Over the past few days many articles have been published to look back on the year’s biggest immigration stories. I liked Leslie Berestein Rojas’ Top 5, and also ImmigrationProf’s Top 10, among others. However, if you look through the lists you will see one thing in common: illegal immigration issues dominated the entire 2011. It is not that … Read more
The Student and Exchange Visitor Program (SEVP) is a government managed program that monitors U.S. based schools and foreign nationals in F, M or J status. It uses the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System (SEVIS) to ensure only legitimate foreign students or exchange visitors can participate in the U.S. education system. SEVP acts as … Read more
H.R. 3012, the Fairness for High Skilled Immigrants Act, passed the House by an overwhelming 389-15 vote with a rare bipartisan support. If it becomes law, there is no doubt Indian immigrants will benefit the most. China EB2 could see a shorter wait as well, but all other EB2 categories that currently have no waiting … Read more
Yesterday USCIS released yet another warning on “misleading” websites and the fees they charge for preparing immigration forms and applications: In recent weeks, USCIS has received a large number of applications prepared by an online business that charges users to complete their USCIS forms. In most cases, the charge for preparing an application is the … Read more
USCIS is strongly encouraging eligible permanent residents to become U.S. citizens. In less than a month, USCIS posted six entries (out of a total of eight) on their blog to promote citizenship and naturalization: June 1: Visit our Citizenship Resource Center May 27: One Woman’s Path to Citizenship: Bangladesh to the United States May 25: … Read more
You are at a football game, the American flag is going up, everyone around you is standing up, with their right hand on the heart and singing the national anthem. Or, you’re at your kid’s school, watching 500 schools children and their parents loudly reciting the pledge of allegiance. You certainly don’t want to be … Read more
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) released an report on total illegal alien apprehensions by fiscal year, border (Southern, Northern, and Coastal), and border sections (major border cities and regions). What is interesting is that the total number of arrests dropped significantly from 2005 to 2010: The sharp decline in apprehensions of illegal immigrants is … Read more
In the table below you will find a log of all FY2012 H-1B cap counts. By keeping a log, and updating it with every new count released by USCIS, we can document the progress of H-1B visa usage. USCIS began accepting H-1B petitions on April 1, 2011. If approved, beneficiaries of these petitions may start … Read more
A reader asked us today to verify an email he received informing him that he’d just won the green card lottery. Without even reading it, everyone should know that it is scam. The US Department of Sate (DOS) has warned the public repeatedly that they do not send emails to Diversity Visa (DV) recipients. The … Read more
During the past couple of years many EB applicants have been anxiously watching the Pending I-485 Inventory, hoping that the number of cases ahead of them keep dropping with every release. For the most part, that was indeed the case. But the latest USCIS inventory (as of January 5, 2011) showed a sudden increase for … Read more
