Immigration
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Immigration refers to the
movement of people between countries.
While the movement of people has existed
throughout human history at various
levels, modern immigration implies
long-term,
legal,
permanent residence. Short-term
visitors and
tourists are considered
non-immigrants (see
expatriate). Immigration across
national borders in a way that violates
the immigration laws of the destination
country is termed
illegal immigration. Under this
definition, an illegal immigrant is a
foreigner who either illegally crossed
an international political border, be it
by land, water, or air, or a foreigner
who legally entered a country but
nevertheless overstays his/her
visa in order to live and/or work
therein. Seasonal labour migration,
while generally non-permanent in nature
(typically for periods of less than a
year), is often treated as a form of
immigration.
The modern concept of
immigration is related to the
development of
nation-states and
nationality law.
Citizenship in a nation-state
confers an inalienable right of
residence in that state, but
residency of non-citizens is subject
to conditions set by
immigration law. The emergence of
nation-states made immigration a
political issue: by definition it is the
homeland of a
nation defined by shared ethnicity
and/or culture.
The global volume of immigration is
high in absolute terms, but low in
relative terms. The International
Integration and Refugee Association
estimated 190 million international
migrants in
2005, about 3 percent of global
population. The other 97 percent still
live in the country in which they were
born.[citation
needed] The Middle
East, some parts of Europe, small areas
of South East Asia, and a few spots in
the West Indies have the highest numbers
of immigration population recorded by
the UN Census 2005.
U.S. worried that
high H-1B demand may tempt some to 'game' visa lottery
Patrick Thibodeau
March
07, 2008
(Computerworld) The U.S. is concerned that some
companies, desperate to get an H-1B visa, may try to
"game" the random visa lottery selection process to
improve their odds. To prevent that sort of
interference, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration
Service is considering regulations that would penalize
any company that attempts to seek an unfair advantage
for its visa petitions in the selection lottery.
The U.S. will begin
accepting H-1B visas on April 1 for the next fiscal
year, which begins Oct. 1. Last year, the U.S. received
123,480 visa petitions in two days, more than double the
65,000 cap. Companies receiving visas were randomly
picked by USCIS via a computerized lottery.
A similar rush for visa
petitions is expected this year. Indeed, there are
predictions that last year's record may be broken,
reducing the predicted odds of getting a visa to less
than one in three.
The high demand has the
USCIS interested in preempting any effort by companies
that may tempted to send in two or more applications for
the same person, said Robert Loughran, an immigration
attorney at Tindall & Foster in Austin, Texas. Loughran
also works with the American Immigration Lawyers
Association as a liaison to the USCIS Vermont Service
Center in St. Albans, Vermont, where the H-1B
applications are sent for processing. Loughran is
expecting some type of regulation from USCIS before the
April 1 filing date.
USCIS spokesman Chris
Bentley confirmed this concern. "We are looking at that
issue and we are looking at possible remedies to make
sure that no one manipulates the system, or no one is
able to game the system," he said. Bentley could not
discuss what may be in the works.
One possible penalty from
the USCIS, Loughran believes, will be the rejection of
all visa petitions from a company if multiple petitions
are filed for the same individual. Companies may also be
penalized if they try to get their applicants a visa
under the H-1B cap of 20,000 visas (in addition to the
65,000 previously mentioned) that are set aside for
advanced-degree holders. Demand will be high, said
Loughran.
"We've got a year's worth
of pent-up demand," said Loughran, he said there are
employers keeping employees offshore because they can't
get the visas, as well as college graduates who may be
continuing their education because they couldn't get a
visa.
One person who hopes to do
better this year in the visa lottery is Steve Goodman,
the CEO of PacketTrap Networks Inc., a San
Francisco-based network management software firm.
Goodman had three visa
applications in last year's lottery and did not get any
of them approved. He intends to send in three
applications again.
He added that he has turned
to H-1B workers to supplement his work force because of
the difficulty in finding the right skills.
Hiring an H-1B worker isn't
cheaper labor, said Goodman. If cost were the sole
consideration, "it's cheaper to outsource it to India."
It can cost between $5,000 and $10,000 to sponsor an
H-1B worker, he said.
"Believe me, I would rather
offer a job to an American," said Goodman. "But if that
person is not here then I have to go to the H-1B route
to get that software developed."
Goodman said while he uses
an India-based outsourcing firm for some ancillary
development work, he wants to keep his core development
work in the U.S., saying the "quality stateside is
higher" because the development process is better.
The visa issue is
politically explosive, in part, because large numbers of
visa applications arriving April 1 will likely be from
Indian offshore firms. U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa)
has
charged
that H-1B visas are being used to displace U.S. workers.
Microsoft Chairman Bill
Gates is
expected
to testify Wednesday before a U.S. House committee on
innovation issues and will likely raise the visa issue.
He has traditionally defended the need for H-1B visas.
Statement by USCIS
Director Emilio T. Gonzalez on Processing of
Naturalization Applications
On March
11, I announced to members of the House Appropriations
Committee that U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services
(USCIS) had lowered its original processing projections
for naturalization applications. Individuals who filed
for citizenship during the summer of 2007 can now
anticipate an average processing time of 14-16 months
for these applications. That’s a marked improvement from
the 16-18 months projection we announced in January.
During FY
2007, we received approximately 1.4 million
naturalization applications. In the months of June and
July of 2007 alone, we experienced an increase of nearly
350 percent compared to the same period in 2006. In
addressing the significant increase in naturalization
cases, and the unprecedented increase in all immigration
applications and petitions, the professionalism and hard
work of nearly 17,000 dedicated USCIS employees and
contractors have been evident.
I am
proud of our accomplishments. Still, we remain committed
to doing even better. And, we will continue to improve
while maintaining our commitment to the integrity of the
immigration process and national security requirements.
Emilio
T. Gonzalez
Director
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services
Department of Homeland Security
Disclaimer: Content contained in this e-mail is
generalized. Any reliance on information contained
herein is taken at your own risk.
Above articles brought to you by the Law
Offices of Elizabeth Krukova, 150 S. Washington st.,
Ste. 202, Falls Church, VA 22046. Tel: 703-534-5588
USCIS reaches H-2B
cap for first half of FY2008
WASHINGTON—
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS)
announced Oct. 1 that it had received a sufficient
number of petitions to reach the congressionally
mandated H-2B cap for the first half of Fiscal Year 2008
(FY2008). USCIS notified the public that Sept. 27, 2007,
is the “final receipt date” for new H-2B worker
petitions requesting employment start dates prior to
April 1, 2008. The “final receipt date” is the date on
which USCIS determines that
it has
received enough cap-subject petitions to reach the limit
of 33,000 H-2B workers for the first six months of
FY2008.
Under
current law, a “returning worker” who was counted toward
the H-2B numerical limit during FY2004, FY2005 or
FY2006, was exempt from being counted against the FY2007
H-2B cap. As of today, Congress has not reauthorized or
extended the “returning worker” provisions for FY2008.
Absent such reauthorization or extension, USCIS must
count all petitions requesting H-2B workers for new
employment with an employment start date of Oct. 1, 2007
or later toward the FY2008 H-2B cap.
USCIS
will apply a computer-generated random selection process
to all petitions which are subject to the cap and were
received on September 27, 2007. USCIS will use this
process to select the number of petitions needed to meet
the cap. USCIS will reject, and return the fee, for all
cap-subject petitions not randomly selected. USCIS will
also reject petitions for new H-2B workers seeking
employment start dates prior to April 1, 2008 that are
received after Sept. 27, 2007.
Petitions for workers who are currently in H-2B status
do not count towards the congressionally mandated
bi-annual H-2B cap. USCIS will continue to process
petitions filed to:
•
Extend the stay of a current H-2B worker in the United
States;
•
Change the terms of employment for current H-2B workers
and extend their stay; or
• Allow
current H-2B workers to change or add employers and
extend their stay.
Diversity visa lottery for 2009 starts soon
The
Congressionally mandated Diversity Immigrant Visa
Program makes available 50,000 permanent resident visas
annually, drawn from random selection among all entries
to persons who meet strict eligibility requirements from
countries with low rates of immigration to the United
States.
The
DV-2009 Lottery begins at noon EDT on October 3, 2007,
and ends at noon EST on December 2, 2007. Entries must
be submitted online, electronically, via the Department
of State's offiical DV Lottery website. Information and
instructions for the DV-2009 lottery will appear on the
travel.state.gov website as soon as available. Please
check this webpage at a later time:
CLICK HERE.
Some
websites try to mislead customers and members of the
public into thinking they are official government
websites. These websites may attempt to require you to
pay for services such as forms and information about
immigration procedures, which are
free on the Department of State Visa Services
website, or overseas through the Embassy Consular
Section websites. The websites may also require you to
pay for services you will not receive. These websites
may contact you by email to lure you to their offer. The
Department of State does not contact you via email.
Please guard against sending personal information to
these websites that might be used for identity theft.
