MESSAGE FROM SISKIND, SUSSER, HAAS AND DEVINE

Dear Readers:

[Many of you may be wondering why this issue is for two months – July and August – rather than just for July. We are not moving to a bimonthly publication schedule. The reason for the double issue is fairly simple. For the last few years, we have found it sometimes takes a little more than a month to get our newsletter out. So the newsletter would be published a little later and later in each successive month. Back in the summer of 1995, we had a double issue in order to get back to publishing at the beginning of the month. We made it four years but have been brushing up against the end of the month again for many months. So with this issue we wipe the slate clean again. Next month, you’ll be getting your September 1999 issue at the beginning of the month. Hopefully, we’ll be able to keep to the publishing schedule permanently and we appreciate your understanding.]

It is always a lot more fun to deliver good news rather than bad news. As immigration lawyers, for the last several years we have gotten used to giving bad news. That’s why immigration law is suddenly a lot more enjoyable. We’re finally being able to give clients a little good news. Consider some of the major news events just from the last two months –

• Both leading Presidential contenders – Texas Governor George Bush and Vice President Al Gore - delivered major addresses on immigration and both have staked out largely pro-immigration positions
• The INS is liberalizing its detention policy for nationals of countries that do not have deportation agreements with the US
• Indian and Chinese employment case priority date backlogs have suddenly become current
• The Senate passed a measure that would make it much easier for physicians working in medically underserved areas to get National Interest Waiver-based permanent residency petitions approved
• The INS now will allow H-1B and L-1 adjustment of status applicants to reenter without an advance parole document
• California’s basic final burying of Proposition 187.
• Iranian employment-based visa applications are again being approved by the State Department and the INS
• President Clinton came out in favor of a new broad amnesty program to benefit as many as 500,000 Central American
• A major bill that would reverse many of the excesses of the 1996 Immigration Act – particularly as it relates to the rights of people facing deportation – has a real chance of passing. So does a bill to restore Section 245i of the Immigration Act.
• Labor certification processing times as well as naturalization processing times are dropping quickly

There are a lot of reasons for these developments. A strong economy, particularly a low unemployment rate, has taken immigration off the radar screen of the average American. Electoral politics is playing a role. The immigrant vote is becoming more and more important and foreign-born American citizens are starting to flex their muscles at the polls. A number of key elections around the country in recent years have been decided by the votes of new Americans. And the hard work of advocacy organizations like the American Immigration Lawyers Association and the National Immigration Forum as well as a number of grassroots groups have been paying off.

That’s not to say all the new is rosy. Adjustment of status applicants are waiting astoundingly long times to finish processing. National interest waiver and EB-5 immigrant investor cases have virtually been killed off by the INS. The H-1B cap is proving to be highly disruptive to business. The new affidavit of support rules are separating families. And the lack of rights for people facing deportation caused by several of the laws passed in the last three years is resulting in incredible hardships for thousands.

We report on a number of these issues this month as well as include our usual reports on developments in the courts, border news, legislative developments and more. We also want to thank Steve Yale Loehr and his colleagues at True, Walsh and Miller for contributing excellent summaries on developments in the EB-5 and national interest categories.

In firm news, the American Bar Association’s Law Practice Management Magazine listed me as one of six trend setting lawyers for the new millennium. The recognition is especially an honor since the article appears in the magazine’s 25^th anniversary issue. You can find the article at http://www.visalaw.com/news/siskind.pdf or http://www.abanet.org/lpm/magazine/trendset995.html. The article focuses on our firm’s pioneering role in making the legal system more accessible to the public through our web site.

Volunteering my time to bar and immigration advocacy organizations continues to be a top priority. This month, I was re-appointed to the American Bar Association’s Coordinating Committee on Immigration Law and as Marketing Chairman of the ABA’s LPM Publishing Board (the largest law practice management book publisher in the country). I’ve also recently been renamed to the board of the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society, one of the nation’s oldest immigration advocacy and resettlement organizations.

Finally, a couple of reminders. First, the annual green card lottery’s rules will be announced in early August. As we have every year for the last five years, we are posting extensive information on the lottery – this year called DV-2001 – on our web site at http://www.visalaw.com/lottery_page.html. We also will send out a special issue of Siskind’s Immigration Bulletin when the rules are released.

Also, a reminder of our other free newsletter, Siskind's Immigration Professional. The newsletter provides notices of job openings, reporters seeking story leads, conference announcements, book and software reviews and other announcements that will be of interest to immigration lawyers, paralegals, foreign student advisors and anyone else who handles immigration matters for a living. If you wish to be added to our email distribution list, just email us at immigration.professional@visalaw.com and be sure to tell us a little bit about what kind of immigration-related work you do and where you work. More than 800 of our readers who are immigration professionals have already subscribed. We only include immigration professionals on this list so it is important to specify the type of work in which you are engaged.

And as always, we remind readers that this publication is put out by Siskind, Susser, Haas & Devine, an immigration law firm, and we are available for telephone or in-person consultations to answer immigration questions and discuss our representing individuals and employers in immigration matters. If interested, please go to http://www.visalaw.com/intake.html.

Sincerely,

Greg Siskind

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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.