The new attention has turned a once-obscure alternative source of funds into a viable route toward development. Use of the 20-year-old program nearly doubled last year, to 1,995 investor applicants in the fiscal year ended last September from 1,031 in the prior year.

In 2006, when the economy was still roaring, there were just 486 applicants, according to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. The program is named EB-5 because it represents a fifth category of employment-based immigration.

Read the rest of the story on WSJ

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Source: Daily News 365

In a surprising Press Release announcement dated January 28, 2010, USCIS stated that there are nearly 3.5 million Legal Permanent Residents (Green Card Holders) in the State of California. According to USCIS, 2.5 million of these legal permanent residents are currently eligible to naturalize and become U.S. Citizens.

Source: Rreeves

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 wife are not.

Rumors about the citizenship process abound, Macharia said. That’s why face-to-face contact with a citizenship official is helpful, he said.

“It’s always good when you hear about it from the horse’s mouth,” he said.

Joe Kernan, a community relations officer with United States Citizenship and Immigration Services in Tucker, spoke to Macharia and 20 other immigrants in Marietta on Wednesday night.

The American Legion hosted the event and will also host citizenship classes starting in January. It’s in keeping with the Legion’s goal to foster “Americanism,” said Bill Beaudin, commander of Post 29 where the meeting was held.

Kernan said the classes could come in handy. He recounted tales of citizenship tests gone wrong.

If an immigration officer asks if you will bear arms for the United States, don’t roll up your sleeves and show your arms, Kernan said, to chuckles from the immigrants in the audience.

“You need to know that means will you defend the United States,” he said.

Ling Go, originally from China and now living in Acworth, wondered if speeding tickets would hurt citizenship chances.

Not if the fines have been paid, Kernan said.

In general, crimes that indicate a lack of good moral character are the ones that will ruin a chance at citizenship, Kernan said.

Also he cautioned immigrants not to leave the country too often or for too long. An absence of more than a year can sink a citizenship application, Kernan said. A prospective citizen must show where his loyalty is based, he said.

Esther Wilson, a U.S. citizen who lives in Marietta, attended the class on behalf of her sister, who traveled to the Philippines in May. She has not returned because she has Typhoid fever and diabetes and has been too fragile to travel, Wilson said.

“I’m worried about her not coming back,” Wilson said.

If a person with a green card visa stays outside of the United States too long, they could lose their residency and be turned away at the airport, Kernan warned.

Federal immigration officials have held a series of community meetings across the country this year to educate immigrants on common pitfalls and to demystify the process.

About 8.2 million legal permanent residents are eligible to apply for citizenship, immigration officials said.

At the Atlanta immigration office, 14,456 people took the oath of citizenship in the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30, according to Ana Santiago, a spokeswoman for USCIS. Nationwide during the year, 1.1 million people became citizens..

A new version of the citizenship test was phased in last year and became standard Oct.1. It is intended to emphasize an understanding of fundamental concepts of American democracy and the rights and responsibilities of citizenship, more than rote learning of historical facts such as who wrote “The Star Spangled Banner.” The government has printed flash cards and exam materials for prospective citizens.

Pointing to a list of English words, Kernan told the group that those words would be scrambled into any number of variations to create sentences. They would need to read the sentence aloud, without lengthy pauses, to pass.

Everyone opened their study pamphlet to look at the words.

Understanding basic English is essential to participate in civic life in the United States, Kernan said. If an applicant fails, they can take the test again.

Kernan recalled the time an immigration officer raised his hand to administer an oath to a prospective citizen who didn’t understand and thought it was time to give a high-five.

“He was not ready,” Kernan said.

Source: AJC

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H-1B demand spike may signal improving outlook for skilled pros (computerworld.com)

A: Immigrants filing applications to renew permanent resident cards, commonly known as “green cards,” need to file Form I-90 (which can be downloaded at www.uscis.gov) with US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). The form can be mailed or sent by courier to the addresses shown in the instructions. The submission also can be made on line; go to www.uscis.gov and follow the instructions for online filing of Form I-90.

Currently (as of November 2009) an application fee of $290 and a biometrics processing fee of $80 must be submitted with the application. Applicants filing paper forms should obtain money orders for the $370 total, made out to “U.S. Department of Homeland Security.” Applicants filing on line will pay the fees electronically.

All applicants will receive by mail a notice for a biometrics (fingerprint) processing appointment at a local USCIS Application Support Center and will submit any required initial evidence and documentation during that appointment.

IMPORTANT: Applicants are being instructed to take to their biometrics appointments the records of any arrests, convictions, or any other involvement in criminal matters since last being granted legal permanent resident status. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers have been attending these appointments and reviewing the documentation supplied by applicants. Some applicants have been detained because of the criminal records they submitted or because their names appeared as a result of an ICE investigation as having outstanding criminal warrants. Accordingly, it is IMPERATIVE that you obtain legal advice before filing your Form I-90 if you have ANY issues involving past or pending criminal proceedings anywhere in the world.

IIC can help you with the I-90 renewal filing process, as well as the application for getting a new green card visa when the original has been lost, or when the card issued contains incorrect information.

NOTE: Holders of two-year conditional permanent resident cards based on marriage to a US citizen don’t file Form I-90 to remove the condition; they use Form I-751 instead.

By the way, anyone who has been a legal permanent resident long enough to be eligible for US citizenship really ought to consider applying for naturalization as soon as possible. IIC can help you with the all aspects of the naturalization application process.

For a free, confidential consultation on this or any other aspect of immigration law, visit one of our legal clinics advertised in The Emigrant.

[Source: Irish Imigrant]

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 him a U.S. citizen.

But it was the special honor of leading the group in the Pledge of Allegiance earlier in the naturalization ceremony in U.S. Eastern District Court that had special meaning for Saad.

“They’re not just words, ‘With liberty and justice for all,’ ” he said prior to the ceremony in the courthouse parking lot, his four friends from Chico beside him. Each held an American flag.

The event was the first ceremony in recent memory offered by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) to be held in Redding, allowing Northern California immigrants to avoid a lengthy drive to Sacramento or San Francisco to take their citizenship oaths.

A Canadian, a Czech, two Indians, a Kenyan, seven Mexicans and three Filipinos joined Saad in taking their oath.

Each had been in the country for at least three years, living legally in the U.S. first as a permanent resident with a green card visa.

“You can’t simply immigrate,” said Sharon Rummery, a spokeswoman for the USCIS.

For a nonresident to come to the country, someone — usually a parent or a spouse already in the country — must first petition for an immigrant’s green card visa.

An employer can also petition for a green card visa for an employee, but it’s unlikely that someone who doesn’t have at least a bachelor’s degree would be allowed in through that route, Rummery said.

Others can request asylum from their home. A judge can also grant a green card visa during a deportation hearing, Rummery said.

But a few lucky ones like Saad are drawn in what’s known colloquially as the green card visa Lottery, which is officially called the USCIS Diversity Visa Program.

Hundreds of thousands apply from all over the world, but only 55,000 immigrant visas are granted each year.

Most at Redding’s ceremony had family in the United States that allowed them into the country in the first place. Others married in.

The latter was the case for Norma Muzzall, a 37-year-old Mexican immigrant who married a Chico delivery driver named Mark Muzzall, 42.

The two now live in Corning with their two children.

“Hey, you get to vote now,” Mark Muzzall said after the ceremony.

“I know!” she said.

But first, she said, she gets to pick a political party.

“He’s a Republican and his mom’s a Democrat,” Norma Muzzall said. “They’re both trying to convince me to pick their party.”

It was America’s political process that brought Rodolfo G. Lagoc, a 73-year-old retired lawyer from the Philippines who lives in Redding down the path to U.S. citizenship.

“The freedom from want, the freedom from fear, you have peace and order,” Lagoc said.

For Saad, becoming a citizen means he at last belongs.

“I used to feel like I was a part from this place,” Saad said. “Now I feel like I am officially a part of this country.”

Reporter Ryan Sabalow can be reached at 225-8344 or at rsabalow@redding.com.

[Source: Redding]

The FY 2010 DHS Spending Bill, which passed the Senate on a 79-19 vote on October 27, includes an immigration measure that allows a spouse, child and other family members to receive a green card visa when their priority date is reached, even when the petitioner dies.

FY 2010 DHS Spending Bill puts an end to the “Widow’s Penalty.” According to the New York Times, the Widow’s Penalty is “the government’s practice of annulling foreigners’ applications for permanent residency when their American spouses die before the marriage is two years old.”

According to AILA Info Net, the new law “includes statutory authority for USCIS to complete processing of permanent residence applications for surviving spouses and other relatives of immigration sponsors who die during the adjudication process (section 568).”

In an interview with the Asian Journal, Immigration Attorney Robert Reeves explained that before the signing of the bill, the death of a petitioner or principal benefi ciary usually results in an automatic revocation of the immigrant visa petition.

“This is fantastic news,” said Reeves, whose fi rm has been lobbying Congress to pass this bill. “This is an incredible benefi t for those who have previously fi led humanitarian reinstatement. Now, we can fi le them for permanent resident status. This will benefi t thousands of immigrants.”

The new law does not only allow widows/widowers to submit petitions for permanent residency after their spouse’s death, it also covers all family-based petitions, “including petitions for unmarried children of US citizens under 21, family-preference categories who have approved or pending petitions which include the spouse and unmarried children of permanent residents, unmarried children over the age of 21 of US citizens, married children of US citizens, siblings of US citizens and the derivative children of this group,” says Atty. Reeves and Atty. Joseph Elias in their regular column article in the Asian Journal (see Community Journal section, p.C1 for more information.)

“Derivative beneficiaries of pending or approved employment- based immigrant visa petitions are also covered by the new law which include the spouse and unmarried children under age 21 of an individual who was sponsored under the employment-based category,” the article also stated.

According to Reeves, before the new law was approved, if the petitioner dies before the petition is approved or permanent resident status is granted, the spouse or child would be unable to obtain permanent resident status.

However, the new law does not apply to surviving family members residing outside of the US, added Reeves.

“Unfortunately, if they are not living in the United States right now they would have to file the traditional humanitarian reinstatement which is very difficult,” added Reeves. “The immigration services grants only a very few of them.”

The root of the law began in 1970 when the court ruled that a husband’s death stripped the wife of her position as spouse, meaning she no longer qualified for a green card visa. A 1990 law then narrowed that ruling’s scope, saying a widow married to a US citizen for at least two years can file a petition for a residency permit on her own behalf, according to the Associated Press.

The new law was championed by Rep. Jim McGovern and Sen. Bill Nelso.

[source: Asian Journal]

How is the visa pie dived up?

A quick review of the congressional allocation of employment visa numbers will be helpful for the analysis of these I-485 inventory numbers. Section 201(d)(1) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) allocates an annual minimum of 140,000 visa numbers for employment-based immigrant visas. Although there are 140,000 employment visas available for worldwide usage, each country may not take more than 7% or 25,620 of the annual visa quota.2 Furthermore, each of the five employment visa preference category is subject to the following limits:3

First (Priority Worker): 28.6% of the worldwide quota, or 40,040, plus unused numbers from the fourth and fifth preferences.

Second (Advanced degree professionals or exceptional ability aliens): 28.6% of the worldwide quota, or 40,040, plus unused numbers from first preference.

Third (Skill Workers, Professionals and Other Workers): 28.6% of the worldwide quota, or 40,040, plus any numbers not used by the first and second preferences. “Other Workers” may only receive up to 10,000 of the visa numbers.4

Fourth (Certain Special Immigrants): 7.1% of the worldwide quota or 9,940.

Fifth (Employment Creation): 7.1% of the worldwide quota.

What is the big picture like?

Generally speaking, there are no big surprises regarding the big picture. There are altogether 233,816 I-485 adjustment applications as of August 25, 2009 pending adjudication before the USCIS, of which 4,050 belong to Eb-1, 74,932 to Eb-2, and151,231 to Eb-3. In terms of geographical distribution, 26,170 cases come from China, 111,296 from India, 12,481 from the Philippines, 8,415 from Mexico, and 74,914 from the rest of the world. Visa numbers remind very tight for the most popular preference categories including Eb-2 second preference and Eb-3 third preference. As expected, the countries which have triggered the per-country cap in recent years are suffering a multi-year backlog of visa numbers. These countries – China (Mainland), India, Mexico, and the Philippines – all have their own I-485 inventory tables. While all countries are struggling in the Eb-3 preference category, China and India are also having a huge backlog in the second preference category. The “other countries” are also looking at a multi-year wait in the third preference category, with a dismal priority date of June 1, 2002 in the October 2009 Visa Bulletin.5 The Eb-1 Priority Worker category remains current for all countries.

Putting the numbers in perspective

There are different ways that these inventory numbers can be useful and analyzed. The following are some interesting observations:

These I-485 inventory numbers represent only the immigrant cases that are filed within the U.S. only. The USCIS indicates that about 15% of the immigrant visas are processed through overseas consular processing. Hence, the actual numbers of applicants for an immigrant visa are actually higher.
There are still 6,170 I-485 applications pending from April 2001, plus another 500+ cases from 2000 and the first three months of 2001. Many of these cases were likely filed under or in anticipation of the INA Section 245(i)6 provision. However, the impact of these cases has dissipated over the years. The most current Visa Bulletin shows that only India’s Eb-3 category has a cutoff date in April of 2001.
The notion that Eb-2 cases are faster than their Eb-3 counterparts still holds true for now but may begin to change soon. While all countries are backlogged under Eb-3, all but two countries are current in Eb-2. China and India have respectively 18,365 and 39,972 I-485 applications pending in the Eb-2 category due to visa backlog. (See Illustration 1 below) In fact, China has three times more Eb-2 cases than Eb-3 cases. The worldwide I-485 inventory table with all pending cases7 shows the number of pending Eb-2 cases was trailing Eb-3 until 2008; the year 2008 has 4,235 pending Eb-2 cases vs. 540 pending Eb-3 cases. Similar trend is also present in the India table, where the number of pending Eb-2 cases first surpassed Eb-3 in the year 2005.8
The number of pending “other workers” cases is proportionately low, with only 1,520 pending I-485s worldwide. One can draw the conclusion that the majority of intending (employment-based) immigrants are skilled workers and professionals.

[read the full story at ilw]

About The Author

Paul Szeto, Esq. is a former INS assistant district counsel in New York City. A winner of the AILF’s Edward L. Dubroff Memorial Award for outstanding writing in the field of Immigration and Nationality Law in 1994, Paul is now in private practice in Edison, New Jersey, focusing on Immigration and Nationality Law. Paul Szeto can be reached at info@szetolaw.com.

These special adjustment programs are limited to individuals meeting particular qualifications and/or applying during certain time frames.

For information about the categories below, see links to the left under “Other Ways to Get a Green Card.”

• Amerasian Child of a U.S. Citizen
• American Indian Born in Canada
• Armed Forces Member
• Cuban Native or Citizen
• Diversity Immigrant Visa Program
• Haitian Refugee
• Indochinese Parole Adjustment Act
• Informant (S Nonimmigrant)
• Lautenberg Parolee
• Legal Immigration Family Equity (LIFE) Act
• Person Born to Foreign Diplomat in United States
• Registry
• Section 13 (Diplomat)
• Special Immigrant Juvenile
• Victim of Criminal Activity (U Nonimmigrant)
• Victim of Trafficking (T Nonimmigrant)

For information about the special categories below, see under the “Family,” Working in the U.S.” and “Humanitarian” links to the right.

• Nicaraguan and Central American Relief Act (NACARA)
• Green Cards Through Special Categories of Jobs

Includes:

• Afghan/Iraqi Translator
• Broadcaster
• International Organization Employee
• Iraqi Who Assisted the U.S. Government
• NATO-6 Nonimmigrant
• Panama Canal Employee
• Physician National Interest Waiver
• Religious Worker
• Green Cards Through Special Categories of Family

Includes:

• Battered Spouse or Child (VAWA)
• K Nonimmigrant (includes fiancé(e))
• V Nonimmigrant
• Widow(er)

Source: USCIS