The past month has again been eventful in US immigration law. The US Senate Judiciary Committee voted to increase the H-1B quota by half, the INS announced important new fingerprint rules, the INS General Counsel decimated the most common types of EB-5 investments, the first DV-99 winners have been announced and the new ten year bar and asylum rules went into effect. We report on these happenings and many others this month. We also include many of our regular features - processing times, Consular Focus, Visa Spotlight, Immigration and the Internet and Border News.

We are also pleased to announce several new happenings on the Siskind, Susser, Haas & Chang web site. First, we have introduced the Immigration Law Bookstore. We've partnered with mega-bookseller Barnes & Noble to offer through our web site a variety of books on immigration law. We soon expect to add several dozen more titles so that we can be a one-stop shopping resource for people building an immigration law library.

We are also getting ready to launch a very exciting new service called VisaJobs. The VisaJobs web site will provide listings for thousands of professional jobs throughout the country that have been screened to determine whether an employer will sponsor a foreign national for both temporary and permanent residency. The site will also provide a resume posting service to allow recruiters and companies interested in hiring foreign nationals to view readers' resumes. A monthly newsletter will contain extensive information not only on how to find a job in America, but on other issues such as taxes in America, finding schools for kids, choosing a place to locate,, etc. The site will also have an online forum where readers can trade information on looking for employment in America.

We will also shortly be adding several new items to the Documents Collection including primary resources for many of the items referred to in this newsletter.

In February, we noted that the State Department was launching a web service that would allow people to make appointments at US consulates in Canada and Mexico via the web. Siskind, Susser, Haas & Chang is a participant in this program and readers are welcomed to contact us if we can assist.

The Siskind, Susser, Haas & Chang web site has been cited in the new American Bar Association book Law Law Law on the Internet: Best Legal Web Sites and More by Erik Heels and Richard Klau. Our site was listed as one of the best small or medium size law firms on the Internet and we were the only immigration firm to receive this honor. The SSHC site was described as follows:

"One of the original 'proof of concept' Web sites, VisaLaw was a Web site almost before the law firm existed. Originally a collaboration of Greg Siskind & Lynn Susser, the site grew to become one of the most visited sites of its kind. There is so much here that's done right - a focus on original content, a form to fill out so visitors can receive the firm newsletter by e-mail (a great way to remind people of your services), the display of contact information at all times - that it's no wonder that people often cite VisaLaw as one of the early examples of how a firm can exploit the Web."

Finally, we wanted to acknowledge the tragic and sudden passing of San Diego immigration lawyer David Stanton. We did not know David personally, but he, along with Joe Grasmick, produce one of the best immigration law firm web sites on the Internet (http://www.grasmick.com). In my book, The Lawyer's Guide to Marketing on the Internet, I cited Joe's and David's site as one of the twenty best law firm home pages. I don't normally make a point of calling attention to our better online competitors - Carl and Sheela and a few others know I'm talking about them - but I did want to let readers know that David will be missed.

Finally, as always we remind readers that our twelve lawyers are able to
serve immigration clients in any state or province in the US, Canada and
now China. You are always welcome to call us toll free at 800-748-3819. We
also provide full-scale consultations via telephone. Just complete the
appointment request questionnaire at http://www.visalaw.com/intake.html.
Most of our clients are located outside of the local areas of our offices
so we are quite comfortable with using e-mail, telephone, fax, mail and our
new intranet to communicate with clients.

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Disclaimer: This newsletter is provided as a public service and not intended to establish an attorney client relationship. Any reliance on information contained herein is taken at your own risk.