JANUARY 2005

1.   THE PRESIDENT’S IMMIGRATION REFORM PLANS

On January 7, 2004 President Bush proposed a temporary waiver program providing three (3) years of legal status that is renewable. Participants who do not remain employed, or do not follow the rules or break the law will not be eligible for continued participation and will be requested to return to their country. Undocumented applicants will be required to pay a one-time fee to register. Those who seek to join the program from abroad and have complied with U.S. immigration laws will not have to pay a fee. The program expects temporary workers to return permanently to their home countries after their period of work in the U.S. has expired. According to President Bush, “I oppose amnesty… granting amnesty encourages the violation of our laws, and perpetuates illegal immigration.” On January 25th, President Bush reiterated his support of a temporary guest worker program and stated that he plans to ask Congress to increase spending to crack down on undocumented workers and arrest and deport illegal immigrants. He again stated the he is “against amnesty.” President Bush plans to spend $23 million (nearly five times the current level) on work site investigations and employer audits. The administration also wants to increase spending for detentions and deportations to $1.2 billion a well as increase the number of Border Patrol agents by 210.

2.   PERM REGULATIONS TO TAKE EFFECT SOON

The Department of Labor’s PERM Regulations on labor certification applications are set to take effect on March 28, 2005. PERM arms to streamline the whole labor certification procedure and promises a sixty (60) day turnaround time for applications, unless the petitioner is audited. If audited, the petitioner must respond within 30 days. If the appropriate documentation is not provided, the prospective employer may be barred from using PERM for 2 years and/or may be required to undergo supervised recruitment. Traditional and RIR cases that are pending may be “converted” by withdrawing the previous application and re-filing the case under PERM. However, re-filed cases must comply with all PERM requirements, including recruitment, business necessity, audit procedures and PWD issues. Once an application is withdrawn, however, the earlier priority date is abandoned.

3.   DHS BEGINS US-VISIT BIOMETRIC EXIT PILOT AT NEWARK LIBERTY INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT

Beginning January 19, 2005, foreign visitors departing from Newark Liberty International Airport are required to follow US-VISIT check out procedures before departing on their flight. The new procedures will apply to all visitors regardless of country of origin or whether they are traveling on a visa. Foreign visitors will be required to go through one of three processes:

Under one alternative, visitors may check out at exit stations where their travel documents would be read, index fingers scanned, and digital pictures taken, after which they would be issued a printed receipt verifying that they have checked out. The second alternative includes an additional step which requires the visitor to present the receipt at the departure gate where it is scanned and the visitor’s fingerprints verified before he/she is allowed to board the plane. The third alternative is a biometric check-out process with a hand-held device used by a US-VISIT workstation attendant at the departure gate.

The same pilot program has been operational in Baltimore-Washington International Airport, Chicago O’Hare International Airport, Denver International Airport, Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport and Miami International Cruise Line Terminal. This shall also be implemented in San Juan, Puerto Rico, San Francisco, California, and Detroit, Michigan later this month.

4.   ICE PROVIDES RELIEF TO TSUMANI-AFFECTED NATIONS

The Department of Homeland Security’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has temporarily suspended all alien removals to Sri Lanka and the Maldives. This temporary suspension began on December 30, 2004 and is in response to the humanitarian crisis and massive infrastructure damages in these two nations. With regard to other nations affected by the tsunami, non-criminal aliens from those nations may request a temporary stay of removal to remain in the United States. ICE will review each request and make determinations on a case-by-case basis. If a request is granted, the stay of removal will be valid until April 7, 2005.

5.   DHS ANNOUNCES EXPEDITED PROCESSING OF FREQUENT TRAVELERS AT JFK AIRPORT

U.S. Department of Homeland Security Tom Ridge has recently announced that the U.S. would begin deploying enhanced technology to expedite security checks and immigration processing of pre-screened travelers through JFK International Airport. U.S. citizens, legal permanent residents, and foreign visitors who travel frequently to the U.S. will be eligible for the program. Participants will use dedicated kiosks when they arrive at JFK. They will enter the U.S. without routine Customs and Border Protection questioning, unless randomly selected for referral. They must present their machine-readable passport, submit their fingerprints for biometric verification, be photographed, and make a declaration at the kiosk. Once cleared at the kiosk, pilot participants will be allowed to claim their bags and exit the airport.

6.   ANTI-REFUGEE PROVISIONS STRUCK FROM FINAL INTELLIGENCE BILL

The House and Senate recently approved the “Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004,” which enacts most of the recommendations of the 9/11 Commission. As a result of a House-Senate compromise, a number of misguided provisions included in the House-passed version were dropped from the final bill. Those provisions – which would have harmed refugees and resulted in sending people back to face torture – had not been recommended by the 9/11 Commission. The congressional leadership of both parties and the White House opposed efforts to include the anti-refugee provisions in the final legislation.

7.   PATTERNS: AMERICAN DREAMS, PLUS CALORIES

Researchers report that immigrants tend to become just as obese as born-and-bred Americans – even if they are from countries where obesity is less common. A federal health survey of more than 30,000 individuals, 14% of whom were foreign-born, found that about 8% of the immigrants would have been considered obese in their first year of coming to the U.S. That rate grew to 19%, 15 years later, close to the 22% rate for Americans. According to the study, which was recently published in The Journal of the American Medical Association, “trends in obesity among immigrants may reflect acculturation and adoption of the U.S. lifestyle, such as increased sedentary behavior and poor dietary patterns…. They may also be a response to the physical environment of the United States, with increased availability of calorically dense foods and higher reliance on labor-saving techniques.”

8.   U.S. SLIPS IN ATTRACTING THE WORLD’S BEST STUDENTS

American universities are facing intense competition as higher education undergoes rapid globalization. For half a century, the U.S. has attracted the world’s best and brightest students with little effort. The American economy has benefited from these foreign students to the tune of $13 billion every year. This year, however, brought clear signs that the United States’ overwhelming dominance in international higher education may be ending. Foreign application to American graduate schools declined 28% and actual foreign graduate student enrollments dropped 6%. Enrollments of all foreign students fell for the first time in three decades according to an annual census released last fall. On the other hand, university enrollments have been surging in England, Germany and other countries. Experts agree that some of the American decline is due to post 9/11 delays in processing student visas, which have discouraged thousands of students from enrolling in the U.S.

9.   PROGRAM’S VALUE IN DISPUTE AS A TOOL TO FIGHT TERRORISM

Thousands of male non-citizens from 25 Arab and Muslim countries responded to the call-in registration program, which required them to register with immigration authorities between November 2002 and April 2003. They came forward to be fingerprinted, photographed and interviewed by immigration officials hunting for terrorists. Officials ultimately determined, however, that almost none of those who registered had links to terrorism. On the other hand, while none of the men who came forward had been charged with crimes related to terrorism, nearly 13,000 illegal immigrants were placed in deportation proceedings after voluntarily participating in the program. While the program made the government aware of thousands of illegal immigrants, officials now say there is little evidence to suggest that it succeeded in capturing suspected terrorists. Homeland Security officials suspended the program 12 months ago saying resources could be better used on other counter terrorism activities. However, some aspects of the original registration program remain. Immigrants from the 25 countries are still required to register with immigration officials when they enter and leave the country. Officials had earlier said this practice would be eliminated when fingerprinting and photographing of foreign visitors at airports became routine, but they have continued the process because interviews required of registrants are more extensive than those required of most foreign visitors.

10.   DHS ANNOUNCES 18-MONTH EXTENSION OF TEMPORARY PROTECTED STATUS (TPS) FOR NATIONALS OF EL SALVADOR

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) recently announced another 18-month extension of TPS for nationals of El Salvador until September 9, 2006. The most recent extension expires on March 9, 2005. Nationals of El Salvador who have been granted TPS must re-register during the 60-day re-registration period, which began on January 7, 2005, and will remain in effect until March 8, 2005. DHS has also granted an automatic 6-month extension, until September 9, 2005, of the validity of EADs issued under this previous TPS extension.

Instructions for re-registration are different than in 2003 and qualified re-registrants must follow new filing instructions. According to the USCIS, there are approximately 248, 282 nationals of El Salvador who are eligible for re-registration.

11.   H-2B CAP REACHED ON JANUARY 3, 2005

The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has recently announced that by January 3, 2005, it had received sufficient numbers of H-2B petitions to reach the FY05 H-2B cap of 66,000. Therefore, any cap-subject H-2B petitions received after January 3, 2005 will be rejected. The next available start date for cap-subject H-2B petitions is October 1, 2005.

12.   U.S. EXTENDS VISA VALIDITY FOR CHINESE TOURIST AND BUSINESS TRAVELERS

As of January 15, 2005, eligible Chinese nationals who wish to visit the U.S. for business (B-1) or tourism (B-2) shall be issued visas that are valid for 12 months and for multiple entries. The previous maximum validity for U.S. visas issued for these purposes was six months. China also agreed to reciprocally issue to U.S. citizens business and tourist visas that are valid for 12 months and for multiple entries.

13.   OTHER NEWS

A. J-1 Visas – Although the J-1 exchange visitor visa is a popular alternative to the H-1B visa since the H-1B cap was reached last year, J-1 program sponsors are becoming increasingly strict as are some U.S. consulates in reviewing these applications.

B. Deportation/Removal – Foreign individuals with outstanding deportation/removal orders are now being apprehended by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers. Previously, only aliens with criminal records were being actively apprehended. Also, foreign students who have violated their F-1 visas by not attending school are presently being targeted for removal.

C. Work Permit Extensions – EAD extensions are currently taking about 3 to 6 months to process. Therefore, apply early.

14.   RECORD IMMIGRATION IS CHANGING THE FACE OF NEW YORK’S NEIGHBORHOODS

New figures show that 6 in 10 babies born in New York City since 2000 have at least one foreign-born parent. The report also shows that foreign-born groups growing fastest through immigration, including Mexicans, Guyanese, and Bangladeshis, also have among the highest birthrates. Demographers counted 2.9 million immigrant residents in 2000 and estimate the current number to be at least 3.2 million, a record high.

The report is to be released as a 265-page book called “The Newest New Yorkers 2000: Immigrant New York in the New Millennium.” According to the report, there is striking emergence of Mexicans as the 5th largest immigrant group in the city, their numbers quadrupled to 122,550 in the decade since 1990. Births to Mexican-born mothers are second only to births to foreign-born Dominicans, who remained the most numerous in the city’s foreign-born groups, followed by the Chinese, the Jamaicans, and the Guyanese.

Still, New York city is home to only 1% of Mexicans in the U.S. – compared with 54% of the nation’s Dominican-born immigrants and 45% of Bangladeshis. More than a third of the City’s black population is now foreign-born, with Afro-Caribbeans, who represent 21% of the city’s immigrants, tending to replace African-Americans moving outside of the city. Europeans declined to 19% of the city’s foreign-born population from 24%. Nearly a third of the city immigrants are from Latin America.

The report stresses the economic benefits that sheer numbers of newcomers brought the city in recent decades, replacing residents who died or moved out, filling housing vacancies, revitalizing small businesses, and now accounting for 43% of the city’s work force.