamacare insurance through Marketplace as a lawful immigrant. The 5 years residency requirements is only applicable for Medicaid. As a Legal resident your mom can purchase a health insurance through Marketplace. It's a little more expensive in the sense that she will have to pay a share of the cost but but the good thing is that it covers insured with existing conditions which has not been the case before Obamacare. However, there are about 29 states in the US have decided to allow immigrants with 5 years residency or less to have certain access to Medicaid whilst other have decided not to. So it really depends where you actually reside.
Lawfully Residing Immigrants with Five Years or Less US ResidencyAccess to subsidized coverage will also expand under the ACA for non-elderly lawfully residing immigrants with incomes below 400 percent of the Federal Poverty Level who have been in the country five years or less. As indicated above, adults in this immigrant category with incomes below 400 percent of the FPL who do not have access to affordable employer-sponsored insurance will be eligible for subsidized coverage in the health insurance exchange; those with incomes below 138 percent of the FPL will not be eligible for Medicaid coverage (except pregnant women under the state option) but can qualify for exchange subsidies if they pay two percent of income. This cost sharing requirement may constitute a barrier to enrollment for some immigrants in this category, particularly for those with incomes below 100 percent FPL. Also, subsidies for out-of-pocket cost-sharing will provide much less generous coverage than that offered through Medicaid, so even if poor immigrant families enroll, many may delay necessary care because of cost. Although qualified immigrants are subject to the mandate, some at the lowest income bracket will be excluded. For lawfully residing immigrant children who have been in the country five years or less, their eligibility for Medicaid and CHIP will continue to depend on the state in which they live — those in the 22 states that have opted to cover these children will maintain eligibility for Medicaid and CHIP given the maintenance of effort requirement under the ACA, while other states may choose to take advantage of this coverage option under CHIPRA. As described above, increasing participation among eligible immigrant children will likely depend on addressing a range of different enrollment barriers. Lawfully residing immigrant children who have been in the country five years or less with incomes below 400 percent of the FPL who live in one of the 29 states that are not required by the MOE to continue covering them under Medicaid or CHIP, or who do not live in a state that opts to cover them with state funds, will qualify for subsidized coverage through exchange plans under the ACA, which may in turn reduce their uninsured rates.
To find out which states expands Medicaid, visit this site

Your mom can definitely apply for Obamacare insurance through Marketplace as a lawful immigrant. The 5 years residency requirements is only applicable for Medicaid. As a Legal resident your mom can purchase a health insurance through Marketplace. It's a little more expensive in the sense that she will have to pay a share of the cost but but the good thing is that it covers insured with existing conditions which has not been the case before Obamacare. However, there are about 29 states in the US have decided to allow immigrants with 5 years residency or less to have certain access to Medicaid whilst other have decided not to. So it really depends where you actually reside.
Lawfully Residing Immigrants with Five Years or Less US ResidencyAccess to subsidized coverage will also expand under the ACA for non-elderly lawfully residing immigrants with incomes below 400 percent of the Federal Poverty Level who have been in the country five years or less. As indicated above, adults in this immigrant category with incomes below 400 percent of the FPL who do not have access to affordable employer-sponsored insurance will be eligible for subsidized coverage in the health insurance exchange; those with incomes below 138 percent of the FPL will not be eligible for Medicaid coverage (except pregnant women under the state option) but can qualify for exchange subsidies if they pay two percent of income. This cost sharing requirement may constitute a barrier to enrollment for some immigrants in this category, particularly for those with incomes below 100 percent FPL. Also, subsidies for out-of-pocket cost-sharing will provide much less generous coverage than that offered through Medicaid, so even if poor immigrant families enroll, many may delay necessary care because of cost. Although qualified immigrants are subject to the mandate, some at the lowest income bracket will be excluded. For lawfully residing immigrant children who have been in the country five years or less, their eligibility for Medicaid and CHIP will continue to depend on the state in which they live — those in the 22 states that have opted to cover these children will maintain eligibility for Medicaid and CHIP given the maintenance of effort requirement under the ACA, while other states may choose to take advantage of this coverage option under CHIPRA. As described above, increasing participation among eligible immigrant children will likely depend on addressing a range of different enrollment barriers. Lawfully residing immigrant children who have been in the country five years or less with incomes below 400 percent of the FPL who live in one of the 29 states that are not required by the MOE to continue covering them under Medicaid or CHIP, or who do not live in a state that opts to cover them with state funds, will qualify for subsidized coverage through exchange plans under the ACA, which may in turn reduce their uninsured rates.
To find out which states expands Medicaid, visit this site

Phillip, I believe this delay is both wanted and unwanted. Wanted, because NVC increased fees for certain visa categories and therefore would rather get every visa applicants on the newer fee schedule. Unwanted, because the system glitch that occurred on NVC systems when they upgraded Oracle database has caused huge delays in processing all visas applications (IV and NIV) worldwide. It is pretty much impossible for them to catch up with pending applications in a short period of time.In addition to that, not all 2013 filers have obtained their visas because of those caught by June 2013 retrogression mainly caused by long AP. I have even seen filers from 2012 who have yet to obtain the holy grail.Totally agree with you that 22 days movement sucks big time but who knows may be it'll move faster around December or Jan 2015.

Phillip, I don't trust this man anymore. Not a long time ago, he was supposed to use executive action to pass some immigration law. The minute Democrats are said to loose the control of the senate, Obama threw immigration reform under the bus. Now, him saying "I will keep fighting" is similar to admitting that immigration reform will disappear from Obama agenda for his remaining years in office. Unfortunately, it is all about politics.

Now that September 2014 visa Bulletin is out with a big jump all the way to Jan 2013. October 2014 marks the beginning of the new fiscal year and therefore new visas allotments. What do you think will be October visa bulletin predictions for F2A? Will it move to Sep2013 or even to beginning of 2014???

Actually, the way this may benefit F2A category is by actually make it like IR category, ie Permanent Resident petitioning for husband/spouse or U21 child will not be subject to visa quota. The minute the petition is approved by USCIS and forwarded to NVC for processing, an immigrant visa will be available.
Bear in mind that regardless of what Obama decides, immigrants will always need a petition to be approved by USCIS and NVC before you are granted a visa.

Sorry to hear that mate. I have yet to understand why NVC schedules interviews a month before retrogression knowing that Embassies will most likely run AP that takes at least 30 to 60 days to complete??? They make you hope and dream for couple of days and then you are hit with bad news... this is insane!!!

MY understanding is that Visajourney is a site where people can help each others with immigration process, issues and experiences. Why are some members posting comments to judge what others want to do as if they have a say or a decision to make in what others are trying to do? If you can help or suggest something that is fine otherwise don't judge people or lecture them on what is moral or not!
Beatao, you don't have to justify yourself why you want to send your daughter to be with her dad in the US. Members should either help you answer your question or simply mind their own business!!!

Can you please post (or start) on another thread? This thread deals with a specific issue and has relation to what you are asking. Thanks.

I read all the responses in this thread and I was a bit surprised to read some harsh comments from few members. I believe every one is entitled to a second chance, the guy's mistake was to omit his family on an immigration application for reasons he explained, it's not like he killed someone or committed a crime. It seems that the CO was more indulgent than most of those who responded in here. I am not sure what the outcome will be but I earnestly hope there is a happy ending to your problem and can live the American dream together with your family.

Visa RetrogressionUsually the cut-off dates on the Visa Bulletin move forward in time, but not always. Demand for visa numbers by applicants with a variety of priority dates can fluctuate from one month to another, with an inevitable impact on cut-off dates. Such fluctuations can cause cut-off date movement to slow, stop, or even retrogress. Visa retrogression occurs when more people apply for a visa in a particular category or country than there are visas available for that month. Retrogression typically occurs toward the end of the fiscal year as visa issuance approaches the annual category, or per-country limitations. Sometimes a priority date that meets the cut-off date one month will not meet the cut-off date the next month. When the new fiscal year begins on October 1, a new supply of visas is made available and usually, but not always, returns the dates to where they were before retrogression.
Source: http://www.uscis.gov/green-card/green-card-processes-and-procedures/visa-availability-priority-dates/visa-retrogression

Come on guys do not panic, inshallah there will be no retrogression in May for F2A. This article from AILA says so and they are well connected to DOS.
F2A Category: Fiscal Year 2014 Movement
The AILA Department of State Liaison Committee has been informed by the State Department that due to the demand of F2A visas by Mexican nationals, the Mexico F2A visa preference category is expected to retrogress in the spring of FY2014.

If the return rate for this visa category decreases, the retrogression may come sooner than spring of FY2014. There is a 50% return rate worldwide for F2A visas which may be due to the fact that some applicants will convert to Immediate Relative visas in order to take advantage of the Provisional Waiver Program or some marriages may terminate before the visa is available.

DOS also anticipates that the F2A worldwide visa preference category will retrogress by the last quarter of FY2014. DOS will include visa retrogression predictions in future visa bulletins.

This means that F2A category for spouses and children of permanent residents is likely to retrogress around July 2014 for World-wide, India, Philippines and China category and in early 2014 for Mexico.
http://blog.mygcvisa.com/2014/01/f2a-category-fiscal-year-2014-movement.html

It's okay NewDawn no issues. We are 1 day way from the 27th and hopefully we all gonna get our ILs. We are all, hopefully, close to reunite with our oved ones. We need to keep a good spirit and faith in god almighty that this long waiting has come to an end and happy one!!!

After responding to AOS Checklist and IV Checklist (Sent original BC and MC) on February 5th, I have Just received a Checklist from NVC with following message .... Is this a case complete or I have to send something????
______1 - IMMIGRANT VISA APPLICATION PART 1:_______________________
The NVC has received the information you submitted and placed it in your case file. You will be
contacted when your petition is sent to the U.S. Embassy or Consulate for further processing.

Someone posted today in a separate thread he just received approval for F2A with priority date of Jan 2013. He filed in California Service center. So far this is the second approval I hear of for 2013 filers and both were filed with CSC!
I wonder what is going on with VSC???

Workload Transfer for Various Forms
USCIS recently began transferring some casework within the service centers to balance workload processing capacity. The affected casework includes the following forms:
I-129F, Petition for Alien Fiancé(e) Vermont Service Center (VSC) to Texas Service Center (TSC)
I-130, Petition for Alien Relative (F2A category for spouses and children of permanent residents) VSC to Nebraska Service Center (NSC)
I-821D, Consideration of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (with accompanying Form I-765, Application for Employment Authorization) VSC to NSC
I-751, Petition to Remove the Conditions on Residence VSC to California Service Center (CSC)
Effect on CustomersIf your case was transferred, USCIS will send you a notice listing the transfer date and where your case will be processed. Your original receipt number will not change. You should reference your original receipt number and indicate your case was transferred to a new location when making any case status inquiries.
If you have filed one of the affected form types and you receive a request for evidence or any other type of communication from USCIS, please read the notice carefully to ensure that you respond to the same service center that sent you the notice
Redirecting Form I-129FStarting the week of July 29, 2013, USCIS began redirecting all newly filed Forms I-129F from the VSC to the TSC. The receipt notice will bear a TSC receipt number beginning with “SRC”. The case will be processed by the TSC. The CSC will continue receiving Forms I-129F.
USCIS will post additional Web updates to inform customers of any future workload realignments.

Last updated:08/08/2013