Dear Readers:

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We’ve gone blog-crazy here at Siskind Susser Bland. In the last two weeks, we have added four(!) new blogs to our main blog. Blogs allow us to more quickly post information and also are a convenient place for our lawyers to post commentary on the latest news. Our blogs will be more heavily featured on our web site soon, but for now, bookmark the following:

1. The Visalaw Blog – (http://www.visalaw.com/blog.html) – This is the ORIGINAL law firm blog. I began blogging in 1998 during the debate over raising the H-1B cap and can lay claim to being the first lawyer on the planet with a law-related blog. I got challenged on this by someone and was able to prove it thanks to www.archive.org and its Wayback Machine which still shows what my online journal looked like back then (didn’t hear the term “blog” for three more years after that, by the way.

2. Tech Notes – (http://gregstips.blogspot.com) – I co-write the technology column for Immigration Law Today, the magazine of the American Immigration Lawyers Association. In my next column I write about blogging and originally decided to set up this blog as a demo for that article. But I’ve decided to make it much more – a column geared for immigration lawyers talking about the latest tech and practice management news and, more importantly, giving me an outlet to write about gadgets and tech stuff that have caught my attention.

3. Visalaw FAS – (http://visalawfas.blogspot.com) – This blog is being managed by the fashion/arts/sports immigration law department at Siskind Susser Bland and is the only blog we’re aware of on this very specialized subject. We’re gearing up for a major web expansion in this area to go along with our health care info site and this blog will whet the appetite.

4. Visalaw Health Blog – (http://visalawhealth.blogspot.com) – There’s been a lot of developments of late in health care immigration and we’re going to use this new blog to get information out quickly to our readers.

5. Visalaw International Blog – (http://visalawint.blogspot.com) – This is the blog of our Visalaw International, the new alliance in which Siskind Susser Bland serve’s as the US anchor.

None of our regular content is going. In fact, we hope the blogs allow us to point out items in our regular newsletters people may miss. And we are setting the blogs up to show up in RSS feeders like Bloglines so that you can stay up to date without having to remember to visit our web site.

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The week in immigration law has certainly been interesting. The US Supreme Court issued a major decision in a deportation case involving a minor drug offense. The US House of Representatives passed legislation extending the Conrad 30 J-1 physician waiver program on the heels of the release of a GAO report on the J-1 physician waiver programs. And the H-2B cap for the first half of fiscal year 2007 was reached.

Congress is in session only until the end of this week and aside from the physician legislation noted above, it is not likely that we’ll see much action on any other immigration related items until the Democrats take the reins in January. We do know that Lamar Smith will become the Ranking Republican on the House Immigration Subcommittee. Smith is long remembered for being the very anti-immigration committee chair in the mid-1990s. He did moderate a bit later on business and employment issues, but don’t expect a friendly partner for the Democrats on the other side of the aisle.

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In firm news, we’re all getting excited here in Memphis as we get ready to host out annual holiday blowout. This year, in celebration of the opening of our new headquarters and the conclusion of our merger with the Eric Bland firm in New York . All of the lawyers and staff from each of our five US offices will be driving an flying in and joining us this year along with friends, family and clients from throughout the mid-south. We’ve arranged a special tour of Elvis’ city for the New Yorkers. Should be an education…

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As always, we remind readers that if they are interested in Siskind Susser handling their immigration matters, you can call our office at 901-682-6455 to set up an appointment. Have a great weekend!

Regards,

Greg Siskind