Despite May’s reluctance to shine through in terms of weather, it certainly has provided significant progression for June’s immigration queues. June’s Visa Bulletin displays promising developments in priority dates for family-based and employment-based I-140’s for all categories. Encouragingly, June’s Visa Bulletin for Employment Based I-140’s depicts similar progressions with the EB-1 category remaining current. EB-2’s in China and India will both inch forward, bringing both of their priority dates to 10/15/2006. The EB-3 “other workers” category seems more lethargic, with only Mexico showing any real momentum, skyrocketing seven months ahead to 12/22/2004. India only hastens forward seven days to 04/22/2002 while China remains the same. The Philippines and all other countries experienced a lag, both moving back seven days to 09/15/2005. For the Other Worker category, China stands still at 04/22/2003 while India...

Undocumented students, who were brought to the U.S. as young children quickly realize their options for the future are very limited upon high school graduation (about 65,000 every year). Under the current immigration law, these students have no legal way to pursue a college education or a career in the military. Earlier this month, President Obama once again reaffirmed his intention to pursue comprehensive immigration reform (CIR), which includes the Development Relief and Education for Alien Minors (DREAM) Act to provide a path for these undocumented students earn legal status.    The DREAM Act, first introduced in 2009, is still riddled with misconceptions such as the bill granting amnesty or will be a financial burden. Once dispelled, these two myths reveal that the intention of the DREAM Act is not to grant amnesty to millions of undocumented...

The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) released H-1B cap numbers as of 5/20, receiving 12,300 toward the 65,000 cap-subject H-1B petitions and 8,500 towards the 20,000 H-1B Master's category.

Thus, H-1B cap numbers remain available, and there is still time to submit your FY2012 H-1B visa application for foreign national applicants beginning employment on October 1, 2011 or later.  Contact VISANOW to see if this is an option for you/your foreign national.

VISANOW will be blogging regular updates on the H-1B cap in addition to notifying our social media followers of real-time information through Facebook and Twitter.

Photo attribution: http://www.flickr.com/photos/8042373@N03/

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Georgia passed an immigration reform bill entitled “Illegal Immigration Reform and Enforcement Act,” otherwise known as HB 87 on May 17.  Similar to tough immigration laws in Utah and Arizona’s SB 1070, Georgia is one of the many states taking immigration reform into their own hands in lieu of federal reform to combat illegal immigrants (according to the Pew Hispanic Center, Georgia has about 425,000 illegal immigrants and is the seventh-highest among the states).

HB 87 will significantly impact employers and Georgian residents. Beginning July 1, HB 87 will require employers to verify the work status of employees by using...

An immigrant from Morocco, Alla Eddine Janjary, has been dealing with the USCIS as his visa moves through untold bureaucracy for the last four years.  Alla had been legally working in the U.S., living alongside his documented wife and son, until his visa expired. Now uncertain of his future Alla has been dealing with the confusion and complexity of the U.S. government and immigration process. It's experiences like Alla’s that illustrate the need for immigration reform. Alla's story is not only common but minor, compared to some who have been waiting decades for legal status.  For example, according to the 2010 U.S. Visa Bulletin, siblings of adult U.S. citizens from the Philippines can expect to wait 23 years!

VISANOW continues to provide the support, legal expertise, and online technology to streamline the immigration process for HR and foreign nationals. Our goal is to make the process easier for everyone involved. To that end, we've...

Initiated thirty-five years ago, the Schengen Visa is struggling to survive its greatest strain yet. The Schengen Visa enables travelers to freely cross borders between 15 participating countries, assuming that a migrant meets certain qualifications to enter. With the recent explosion of immigrants fleeing revolutions in Libya, Egypt, and Syria, the European Union (EU) is bombarded by refugees that the Schengen is unwilling to house, calling into question the effectiveness of EU immigration. Finally goaded into action, EU officials have been meeting since April to rewrite border and immigration policies.   Tensions developed between France and Italy after Italy granted immigrants who arrived before April 5th with temporary resident visas in the hopes of increasing stringency for more recently arriving Tunisian and Libyan refugees. Because the temporary resident status allows immigrants to travel freely within the Schengen, France found...

Good news for the bloggers following VISANOW! The government branch, United States Citizens and Immigration Services (USCIS), now offers its “E-verify” service in Spanish! Please visit www.uscis.gov/espanol/E-Verify on their website to view important information available for employees and employers. In the future USCIS has plans to extend the services they offer in Spanish, so wait for more good news on our blog!

En Español ¡Tenemos buenas noticias para los blogueros que siguen VISANOW! La organización gubernamental,  Servicios de Ciudadanía e inmigranción de Estados Unidos (USCIS) ahora ofrece el servicio de “E-verify” (verificación electrónica de documentos) en español. Por favor visite www.uscis.gov/espanol/E-Verify  para ver información importante para empleados y empleadores. En el futuro el USCIS tiene planes para aumentar...

On April 29, Mr. Meltzer was honored by receiving a distinguished award from Northern Illinois University at their annual Alumni Awards Dinner. During the ceremony, they gave a brief synopsis of Mr. Meltzer’s inspiring life, as well as the intriguing path he took to VISANOW. After graduating from the University of Colorado-Boulder, having studied political science, Mr. Meltzer headed for the Prairie State to pursue his J.D. from NIU. After a few more years of burning the midnight oil, in 1985 NIU conferred his degree. With degree in hand, Mr. Meltzer crossed the Atlantic, continuing his education in several European schools and kick-starting his career with a stay at the WHO legal office in Geneva. After this illustrious beginning, the U.S. was lucky enough to have Mr. Meltzer return, and in 1986 he began legal work for immigration and international issues stateside. At one point, he stood before the Supreme Court on immigration law issues. ...

The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) released H-1B cap numbers as of 4/22, receiving 8,000 toward the 65,000 cap-subject H-1B petitions and 5,900 towards the 20,000 H-1B Master's category.

Thus, H-1B cap numbers remain available, and there is still time to submit your FY2012 H-1B visa application for foreign national applicants beginning employment on October 1, 2011 or later.  Contact VISANOW to see if this is an option for you/your foreign national.

VISANOW will be blogging regular updates on the H-1B cap in addition to notifying our social media followers of real-time information through Facebook and Twitter.

Photo attribution: http://www.flickr.com/photos/8042373@N03/

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David Cameron, British Prime Minister, stands at the precipice of one of the most controversial decisions concerning UK immigration since the 1960’s. As the new coalition government leader, Cameron struggles with negotiating his inherent conservative politics with the Liberal Democrats’ views on immigration. In a speech given on April 14th concerning the progress of the new regime, David Cameron revealed his plan to reduce net migration “in the order of tens of thousands each year, not the hundreds of thousands every year that we have seen over the last decade". In doing so, he hopes to alleviate social tension within family neighborhoods, reduce the amount of fraudulent marriages, and free up more jobs for UK-born nationals.

Concerned with the growing discrepancy between those entering and those exiting, Cameron fears the loose lasso of previous administrations could have muddied the social waters. However, many find his cap bordering...