This past month marked the annual gathering of the American Immigration Lawyers Association in Houston, Texas. As has been the case for the last several years, immigration lawyers were in crisis-mode. In 1996, a horrible and sweeping immigration bill was working its way through Congress. In 1997, immigration lawyers were left trying to interpret what the new law actually meant. In 1998, immigration lawyers have multiple concerns - the expiration of INA Section 245(i), the implementation of the reentry bars and the reaching of the H-1B cap. Even if answers to many questions remained unanswered, the quality of the sessions and the ability to interact with officials from the INS, State Department, USIA and other agencies was extremely valuable. I was fortunate to present on a panel with Jimmy Wu, the new president of the American Immigration Lawyers Association on the incorporation of technology in an immigration law practice. My talk focused on developing a web site and using it for, among other things, advocating on immigration matters.

SSHD attorneys were also appointed to several positions in the American Immigration Lawyers Association and the American Bar Association. Greg Siskind was named to serve on the American Bar Association's Coordinating Committee on Immigration Law. He also was appointed to the American Immigration Lawyers Association's USIA liaison committee. That committee meets with US Information Agency officials regularly to discuss J visa issues and to serve as liaisons for association members in dealings with the USIA. Henry Chang was appointed chairman of AILA's technology committee and I was appointed to serve on the committee as well. Henry has already implemented a listserv for the committee and one of the first matters brought up for discussion is the implementation of online Continuing Legal Education programs for AILA members. And Greg Siskind was also selected as the Tennessee state coordinator for the Mid-South chapter of AILA. That chapter covers the states of Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Mississippi and Louisiana.

The firm was in the news during June. I was interviewed by the London bureau chief for National Public Radio and Siskind's Immigration Bulletin was cited in an article on the new high tech green in the Christian Science Monitor, one of the nation's best known newspapers.

Now on to this month's issue. The news does not stop on the immigration front. Though Congressional activity slowed for the recent recess, there is important news about a possible revival of Section 245(i)of the Immigration and Nationality Act, the imposing of new fees for J-1 waiver petitions and news for more than 400,000 litigants in the late-amnesty lawsuits. We also discuss an exciting win for our firm in a National Interest Waiver case for a Year 2000 computer bug fixer. And as always, we include our regular features such as Consular Focus and Government Processing times. We also discuss National Interest Waivers in this month's Visa Spotlight.

As always, we remind readers that our firm is available for consultations by telephone or in person. If interested, please complete the consultation request form at http://www.visalaw.com/intake.html.

Finally, many thanks to Elissa Pearlman, law student at Villanova University in Philadelphia for all of her help this summer as a summer law clerk especially with the publishing of this newsletter.