Today Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-Ill.) introduced theComprehensive Immigration Reform for America’s Security and Prosperity Act of 2009 (CIR ASAP). Open Market was able to get an advanced outline of the bill. Here are some of its main features: Good: 1. Prohibits creation of a national identification card (this contradicts mandated E-Verify, see below).2. “Recapture”...
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A stokes interview happens primarily in marriage based immigration cases. Very often, U.S. Citizens sponsor their spouses for Permanent Residence to the United States. Upon submission of the documents, the USCIS office forwards an interview notice to the parties to come in for an interview. The interview letter from Immigration clearly describes the documents...
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The path to naturalization can be a maze of confusing paperwork, capped by a test in English and U.S. civics. For some, it’s a daunting road. John Macharia is thinking about applying for citizenship after Christmas. The Kenyan from Duluth has lived here 10 years and his children are U.S. citizens, but he and his...
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The melee surrounding President Barack Obama’s Nobel Peace Prize distracted everyone from another potential Nobel controversy. Of the eight American citizens who received Nobel Prizes in the science categories, five are immigrants to the United States. This should be a counterweight to the persistent critics of immigration, but it remained unknown. In the immigration...
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Clutching a rolled-up American flag in one hand, Mahmoud Saad couldn’t stop grinning today as he sat beside 15 other immigrants in a jury box inside a Redding courtroom. After all, the 26-year-old Egyptian Chico State University electrical engineering student had been waiting for much his life to recite the words that would make...
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More than 7 million legal residents who are eligible to become U.S. citizens each year, essentially greencard holders, choose against doing so. They decide for whatever reason that the benefits of citizenship (voting rights, potential for government employment, ability to bring their families here) are not worth the costs, starting with the $675 application...
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On November 7, the House of Representatives passed H.R. 3962, the Affordable Health Care for America Act, a bill that in part creates health insurance subsidies for people with low incomes. Congress was strongly lobbied to delay access to these subsidies for Lawful Permanent Residents (LPRs), or “greencard” holders, by imposing a five-year waiting...
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The United States Association of Immigrants at myUSAi.org today announced a new social immigration portal for those who share a passion for immigrating to the USA and integrating into American culture. It includes secure Facebook Connect technology allowing users to import their existing Facebook identity for seamless access by millions of existing Facebook members...
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by Marlene M. Johnson and Stuart Anderson Source: ILW Looking ahead to next year, it has become increasingly important that concerns about the economy not deter lawmakers from ensuring that reforms to attract and retain highly educated, highly skilled foreign nationals are included in comprehensive immigration reform legislation. Illegal immigration issues have dominated the...
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The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) released the most recent inventory numbers of employment-based green card applications on its newly-designed website1 in late September of 2009. These statistics are released in a comprehensive manner, categorized by country of chargeability and preference category. Although visa backlog has been a known problem for many years,...
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