Dear Readers:

As I noted last week, I’m in the middle of a ten day road trip that will conclude tomorrow at a conference of administrators of the nation’s Conrad 30 J-1 physician waiver programs. I’ll be speaking to the group and, more importantly, updating folks on the status of legislation to extend the Conrad program.

I’ve just attended the annual meeting of the American Immigration Lawyers Association in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. This is my 14^th AILA annual conference and I find the program valuable every year. Several thousand lawyers read this newsletter every week and if you are one and do not have membership in AILA, you’re really missing out. The conference is just one of many types of educational programming that AILA provides. You can learn about joining AILA at www.aila.org.

This year I spoke on two panels at the AILA meeting. The first was on a panel updating AILA on physician immigration. The focus of my remarks was explaining what the new physician immigration legislation would mean and providing information on the new HHS and Delta Regional Authority waiver programs. The second program was on law office management issues and I was charged with providing tips on incorporating the latest technologies in an immigration practice.

Speaking of technology, we at Siskind Susser were fortunate enough to be selected for the second year in a row as having the nation’s top law firm web site by the organization that is the major arbiter of such honors. You can see what the award selection folks had to say about www.visalaw.com by going online to www.htmlawyer.com. I want to publicly acknowledge the hard work that the people at my office put in on our site and newsletters that make it all possible.  Thank you Esther Schachter, Penny Egel, Megan Turngren, Maryam Tanhaee, Virginia Nesbitt, Paola Palazzolo, Mick Wright and everyone else who has contributed, coded, proofed, etc. to get this big project done week in and week out.

And speaking of accomplishments, congratulations are due to my good friend Robert Divine who was named this week as the Chief Legal Advisor to the director of USCIS. Robert is a fellow immigration lawyer in my home state of Tennessee and we’ve been active together in our local AILA chapter for nearly a decade and a half. Robert is eminently qualified for this important job and his many years representing immigrants will give him perspective on the process that is too often lacking at the USCIS. Good luck Robert!

Finally, as always, we remind readers that we're lawyers who make our living representing immigration clients and employers seeking to comply with immigration laws. 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.

Regards,

Greg Siskind