Articles Posted in Top Immigration Stories

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) reminds eligible widow(er)s that October 28, 2011 is the deadline for filing a Form I-360 visa petition.

If you are the widow(er) of a U.S. citizen who died before October 28, 2009 you may be eligible to immigrate to the United States if:
– You and your deceased spouse were married for less than 2 years when your spouse died and
– You file Form I-360 for Special immigrant classification as a widow/widower by October 28, 2011. See section 568(c) of Public Law 111-83 for more information.

USCIS must receive your Form I-360 by October 28, 2011. Since you must file Form I-360 by mail or overnight courier, please be sure to ship it in time for USCIS to receive it no later than October 28, 2011.

The procedure for obtaining Schengen visas to Poland has been greatly facilitated for Ukrainian citizens recently, according to the newspaper Delo.

A letter from work with information about pay and holidays, a bank certificate and a copy of the work record card have been excluded from the list of documents required for obtaining visas. This applies to both reusable business (just the original letter of invitation is enough) and travel (only a partially paid hotel reservation is enough) visas. Now it is necessary to submit only a passport, application form, photo, insurance and paid hotel reservation (or a letter of invitation).

Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism Minister Jason Kenney today called on the Canadian Society of Immigration Consultants (CSIC) to do its utmost to ensure a smooth transition to the Immigration Consultants of Canada Regulatory Council (ICCRC), the new regulator of immigration consultants.

“The ICCRC is the designated regulator of immigration consultants under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (IRPA) and it is crucial that all parties involved make sure that there is no confusion about who now regulates immigration consultants,” said Minister Kenney.

On June 30, 2011, after a public consultation process, the ICCRC was designated, by regulation, as the new regulator of immigration consultants, replacing CSIC. These regulations also state that all CSIC members who were members in good standing on June 30 are now deemed to be members of the new governing body, the ICCRC, until October 28, 2011. During this 120-day transition period, these CSIC members are not required to pay fees to the ICCRC, which will provide them with ample time to register with the new regulator.

CSIC has filed an application before the Federal Court for a judicial review of the decision to designate the ICCRC as the regulator of immigration consultants and this hearing will be held in October. In the meantime, Minister Kenney urges CSIC to in no way hinder the ICCRC’s work.

Under IRPA, membership in CSIC is no longer required for individuals wishing to practise as immigration consultants under federal jurisdiction. The ICCRC, as the new governing body, is able to determine whether an individual, other than someone who was a member in good standing of CSIC as of June 30, 2011, may become a member of the ICCRC. If CSIC members are uncertain of their status, Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) encourages them to contact the ICCRC.

Minister Kenney also took the opportunity to remind CSIC that it would be in the public interest for this organization to act in good faith and transfer all relevant documents to the ICCRC, including all previous, outstanding and ongoing complaints and discipline matters related to their membership.

USCIS is implementing the first phase in a series of proposed enhancements to the EB-5 program. Beginning today, Form I-924 applicants will be able to communicate directly with USCIS adjudicators via e-mail in an effort to streamline the process and quickly raise and resolve issues and questions that arise during the adjudication process. The Form I-924 is the Application for Regional Center Under the Immigrant Investor Pilot Program. Information on how direct e-mail communication will work can be found in our Questions and Answers document.

USCIS intends to monitor the progress of this new line of communication to assess whether changes are needed and to implement any required changes on a real-time basis. If you have feedback in response to your use of the direct line of communication for the Form I-924, please submit your comments to opefeedback@uscis.dhs.gov.

USCIS is eager to implement all of the proposed enhancements to the EB-5 program that it first announced on May 19, 2011. USCIS is currently exploring how it can accelerate the implementation of premium processing, which customarily takes months due to the need to revise the applicable forms. USCIS is currently hiring economists and other experts that will enhance and accelerate the adjudication process and also help constitute the Decision Board that was first described on May 19.

Implementation of enhancements to the EB-5 program is a high priority for USCIS. Director Alejandro Mayorkas will provide more information about the status of the proposed enhancements and other action items for this program in his first Conversation with the Director this Wednesday, September 14, and in the national stakeholder engagement on Thursday, September 15.

The Government of Canada is offering a new tip line through the Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) Call Centre where tips on suspected citizenship fraud cases may be reported, Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism Minister Jason Kenney announced today.

“Canadian citizenship is not for sale. I encourage anyone who has information regarding citizenship fraud to call our tip line,” said Minister Kenney. “My department will ensure that all tips are investigated and that appropriate action is taken.”
Cases involving false representation, fraud or knowingly concealing material circumstances in the citizenship process – for example, pretending to be present in Canada to meet the residence requirements for obtaining citizenship – should be referred to the citizenship fraud tip line at CIC’s Call Centre at 1-888-242-2100 (in Canada only, 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. Eastern Time, Monday through Friday). Those overseas can contact the nearest Canadian visa office. Tips may also be reported by e-mail at Citizenship-fraud-tips@cic.gc.ca.

All other types of fraud tips related to immigration should be reported to the Canada Border Services Agency’s (CBSA) Border Watch Tip Line at 1-888-502-9060. The CBSA is responsible for enforcing the provisions of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act.

To date, CIC has identified approximately 2,000 people from over 100 countries who may have obtained Canadian citizenship fraudulently, many by using the services of crooked consultants to misrepresent their residence in Canada. CIC is taking steps to revoke citizenship from those who obtained it fraudulently, where allowed by the evidence.

The Obama administration has decided to add the Republic of South Sudan to the list of countries included under the Temporary Protected Status (TPS) program. The move comes as South Sudan gained its independence last July and the United States swiftly recognised it. Southern Sudanese voted almost unanimously in favour of secession from the North earlier this year.

Sudan was initially designated for TPS in 1997 and Washington kept extending it throughout the years. The current designation expires next November. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is expected to announce extension of TPS for Sudan as well. All citizens of South Sudan who entered the US on or before the TPS designation is officially published will qualify regardless of their visa status. However, only Sudanese citizens who entered the country on or before October 7, 2004 will be covered by TPS extension.

TPS is a temporary immigration status granted to nationals of designated countries as part of the US Immigration Act of 1990. The US Congress established a procedure by which the Attorney General may provide TPS to aliens in the United States who are temporarily unable to safely return to their home country because of ongoing armed conflict, the temporary effects of an environmental disaster, or other extraordinary and temporary conditions.

During the period for which a country has been designated under the TPS program, the registrants are allowed to remain in the United States and obtain work authorisation and may not be deported unless they commit certain crimes. However TPS does not lead to permanent residence in the US which is better known as the ‘green card’. Several bills in the US Congress to grant permanent residence to some TPS beneficiaries have stalled.

Currently nationals of Burundi, Haiti, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua and Somalia are also covered by the program.

The Department of Immigration and Citizenship (DIAC) today announced the release of the submission guidelines for Enterprise Migration Agreements (EMA), to assist project owners and prime contractors on eligible resources projects.

The guidelines contain all the necessary information for those who wish to make a submission for an EMA. The agreements are a new migration initiative that will allow major resource projects to gain access to overseas skilled workers for genuine vacancies that cannot be filled from the Australian skilled labour market.

“Now that the submission guidelines have been released, eligible projects will be able to make submissions for access to an EMA,” a departmental spokesman said.

“The agreements are available to resource projects which have been approved by the relevant state or territory government with capital expenditure of more than $2 billion and with a peak workforce of more than 1500 workers.”
The spokesman said the EMA program would ensure that skills shortages do not put constraints on major resource projects and jeopardise Australian jobs.

“Access to overseas skilled workers will ensure the workforce needs of major resource projects are met, realising the economic and employment benefits of the projects,” the spokesman said.

“Overseas workers will only be supplementary, with resources projects required to demonstrate effective and ongoing local recruitment and training efforts.”
The policy settings in the guidelines reflect extensive consultation with relevant industry, unions and government stakeholders. The department has committed to negotiating the agreements within three months from the time a project owner submits a complete request.

More than a million of the highest-qualified and best-trained Britons have gone to live abroad and are contributing to the wealth of other countries, a report found yesterday.

They have made up more than half of the British emigrants who have gone abroad over the past 14 years to work in countries including America, Australia, or, increasingly, Germany, it found.

The report from the immigration think tank MigrationWatch warned of a new brain drain and said that no other country loses as many university graduates through emigration.

The analysis of who is going abroad comes at a time when numbers of people leaving the country to live abroad have plummeted, mainly thanks to the recession. At the same time levels of immigration have remained at sky high levels. As a result net migration – the number of people added to the population by migration – last year totalled 239,000, the second highest total ever.

The new report said that professionally qualified workers and experienced managers continue to make up the majority of emigrants from Britain, numbering more than 50,000 in 2009.

It put the number of British graduates working abroad at 1.1 million, and added many will stay away permanently.

Citing the verdict produced by the Paris-based grouping of rich nations, the report said: ‘This is consistent with the findings of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development that the UK suffers from a brain drain less serious only than Mexico whereby a significant proportion of its tertiary level educated go overseas to work.

The report said the need to import engineers means that British companies may be paying too little for highly qualified staff.

The UK Border Agency Shortage Occupation list includes civil engineers, mechanical engineers and electrical engineers among others. It said, perhaps suggesting that UK companies are not paying sufficiently well to keep the brightest and the best. Despite the NHS claiming to be reliant on migrant labour, 27 per cent of our skilled emigrants had a health or education degree.

The UK Border Agency has completed its review of the criteria to become a Highly Trusted Sponsor (HTS) under Tier 4 of the points-based system. We are now inviting comments on the proposed new criteria. From April 2012, all Tier 4 sponsors must obtain HTS status. By the end of 2012, they will also need to have been inspected, audited or approved by one of the educational oversight bodies specified by us.

In April 2011, we committed to review the criteria to become a Highly Trusted Sponsor. We have now completed this review, and the proposed new criteria are set out below.

– Mandatory requirements – all must be passed
– Minimum qualifying period 12 months, with the last 6 months as an A-rated sponsor
– Minimum period with no civil penalties 3 years
– Refusal rate 90 per cent
– Course completion rate More than 85 per cent
– Declaration of progression 100 per cent
– No serious concerns (Linked to the new visiting officer report)
Core measurable requirements start with 100 points; must score 70 or above.

To become a Highly Trusted Sponsor, you must pass each of the mandatory requirements. You will then be assessed against the core measurable requirements, with points deducted according to a sliding scale.

For example, a sponsor meets all the mandatory requirements and has an 18 per cent refusal rate, a 94 per cent enrolment rate and a 92 per cent course completion rate. They are deducted 20 points for the refusal rate, 10 points for the enrolment rate and a further 10 for the course completion rate, losing 40 points in total. This leaves a score of 60 points so their application is refused.

If you fail on one or more mandatory requirements, you will become a legacy sponsor. You will not be able to sponsor new students, and your licence will be revoked from April 2012.

Sponsors failing on the core measurable elements may reapply after 3 months.

All education providers who wish to begin or continue to sponsor students from outside Europe must apply for HTS status by a date to be specified, and must obtain HTS status by April 2012.

Sponsors who currently have HTS status will need to apply up to a month before their current status expires. For the current renewal process and guidance, see our How to apply as a Highly Trusted Sponsor page.

Sponsors who do not already meet the accreditation requirements must also apply to Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education (QAA) or the Independent Schools Inspectorate (ISI) by 9 September 2011. We published further information about the enhanced role of QAA and ISI in a news story last month.

Since 21 April 2011, all independent schools with an ‘A’ rating and appropriate accreditation are automatically awarded HTS status. Independent schools with a ‘B’ rating are given HTS status, if they have the appropriate accreditation, as soon as they become A-rated.

New independent schools are given HTS status immediately, if they are A-rated and have the appropriate accreditation.

If you were registered after 1 March 2011 with a zero CAS limit, you will be given 50 per cent of your requested CAS allocation and must apply for HTS 12 months after receiving your licence, providing you have been A-rated for the last 6 months.

Any sponsor who misses either application deadline will become a legacy sponsor, unable to sponsor any new students. Their licence will then be revoked in April 2012.

Sponsors who achieve or successfully renew HTS status will be subject to an interim CAS limit until they have obtained satisfactory educational oversight (EO) inspection.

U. S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) today announced it will no longer offer parole to Lautenberg category members who are denied refugee status in Moscow. Individuals who have been offered parole by USCIS in Moscow must make plans to arrive in the United States by Sept. 30, 2011.

A provision of the Lautenberg Amendment to the Foreign Operations Appropriations Act allows certain individuals who are paroled into the United States after being denied refugee status to adjust to lawful permanent resident status after being physically present in the United States for one year. Within the Moscow program, this provision is limited to only those refugee applicants from countries that made up the former Soviet Union who meet the Lautenberg criteria.

Congress has not extended this Lautenberg Amendment provision, which expires after Sept. 30, 2011.