Thursday, January 28, 2010

Lou Dobbs for CIR?

Lou Dobbs For CIR?


 

On January 28, 2010, The Hill, at http://ow.ly/11tyP, reports that Senate Democrats have reached out to Lou Dobbs to explore building a broad coalition for Comprehensive Immigration Reform (CIR). "Dobbs was an outspoken critic of waiving penalties against illegal workers but has since said that government officials should consider legalizing illegal immigrants "under certain conditions." "


 

This will be an interesting development to follow, and may signal that the "powers to be" recognize that CIR may be good for both the economy as well as for national security……….

Saturday, January 16, 2010

USCIS Announces Temporary Protected Status for Haiti

Haitian Relief Measures

Questions and Answers

 


 


 

Introduction

The Department of Homeland Security is committed to the effort to assist in the recovery from the earthquake that struck on January 12, 2010 and has announced temporary relief measures that will be made available to those individuals who are unable to return to their home country due to the destruction and humanitarian crisis in Haiti or are currently traveling in the United States.


 

United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) will expedite the processing of certain immigration applications. Standard requirements for security checks will remain in place under expedited procedures. DHS will continue to work with other branches of the United States Government to closely monitor developments in Haiti to determine the need for additional action.

Guidance has been issued to each of the field offices and Service Centers directing them to adjust processes as a result of these temporary relief measures. This memorandum has been made public and can be found on www.uscis.gov/haitianmemo. Below are a series of questions providing specific guidance to Haitian national interested in taking advantage of this relief.


 

We welcome feedback on the information contained within the Q and A, including additional questions affected communities wish to have answered. If you have any questions, please email public.engagement@dhs.gov.


 

Questions and Answers


 


 


 


 

Change or Extension of Nonimmigrant Status: USCIS will implement procedures to adjudicate favorably where possible applications for change or extension of nonimmigrant status following the expiration of an applicant's period of admission.


 

Employment Authorization: Certain nonimmigrant classifications are not permitted to apply for or receive employment authorization. Nonimmigrant visitors, for instance, would not be granted work authorization.


 


 

Re-parole Affected Parolees:


 

Employment Authorization:


 


 


 


 


 

Expedite Processing:


 


 


 


 


 

Tuesday, January 12, 2010

USCIS Announces Realignment of Organizational Structure

On January 11, 2010, the USCIS announced a realignment of its organizational structure. Hopefully, this is an effort that in fact will achieve greater efficiency and fairness. See below from USCIS:

Statement from USCIS Director Alejandro Mayorkas on the realignment of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services organizational structure

"We at U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services have realigned our organizational structure to achieve greater efficiency and to more ably accomplish our mission.  The realignment reflects the prioritization of certain critical Agency responsibilities. The three most significant changes are:

  • The creation of a Fraud Detection and National Security Directorate.  This change reflects our prioritization of our anti-fraud and national security responsibilities and will bring greater focus to them.
  • The creation of a new Customer Service Directorate.  This change reflects our prioritization of customer service and recognizes the significant efforts that will be needed to ensure that we are at the cutting edge of service modeling.
  • The division of the existing Domestic Operations Directorate into two separate directorates, Service Center Operations and Field Operations.  This change will foster greater innovation and achieve greater efficiency in our delivery of immigration services.

  "We at USCIS look forward to working collaboratively with you, the public whom we serve, to deliver better service and to more ably accomplish our mission, which is defining of our nation."

Monday, January 11, 2010

Visa Numbers for February 2010

The visa numbers for February 2010 have been released by the Department of State. Again, there has been little movement in most categories, and the employment-based categories are still way behind. It is truly unfortunate that the Congress is not working on a fix for this issue since the United States will be negatively affected in the long run. There are many professionals who have been waiting for years to finalize their process and there are more and more signs of people giving up and go back to their home countries. While immigration law is a very emotional and political issue, it also is an economical issue. Hopefully the Congress will get to comprehensive immigration reform discussion sooner than later……….


 

VISA BULLETIN FOR FEBRUARY 2010

FAMILY

Family

All Charge- ability Areas Except Those Listed

CHINA-mainland born

INDIA

MEXICO

PHILIPP-INES

1st

01JUN04

01JUN04

01JUN04

08SEP92

01JAN94

2A

01MAR06

01MAR06

01MAR06

01MAR04

01MAR06

2B

01JAN02

01JAN02

01JAN02

08JUN92

15JUL98

3rd

22MAY01

22MAY01

22MAY01

22SEP92

01JAN92

4th

15NOV99

15NOV99

15NOV99

01DEC95

01JUL87

EMPLOYMENT

  

All Charge-ability Areas Except Those Listed

CHINA- mainland born

INDIA

MEXICO

PHILIP-PINES

Employment -Based

  

  

  

  

  

1st

C

C

C

C

C

2nd

C

22MAY05

22JAN05 

C

C

3rd

22SEP02

22SEP02

22JUN01

01JUL02

22SEP02

Other Workers

01JUN01

01JUN01

01JUN01

01JUN01

01JUN01

4th

C

C

C

C

C

Certain Religious Workers

C

C

C

C

C

5th

C

C

C

C

C

Targeted Employ-ment Areas/ Regional Centers

C

C

C

C

C

5th Pilot Programs

C

C

C

C

C