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Immigration head says reform would pose challenge

Wednesday, February 25th, 2009

IRVING, Texas — U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services must prepare for the challenge an immigration reform plan would pose, the agency’s current leader said Wednesday.

During the opening of a new sprawling USCIS district office in the Dallas suburb of Irving, acting deputy director Michael Aytes pointed out such facilities are among the improvements the agency can make to get ready for additional workload if lawmakers reform immigration policies.

“Every day that goes by is a day that we lose if were not doing something to better position ourselves for that reality when it happens,” Aytes said.

USCIS staffers are already trying to work through a backlog of applications of people seeking citizenship, green cards and other services.

In the North Texas district, applications for naturalization are 2 1/2 months behind than the desired goal of five months to process. Petitions to become a legal permanent resident, or green card holder, are behind four to five months, officials said.

While the agency has to focus on the current tasks and customers, it also must continue to invest in building new facilities, develop better case management systems and improve how services are delivered, Aytes said.

“All of those things we’ll help us to better prepare for whatever challenge we’re asked to accept,” he said.

President Barack Obama has said he is committed to comprehensive immigration reform. Latino lawmakers and advocates continue pushing for changes in U.S. immigration policy, including proposals to create a path for citizenship for the estimated 12 million immigrants in the nation illegally.

via AP.com

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USCIS Processing Times Improve for Form I-130

Wednesday, February 25th, 2009

Over the last three months the USCIS has seen an impressive reduction in the amount of time needed to process I-130 Petitions for a US Citizen’s Spouse. Since the end of 2008 the processing times for this form have gone down nearly three months at both the California and Vermont Service Centers. As of today, the CSC and VSC are taking 99 and 172 days respectively to process an I-130.

This comes as good news to those applicants looking to get an IR-1/CR-1 Visa (instead of a K-3 Visa which is traditionally faster). The benefit of an IR-1/CR-1 Visa is that upon entering the US the holder of the visa immediately becomes a Legal Permanent Resident.

USCIS I-130 Historical Processing Times

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I-134 Form Entry Page Updated: Public Notary Not Needed

Tuesday, February 24th, 2009

While members at VisaJourney have known for a while that the new I-134 form did not require a “public notary”, officially the USCIS still listed this as required on the Form Entry Page (FEP) for the I-134. The USCIS always states that the FEP takes precedence over any form instructions so as such VJ has kept the guides and other information as listing the public notary as needed.

Several weeks ago we contacted the USCIS regarding this error and they have finally corrected it. The FEP now reads:

You must sign Form I-134 in your full name. (Note: Signing Form I-134 is under penalty of perjury under U.S. law). For this reason, it is not necessary to sign Form I-134 before a notary, nor to have your signature notarize after you sign it.

As such all Guides on VJ will be updated to reflect this.

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Radio show offers glimpse of professors’ love story

Wednesday, February 18th, 2009

Traveling thousands of miles, transcending cultural boundaries, reuniting after a long separation — Eric Hayot and Chunyuan Di’s love story is one of persistence, and the Chicago Public Radio was intrigued.

The romance between Hayot, an associate professor of comparative literature and director of Asian Studies, and Di, a lecturer in Chinese, was featured on Sunday night’s the radio station broadcast of This American Life.

The tale was broadcast in State College through WPSU-FM. The broadcast can be heard at the WPSU Web site in the This American Life archives.

Hayot and Di spoke about the great lengths that Hayot took to find Di in Beijing after years of separation and how they struggled through distance and cultural barriers.

Sarah Koenig, a producer for This American Life, said she was at a party with her husband Ben Schreier, Penn State assistant professor of English and Jewish studies, when she first heard about Hayot and Di’s romance.
(more…)

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Married couple paying the price for a fib at the border

Wednesday, February 4th, 2009

A Eugene man and his Canadian bride are still paying a painful price for their 2007 decision to tell border agents they were “just engaged” rather than “just married.”

University of Oregon student Nathaniel Spinney and his wife, Sarah Rutherford, are still living apart — 16 months after tying the knot on a farm in her native Nova Scotia.

The consequences of their impulsive but admittedly foolhardy decision to lie about their newlywed status have also prevented Rutherford, 26, from completing her master’s degree program at Fuller Theological Seminary in California.

“It seems unintelligible now that we would think we could do something like that and get away with it,” said Spinney, a 25-year-old Eugene native and UO math major.

They could face another 3½ years of separation. Rutherford received a five-year “exclusion” from the United States as her penalty for providing false information to U.S. border agents.
(more…)

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Archive for February, 2009

Immigration head says reform would pose challenge

USCIS Processing Times Improve for Form I-130

I-134 Form Entry Page Updated: Public Notary Not Needed

Radio show offers glimpse of professors’ love story

Married couple paying the price for a fib at the border

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