US cut back on illegal-worker penalties
Via The Boston Globe
Data indicate lax enforcement against employers
WASHINGTON — The Bush administration, which is vowing to crack down
on US companies that hire illegal immigrants, virtually abandoned such
employer sanctions before it began pushing to overhaul US immigration
laws last year, government figures show.
In light of the government’s record, analysts on all sides of the
debate are expressing doubt the administration will be able to remove
the American job magnet that attracts illegal immigrants.
Between 1999 and 2003, worksite enforcement operations were scaled
back 95 percent by the Immigration and Naturalization Service, which
subsequently was merged into the Homeland Security Department. The
number of employers prosecuted for unlawfully employing immigrants
dropped from 182 to four, and fines collected declined from $3.6
million to $212,000, according to federal data. In 1999, the United
States initiated fines against 417 companies. In 2004, it issued fine
notices to three.
The government’s steady retreat from workplace enforcement in the 20
years since it became illegal to hire undocumented workers is the
result of fierce political pressure from business lobbies, immigrant
rights groups, and members of Congress, according to law enforcement
veterans.
U.S. Officials Arrest 2,100 Fugitives and Immigration Violators
Via USINFO.STATE.GOV
06/15/2006
Arrests made as part of Operation Return to Sender, agency says
By Michelle Austein
Washington File Staff Writer
Washington
— U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents apprehended
more than 2,100 immigration violators, gang members and fugitives in a
just-completed nationwide effort, according to Julie L. Myers,
assistant secretary for ICE. The initiative, called Operation Return to
Sender, began on May 26 and concluded June 13.
Of the 2,179
people arrested in the operation, about half had criminal records for
crimes including sexual assault, assault with a deadly weapon and
abduction.
“The fugitives captured in this operation
threatened public safety in hundreds of neighborhoods and communities
around the country,” said Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff.
“This department has no tolerance for their criminal behavior and we
are using every authority at our disposal to bring focus to fugitive
operations.”
The majority of those apprehended were arrested for
immigration violations. More than 800 of these people were sent back to
their home countries.
Those arrested on criminal charges will face trial in federal courts.
Those
arrested in the operation came from many countries, including Angola,
Bangladesh, Brazil, Cape Verde, China, Colombia, Dominican Republic,
Ecuador, El Salvador, Egypt, Gambia, Georgia, Ghana, Guatemala,
Honduras, Indonesia, Iraq, Italy, Ivory Coast, Jamaica, Kenya, Liberia,
Libya, Mexico, Nicaragua, Nigeria, Pakistan, Peru, Poland, Portugal,
Senegal, Thailand, Uganda, the United Kingdom and Uzbekistan.
Operation
Return to Sender is the latest action taken as part of the Department
of Homeland Security’s interior immigration enforcement strategy. (See related article.)
The
interior enforcement strategy is part of the Secure Border Initiative,
a multiyear plan introduced by Chertoff to secure America’s borders and
reduce illegal migration. (See related article.)
The full text of a press release on Operation Return to Sender is available on the Department of Homeland Security Web site.
(The Washington File is a product of the Bureau of International
Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site:
http://usinfo.state.gov)
Struggle on two fronts
Soldier fights in Iraq, wife battles deportation efforts
Sgt. Elhadji Mansour Ba has too much on his mind for a man in a combat zone.
He’s fighting for his country, while his country is trying to deport his wife.
Ba is working in one of Iraq’s most dangerous provinces, al-Anbar,
near the Syrian border. It’s his second tour in Iraq for the U.S. Army,
this time backing up Marines who are fighting the insurgency.
“I cannot protect my family when I am far away trying to protect our country,” he said.
So, Ba, 32, is leaving his post there temporarily to defend his
wife, Nana Diallo, at a hearing tomorrow in U.S. Immigration Court in
Arlington County. He is a member of the 506th Quartermaster Company,
based at Fort Lee.
He reported to the unit on Aug. 20, three days after the government ordered his wife into removal proceedings.
A native of Senegal, Diallo, 33, faces deportation to her country of
citizenship, France, for staying here long after her temporary visa
waiver expired nine years ago. The Department of Homeland Security also
has accused her of fraud because of the mistakes her husband said he
made on the application to allow her to remain here legally.
“I was confused,” Ba said in a phone interview from Iraq last week.
Diallo is a military wife in a waiting game, living in a neat home
in Colonial Heights with the couple’s son, Ibrahim, who will turn 5
next week. The child is a U.S. citizen, as is his father, who was born
in Senegal but naturalized in 2000.
“I don’t know what I am going to do,” she said.
Anita R. Schneider, her immigration lawyer, is a little perplexed,
too. Diallo’s plight won’t be easy to solve because she went to Paris
with her husband last summer to obtain a visa from the U.S. Consulate
there. She got the visa, but she technically hasn’t been allowed back
into the country.
If Diallo had stayed in the United States, she could have gotten
legal permanent residence as the wife of a U.S. citizen. Now, the
government regards her as an “arriving alien,” not someone who has
lived here since 1997.
The Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement would not comment
on Diallo’s case. The Bureau of Customs and Border Protection said her
case doesn’t meet the criteria for a humanitarian parole.
Diallo and her husband traveled to Paris in late June, a few days
after Ba re-enlisted in the Army. They had married in 2003, while he
was home on leave from his first tour of duty in Iraq. After he
returned in early 2004, he started the process of making his wife’s
presence in the country legal.
The problem was, he thought his wife and son would join him in
Germany, where he was stationed with the 147th Ordinance Unit. He put
Germany as her home address, which the government later would cite as
one instance of alleged fraud. The National Visa Center instructed them
to travel to Paris for the visa because Diallo is a French citizen.
Diallo went to the consulate in France and received the visa in late
July. When she returned home she was stopped at Dulles International
Airport, where border and customs officials questioned her. They didn’t
detain her but gave her deferred inspection status to sort out the
problems they found with her papers.
They wanted to know why she had put Germany as her home address.
They also wanted to know why she had answered “no” instead of “yes” to
a question that asked whether she had been unlawfully present in the
United States for more than a year. It was part of a larger question
about whether she had ever committed an aggravated felony and been
ordered to be removed from the country.
“I did not think that this described the wife of a U.S. soldier who
had never been in trouble,” Ba explained in an affidavit last month.
Ba also mistakenly said in another part of the application that
Diallo had overstayed her visa waiver from 1997 through 2003, instead
of 2005. Her lawyer, Schneider, said the error was immaterial because
they had not tried to conceal her illegal status. “There was no fraud,”
she said in exasperation.
This was the type of problem the couple had tried to avoid when Ba
completed the papers for his wife. “He was telling me he was going to
do everything because he didn’t want me to make any mistakes,” Diallo
said.
The biggest mistake of all was leaving the country to process her
visa. Not only did Diallo become inadmissible, but she also faced a
10-year bar from returning because she had lived here illegally for so
long. They didn’t know that because they didn’t have a lawyer.
“We would have said, ‘Don’t leave the country, no, no, no!'” Schneider said.
Tomorrow, Schneider will ask an immigration judge to grant Diallo a
waiver of the 10-year bar so that she can formally enter the country
and adjust her status.
Ba is traveling from Iraq to attend the hearing. He’s an
automated-logistics specialist, but his duties there range from setting
up portable showers to manning a gun truck.
He moves constantly in dangerous territory. He worries about his wife and son.
“I keep saying to myself, what’s going to happen to them if something happens to me?”
Department of Homeland Security unveils comprehensive immigration enforcement strategy for the nation’s interior
Department of Homeland Security (DHS) / Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)
PRESS RELEASE 04/20/2006
|
WASHINGTON The new interior enforcement strategy represents the second phase of The interior enforcement strategy will complement the Department’s
Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said, “Illegal ICE Assistant Secretary Myers said, “This strategy lays down a Goal one: identify and remove criminal aliens, fugitives and other immigration violators
Goal two: build strong worksite enforcement and compliance programs to deter illegal employment
Goal three: uproot the criminal infrastructure that supports illegal immigration
|
|
— ICE — |
DHS/USCIS Final Rule on Special Immigrant Visas for Fourth Preference Employment-Based Broadcasters
[Federal Register: April 18, 2006 (Volume 71, Number 74)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Page 19805-19806]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr18ap06-2]
—————————————
DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services
8 CFR Part 204
[CIS No. 2106-00]
RIN 1615-AA47
Special Immigrant Visas for Fourth Preference Employment-Based
Broadcasters
AGENCY: U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, Department of
Homeland Security.
ACTION: Final rule.
—————————————
SUMMARY: This rule adopts, without change, the interim rule published
by the former Immigration and Naturalization Service (Service) in the
Federal Register on October 11, 2001, that established procedures under
which the International Broadcasting Bureau of the United States
Broadcasting Board of Governors, or a grantee organization, could file
immigrant visa petitions for foreign language alien broadcasters. The
rule explained the requirements that alien broadcasters must meet in
order to be the beneficiary of an immigrant visa petition. The public
did not submit any comments to the interim rule.
DATES: This final rule is effective May 18, 2006.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Alanna Ow, Adjudications Officer,
Business and Trade Services Branch, Office of Program and Regulations
Development, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, Department of
Homeland Security, 111 Massachusetts Avenue, NW., 3rd Floor (ULLICO),
Washington, DC 20529, telephone (202) 616-7417.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Background
Section 203 of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) provides
for the allocation of preference visas for both family and employment-
based immigrants.\1\ The fourth preference, employment-based category
(EB-4), allows for the immigration of a variety of aliens who possess
various specialized job skills or abilities. Id. at 203(b)(4). Section
101(a)(27) of the INA also offers definitions of the various jobs or
professions that aliens must hold or possess in order to qualify for
the EB-4 category.
—————————————
\1\ The first preference, priority workers, allows for the
immigration of workers with extraordinary abilities in the sciences,
arts, education, business, or athletics; outstanding professors and
researchers; and certain multinational executives. Id. at 203(b)(1).
The second preference allows for the immigration of professionals
holding advanced degrees. Id. at 203(b)(2). The third preference
allows for the immigration of skilled workers in short supply and
professionals holding baccalaureate degrees. Id. at 203(b)(3).
—————————————
Legislative and Regulatory History
On November 22, 2000, President Clinton signed the Special
Immigrant Status For Certain United States International Broadcasting
Employees Act (IBE Act), Public Law 106-536. Section 1 of the IBE Act
amended section 101(a)(27) of the INA by adding a new subparagraph. The
amendment established a special fourth preference employment-based
immigrant category for immigrants seeking to enter the United States to
work as broadcasters in
[[Page 19806]]
the United States for the International Broadcasting Bureau of the
United States Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG) or a BBG grantee.
(Currently, BBG grantees are Radio Free Asia, Inc. and Radio Free
Europe/Radio Liberty, Inc.)
On October 11, 2001, at 66 FR 51819, the former Service published
an interim rule in the Federal Register that added 8 CFR 204.13 and
established an administrative procedure for the BBG and its grantees to
use in order to petition for the services of an alien broadcaster. The
interim rule also codified the provisions of the IBE Act and put into
place procedures for the BBG, its grantees, and former Service
officers, now U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS)
officers, to follow.
Why Does the BBG Need Alien Broadcasters?
The BBG and its grantees are charged by Congress to broadcast
internationally on behalf of the United States Government. This
requires that the BBG attract and retain a large number of foreign
language broadcasters. These broadcasters must have the unique
combination of native fluency in the broadcast language combined with
an in-depth knowledge of the people, history, and culture of the
broadcast area. Historically, the BBG has experienced difficulty in
finding and employing members of the domestic workforce possessing this
unusual combination of skills to meet the United States Government’s
international broadcasting needs.
By creating a new special EB-4 subcategory, the IBE Act allows the
BBG and its grantees to directly petition for alien broadcasters. Being
able to offer immigrant status to an alien broadcaster and his or her
spouse and children may assist the BBG in fulfilling its obligation as
the international broadcasting conduit for the United States
Government. Under section 203(b)(4) of the INA, only 100 such visas may
be made available in any fiscal year to alien broadcasters coming to
work for BBG or a BBG grantee. This numerical limitation does not
apply, however, to the spouses and children of such immigrants.
Did the Former Service Receive Any Comments on the Interim Rule?
The former Service did not receive any comments during the 60-day
comment period in response to the interim rule. Accordingly, the
Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is now adopting the interim rule
as a final rule without change.
Regulatory Flexibility Act
DHS has reviewed this regulation in accordance with the Regulatory
Flexibility Act (5 U.S.C. 605(b)), and, by approving it, certifies that
this rule will not have a significant economic impact on a substantial
number of small entities. The October 11, 2001, interim rule provided a
special process that benefits individuals who will be coming to the
United States to work as broadcasters. It did not affect small entities
as that term is defined in 5 U.S.C. 601(6). Since this final rule does
not make any changes to the interim rule, this final rule likewise will
not affect small entities.
Unfunded Mandates Reform Act of 1995
This rule will not result in the expenditure by State, local, and
tribal governments, in the aggregate, or by the private sector, of $100
million or more in any one year, and it will not significantly or
uniquely affect small governments. Therefore, no actions were deemed
necessary under the provisions of the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act of
1995.
Small Business Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Act of 1996
This rule is not a major rule as defined by section 804 of the
Small Business Regulatory Enforcement Act of 1996. This rule will not
result in an annual effect on the economy of $100 million or more; a
major increase in costs or prices; or significant adverse effects on
competition, employment, investment, productivity, innovation, or on
the ability of United States-based companies to compete with foreign-
based companies in domestic and export markets.
Executive Order 12866
This rule is not considered by DHS to be a “significant regulatory
action” under Executive Order 12866, section 3(f), Regulatory Planning
and Review. Accordingly, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has
waived its review process under section 6(a)(3)(A).
Executive Order 13132
This rule will not have substantial direct effects on the States,
on the relationship between the National Government and the States, or
on the distribution of power and responsibilities among the various
levels of government. Therefore, in accordance with section 6 of
Executive Order 13132, it is determined that this rule does not have
sufficient Federalism implications to warrant the preparation of a
federalism summary impact statement.
Executive Order 12988 Civil Justice Reform
This rule meets the applicable standards set forth in sections 3(a)
and 3(b)(2) of Executive Order 12988.
Paperwork Reduction Act
Under the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, Public Law 104-13, all
Departments are required to submit to OMB, for review and approval, any
reporting requirements inherent in a rule. This rule does not impose
any new reporting or recordkeeping requirements under the Paperwork
Reduction Act.
List of Subjects in 8 CFR Part 204
Administrative practice and procedures, Aliens, Employment,
Immigration, Petitions.
Accordingly, the interim rule amending 8 CFR part 204, which was
published in the Federal Register at 66 FR 51819, on October 11, 2001,
is adopted as a final rule without change.
Dated: April 11, 2006.
Michael Chertoff,
Secretary.
[FR Doc. 06-3655 Filed 4-17-06; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4410-10-P
Navy sinks marriage-for-money scam
Eight sailors charged with taking $35,000 for sham marriages
JACKSONVILLE, Florida (AP) — Eight
sailors were charged Tuesday with arranging sham marriages to Polish
and Romanian women to help the women obtain U.S. citizenship and to
collect bigger military housing allowances for themselves.
An
investigation by the Naval Criminal Investigative Service and U.S.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement found that none of the women lived
with the sailors they married.
In all, the eight sailors received
$35,000 in fraudulent basic housing allowance payments, investigators
said. One sailor was allegedly getting $1,836 per month.
The Navy
terminated the allowances in November. If convicted, the seven current
and one former sailor from the USS Kennedy and USS Simpson could face
up to five years in prison per count.
Basic housing allowance is
a tax-free payment that active-duty members of the U.S. military
receive to offset their housing costs if they do not live on base. The
amount is based on location, marital status and the number of
dependents.
One of the women, a Polish nanny, was also charged,
and authorities were seeking seven other women, six of them Polish and
one Romanian.
Each paid $6,000 for the weddings to the sailors so
they could petition for U.S. citizenship, according to U.S. Attorney
Paul Perez.
The NCIS investigation began last September when a
Navy petty officer assigned to the Kennedy was approached by a seaman
from the Simpson with the opportunity to receive a basic housing
allowance for marrying a Polish woman.
The seaman who arranged
the marriage was to receive $6,000 from the woman and the petty officer
was to receive the basic housing allowance, officials said.
Five
of the sailors appeared Tuesday in federal court in Jacksonville. They
were released after each signed a $10,000 unsecured bond.
Immigration Judge’s Removal From Bench For Discriminatory Remarks Is Upheld
In Levinsky v. Department of Justice, NY-0752-03-0329-I-1 (MSPB,
Sept. 9, 2006), the Merit System Protection Board stated that “as
an official responsible for ruling on matters affecting the lives
of aliens, the Defendant had a special obligation to avoid giving
the impression that his decisions could be influenced by the
aliens’ nationalities. His remarks linking members of certain
nationalities to certain crimes and other undesirable conduct
could reasonably be construed as manifesting ethnic bias.”
DHS Announces Temporary Protected Status Extension for El Salvador, Honduras, and Nicaragua
Press Release
DHS Announces Temporary Protected Status Extension for El Salvador, Honduras, and Nicaragua
Details of Re-Registration Process to be Announced Soon
WASHINGTON, D. C. – In a continuing effort to assist El Salvador, Honduras, and Nicaragua in recovering from the natural disasters that affected the Central American region, the Department of Homeland Security has announced a decision to extend Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for an additional 12 months for all three countries. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) will provide additional information about the re-registration process and answers to frequently asked questions upon publication of Notices in the Federal Register soon. Therefore, re-registration applications will not be accepted before the registration period is announced for each nation.
Under this extension nationals of El Salvador, Honduras, and Nicaragua who have already been granted and remain eligible for TPS will be able to continue living and working in the United States for an additional 12 months. This extension covers approximately 225,000 Salvadorans, 75,000 Hondurans, and 4,000 Nicaraguans. This extension of these TPS designations will expire on September 9, 2007 for El Salvador and on July 5, 2007 for Honduras and Nicaragua.
The U.S. Immigration Law Blog by Ashwin Sharma 
Making sure teams look good on paper
Via Star-Telegram
05/07/2006
By RAY+ BUCK
Star-Telegram Staff Writer
Assistant general manager Keith Grant of the Mavericks has obtained working visas for non-U.S. citizens plenty of times.
It’s the NBA way — importing players from abroad — and it’s viewed
by league officials as an “international” phenomenon with no end in
sight.
When the “Dream Team” captured Olympic gold at Barcelona in 1992,
NBA rosters were dotted with 21 international players from 18 countries.
This past season, NBA teams could boast 82 international players from 38 countries and territories.
Playoff teams, too.
Going into Round 1, there were 44 international players from 25
countries and territories among the 16 teams — including the Mavericks
with three, and led by the defending champion Spurs with seven.
So, you get the idea. Grant has been filing forms with the U.S.
State Department and the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services for
quite some time now.
But nothing prepared him for what happened last October.
The Mavs had just beaten the New York Knicks 104-102 in an
exhibition game at Madison Square Garden. While the rest of the team
flew to Detroit, Grant used a day off between games to chauffeur
DeSagana Diop to Toronto.
Diop, who had changed teams (Cavs to Mavs), was in need of a new P-1 visa.
The “P-1” is available to “priority professionals” with
“extraordinary skills” — such as doctors, researchers, entertainers
and athletes.
It’s the same visa used by Major League Baseball (actually, for any
international players on 40-man rosters) and the NHL, where 31 percent
of its players hail from beyond North American borders.
Anyway, back to Grant and Diop.
“DeSagana and I flew to Toronto, got a morning appointment and had
his visa by that afternoon,” Grant said. “But then, our flight to
Detroit was cancelled. Our only option was taking two commuter planes
— Toronto-to-Cleveland and Cleveland-to-Detroit.
“So, I told DeSagana, ‘Let’s just drive.'”
Grant was used to driving players from the northeast corridor to
either Toronto or Ottawa over the years, all in the quest for visas.
“So, we’re crossing the Canadian border in a Jeep rental — me and
DeSagana — and [the 7-foot] DeSagana is sitting halfway in the
backseat because he’s so long,” said Grant, who stands 5-11.
“I mean, we’re sitting there … The Odd Couple at its finest. Needless to say, we’re made to pull over, step inside and answer a few questions.”
NBA, MLB systems work
The adventures of a long-legged Senegalese power forward, with visa
in hand, doesn’t pack the same political punch as illegal immigration
and border control.
Maybe that’s the beauty of sports.
Pro teams have become more and more proactive in getting the proper immigration papers into the hands of their players.
“The process hasn’t gotten any easier, but we’re getting much more
organized,” said Kim Bohuny, vice president/NBA basketball operations.
Procuring players’ visas varies from sport to sport, from league to
league, even from level to level. But the goal is the same — make it
happen.
NBA players receive P-1 visas for the length of their contracts, which are usually three to four years and always guaranteed.
Conversely, major and minor league baseball players are required to
return to their native countries at the end of each season and reapply
for new visas.
Players not on the 40-man roster — even those with major league
jobs — must vie for “H-2B” visas. These visas are capped (66,000
available per year) and quotas are set.
All types of laborers crossing U.S. borders are eligible for H-2B visas: landscapers, loggers and minor-league infielders alike.
“An ‘H-2B’ is a specialized work visa but not the ultimate
specialized work visa,” said John Lombardo, director of minor league
operations for the Rangers. “Obviously, a P-1 — with no cap — is
incredibly simpler” to obtain and renew.
The Rangers, as with all MLB teams, obtain visas for every player in the organization, from Class A rookie league to the majors.
Each visa costs the Rangers $340 — minimum.
“It normally takes 45-60 days to get a P-1 or H-2B visa,” Lombardo
said. “Or else, you can send a $1,000 premium-processing fee and get a
visa in 10 days.”
It’s the responsibility of MLB — serving as an industry — to make
sure that all 30 teams are “certified” to make individual visa requests.
In turn, MLB gets an assist from the government.
Said Lombardo: “We do receive — I don’t want to call it ‘special
treatment’ because it’s not — but we do have a dedicated person
working in Homeland Security who helps expedite the process as much as
possible for our players.”
On the Rangers’ current 40-man roster, there are 12 international
players — nine from the Dominican Republic; one each from Japan,
Venezuela and Nicaragua.
Each visa order requires the team to package up 15-20 pages of
documents, including the player’s contract. The player then goes to his
consulate, shows proper ID and secures his visa.
That hasn’t changed.
What has changed, however, is heightened U.S. scrutiny after the tragic events of Sept. 11, 2001.
“Going into 9/11, there was a lot of corruption — not from the U.S.
side but from the international side — in the visa process,” Lombardo
said. “Things got lax…like family members getting piggy-backed onto a
player’s visa.”
Historically, Dominican players have had a reputation for “visa problems,” causing them to miss the start of spring training.
“I just think the Dominican Republic is still paying the price for
some of that corruption, even though it’s not there now,” Lombardo said.
There are more Dominican players than any other international group
in the majors today. And they all arrive at once, Lombardo noted.
Right-handed reliever Omar Beltre — a once highly regarded
Dominican prospect of the Rangers — was implicated a couple of years
ago in an alleged multiple-player visa scam, preventing him from U.S.
entry.
“If a player has made a mistake — somewhere, somehow — or his
paperwork is not in order…he’s not getting in,” said Lombardo,
referring to no one in particular.
“Since 9/11, the visa process has become much more difficult,” Lombardo added. “They’re cracking down. Thank goodness for that.”
Don’t forget hockey
Basketball players average 20 to 22 years old after well-documented
careers with their national teams. Baseball often sends teen-agers to
the States.
The NBA also secures a temporary “visitor’s visa” for any player who
wishes to come to the United States before the June draft for a
non-payment, individual workout for a team.
But the NBA and MLB aren’t alone in helping non-U.S. citizens’ entry
into the country to play pro sports. American-based NHL teams are part
of a league that is about 52 percent Canadian-born.
The Stars finished the season with 11 Canadians, six Finns and a total of 21 players born outside the United States.
“The P-1 visa allows players to travel outside the U.S. and play
hockey in Canada…[and] is valid through the term of the player’s
contract,” said Lesa Moake, Stars director of hockey and team services.
“There are some European countries [Czech Republic, Latvia and
Russia] that require a Canadian visa as well. I file those
multiple-entry visas with the Canadian consulate, and they are valid
for one year.”
A player with a P-1 visa can apply for a green card, which allows
non-U.S. citizens to reside permanently and work in the United States.
That process usually takes “a minimum of two years,” said Moake,
adding, “If a player has a green card and leaves the U.S. to play for a
team in Canada, he is required to surrender his green card.”
Minor-league hockey players receive 10-month visas.
“It’s tougher for minor-league teams,” said Eric Schultz, an immigration lawyer for Sacks, Kolken & Schultz of Buffalo.
One of Schultz’s accounts is the Central Hockey League, which includes the suddenly-now-in-limbo Fort Worth Brahmas.
Unlike P-1 visa holders, H-2B players must get the blessing of the U.S. Labor Department before a contract can be signed.
“Only if it can be certified that sufficient recruitment has been
done to look for U.S.-citizen players or green-card holders will the
Department of Labor authorize permission for employment to be offered
to a non-U.S. citizen,” Schultz said.
Not so, for the big boys.
Said Terry Lyons, vice president/NBA international communications:
“I see NBA coaches, players and fans saying, ‘May the best man play.'”
This idea of open competition may be where immigration in sports shines brightest.
If nothing else, filling out all that paperwork must seem worthwhile.
For more online information on immigration in sports:
www.uscis.gov
www.us-immigration.com
www.sackskolken.com
Staff writer David Sessions contributed to this report.