Apr
30
Immigrants Sign Up for US Citizenship
Filed Under Immigration News, US Citizenship | Leave a Comment
Anaheim assemblyman Jose Solorio is encouraging immigrants to sign up for their Green Cards before a possible hike in immigration fees is implemented this summer.
Making a speech at a training seminar at the El Vaquero restaurant on Sunday (29APR07), Solario told the people crowded into the booths that “The time to become citizens is now.”
Lawyers were on hand to answer the many questions the 420 people who turned up had, with staff taking the passport-sized photos people need for their applications.
Solario says, “These hard-working families - they can’t afford that [fee increase]. If it’s a three or four person family, that’s $1,000. That’s a family’s mortgage, that’s a family’s rent.”
The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) made an announcement in January that there might be a “substantial” 66 per cent hike in immigration fees, needed to upgrade services and improve application processing times by 20 per cent.
Solorio is one of many people fighting the hike - he has already won Assembly passage of resolution calls on President Bush and the U.S. Congress to oppose the new fees.
Apr
27
H-1B Cap Hits Silicon Valley
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The limit on H-1B visas will have a severely negative effect on the IT industry, according to those in the business in Silicon Valley.
At the last census in 2000, it was found that over half the engineers in the valley were foreign-born, mostly of Indian or Chinese origin. But now the majority of software engineers and programmers graduating from US universities will have to go home, thanks to the extremely limited amount of visa’s available.
A record was set in April for the number of H-1B applications sent in to the United States Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS). Only 65,000 H-1B visas were available and over 130,000 applications were received in USCIS processing centers on the first day the petitions were allowed to be sent in (02APR07).
Even Microsoft chairman Bill Gates has strongly criticized the government for the visa shortage, claiming that the US will suffer from lack of labor in the highly skilled IT industry.
To read more about this story, click here.
Apr
26
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has released The Citizen’s Almanac, a collection of America’s most cherished symbols of freedom and liberty.
The publication is specifically created for new US citizens and will be distributed at all naturalization ceremonies for the 700,000 new citizens the US welcomes every year. The Almanac, which is endorsed by the National Endowment for the Humanities and reviewed by U.S. history experts, includes information on: Read more
Apr
25
Q: I am currently a student in San Francisco on an F-1 visa. Is it possible for me to work?
A: You cannot work full-time on an F-1 visa. However with regards to what to do after you graduate, you will be pleased to know that after graduation we can apply for a one year work permit for you that would enable you to stay in the US for a year to work in what ever field you wish, even for yourself.
This is a fantastic opportunity any foreign student graduating from college.
Please send us details as to when you’re looking to graduate so we can get your work permit in place ready for your graduation. How exciting for you!
Apr
24
International Students: You Can Legally Work After College!
Filed Under F1 Student Visa, Interesting Immigration Tips | Leave a Comment
An interesting fact that not many international students studying in the US know is:
It is possible to work for one year after graduation on a legal work permit.
This one-year work permit will allow them to work for anyone without restriction - the purpose of this one-year option is to give students a chance to hone the skills they have learned in college in the US work place.
What can happen is that during this work year they make good contacts with their employers who in turn can sponsor them for either a H-1B or Green card or some other interim visa to keep them.
So just because your college career is at an end, does not mean you have to leave the country right away!
Apr
23
Foreign graduate applications to American universities are continuing to rise, according to the Council of Graduate Schools (CGS) figures for April 2007.
The CGS figures, part of a yearly three-part survey keeping track of international applications, show that there is a rise of eight per cent for international student admissions and enrollments for the fall 2007 semester.
This is following on a 12 per cent rise last year (06).
Statistics were taken from 145 schools, out of which eight come from the top 10 schools with the largest international populations.
Despite the increase in numbers, the growth rate itself is slowing with overall applications lessening by the year. For example, the CGS’s first ever survey, taken in 2004, shows significantly higher numbers - the growth rate now is down 20 per cent from 2003’s rate of 25 per cent.
Director of the Carnegie Mellon physics Graduate Program Ling-Fong Li says, “It all goes back to economics. As more and more countries develop their economies, less of their students will come to the United States for an experience they cannot find in their own country.”
To read more about the rise in international graduate applications, click here.
Apr
20
Ask Chris: Any H1-B Visa’s Left?
Filed Under Ask Chris, H-1B Visa | Leave a Comment
Q: Is it possible for me to work in the US as a freelance consultant on a H1-B visa?
A: Unfortunately as you may know the H-1B visas were all gone on the first day of release. We are hoping for major reform of the H-1B visa this year to take effect next year; in the meantime, other options for graduates without substantial means to set up on their own as freelance consultants are very limited.
The only potentially viable option is for people to take a year off and study here through a local community college. Once graduated they become eligible for a one year general work permit which quickly bring them back into the work force. If they have a degree already then can try and get onto the H-1B program next year while their US employer may also consider sponsoring them for a green card.
Apr
19
Lynne Cheney Addresses New US Citizens
Filed Under Immigration News, US Citizenship | Leave a Comment
Lynne Cheney, the wife of Vice President Dick Cheney, delighted brand-new American citizens on Tuesday (17APR07) by participating in a naturalization ceremony at the National Archives in Washington DC.
The former chairman of the National Endowment for the Humanities and senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research delivered the keynote address before giving the new citizens their Certificates of Citizenship, along with signed copies of The Citizen’s Almanac.
Cheney says, “It’s a joyful experience to celebrate citizenship with our country’s newest citizens and a pleasure to be able to present them The Citizen’s Almanac, a fine compendium of founding documents, classic speeches, and patriotic songs and verses.”
USCIS Deputy Director Jonathan “Jock” Scharfen says, “These naturalization ceremonies are defining moments for the more than 700,000 new citizens who each year raise their right hand and swear allegiance to the United States of America. They are reminders that both native born and naturalized citizens are bound together by a common civic identity that transcends cultural and ethnic differences uniting us all as Americans.”
To read more about this story, click here.
Apr
18
Virginia Tech Gunman Was Legal Resident
Filed Under Immigration News, US Citizenship | Leave a Comment
The man who killed 32 people before ending his own life at Virginia Tech College on Monday (16APR07) had legal status to be in the US, according to the United States Citizenship and Immigration Service.
Cho Seung-Hui was eight when he and his family moved to Detroit, Michigan from South Korea. His parents were granted permanent residency status.
Cho’s Green Card was reissued four years ago (27NOV03), his last contact with immigration officials - applicants who have lived in the US for ten years must renew their identification, meaning immigration officials collect biometric information and conduct background checks on them.
USCIS spokesman Chris Bentley says, “We would have seen if there was any criminal activity that would have prevented any issue of his green card. There was none.”
To read more about this story, click here.
Apr
17
US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has completed a computer-generated selection process to decide which of the thousands of H-1B visa applications will be processed.
The lottery method of selection was decided upon after USCIS received almost 130,000 H1-B visa applications on the first day of processing alone (02APR07). No further petitions were accepted after the second day (03APR07).
USCIS completed this determination ahead of the preliminary schedule noted on April 3, when it announced it had received enough petitions to meet the cap for FY 2008.
H1-B applicants who submitted correctly filed petitions and made it through the lottery will receive a receipt notice dated on or after April 12, 2007, while petitions that did not make it through the lottery process will be returned to sender with the fees, a process that is estimated to take four weeks.
All H1-B petitions that opted to use the 15-day premium processing service will have their petitions begin processing on April 12.
To read more about this story, click here.