Kirkland family’s American dream a step closer
Ayoob Siddick picked up his cellphone Wednesday afternoon to hear
the news he’d been waiting for after nearly six months of frayed nerves
and sleepless nights.
An immigration judge in Seattle granted asylum in the U.S. to the
Kirkland resident; his wife, Amida; and their four children. They will
not be deported to their native Zimbabwe, where the family feared they
would face persecution or worse.
“I feel as if I’ve been fighting this great war, and now I’m
victorious,” Siddick said. “We are taking time to reflect on everything
that has happened in the past and all the people who have rallied
around us and have never faltered.”
The family, which is buying a home near Mill Creek, moved to
Kirkland five years ago to escape what they described as turmoil and
widespread government corruption. The Siddicks had been fighting for
asylum since 2003, when their first application was denied because the
family had not applied for asylum status within one year of arriving in
the U.S., as the law requires.
In March they appealed that decision and faced an immigration judge
in Seattle to explain why they feared persecution if they returned to
Zimbabwe. In her ruling Wednesday, Judge Victoria Young agreed that the
Siddicks could face persecution.
The Siddicks were members of the Movement for Democratic Change
(MDC), the opposition party to the government’s ruling party, and
members of the MDC have been arrested without cause, tortured and
killed, according to the State Department’s 2005 Country Reports on
Human Rights Practices, released in March.
U.S. immigration overhaul impossible: Senate leader
Via Forbes.com
09/07/2006
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. congressional leaders are giving up on
broad immigration legislation that would legalize millions of illegal
immigrants and instead will concentrate on border security ahead of the
elections, Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist said on Wednesday.
“I
think it would be next to impossible to pass a comprehensive bill that
includes dealing with the diversity of 12 million people here in the
next three weeks,” the Tennessee Republican told reporters.
President
George W. Bush backs comprehensive immigration legislation along the
lines passed by the U.S. Senate. That bill would have created a guest
worker program and put millions of illegal immigrants on a path toward
U.S. citizenship.
19 arrested in major marriage and immigration fraud scheme
Via ICE.gov
News Release
September 7, 2006
|
ALEXANDRIA, VA – Chuck Rosenberg, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of As described in the government’s affidavit, nine defendants are Aliens who participated in the fraud generally paid large fees, Arlington County Police Chief Scott stated, “Alert employees in the As alleged in the affidavit, the defendants who facilitated the sham For instance, couples were told to memorize the name of their sham “Immigration and benefit fraud is not simply a nuisance crime, it The investigation was conducted by a task force of federal and local The task force received important assistance from several other Defendants are presumed to be innocent until and unless proven guilty. |
|
— ICE — |
Fight for life replaces fight for green card
Via InsideBayArea.com
HAYWARD — Maria Rivas has faced her share of barriers in life, but none like this.
A single mother with two sons, Rivas was a victim of domestic
violence for many years at the hands of her husband, a permanent
resident who petitioned for her legal status in 1998. She says he often
used her immigration status as a tool of control, forcing her to remain
in the relationship and threatening to withdraw her papers. He has
since disappeared.
The Violence Against Women Act, passed by Congress in 1994,
allowed the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services to expedite
Rivas’s application this year for her green card.
That hurdle was barely cleared when tragedy struck: Rivas
recently was diagnosed with terminal cancer, and her doctors toldher
she had only four months to live. Now she is trying to travel back to
her hometown — Culiacan, Mexico — to have closure with her family
before she dies. But she has no money to pay for the trip, because her
cancer has prevented her from working.
“Here I am fighting to live,” she said, anxiously contemplating her fate. “But I wish God would give me more time to live.”
Domestic violence occurs in nearly half of the nation’s homes. Each year, about 3 million to 4 million people are battered.
Rivas’ struggle is an example of how abuse traps immigrants
into a cycle of fear and submission because of the threat of
deportation.
Group Claims Discrimination, Targets Employers Recruiting H-1B Workers
Via ERE.net
As special interests pressure the U.S. Senate to lift the cap on H-1B
visas, a computer programmer advocacy group is filing complaints with
the U.S. Department of Justice against more than 300 IT services
employers whose ‘Help Wanted’ ads it believes discriminate against
American citizens, denying workers here equal access to U.S. jobs.
US proposes raising H1-B visas for Indians
Via The Times Of India
08/28/2006
NEW DELHI: The US on Friday said it
has a proposal to raise the H1-B visa quota for Indians by 25 per cent and is
taking steps to reduce the waiting period for visa applications, particularly
students, of this country.
It also denied that religion was any
criteria for issuance or denial of visa to anybody.
Efforts are
underway to raise the quota for H1-B (short duration stay) visas for Indians and
there is a proposal to hike it by 25 per cent, Peter G Kaestner, newly-appointed
Minister for Consular Affairs at the US Embassy said.
At present, the
limit of such visas meant for those employed temporarily is 80,000. Last year,
the cap was one lakh.
The issue is political in nature and US
Congress has to decide on it finally, the official said.
Kaestner,
who has served at the US Embassy earlier also, said he felt the number would
remain inadequate even after the hike.
The US H1B visa is
non-immigrant visa, which allows a US company to employ a foreign individual for
up to six years. The H1B visa-seekers could be those employed temporarily in a
speciality occupation or as a fashion model of distinguished merit and
ability.
Kaestner said the number of Indian students in the US was
growing, recording an increase of 30 per cent last year.
The US
Embassy is making efforts to reduce the waiting period for visa seekers,
particularly students and cut down on the backlog.
USCIS Creates E-mail Addresses for Questions on International Adoption Applications
USCIS News Release
USCIS MAKES IT EASIER TO ASK ABOUT ADOPTION APPLICATIONS
District Offices Create Email Boxes to Respond to Questions
WASHINGTON, D.C. -U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS)
invites parents with questions on pending international adoption
applications to make use of newly designated email addresses devoted
solely to international adoptions. Each USCIS District Office will have
a dedicated electronic mail address reserved solely for customer
service on international adoptions.
Given the complex and highly charged issues surrounding
international adoptions, prospective adoptive parents frequently have
difficult and urgent questions that are not easily addressed through
routine customer service channels. The new e-mail service will expedite
customer communications with USCIS on issues ranging from the
completion of application forms to questions involving case status. The
email addresses can be obtained by calling the USCIS National Customer
Service Center information line at 1-800-375-5283.
USCIS anticipates that this new service will offer prospective adoptive parents more timely answers to their questions.
-USCIS-
On March 1, 2003, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS)
became one of three former INS components to join the U.S. Department
of Homeland Security. USCIS is charged with fundamentally transforming
and improving the delivery of immigration and citizenship services,
while enhancing the integrity of our nation’s security.
U.S. turning to DNA to prove family ties
Via The Seattle Times
08/24/2006
After waiting nearly 12 years to help his sister and her family
obtain green cards so they could move to the U.S., Nak Sieng faced one
final hurdle: proving he and his sister really are related.
An exercise that might have been simple for some was a monumental
challenge for the siblings who had lived through Cambodia’s
revolutionary war and, as a result, couldn’t obtain certain documents —
like birth certificates or school or medical records — to prove their
relationship.
Childhood photos the family was able to save from the war years were
too old, authorities told them. And photos from Sieng’s more recent
visits to Cambodia in 2000 were too new.
Then U.S. embassy officials in Thailand asked for a kind of evidence
that attorneys say is becoming increasingly common in immigration
cases: a DNA test.
The test proved unequivocally that the two are brother and sister.
USCIS Expands Premium Processing Service to EB-3 I-140 Petitions, New I-907 Premium Processing Form Released
Via AILA
On August 18, 2006, USCIS announced that, beginning August 28, it will begin
accepting premium processing requests for I-140 petitions involving EB-3
Professionals (i.e., immigrant workers with bachelors degrees who are
members of the professions) and EB-3 Skilled Workers (<!–
D(["mb","i.e., immigrant \nworkers capable of performing skilled labor requiring at least two years of \neducation, training or experience). Premium processing will not be available to \n"other workers" in the EB-3 category for jobs that do not require two years of \neducation, training or experience. The press release is available on AILA \nInfoNet at document #06081867: http://www.aila.org/content/default.aspx?docid\u003d20317
\n
USCIS issued a revised I-907 premium processing form which does not request \nany additional information but does include the newly designated classifications \nand a revision date of August 28, 2006. USCIS will not accept any premium \nprocessing requests for Form I-140 before August 28 and any premium processing \nrequests for Form I-129 received before August 28 must use the current Form \nI-907 with the revision date of April 1, 2006. All premium processing requests \nreceived on or after August 28, 2006 will be rejected unless they are on the \nI-907 form bearing the August 28, 2006 revision date. The revised form is \navailable on AILA InfoNet at document #06082161: http://www.uscis.gov/graphics/formsfee/forms/files/I-907Rev082806.pdf
\n
\n
3. Action Alert: Support Legislation to Protect Vulnerable Refugees and \nAsylum Seekers
\n
Urge your Representative to support H.R. 5918 and protect innocent refugees \nand asylum seekers from becoming unintended victims of the war on terrorism! \nCertain overly broad provisions in the PATRIOT Act and the REAL ID Act have in \npractice worked to deny protection to vulnerable refugees and asylum seekers. \nThe "material support" provisions affect anyone who has given any amount of \nmoney, goods or assistance to any armed group — including groups resisting \noppressive regimes and factions that extort such assistance with threats of \nviolence. In practical terms, our government is denying safety and freedom to \nrefugees and asylum seekers who, before the current provisions, would clearly \nhave qualified for protection. “,1]
);
//–>i.e., immigrant
workers capable of performing skilled labor requiring at least two years of
education, training or experience). Premium processing will not be available to
“other workers” in the EB-3 category for jobs that do not require two years of
education, training or experience.
USCIS issued a revised I-907 premium processing form which does not request
any additional information but does include the newly designated classifications
and a revision date of August 28, 2006. USCIS will not accept any premium
processing requests for Form I-140 before August 28 and any premium processing
requests for Form I-129 received before August 28 must use the current Form
I-907 with the revision date of April 1, 2006. All premium processing requests
received on or after August 28, 2006 will be rejected unless they are on the
I-907 form bearing the August 28, 2006 revision date.
AAO Unpublished Decision on “Specialty Occupation” for Film and Video Director
VIA AILA
In an unpublished decision provided to AILA courtesy of member Daniel
Huang, the AAO addressed whether the occupation of “film and video director” is
a “specialty occupation” for H-1B purposes. The AAO concluded that, despite the
fact that the DOL’s Occupational Outlook Handbook does not state that a
baccalaureate level education in a specific specialty is normally the minimum
requirement for entry into the position of director, the duties of this
particular position are so specialized and complex that knowledge required to
perform them is “usually associated with the attainment of a baccalaureate
degree or higher degree”.
IMMIGRATION WOES: U.S. gives teenager approval to work
Via The Toledo Blade
08/12/2006
|
|
PANDORA, Ohio – In time to start college this
fall, a German-born teenager who has been fighting to stay in the
United States has been granted employment authorization by U.S.
immigration officials, his attorney said yesterday.
That means Manuel Bartsch can for the first time get a Social Security
number, a driver’s license, a job, go to college, and as he put it, “be
normal.”
Mr. Bartsch, 19, made international headlines in December when he was
jailed and ordered deported after meeting with immigration officials in
Cleveland to try to iron out his legal status.
He ultimately was released and allowed to finish his senior year at
Pandora-Gilboa High School, but his future remains uncertain as he
awaits an as yet-unscheduled hearing in immigration court.
“The key thing is, he’s not subject to immediate removal or detention,”
his attorney, David Leopold, said. “This development is a good one
because it permits him at least in the interim to continue to get his
education.”
Mr. Bartsch said in a telephone interview that he was scheduled to
begin business courses at the University of Northwestern Ohio in Lima
on Oct. 3. He took a placement test at the private college Thursday, he
said, but was not able to register for classes because he lacked a
Social Security number.
Shawn Saucier, spokesman for U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services,
confirmed that an employment authorization document would enable Mr.
Bartsch to get a Social Security number and legally work in the United
States. Admission to college is dependent upon the college, he said.
Mr. Bartsch, who was accepted to the University of Northwestern Ohio
before he graduated in May, said he was encouraged by the latest
development in his case.
“I’ve been hanging out with my uncle and friends – just trying to have
a good time,” he said. “That’s about all I could do. I’m not allowed to
work at all. I’ve had some boring days. I’ve done a lot of Xbox
playing.”
The teenager was born in 1987 in Germany, where he was reared by his
grandparents. His grandmother was killed in an auto accident in 1993.
His step-grandfather, Toby Deal, brought him to Putnam County on a 90-day visa waiver when he was 10.
Mr. Bartsch didn’t learn until he was much older that Mr. Deal never
filled out the necessary forms that would have made it legal for him to
stay in the country. Over Christmas break, he went to Cleveland to try
to straighten out his situation with immigration officials, but instead
he spent two weeks in jail.
Mr. Leopold, a Cleveland immigration attorney, took his case for free
and was able to get a federal immigration judge to listen to Mr.
Bartsch’s story.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agreed to release Mr. Bartsch,
and his case is now on hold while two private immigration bills
intended to give him permanent resident status make their way through
Congress.
Mr. Bartsch, who is now living with Mr. Deal’s brother, Chuck, near
Ottawa, Ohio, said he was “just glad that I got the work authorization
so I can go to school and hopefully wait it out.”
The U.S. Immigration Law Blog by Ashwin Sharma 
First PERM BALCA Decision – Re: Harmless Error on Application
Via ILW.com
This article discusses the first PERM BALCA decision, In the Matter of HealthAmerica, No. 2006-PER-00001 (BALCA, Jul. 18, 2006).
The American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) and the American
Council on International Personnel (ACIP) jointly filed an amicus brief
on this case.