President Bush announced earlier this week that the US it will be extending the number of countries eligible for the Visa Waiver Program by seven:  by the end of 2008, citizens of the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Slovakia, and South Korea.  Additionally, six other countries were deemed “roadmap” countries—Bulgaria, Cyprus, Greece, Malta, Poland, and Romania—which means they are on track to qualify for future visa waivers. 

President Bush, during his announcement, said the decision to extend the waiver to these particular countries was contingent for assisting the US in combating terrorism, saying that the accepted countries “agree to share information about threats to our people,” and also were receptive in accepting the Department of Homeland Security’s request for foreign travelers to the US to comply with new travel standards and use biometric passports.   

The new waiver moves the list of nations under the visa waiver program to 27.  Citizens from a waiver country traveling to the US can stay no longer than 90 days, and must carry valid documentation that it is traveling on a DHS-approved air or sea carrier.   

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Immigrants who wish to one day become US citizens will face a drastically altered US citizenship exam.  The new test was introduced by USCIS for use at all testing centers throughout September to October, The San Jose Mercury News reports.  “We’re trying to encourage civic learning and attachment,” said USCIS Citizenship chief Alfonso Aguilar.  “The test is not harder.  It’s just a better test.  It follows a basic US history and civics curriculum.  It’s more on concepts than rote memorization.” 

The test’s old content, which was created in 1986 with no input from scholars or historians, has long faced criticism from scholars and policymakers as being inane and rewarding memorization.  Gone are questions about what the US flag looks like, what the name of the immigration form you fill out when applying for citizenship, and questions about US history now focus on the historical significance.  For example, “Who was president during the Civil War?” has now been replaced with “What was one important thing that Abraham Lincoln did?” 

As with the old test, applicants will be provided the list of 100 possible questions and answers in order to help them study. When they are called in for the exam interview after several months, they must give the correct answer in English to at least six of ten selected questions to pass. 

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Social scientists have created a new mathematical formula which will allow countries to predict immigration trends, Reuters reports.  The model, based on a detailed study of the flow of people into 11 countries including the US, UK and Australia from 1960 to 2004, was created at Rockefeller University, and the results were released earlier this month. 

The formula looks at factors such as population size and density of the countries people are leaving as well as those they are entering, and the distance and other correlations between these places.  “I think that the model we have will permit international institutions and countries to do a much better job of projecting future migrant flows as part of overall population projections,” said project leader Joel Cohen. 

The study came about to replace what Cohen considered inadequate existing models to predict immigration trends.  Cohen said existing models used by the UN and others to predict population flows had often been inadequate and inaccurate.  

From the results of his survey, the data suggest that people from South Asia, including Pakistan and Bangladesh, and from Southeast Asia, including Vietnam and the Philippines, are immigrating in increased numbers to Gulf states due to the oil economies there.  Also, immigrants from Latin America are entering Canada and the US in increased numbers, while immigrants from the Middle East and Africa tend to favor immigration to Europe. 

The findings were reported in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, and the study can be found at http://www.pnas.org. 

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Although the medical community continues to engage in debate over the widespread use of Gardasil, a vaccine that helps prevent cervical cancer, there is one demographic that as of Aug. 1, is legally required to receive it: immigrant women entering the US.  The Wall Street Journal reports that the federal policy has come under heavy fire from some immigrant advocates who argue that forcing foreigners to take the costly vaccine saddles them with an unfair financial burden, as they are required to pay for the vaccine themselves.  In addition to drastically increased visa application fees, young women must add the $120 vaccination to their costs as well.  “It’s outrageous; it’s creating an economic barrier,” said Tuyet Duong of the Asian American Justice Center.  

The policy also has some health policy experts taking issue with it, viewing the requirement as excessive.  Some of the CDC physicians and experts who promoted Gardasil in the US say they never intended to make the vaccine mandatory to young female immigrants.  “If we had known about it, we would have said it’s not a good idea” said Dr. Jon Abramson, former CDC Advisory Committee member and one of the initial supporters of the vaccine.  Dr. Abramson questioned the necessity of it, in comparison to other required vaccinations: “We don’t want someone coming into the US who hasn’t been vaccinated against measles or chickenpox,” said Abramson, noting that since sexual intercourse is the only means of communicating the disease that Gardasil prevents, the risk “is not something that endangers kids in a school setting or puts your population at risk.”   

Despite the controversy, a spokeswoman for USCIS said that the agency stands by their decision to classify Gardasil as a mandatory vaccine, citing recommendations by the CDC.  A CDC spokesman responded to this claim, saying that the CDC immunization committee that pushed Gardasil didn’t realize that their decision would affect tens of thousands of immigrants each year.  

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Last week, via press release, US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced that it will extend the maximum period of stay for any Canadian or Mexican nationals currently working in the US under the Trade-NAFTA (TN) Professional Worker visa program.  The updated rule changes the initial period of admission for TN workers from one year to three years, making it equal to the initial period of admission given to H-1B professional workers. 

According to the statement, USCIS believes the updated rule will ease administrative burdens and costs on TN workers, and employers of TN workers will benefit by increasing the amount of time they’ll have access to these employees, and put less pressure with regards to seeking an extension of the worker’s visa.  

The TN visa classification is a category available only to eligible Canadians and Mexicans with at least a bachelor’s degree or appropriate professional credentials who work in certain qualified fields pursuant to the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). Qualified professions identified within NAFTA include, but are not limited to, accountants, engineers, attorneys, pharmacists, scientists, and teachers.  

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In a meeting in Washington with U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff and Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte, Israel's Interior Minister Meir Sheetrit discussed waiving the need for a visa for Israelis to visit the United States, Yediot Achronot reported Friday. 

The change in policy would begin to be formulated later this month. To qualify, Israel would have to switch from a paper to a biometric passport system. 

Some 313,000 Israelis have traveled this year to the United States. The process for obtaining an entry visa requires a fee, an interview at the embassy and a long wait.   

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The Houston Chronicle reports that last week about 70,000 Hondurans received their eighth extension of their temporary protected status, a protection granted to foreign nationals to stay in the US after their native country has suffered a natural disaster; the government estimates that an additional 300,000 Honduran, Nicaraguan and El Salvadoran nationals are currently eligible for the extension.   

Despite some critics suggesting the word “temporary” is a misnomer, immigrant advocates for temporary status is not permanent.  Jose Cerrato, president of the Palm Beach County Honduran Organization, cites examples of other countries whose residents have had temporary protected status granted which was later allowed to expire—including Rwanda, Bosnia-Herzegovina, and Sierra Leone.  “Honduras still hasn’t recovered physically or economically,” said Cerrato.