Dear Readers:

This is one of the busiest weeks in immigration law in the last several months. We are covering many developments including the following:

- The expansion and extension of the Conrad 20 J-1 waiver program for physicians to now cover 30 physicians per state (which will hopefully make up for much of what was lost when the US Department of Agriculture shut its program down earlier this year)

- The release by the Bush Administration of its refugee target numbers for the next fiscal year

- The addition of Saudi Arabian, Yemeni and Pakistani nationals to the new special registration program for non-immigrants

- The release of the new online student tracking regulations that will affect thousands of schools and universities around the country

- The launch of the INS’ new online status reporting system to check on cases pending at INS Service Centers

Each of these stories would be important enough to lead the news in a typical week so don't discount their importance just because they are crowded together.

I also am including a commentary this week relating to a trip I took to Washington on Monday and Tuesday to lobby the administration on refugee and immigrant matters as part of the board of directors for a refugee organization which I serve. The trip was a real eye opener for me. If any of you doubt that 9/11 is starting to decline in terms of its impact on immigration, think again. The opposite is true. There seems to be an acceleration of the introduction of new measures designed to make the immigration system more secure. Unfortunately, the changes are coming faster than the system can handle. I was shocked to learn that the FBI is now processing 200,000 to 300,000 security checks every month. No wonder it is now taking several months for people to be cleared for visas at many posts. I think we all understand why it is necessary to build more security in the system. What the pro-immigration community can do, however, is ensure that our agencies are adequately funded and staffed to be able to handle routine security checks quickly and effectively. And we can continue to remind our leaders that the US immigration system was hijacked just like our airliners. After 9/11, we decided to make our air transport system safer in order to renew confidence in traveling by air. We did this because this is vital to the health of the American economy. The same can be said of our immigration system. How can we make it more secure and still open enough to continue being the economic engine it has been year in and year out?

Finally, as always, we remind readers that we're lawyers who make our living representing immigration clients. We would love to discuss becoming your law firm. Just go to http://www.visalaw.com/intake.html to request an appointment or call us at 800-748-3819 or 901-682-6455.

Kind regards,