Ashoori Law - US Immigration Lawyers, 21700 Oxnard Street, Suite 730, Woodland Hills, CA (2026)

10/16/2026

In September 2026, 18 client matters received approvals (USCIS approval notices or consular visa issuances) across a range of immigration categories. 🎉

Here is a general overview:

🔹 78% (14 of 18) involved business and investor immigration, including E-2 treaty investor and L-1 intracompany transfer matters.

🔹 11% (2 of 18) involved employment and talent-based categories, including O-1 and the EB-2 National Interest Waiver.

🔹 11% (2 of 18) related to marriage and family-based immigration, through I-130 petitions with either adjustment of status or consular processing.

E-2 was the largest single share this month, 11 of the 18 approvals, and most of those ran through consular processing abroad rather than a change of status inside the U.S.

Every approval here represents months of preparation, and someone on the other side of it waiting for news. Thank you to everyone who trusted our team through the process.

Thinking about your own case? Our team can walk you through the options: https://www.ashoorilaw.com/schedule/

Based on the firm's internal records of approvals (USCIS approval notices or consular visa issuances) dated or received in September 2026.

⚖️ Disclaimer: Attorney Advertising. Every case is different and prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome. Ashoori Law is a private immigration law firm and is not affiliated with USCIS or any government agency. Each case depends on its specific facts, eligibility, and applicable law. This post is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice.

10/13/2026

Save this one. The I-94 is the document that quietly controls how long you can stay in the United States, and most people have never looked at theirs. 📄

Here is the short version:

🔹 Your I-94 is the arrival/departure record U.S. Customs and Border Protection creates when you are admitted in a category that requires one (most visitors, workers, and students). It shows your class of admission and how long your authorized stay lasts. For most air and sea arrivals, it is electronic; the paper card is now the exception, mainly at land borders.

🔹 A visa, a status, and an I-94 are three different things. Your visa is the entry ticket. Your status is the category you were admitted in. Your I-94 tells you how long you may stay. For most visitors and workers, it shows a specific "admit until" date. For many students and exchange visitors, it says "D/S" (duration of status) instead, which means the stay lasts as long as you keep meeting the rules of that status, including program and grace-period rules, rather than ending on one fixed date. And if USCIS later approves an extension or change of status, the new I-94 at the bottom of that approval notice is the one that controls. A visa can expire while you are still lawfully present; it is the I-94, not the visa sticker, that governs how long you may stay.

🔹 You can look up your I-94 for free at i94.cbp.dhs.gov. Retrieving your existing I-94 and travel history costs nothing. (Applying in advance for a land-border I-94 is a separate CBP process with its own government fee.) If a website is charging you to look up your I-94, that is not CBP.

🔹 Check it after every single entry. Class of admission, "admit until" date, name spelling, passport number. Errors happen, and catching one in the first week is much easier than finding it a year later.

If something on yours looks wrong, do not wait and hope. Corrections are often possible, but the route depends on where and how you entered.

⚖️ Attorney Advertising. General information only, not legal advice. Ashoori Law is not affiliated with USCIS or CBP.

Questions about your I-94 or your authorized stay? https://www.ashoorilaw.com/contact/

10/12/2026

Today is a federal holiday, observed federally as Columbus Day, and marked in many states and cities as Indigenous Peoples' Day.

A few practical notes if you have anything immigration-related in motion this week:

🔹 USCIS field offices and application support centers are closed. Appointments, biometrics, and interviews are not held today.

🔹 There is no regular mail delivery today.

🔹 Online filing and the USCIS case status tool still work. USCIS treats an online submission as received on the date it is submitted, even on a holiday.

🔹 Most importantly: do not count on the holiday for extra time. USCIS does treat some deadlines that land on a weekend or federal holiday as running to the next business day (a mailed RFE or NOID response, for example), but not every date works that way. If an RFE response or a status expiration falls near a holiday, build the buffer in yourself instead of relying on the extra day.

If you have a deadline coming up this month and you are not sure how the holiday affects your timeline, reach out before it becomes urgent: https://www.ashoorilaw.com/contact/

⚖️ Attorney Advertising. This post is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Ashoori Law is not affiliated with USCIS.

10/09/2026

The October 2026 Visa Bulletin is out, and as the first bulletin of the new fiscal year, it brought real movement in both directions. 📊

🔻 EB-2 MOVED BACKWARD
For all countries other than China and India (including Mexico and the Philippines), EB-2 (the category that covers the National Interest Waiver) retrogressed:
🔹 Final action: Current to January 1, 2025
🔹 Date for filing: Current to March 15, 2026
Last month there was no wait here. Now there is. The Department of State says these retrogressions are necessary to keep visa issuances within the FY 2027 quarterly and annual limits.

🔻 EB-3 ALSO MOVED BACKWARD
For most countries, including Mexico:
🔹 Final action: moved back to May 15, 2024
🔹 Date for filing: Current to August 1, 2024

🟢 INDIA REOPENS IN EB-2 AND EB-5
Both were unavailable last month:
🔹 EB-2 final action: Unavailable until November 1, 2013
🔹 EB-5 unreserved: Unavailable until December 1, 2023
🔹 EB-1 also advanced to February 1, 2023

🟢 LARGE JUMPS FOR CHINA, DATES FOR FILING
🔹 EB-5 unreserved: March 1, 2017 to March 1, 2021, a four-year jump
🔹 EB-3: January 8, 2022 to April 1, 2024
🔹 EB-2: January 1, 2022 to January 1, 2023

🟢 FAMILY: MEXICO AND THE PHILIPPINES GAIN
For most countries, the family categories barely moved. The larger gains were country-specific: Mexico advanced in several family categories, including F2B, and the Philippines advanced in several as well, including F4. If you are in a family category for either country, check your specific chart.

Filing from inside the U.S.? For October, USCIS has confirmed that adjustment of status applications may be filed using the Dates for Filing chart, for both family and employment categories.

Worth remembering: a retrogression does not undo an approved petition, and your priority date generally stays with you. Only the timing changes. If you were about to file, confirm where your category stands first.

Read more on: https://www.ashoorilaw.com/blog/october-2026-visa-bulletin/

⚖️ Attorney Advertising. General information only, not legal advice. Ashoori Law is not affiliated with USCIS or the U.S. Department of State.

10/06/2026

We have heard all four from clients, and a few we did not expect; one person told us they went outside and stood in the parking lot for ten minutes without saying anything.

Approval day is the part nobody warns you about emotionally. Years of waiting end in a single sentence.

Vote in the poll and tell us your version in the comments. If you are still waiting on yours, we hope this is your month. 🤍

⚖️ Attorney Advertising. This post is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Ashoori Law is not affiliated with USCIS.

10/05/2026

If you are applying for a TN, TD, or I visa, this one affects you directly. 📱

The U.S. Department of State has expanded its social media screening to three additional nonimmigrant visa categories, effective October 1, 2026:

🔹 TN: professionals from Canada and Mexico under USMCA
🔹 TD: dependents of TN visa holders
🔹 I: representatives of foreign media

Applicants in these categories are instructed to set the privacy settings on all of their social media profiles to "public" or "open."

This applies to consular visa applications. Canadian citizens who seek TN admission at a port of entry without a visa are in a different process; Mexican citizens apply for a TN visa at a consulate.

These categories join others already covered by the policy, including certain student, exchange visitor, temporary worker, fiancé(e), religious worker, and related dependent visa classifications.

What this means in practice:

🔹 Review your accounts before your interview, including old posts and accounts you have not used in years.
🔹 Make sure what is public about you lines up with what is in your application. Inconsistencies between your online presence and your application can create problems. The Department of State has not published the criteria it uses, so there is no checklist of what is or is not a concern.
🔹 Before deleting posts or closing accounts, talk to your attorney about your specific situation.

Preparing a TN filing or interview? Let's talk: https://www.ashoorilaw.com/schedule/

⚖️ Attorney Advertising. General information only, not legal advice. Ashoori Law is not affiliated with USCIS or the U.S. Department of State.

10/03/2026

If you have been watching the Visa Bulletin all year and seeing "Unavailable" next to your category, October 1 is the date that matters.

What actually happens: The U.S. immigration system runs on a fiscal year that ends September 30. Annual visa limits are set by Congress and allocated across that year. When a category exhausts its allocation, no more immigrant visas can be issued in it until the fiscal year turns over.

On October 1, those numbers reset and a fresh allocation becomes available.

A few figures worth knowing:

🔹 The family-sponsored preference limit for FY2026 was 226,000.
🔹 The worldwide employment-based level is at least 140,000 annually.
🔹 No single country may take more than 7% of the total family and employment preference limits. That per-country cap, combined with high demand, is why applicants chargeable to certain countries face the longest waits.

What this means practically: Immigrant visas in categories that ran out of numbers during FY2026, including EB-2 India and unreserved EB-5 India, may start being issued again once the October Visa Bulletin authorizes numbers for them. For applicants whose priority dates are current under the new bulletin, immigrant visa issuance and Adjustment of Status approvals can resume.

One honest caveat: a reset is not the same as movement. Where dates land depends on demand against the new year's limits. Categories can advance, hold steady, or retrogress again as the year progresses. The October Visa Bulletin is the first real signal.

If you have been stuck, this is the month to check your category and be ready.

Source: U.S. Department of State, Visa Bulletin. travel.state.gov

‼️ Disclaimer: Attorney Advertising. This post is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Visa availability is determined by the U.S. Department of State and is subject to change monthly. Ashoori Law is a private immigration law firm and is not affiliated with USCIS, the Department of State, or any other government agency. Prior results do not guarantee similar outcomes.

09/30/2026

Congratulations, Frida. And thank you for the kind words about Lorianne. They are well-earned.

Read more client reviews at https://www.ashoorilaw.com/reviews/

‼️ Disclaimer: Attorney Advertising. This testimonial was reproduced in full from a public review and reflects one client's individual experience. Client experiences and case outcomes vary, and the approval described does not guarantee or predict a similar result in any other matter. Ashoori Law is a private immigration law firm and is not affiliated with USCIS or any government agency.

09/29/2026

Fiscal Year 2026 ends September 30. Annual visa numbers reset on October 1, and a lot of people are watching to see what moves.

So we are curious.

How long have you been waiting on your current case?

🔵 Under 6 months
🔵 6 to 12 months
🔵 1 to 2 years
🔵 More than 2 years

Vote in the poll. And if you are somewhere in the multi-year group, say which category in the comments. The backlogs vary enormously depending on where you are in the system, and it is genuinely useful for people to see that.

One practical note as the fiscal year closes: if your priority date is current under the chart that applies to you, being ready to file matters. Categories can tighten with little warning at year-end.

Request a consultation: https://www.ashoorilaw.com/schedule/

‼️ This post is for general informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice.

09/28/2026

Real estate is one of the most misunderstood topics in the E-2 space, and it is easy to see why. It is familiar, tangible, and substantial, so it seems natural that buying property in the U.S. would support an E-2.

The reality is more nuanced. The E-2 requires an active, for-profit enterprise and that one word, active, is where most real estate questions are won or lost.

Swipe through for the core distinction, two structures that can work, and the requirement people most often overlook. ➡️

If you are considering an E-2 built around real estate, the most useful first step is to evaluate honestly which side of the active-versus-passive line your venture falls on — ideally with qualified counsel, and before committing capital.

📖 Read the full article on our blog: ashoorilaw.com/blog/e-2-visas-and-real-estate-what-actually-qualifies

‼️ Disclaimer: Attorney Advertising. This post is for general informational and educational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice, and does not create an attorney-client relationship. Whether any particular venture qualifies is highly fact-specific. Ashoori Law is a private immigration law firm and is not affiliated with USCIS, EOIR, the Department of State, or any other government agency. Prior results do not guarantee similar outcomes.

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