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NEWS FROM THE NORTH: Canadian Immigration Law News.
Fingerprinting When
Traveling?
By Veronique Malka Nasser, B.C.L., LL.B.
The U.S. government under Bush introduced a
proposal today that will allow the
Administration to
identify visitors to the U.S. who have
overstayed their visas. Under the proposed
rule, commercial airliners and cruiselines
would be required to take the fingerprints of
travelers leaving the U.S. and send them to
DHS within 24 hours of travel. The plan
should be in
place by June 2009. This is bound to set
panic in so many immigrants presently in the
U.S. on overstayed visas.
From my perspective, as a Canandian
immigration
attorney who likes to offer foreign
"overstayers" an alternative north of the
border, I am curious as to how this plan will
impact immigration options for Canada. When
these foreign nationals leave the U.S. to
return to their home country for the Canadian
Consulate interview, there will now be a
record with the U.S. authorities as to when
they departed from the U.S. Since it will
mark the overstay officially, assuming the
authorities continue
to dialogue, I would expect that it would
make their applications for temporary
residence in Canada weaker; the assumption
would be that with official proof of a U.S.
overstay, how can Canadian authorities grant
temporary residence to a foreign national who
may overstay in Canada as well?
Click Here to read our Canadian Immigration Blog . . .
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Dear Readers:
During the month of April, the the H-1B
approvals continue to trickle-in. In
addition, foreign STEM students have found a
new option to allow them to remain in the
U.S. as long as their employers have enrolled
in the E-Verify program (an electronic
methodology for employers to match social
security numbers of prospective employees
against names and certain biometric data).
But who is fooling who?
If it is the clear mandate of U.S.
Immigration Laws to provide an incentive for
bringing the best and the brightest students
and workers to the U.S., then why do we have
to force employers to use a database of
questionable integrity? It would make much
more sense for the Federal Government to
admit to the failure of the current system
and to provide our Nation with the
researchers and scholars necessary to bolster
our faltering economy.
As the November Candidates continue to dodge
the difficult immigration law questions
being tossed at them, we are forced to wonder
who will be the winners and who will be the
losers in the months to come. One thing that
is for sure is that the U.S. Department of
Homeland Security ("DHS") enforcement regime
is here to stay for the clearly foreseeable
future.
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| CIS E-VERIFY PROGAM NEWS AND UPDATES: What is new in the E-Verify World? |
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A Memorandum of Understanding ("MOU") was
recently signed between DHS, the Social
Security Administration ("SSA") and State
Employment Agencies, regarding a State
Employment Agency's participation in E-Verify.
Click
Here to read the MOU . . .
CIS recently issued guidance on the E-Verify
registration process for State Workforce
Agencies.
Click
Here to read the Guidance from CIS . . .
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| TRAVEL PLANS NORTH AND SOUTH: DHS And DOS Publish Final Western Hemisphere Travel Rule. |
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DHS and the U.S. Department of State ("DOS")
published notice in the Federal Register
concerning the Western Hemisphere Travel
final rule which shall be effective June 1,
2009. This notice announces that
the Secretary of Homeland Security is
designating enhanced driver's licenses and
identity documents ("EDL") issued by the
State of Washington as acceptable documents
to denote identity and
citizenship for purposes of entering the
United States at land and sea ports of entry.
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Click Here to read the information in the Federal Register . . . |
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| TROUBLE WITH PIMS: DOS Releases November 2007 Cable on Accessing NIV Petition Information Via the Consolidated Consular Database. |
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Consular posts are now able to access the
details of approved nonimmigrant visa
petitions through the CCD in a new report
called Petition Information
Management Service ("PIMS"). The Kentucky
Consular
Center ("KCC") has ceased e-mailing scanned
copies of approved petitions to posts. The
electronic PIMS record created by KCC will
now be the primary source of evidence to be
used in determining petition approval.
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Click Here to read the information on the DOS website . . . |
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| WAIVER FOR KOREA: DHS Signs Visa Waiver Program Agreement with Korea. |
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DHS Secretary, Michael Chertoff, signed a
Visa Waiver Program ("VWP") Memorandum of
Understanding ("MOU") with Korean Minister of
Foreign Affairs and Trade Yu Myung-hwan. The
security enhancements outlined in the
agreement puts Korea on the path toward
visa-free travel to the U.S., and potential
designation as a VWP member as early as later
this year.
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Click Here for more information . . . |
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| BACKLOG REDUCTION? CIS News Release Announces Plan to Eliminate FBI Name Check Backlog. |
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An April 2nd, 2008 CIS News Release announced a
CIS/FBI joint plan to eliminate the backlog
of name checks pending with the FBI. We can
only hope that this will be the case!
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Click Here to read the CIS Press Release . . . |
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| SHORT NATZ: CIS Projects Shorter Naturalization Application Processing Times. |
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An April 2, 2008 CIS News Release announced that
the agency is now projecting a shorter
average processing time for naturalization
applications than it was six months ago.
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Click Here to read the CIS Press Release . . . |
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| SEVP/OPT GUIDANCE: ICE Issues SEVP Policy Guidance On OPT. |
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ICE has issued updated policy guidance for
designated school officials for
SEVP-certified schools with F-1 students who
are eligible for or pursuing post-completion OPT.
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Click Here to read the guidance from ICE . . . |
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| U VISA GUIDANCE: Aytes Memo Revises AFM Regarding U Visas. |
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A March 26th, 2008 Memorandum from Michael
Aytes, Associate Director, Domestic
Operations, CIS, revises
Chapter 39 of the Adjudicator's Field Manual,
establishing the requirements and procedures
for foreign nationals seeking U nonimmigrant
status.
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Click Here to read the memorandum . . . |
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| DOL Round 2 FAQ: "Substitutions Plus" Final Rule. |
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On March 31st 2008, the U.S. Department of
Labor ("DOL") released Round 2 FAQs
concerning the
May 17th, 2007 final rule on labor
certification substitutions, attorney's fees
and other matters.
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Click Here to read the FAQs . . . |
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| Q&A: AILA/CIS QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS. |
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Q&As address proposed multi-year EADs and
Advance Parole docs, H-1B1s and the cap, the
DV lottery and 245 application processing,
K-3 processing, replacing a lost I-94 card,
I-130s for beneficiaries in removal
proceedings, premium processing, the I-9
Handbook, H-1B portability, VAWA, Matter of
Perez-Vargas, CSPA, EB-5s, I-751s and much more.
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Click Here for more information . . . |
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| DHS MISCONDUCT? DHS Creates E-mail Address to Report Unlawful Conduct by CIS Employees. |
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DHS' Office of Inspector General posted a
notice on the CIS website with an e-mail
address to be used to report misconduct,
wasteful activities, and allegations of civil
rights or civil liberties abuse by CIS employees.
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Click Here for more information . . . |
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| VISASERVE FIGHTING BREAST CANCER: 26 Miles is a Small Price to Pay for "the Cure". |
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Our Firm is participating in the Avon Walk
for Breast Cancer in New York in October.
This year, an estimated 40,000 women will die
from the disease.
Breast cancer takes another life every 14
minutes. Another woman is diagnosed with
breast cancer every 3 minutes. An estimated
three million women are living with breast
cancer. One million of them don't yet
know it.
As part of the event, we pledged to raise
money. With the donations raised, the Avon
Foundation will provide support and resources
for women affected by this terrible disease.
This will help so many people in our own
community and throughout the country. Any
amount you can give is great; appreciate your
support is appreciated.
You can make a donation online by simply
clicking on the link at the bottom of this
message. Whatever you can give will help!
Our firm continues to support finding a cure
for this terrible disease by helping academic
and research organizations to bring to the
U.S. world class scientific and research
talent and by taking part in the Avon Walk to
raise funds for breast cancer research.
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Click Here to see the Nachman-Avon Walk Page . . . |
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