Immigration Updates

CUT-OFF DATES FOR JANUARY 2008 The following information is provided by the Visa Office regarding the cut-off dates for the month of January 2008.
FAMILY PREFERENCES F1-Family first preference: Unmarried sons and daughters over the age of 21 years of U.S.
Citizens. The cut-off date has moved forward by three (3) weeks for most of the countries, including India to February 1, 2002.
F2A - Family second preference: Spouses and minor children, and unmarried sons and daughters of permanent residents. The cut-off date has moved forward by five (5) weeks for most countries including India to February 22, 2003.
F2B- Family second preference: Unmarried sons and daughters over 21 of permanent residents. The cut-off date has moved forward by five (5) weeks for most of the countries including India to November 22, 1998.
F3-Family third preference: Married sons and daughters of U.S. Citizens and their spouses and children. The cut-off date has moved forward by one (1) month for most of the countries including India to May 8, 2000.
F4-Family fourth preference: Brothers and sisters of U.S. Citizens. The cut-off date has moved forward by two (2) weeks for most of the countries to July 8, 1997, and for India it has moved forward by one (1) month to September 15, 1996.
EMPLOYMENT PREFERENCES EB1 - Priority Workers: The cut-off date for this category for all countries including India is CURRENT.
EB2 - Advanced Degree holders: The cut-off date for this category for most countries is CURRENT and for India has retrogressed by two (2) years to January 1, 2000.
EB3 - Professional & Skilled Workers: The cut-off date for this category for most countries has moved forward by six (6) weeks to October 15, 2002, and for India it has not moved at all and remains May 1, 2001.
EB3 - Other Workers: The cut-off date for this category for all countries including India has not moved at all and remains October 1, 2001.
EB4 (Certain Special Immigrants including Religious Workers) & EB5 (Investment Visas) categories for all countries including India is CURRENT.
India Employment Second Preference (EB2) Cutoff Date Retrogression for January: Department of State has found it necessary to once again retrogress the India Employment Second preference cut-off date. This is a direct result of continued heavy applicant demand for numbers by CIS for adjustment of status cases despite the retrogression which occurred for December. It is likely that the annual limit for this category will be reached within the next few months, at which time the category would become "unavailable" for the remainder of fiscal year 2008.
Results of DV-2008 Visa Lottery The Kentucky Consular Center in Williamsburg Kentucky has registered and notified the winners of the DV-2008 diversity lottery. The diversity lottery was conducted under the same terms of §203(c) of the Immigration and Nationality Act and makes available *50,000 permanent resident visas annually to persons from countries with low rates of immigration to the United States. Approximately 96,000 applicants have been registered and notified and may now make an application for an immigrant visa. Since it is likely that some of the first *50,000 persons registered will not pursue their cases to visa issuance, this larger figure should insure that all DV2008 numbers will be used during fiscal year 2008 (October 1, 2007 until September 30, 2008).
Applicants registered for the DV-2008 program were selected at random from over 6.4 million qualified entries received during the 60 day application period that ran from 12 AM on October 4, 2006 until midnight, December 3, 2006. The visas have been apportioned among six (6) geographic regions with a maximum of seven percent (7%) available to persons born in any single country. During the visa interview, principal applicants must provide proof of a high school education or its equivalent, or show two (2) years of work experience in an occupation that requires at least two (2) years of training or experience within the past five (5) years. Those selected will need to act on their immigrant visa applications quickly. Applicants should follow the instructions in their notification letter and must fully complete the information requested.
Registrants living legally in the United States, who wish to apply for adjustment of their status must contact the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services for information on the requirements and procedures. Once the total *50,000 visa numbers have been used, the program for fiscal year 2008 will end. Selected applicants who do not receive visas by September 30, 2008 will derive no further benefit from their DV-2008 registration. Similarly, spouses and children accompanying or following-to-join DV-2008 principal applicants are only entitled to derivative diversity visa status until September 30, 2008.
* The Nicaraguan and Central American Relief Act (NACARA) passed by Congress in November 1997 stipulated that up to 5,000 of the 55,000 annuallyallocated diversity visas be made available for use under the NACARA program. The reduction of the limit of available visas to 50,000 began with DV2000.
We are providing herewith the number of persons that were selected from a few countries for the DV2008: AFGANISTAN - 57; BANGLADESH - 5,983; SINGAPORE - 70; KUWAIT - 46; NEPAL 2,562; GUYANA - 24; SURINAME - 3; TRINIDAD & TOBAGO - 82.
DHS Begins Collecting 10 Fingerprints From International Visitors At Washington Dulles International Airport The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is now collecting additional fingerprints from international visitors arriving at Washington Dulles International Airport (Dulles). The change is part of the department's upgrade from two- to 10fingerprint collection in order to enhance security and fingerprint matching accuracy.
"Anyone who's watched the news or seen crimes solved on television shows can appreciate the power of biometrics," said Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff. "They help the legitimate traveler proceed more quickly while protecting their identity and enable our frontline personnel to focus even greater attention on potential security risks.
Biometrics tell the story that the unknown terrorist tries to conceal, and it causes them to question whether they've ever left a print behind." Department of State (DOS) consular officers and DHS Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers collect biometrics-digital fingerprints and a photograph-from all non-U.S. citizens between the ages of 14 and 79, with some exceptions, when they apply for visas or arrive at U.S. ports of entry. The department's US-VISIT program checks this data against a joint Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)-DHS watch list of criminals, immigration violators and known or suspected terrorists. Watch list data comes from several sources, in particular the Department of Defense (DOD), FBI, DHS and other federal, state and local law enforcement agencies.
Dulles became the first port of entry to collect additional fingerprints from visitors on November 29.
Nine other ports of entry will begin 10-fingerprint collection during the next few months, and the 278 remaining ports will begin this process by the end of 2008.
The next ports scheduled to collect 10 fingerprints from international visitors are: Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport; Boston Logan International Airport; Chicago O'Hare International Airport; San Francisco International Airport; George Bush Houston Intercontinental Airport; Miami International Airport; Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport; Orlando International Airport; and New York's John F.
Kennedy International Airport.
US-VISIT, in cooperation with CBP, is leading the transition to a 10-fingerprint collection standard.
Since USVISIT began in 2004, DHS has used biometric identifiers to prevent the use of fraudulent documents, protect visitors from identity theft, and stop thousands of criminals and immigration violators from entering the country.
CUT-OFF DATES FOR JANUARY 2008 The following information is provided by the Visa Office regarding the cut-off dates for the month of January 2008. FAMILY PREFERENCES F1-Family first preference: Unmarried sons and daughters over the age of 21 years of U.S. Citizens. The cut-off date has moved forward by three (3) weeks for most of the countries, including India to February 1, 2002. F2A - Family second preference: Spouses and minor children, and unmarried sons and daughters of per- manent residents. The cut-off date has moved for- ward by five (5) weeks for most countries including India to February 22, 2003. F2B- Family second preference: Unmarried sons and daughters over 21 of permanent residents. The cut-off date has moved forward by five (5) weeks for most of the countries including India to November 22, 1998. F3-Family third preference: Married sons and daughters of U.S. Citizens and their spouses and children. The cut-off date has moved forward by one (1) month for most of the countries including India to May 8, 2000. F4-Family fourth preference: Brothers and sisters of U.S. Citizens. The cut-off date has moved forward by two (2) weeks for most of the countries to July 8, 1997, and for India it has moved forward by one (1) month to September 15, 1996. EMPLOYMENT PREFERENCES EB1 - Priority Workers: The cut-off date for this cat- egory for all countries including India is CUR- RENT. EB2 - Advanced Degree holders: The cut-off date for this category for most countries is CURRENT and for India has retrogressed by two (2) years to January 1, 2000. EB3 - Professional & Skilled Workers: The cut-off date for this category for most countries has moved forward by six (6) weeks to October 15, 2002, and for India it has not moved at all and remains May 1, 2001. EB3 - Other Workers: The cut-off date for this cat- egory for all countries including India has not moved at all and remains October 1, 2001. EB4 (Certain Special Immigrants including Religious Workers) & EB5 (Investment Visas) cate- gories for all countries including India is CUR- RENT. India Employment Second Preference (EB2) Cut- off Date Retrogression for January: Department of State has found it necessary to once again retrogress the India Employment Second pref- erence cut-off date. This is a direct result of contin- ued heavy applicant demand for numbers by CIS for adjustment of status cases despite the retrogres- sion which occurred for December. It is likely that the annual limit for this category will be reached within the next few months, at which time the cat- egory would become "unavailable" for the remain- der of fiscal year 2008. Results of DV-2008 Visa Lottery The Kentucky Consular Center in Williamsburg Kentucky has registered and notified the winners of the DV-2008 diversity lottery. The diversity lottery was conducted under the same terms of §203(c) of the Immigration and Nationality Act and makes available *50,000 permanent resident visas annually to persons from countries with low rates of immi- gration to the United States. Approximately 96,000 applicants have been registered and notified and may now make an application for an immigrant visa. Since it is likely that some of the first *50,000 persons registered will not pursue their cases to visa issuance, this larger figure should insure that all DV- 2008 numbers will be used during fiscal year 2008 (October 1, 2007 until September 30, 2008). Applicants registered for the DV-2008 program were selected at random from over 6.4 million qual- ified entries received during the 60 day application period that ran from 12 AM on October 4, 2006 until midnight, December 3, 2006. The visas have been apportioned among six (6) geographic regions with a maximum of seven percent (7%) available to persons born in any single country. During the visa interview, principal applicants must provide proof of a high school education or its equivalent, or show two (2) years of work experience in an occupation that requires at least two (2) years of training or experience within the past five (5) years. Those selected will need to act on their immigrant visa applications quickly. Applicants should follow the instructions in their notification letter and must fully complete the information requested. Registrants living legally in the United States, who wish to apply for adjustment of their status must contact the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services for information on the requirements and procedures. Once the total *50,000 visa numbers have been used, the program for fiscal year 2008 will end. Selected applicants who do not receive visas by September 30, 2008 will derive no further benefit from their DV-2008 registration. Similarly, spouses and children accompanying or following-to-join DV-2008 principal applicants are only entitled to derivative diversity visa status until September 30, 2008. * The Nicaraguan and Central American Relief Act (NACARA) passed by Congress in November 1997 stipulated that up to 5,000 of the 55,000 annually- allocated diversity visas be made available for use under the NACARA program. The reduction of the limit of available visas to 50,000 began with DV- 2000. We are providing herewith the number of persons that were selected from a few countries for the DV- 2008: AFGANISTAN - 57; BANGLADESH - 5,983; SINGAPORE - 70; KUWAIT - 46; NEPAL - 2,562; GUYANA - 24; SURINAME - 3; TRINIDAD & TOBAGO - 82. DHS Begins Collecting 10 Fingerprints From International Visitors At Washington Dulles International Airport The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is now collecting additional fingerprints from international visitors arriving at Washington Dulles International Airport (Dulles). The change is part of the department's upgrade from two- to 10- fingerprint collection in order to enhance security and fingerprint matching accuracy. "Anyone who's watched the news or seen crimes solved on television shows can appreciate the power of biometrics," said Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff. "They help the legitimate travel- er proceed more quickly while protecting their iden- tity and enable our frontline personnel to focus even greater attention on potential security risks. Biometrics tell the story that the unknown terrorist tries to conceal, and it causes them to question whether they've ever left a print behind." Department of State (DOS) consular officers and DHS Customs and Border Protection (CBP) offi- cers collect biometrics-digital fingerprints and a photograph-from all non-U.S. citizens between the ages of 14 and 79, with some exceptions, when they apply for visas or arrive at U.S. ports of entry. The department's US-VISIT program checks this data against a joint Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)-DHS watch list of criminals, immigration violators and known or suspected terrorists. Watch list data comes from several sources, in particular the Department of Defense (DOD), FBI, DHS and other federal, state and local law enforcement agen- cies. Dulles became the first port of entry to collect addi- tional fingerprints from visitors on November 29. Nine other ports of entry will begin 10-fingerprint collection during the next few months, and the 278 remaining ports will begin this process by the end of 2008. The next ports scheduled to collect 10 fingerprints from international visitors are: Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport; Boston Logan International Airport; Chicago O'Hare International Airport; San Francisco International Airport; George Bush Houston Intercontinental Airport; Miami International Airport; Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport; Orlando International Airport; and New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport. US-VISIT, in cooperation with CBP, is leading the transition to a 10-fingerprint collection standard. Since USVISIT began in 2004, DHS has used bio- metric identifiers to prevent the use of fraudulent documents, protect visitors from identity theft, and stop thousands of criminals and immigration viola- tors from entering the country.
Michael Phulwani is a prominent attorney admitted to practice law in New York, New Jersey and India. He practices immi- gration and nationality law and visa matters in the USA and abroad. He is a frequent lecturer on immigration law and co-hosts several TV and radio programs on immigration and legislation and answer questions from our readers. All questions should be forwarded to Michael Phulwani, 74-09 37th Avenue, Suite 315, Jackson Heights, NY 11372
Published in: News India-Times Dec. 21st 2007