We've posted the latest processing times for the California Service Center.  Click here to see them.

There were several long-awaited announcements that were released this week on various immigration issues. First, the July 26th deadline for health care workers in non-immigrant status to comply with VisaScreen was reached today. A modest extension of that deadline was approved. Basically, any Canadians or Mexicans who held TN or TC status and worked in the US prior to September 23, 2003 with a US license are eligible for an additional year without having to have the credentialing certificate in place. Everyone else must have the credentialing in hand prior to entering the US or prior to their next status extension.

F-1 and J-1 students got a break as USCIS issued a blanket extension of their status if they request an H-1B change of status with an October 1st start date. Note that J-1s in other categories (such as physicians in graduate medical training) and J-1s subject to the 212(e) home residency requirement are not covered by the extension.

People waiting on notification that they have won the lottery can now get on with their lives. The State Department confirmed that all winners of the DV-2005 green card lottery have been notified.

Finally, there are more signs that the Labor Department is getting ready to roll out the PERM e-filing system for labor certifications. This week they proposed a rule centralizing labor certification processing for backlogged cases, something that is an important part of the planned switchover to the new program.

*****

This summer, our firm turns 10 years old and that means this publication is also about to have its tenth anniversary. In all of that time, I’ve never taken a vacation of more than a week. So I decided it was about time I turned off the email and treated my family (and me!) to a little time off without the disruptions of the office.

In 1994, I was a solo lawyer and the idea of leaving the office for more than a few days was simply impractical. Now we have many lawyers here and lots of competent professionals working on this newsletter. So I feel comfortable leaving for 2+ weeks knowing that clients will be services, the newsletters will go out, the site will be updated, etc. without my presence. For clients reading this column who might need to contact someone about their case, you should feel free to call our office at 800-748-3819 and ask for my very able assistant Felicia Chappell. 

 

Here's the table of contents for this week's Siskind's Immigration Bulletin.  Click here to get to any of the articles.

1. Openers
2. The ABC's Of Immigration: Certifications for Foreign Health Care Workers
3. Ask Visalaw.com
4. Border News
5. News From The Courts
6. Government Processing Times
7. News Bytes
8. International Roundup
9. Legislative Update
10. State Department Visa Bulletin
11. Canadian and Mexican Foreign Health Care Workers Given One-Year Exemption From Certification Deadline
12. DOL Proposes Centralized Processing for Labor Certification
13. Farm–Worker Bill Blocked by Senate Republican Leaders
14. Diversity Visa (DV) Lottery Surcharge Greatly Affected by Proposed Fee Adjustments
15. Some Foreign Students Can Obtain Extension of Stay

Attorney Greg Siskind and Siskind Susser staff member Gilda Bollwerk co-authored an article in the July 25 issue of La Prensa Latina explaining how to determine whether or not you need an immigration lawyer.  Click here to read it.

We've posted the latest processing times for the Texas Service Center.  Click here to see them.

Just as we were going to press, we learned that the USCIS announced a partial extension of the implementation date for the VisaScreen regulation as they pertain to non-immigrant visa holders.  The extension only covers people working in the US and licensed as of September 23, 2003 and only TN visa applicants. We’ll report more on this in our issue next week.
 
*****
 
We have been reporting for several years on the coming implementation of the PERM efiling system for labor certifications. That new system is supposed to bring nearly instantaneous processing of labor certification cases. A proposed regulation was issued some time back and we have been expecting the final rules and implementation of the program in the late summer or early fall. As we report this week, the DOL has published its anticipated regulatory agenda for the second half of the year and that list includes a regulation to launch PERM as well as a regulation to consolidate the backlog of labor certification cases at a single DOL regional office. The DOL PERM proposed regulation was very controversial and it is not yet known what changes we will see.
 
*****
 
After 9/11, I remember the stories in the news reporting how the US was planning on winning the public relations battle in the war on terror.  So I’m left baffled trying to figure out how the Department of Homeland Security’s recent crackdown on visas and the entry journalists helps. Journalists have been denied visas at higher rates, they’ve been recently cutoff from visa revalidation (something that people on I visas heavily use), they have been detained upon entry and summarily shipped back home, and otherwise given anything but the red carpet. These are the people that tell the rest of the world what is happening in America and what Americans are like. Surely there is a way we can do the basic security screening and at the same time make these people feel welcome? The damage we do by not treating journalists with basic respect is far worse than any security benefit we gain. We report on some of these problems this week as well. 

Here's the table of contents for this week's Siskind's Immigration Bulletin.  Click here to read any of the articles.

1. Openers
2. The ABC's Of Immigration: A, G, and NATO Visas For Foreign Government Representatives 3. Ask Visalaw.com
4. Border News
5. News From The Courts
6. Government Processing Times
7. News Bytes
8. International Roundup 
9. Legislative Update
10. Campaign 2004
11. USCIS Processing Form I-130 as Visa Numbers Become Available
12. Bureau of Consular Affairs Announces New Internet Services
13. USCIS: Changes to Naturalization Exam Will Lead to Greater Reliability and Consistency
14. Foreign Journalist Deportations Highlight Tension Between National Security and Freedom of the Press
15. PERM Coming Soon According to DOL Regulatory Agenda
16. Texas Attorney General Targets Fraudulent Immigration Consultation Businesses
17. Visa Revocation Process Still Weak, According to GAO 
 

Attorney Greg Siskind and Siskind Susser staff member Gilda Bollwerk co-authored an article in the July 18 issue of La Prensa Latina explaining Western Hemisphere Priority Dates and how they can allow some individuals to speed up their immigration process.   Click here to read it. 

We've posted the latest processing times for the Nebraska Service Center. Click here to see them.

We've posted the latest processing times for the California and Vermont Service Centers and the National Benefits Center in Missouri. Click here to see them.

It was inevitable. If you are like me, you get emails all day long promising you riches if you just provide some helpful assistance to the widow of a miscellaneous dictator or general. Or you get an email with countless other variations on this theme. Personally, I find them somewhat entertaining, though it is sobering to think that people must still be falling for the schemes or they would have just died out by now.

I received an email this week with a new twist, one that is much scarier because it could so easily be believed. Instead of offering a share in riches tucked away in a bank account abroad, the fraudsters have designed an email that informs the reader that they have won the US green card lottery. The mail comes from a spoofed US State Department address and has a lot of official looking details. You may ask yourself how do you make money on claiming someone won the lottery? Well, it is quite simple. “Winners” are requested to wire money to a bank account in order to begin processing of their case.

The problem is made worse by the fact that more than 10 million people around the world apply for the green card lottery every year. And beginning this past year, all entries were made online and email addresses are provided. Couple that with the fact that the US State Department only notifies winners by mail and refuses to confirm that a person has won or lost and you have a natural little gold mine for those would commit fraud.

The State Department could easily nip this in the bud and also solve other problems associated with the secretive way it deals with notifying winners. Now that cases are submitted online, why not issue an instant tracking number that entrants could then use to check online whether they have won the lottery or not. This would save the State Department from having to deal with the astronomical number of inquiries it receives each year from people wondering whether they won or not. Right now, applicants are told to watch their mailboxes and that’s their only option. But if someone won and never received the package – they moved, the mail got lost or was stolen, etc. – they would have a way of learning of the problem. And the State Department could then provide a mechanism for providing duplicate application materials.

My guess is that the Department of State will be forced to do something like this when victims of scams like the one we report on this week begin to surface in the media. But a solution like the one I suggest would also result in long term savings and better customer service.

*****

We’re in an election year and lofty proposals to deal with immigration are floating around as in years past. This week we report on John Kerry’s proposal for a major immigration relief program that is as ambitious as the one proposed by President Bush earlier this year. Immigration is also, as always, a wedge issue that some politician use to stir up fear and garner votes accordingly. Political parties do not necessarily provide a reliable indicator of where a politician is likely to stand.

Pro-business Republicans like President Bush and John McCain have been out front promoting legalization programs designed to ensure that there is a legal way to connect employers facing legitimate worker shortages with willing foreign workers. They’ve got a number of allies in the Democratic Party.

On the other side, you have the xenophobic wing of the Republican Party represented by people like Tom Tancredo of Colorado and House Immigration Subcommittee Chair John Hostettler of Indiana. They garner support from folks on the left like Senator Chris Dodd of Connecticut who have jumped on the anti-outsourcing bandwagon and are attacking H-1B and L-1 visa holders.

A lot depends on who is in the candidate’s base of supporters and who provides the funding for the political war chest of a particular politician. A candidate representing “white flight” suburban voters who fear the immigrant hordes will likely take a hostile position. If a candidate represents a district comprised of a significant number of new Americans, don’t bet on opposition to an amnesty. On the other hand, a lot of politicians form an opinion based on nothing more than their hunch of how voters will feel about a particular issue. These legislators are willing to keep an open mind and should they hear from constituents who can provide real world illustrations of the contributions of immigrants in their own districts, they often are willing to listen.

That has especially been demonstrated to me this year as I have spent considerable time working with clients to advocate for the physician immigration bill working its way through Congress. Many of the legislators who we have initially contacted were inclined to vote against the bill. But after we have been able to make the case that these physicians are needed to deal with a critical doctor shortage in this country – particularly in rural areas – then several have changed their minds and even co-sponsored the legislation.

The lessen for our US citizen readers is that you should not just assume that grassroots lobbying is meaningless. A visit to Washington is particularly helpful. I would guess that one visit by a constituent is worth a thousand letters. Of course, those letters as well as phone calls are also critical and anti-immigration groups know this all too well. So visit sites like www.aila.org, the home of the American Immigration Lawyers Association to learn more about where advocacy efforts are needed. And exercise your rights as Americans to let your legislators know where you stand and what you believe they should do as your representatives.

Here's the table of contents for this week's Siskind's Immigration Bulletin. Click here to get to any of the articles.

1. Openers
2. The ABC’S Of Immigration: H-3 Trainees
3. Ask Visalaw.com
4. Border and Enforcement News
5. News From The Courts
6. Government Processing Times
7. News Bytes
8. International Roundup
9. Legislative Update
10. Campaign 2004
11. Email DV-Lottery Scam Blasts Across Internet
12. DHS Terminates Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Nationals of Montserrat
13. Transportation Security Administration’s Registered Traveler Program Will Undergo Trial-Run This Summer
14. Kerry Promises Plan for Amnesty of Most Illegal Immigrants
15. Immigrant Tax Remittance Plan Triggers Opposition from Colorado's First Data Corp.

Attorney Greg Siskind and Siskind Susser staff member Gilda Bollwerk co-authored an article in the July 11 issue of La Prensa Latina emphasizing the importance for immigrants to acquire U.S. citizenship. Click here to read it.

Attorney Greg Siskind wrote an article in the July 9 issue of Health Lawyers Weekly outlining the visa options for physicians seeking to enter the U.S. to engage in graduate medical training. Click here to read it.

We've posted the latest processing times for the Texas Service Center. Click here to see them.

The latest monthly issue of Siskind's Immigration Professional is now online. Click here to read it.

We've posted the latest processing times for the Nebraska Service Center. Click here to see them.

I hope all of you celebrating American Independence Day this past weekend enjoyed your holiday. One of my favorite traditions of the 4th of July is the mass naturalization ceremony. Every year, the USCIS schedules large citizenship oath ceremonies at cities all over the country. Many, like the one hear in my hometown, of Memphis, is followed by a celebratory picnic and fireworks. What a wonderful way to welcome our country’s newest Americans!


The naturalization ceremony is emotion-laden not only for the oath taker, but also for all those who attend as witnesses and oath administrators. A few years back, there was a move afoot to take from judges the oath ceremonies. That was met with stiff resistance from the judges and eventually dropped. These ceremonies are very popular. And who can blame them. When judges are presiding over conflict and misery day after day, the naturalization ceremony is the source of joy and optimism. New beginnings and years of hope realized for people from all walks of life are a refreshing alternative.


To the tens of thousands of individuals who became citizens this weekend, we at Siskind Susser salute you and urge you to make the most of your new status. Certainly register to vote and get active in the political process. And now that you have the power to vote, donate money to political campaigns and the ability to lobby, you can let our legislators know what you think of the legal process you’ve been through. Do you think our immigration system was fair and efficient? If you don’t, make noise. Don’t do what many do and forget about those who will come later.

The July 2-8 issue of the Memphis Business Journal mentions Visalaw.com as the nation's best law Web site. The article also mentions the Visalaw.com blog as a component that raises the bar in online business development. Click here to read it.

Here's the table of contents for this week's Siskind's Immigration Bulletin. Click here to get to any of the articles.

1. Openers

2. The ABC's Of Immigration: Visa Options for Graduate Medical Training

3. Ask Visalaw.com

4. Border News

5. News From The Courts

6. Government Processing Times

7. News Bytes

8. International Roundup

9. Legislative Update

10. Campaign 2004

11. Canadian Corner

12. Guest Column - Kissing Cousins: H-1B, L-1 And How We Can Love Them Both Without Really Trying, By Gary Endelman

13. Supreme Court Rules in Case of Guantanamo Detainees

14. New Unmanned-Aerial-Vehicle Program Launched in Arizona’s Tucson Sector

15. GAO Evaluates Border Control in Federal and Tribal Lands

16. New SEVIS Fees Introduced

Attorney Greg Siskind and Siskind Susser staff member Gilda Bollwerk co-authored an article in the July 4 issue of La Prensa Latina explaining Border Patrol's new policy on visas for foreign journalists (en Espanol). Click here to read it.

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