Dear Readers:

We hope you will find this week's newsletter helpful and interesting.  In our ABCs of Immigration article, we cover a topic about which we frequently receive questions - Social Security numbers for foreign nationals in the US. 

In addition to our regular features, we also report on the latest immigration news. The extension of the religious worker green card category is now almost a given now that Congress has passed legislation approving the programs for five more years. President Bush is expected to sign the bill soon. The General Accounting Office issued a report this week calling for better tracking of the H-1B program to determine whether it is helping or hurting the US economy. US Citizenship and Immigration Services (formerly BCIS and before that the INS) announced that it will soon be raising immigration application fees.

Chris Nugent, an immigration lawyer in Washington who I used to work with when I served as a member of the ABA's Coordinating Committee on Immigration Law and Chris was an ABA employee, informed me of a very interesting deportation fight he's waging on behalf of mentally retarded young man. We cover the story this week and wish Chris well in what sounds like a very worthy cause.

Finally, as always, we remind readers that we're lawyers who make our living representing immigration clients. We would love to discuss becoming your law firm. Just go to http://www.visalaw.com/intake.html to request an appointment or call us at 800-748-3819 or 901-682-6455.

Regards,

Greg Siskind