Most of our visitors knew that the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) ceased to exist as an agency in 2003. However, the mighty INS must have left a long lasting image in people’s minds. Why? In 2009, six years later, the word “INS” is still being searched millions of times a month! Well, maybe … Read more
Heated debate over illegal immigration moved to the back seat when the economy took a nose dive. However, with Obama’s plan to pick up comprehensive immigration reform this year, it is poised to return to the front line again. Actually conservative talkshow hosts are already switching gear to promote their simple solution: just send the … Read more
It is a tragic day. In a small town with few immigrants, in a small building where immigrants went to get help, a gunman opened fire and took the lives of at least 12 people, then his own. Binghamton, a small community in upstate New York, now has to handle a massacre like this. With … Read more
Brad Smith, General Counsel at Microsoft, published two consecutive posts to discuss Microsoft, H-1B, and Immigration: Given the economic downturn, we are filing substantially fewer H-1B applications than we filed last year … A recent study by the National Center for Education Statistics found that 39% of all Masters degrees in computer science from U.S. … Read more
I have always wondered why USCIS is still so heavily relying on their paper-based payment system. It is error-prone, it is slow, and it wastes valuable resources to process thousands of checks and money orders every day. For a customer, a rejected check could be devastating for time sensitive applications. Sure, they ought to be … Read more
On Saturday, March 29, from 8:30 pm to 9:30 pm, you will see some of the world’s most famous landmarks go dark or dim. Among them: The Empire State Building in New York The Opera House in Sydney The Eiffel Tower in Paris The Great Pyramids and Sphinx in Egypt The London Eye Ferris wheel … Read more
Mike Aytes, USCIS Acting Deputy Director, posted a journal entry to congratulate USCIS and the FBI for completing all name checks that were pending for more than six months. Although this is old news, as USCIS announced it and we reported it on March 4th, Mr. Aytes did release some new information: Let me put … Read more
President Obama recently launched a new website – recovery.gov – to allow taxpayers to track how stimulus money is being used. DHS also created www.dhs.gov/recovery, to provide more details about the department’s allocation of the $3 billion in new homeland security funding. Here is a break-down so far, but not much will be spent on … Read more
USCIS and FBI have been working together in the past year to reduce the backlog of immigration-related FBI name checks. In an announcement released today, USCIS claimed the achievement of a major milestone: the backlog of FBI name checks pending six months or more has been eliminated. It is indeed good news. Along with the … Read more
Two most frequently used immigration forms have been missing from the USCIS website since yesterday: Form I-765, Application for Employment Authorization (EAD) Form I-131, Application for Travel Document (AP) USCIS hasn’t released an official notice regarding the issue. However, since the AP form expired yesterday, February 28, 2009, it was probably a technical glitch when … Read more