USCIS recently initiated InfoPass in the district offices in Anchorage, Atlanta, Detroit, Denver, Fresno, Guam, Honolulu, Las Vegas, Phoenix, Portland OR, Reno, Sacramento, San Diego, San Francisco, San Jose, Seattle, Spokane, Tucson and Yakima. With InfoPass, the public can go online to schedule a date and time to meet with an immigration information officer, avoiding the need to wait in line.
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Recently, the US government revoked a visa it had issued to a prominent Swiss theologian who had accepted a visiting profession position at the University of Notre Dame. The theologian is a Muslim scholar who is an advocate for democracy and an opponent of extremism and terrorism. The American Immigration Lawyers Association put out a press release condemning the visa denial and the “culture of no” that has, according to the release, “permeated the visa issuance and immigration admissions process since 9-11. AILA contends that while purporting to keep America safe from terrorist threat, these measures harm America by keeping out prominent international scholars and others who would be beneficial to the country.