VisaJourney.com News

Love conquers all, even language barrier, borders

January 13th, 2009

ST. LOUIS, Mich. – Nothing can keep apart two people in love.

Not even government red tape, more than 6,500 miles and not being able to have a spoken conversation.

David Eldridge, 61, is ready to get married. But his bride-to-be, 51-year-old LiYing Fan, still is in Beijing, teaching martial arts and waiting to complete the process of acquiring a visa to move to the United States.

Eldridge — a resident of St. Louis, Mich., and a Gratiot County commissioner — says he met his beloved on an Internet dating site in November 2007.

The two have communicated through an online text translator, but there was one problem when they began speaking on the phone: He speaks no Chinese, and she speaks no English.

Doesn’t matter, Eldridge says.

“Voice can be a relationship killer but hers was sweet and pleasant,” he told the Morning Sun of Mount Pleasant for a story published Monday.

The couple finally met when Fan visited the United States last year as part of a cultural exchange. Her sister, who lives in Milwaukee, traveled to Pasadena, Calif., to meet her. Eldridge went, too.

When they met, Eldridge said, “everything I felt and thought was put into concrete. … It’s funny how you can communicate when you don’t speak the same language.”

Eldridge then began putting together the paperwork for a fiancee visa and learned on New Year’s Day that it was approved. Fan now must undergo a physical exam and interview at the U.S. Embassy in Beijing before she can come to the United States, possibly in April or May.

Eldridge has two daughters from a previous marriage and 10 grandchildren. Fan’s son died at a young age. Both have been married twice before.

They plan a small ceremony in Michigan, he says, partly to avoid the additional red tape that would come with a wedding in China.

[ AP/ Chicago Tribune ]

Share this article:

More »

Posted in Family Immigration | Comments Off

Rules could infringe on basic civil rights in Tennessee

January 11th, 2009

Immigrants, whether they are in the United States legally or illegally, cannot rest easily in Tennessee.

For that matter, people who are natives of the U.S. and whose skin happens to be brown also have reason to be nervous.

That is because the trend of resentment over the steadily growing immigrant population here has gone beyond the intolerance of individuals and threatens to become ingrained in our state and local legal codes.

Government-sponsored racism is an ugly thing.

The signs of this alarming trend, of course, include the well-publicized effort to limit all Metro Nashville communications and publications to English. But other instances have emerged, as well. As reported in The Tennessean earlier this month, a legal permanent U.S. resident who lives in Franklin saw his state ID and green card confiscated at a driver’s license office on unfounded suspicion that the documents were fake. The state Safety Department’s explanation that it is agency policy to investigate “suspicious” documents was sorely lacking.

In Davidson County, a U.S. citizen from Puerto Rico and her immigrant fiance were denied a marriage license simply because the fiance could not produce a Social Security card. Even though state policy was for county clerks to accept a valid passport or visa in the absence of a Social Security card, and the fiance had a valid passport, the couple was denied.

The Franklin man eventually got back his documents, but in the interim had to fear leaving his house without documents and was unable to visit family in Mexico. The couple had to sue the state of Tennessee, and eventually the state attorney general agreed that the marriage-license policy was unfair.

Read Full Article…

Share this article:

More »

Posted in Family Immigration, General Immigration | Comments Off

USCIS Revises Direct Mail Program for the Application for Naturalization (Form N-400)

December 23rd, 2008

WASHINGTON – U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced today that it is revising the Direct Mail Program for the Application for Naturalization (Form N-400). The notice of this addition is effective on Jan. 22, 2009, and is published in today’s Federal Register. The notice advises the public to file non-military N-400s with the appropriate Lockbox facilities and provides a 30-day transition period after the effective date for USCIS service centers to forward N-400 applications received at their facilities to the appropriate Lockbox location.

Applicants should continue to file military N-400 cases with the Nebraska Service Center (NSC). In order to assist military spouses, NSC will also accept and process N-400s filed by spouses of military members.
Read the rest of this entry »

Share this article:

More »

Posted in General Immigration | Comments Off

Report Finds Some Federal Judges Put Off Swearing-in New Citizens

December 19th, 2008

Federal judges in some parts of the United States are delaying the swearing-in of new citizens, apparently so that courts can keep millions of dollars in naturalization fees paid by immigrants, according to a new government report and immigration analysts.

In one of the nation’s busiest courts, a judge’s delay caused nearly 2,000 people to not receive the oath in time to register for November’s general election, according to the ombudsman for U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, Michael Dougherty, in a 13-page report posted on his office’s internet site yesterday.

The conclusion adds a new twist to longstanding complaints that applicants for citizenship face long waits, poor service and different treatment from U.S. immigration authorities depending on which office handles their application. While USCIS has made big gains in clearing massive backlogs since summer 2007, including working with the FBI to speed up security background checks, the new report cites a new bottleneck.

While generally “federal courts are very responsive” to USCIS requests for naturalization ceremonies, Dougherty reported “that court officials denied USCIS the opportunity to naturalize persons in time to vote in the recent general elections” and “otherwise engaged in conduct inconsistent with the letter or the spirit” of the nation’s immigration law.

read entire article at WashPost.com.

Share this article:

More »

Posted in General Immigration | Comments Off

USCIS Makes Progress in ‘08

November 9th, 2008

WASHINGTON—More than one million new citizens took the Oath of Allegiance during fiscal year 2008, just one of the significant accomplishments introduced today by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). Acting Director Jonathan Scharfen highlighted the agency’s progress throughout the past year and discussed future goals, saying the positive results are directly attributable to the USCIS workforce.

“The tremendous dedication and hard work of more than 18,000 USCIS employees and contractors has resulted in the continuous progress we’ve realized this past year,” Scharfen said. “We set aggressive goals to reduce application processing times, further cut the FBI name check backlog, and began a viable transformation process for the agency. I’m proud to say that we are achieving those goals while ensuring that national security is an essential part of our ongoing customer service improvements.”

Key accomplishments for the year include the following:

Completed more than 1.17 million naturalization applications, up more than 50 percent from FY07.

Reduced naturalization application processing times to 9-10 months, down from the 16-18 months projected after the surge of applications in late FY07.

Hired 1,600 new adjudications officers during FY08. Significantly revised and restructed the existing training curriculum and developed the BASIC training program at the USCIS Training Academy, preparing new officers to be “job-ready’ upon completion of training.

Worked with the FBI to effectively eliminate all name checks pending more than two years and reduced the cases waiting for a name check final result from almost 350,000 in late FY07 to less than 37,000.

Interviewed more than 100,000 refugee applicants and completed more than 47,000 asylum applications.

Increased participation in E-Verify, the nation’s preeminent employment eligibility verification system, by 260 percent over last year, resulting in the verification of more than 10 percent of the Nation’s new hires.

Read the rest of this entry »

Share this article:

More »

Posted in General Immigration | Comments Off

U.S. to Waive Tourist Visa Requirements for 7 Countries

October 18th, 2008

President Bush announced a major expansion of the Visa Waiver Program (VWP) today by extending it to the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Slovakia and South Korea.

These countries will be admitted to the program, which allows citizens of participating countries to travel to the U.S. without a visa, in “about a month,” according to an announcement by President George Bush.

The seven newly admitted countries agreed to share passenger data and to use the Electronic System for Travel Authorization, an online pre-screening system, Bush said.

The countries added to the VWP allow U.S. citizens to visit visa-free, although the U.S. required visas of them. “These close friends of America told me that it was unfair that their people had to jump through bureaucratic hoops that other allies can walk around,” Bush said.

Earlier this year, Estonia, Latvia, Slovakia, Lithuania, Hungary and the Czech Republic stirred transatlantic relations when they signed memoranda of understanding with the U.S. on joining the VWP. The European Union contended that visa policy should be negotiated between the U.S. and the EU and not bilaterally with individual member states.

The U.S. maintains that visa policy is to be negotiated on a bilateral basis between countries.

The announcement of new entrants to the VWP met with enthusiasm from the travel industry. The Travel Industry Association has long advocated for the VWP to be expanded, arguing that the U.S. is suffering a decline in overseas visitors due in part to the difficulty citizens of non-VWP member countries face in obtaining U.S. visas.

TIA estimates that the addition of seven new countries to the VWP could result in an additional 1 million visitors to the U.S. annually.

“Expansion of the Visa Waiver Program is a momentous leap forward for the American economy and proof that we can simultaneously strengthen America’s security and welcome additional visitors,” said Roger Dow, TIA president.

Share this article:

More »

Posted in General Immigration | Comments Off

USCIS Delays Implementation of Direct Mail Program For N-400, Application for Naturalization

October 9th, 2008

WASHINGTON—U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced today it will delay implementation of the Direct Mail Program for the N-400, Application for Naturalization. A Federal Register notice is scheduled to be published Oct. 10, 2008, announcing this delay.

Last month, USCIS published a notice in the Federal Register, which would have changed the filing address for N-400s from USCIS Service Centers to two lockbox facilities in Arizona and Texas. Implementation of this new process would have begun Oct. 14, 2008.

USCIS is delaying implementation of this new filing procedure to conduct additional tests of the technology involved. Accordingly, the Sept. 12 notice will be withdrawn Oct. 10, 2008.

Applicants for naturalization should continue to submit their Form N-400 according to the instructions on the form until further notice. In almost all cases, this means applicants will submit their N-400s to a USCIS Service Center.

For additional information, visit us on the Web at www.uscis.gov or call the National Customer Service Center at (800) 375-5283.

Share this article:

More »

Posted in General Immigration | Comments Off

N-400 (Application for Naturalization) Filing Location Changing in October

September 14th, 2008

Effective Oct 14th, 2008 U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) is revising its Direct Mail Program so that certain filings of Form N-400, Application for Naturalization, will now be filed at a designated lockbox facility instead of a USCIS Service Center. However, if you are the spouse of an active member of the Armed Forces, this notice instructs you now to file your Form N-400 at the Nebraska Service Center (NSC), whether you are filing from within the U.S. or abroad.

This notice does not change the filing location for Forms N-400 filed by active members or certain veterans of the Armed Forces who are eligible to apply for naturalization under sections 328 or 329 of the Immigration and Nationality Act (the Act).
Read the rest of this entry »

Share this article:

More »

Posted in General Immigration | Comments Off

Bride to miss wedding due to U.S. visa rules

September 14th, 2008

EDMONTON – For Christine Tyrrell, Tuesday was supposed to be the beginning of her “new life.”

The 30-year-old was to fly from Edmonton to Houston, where she was to marry her Texan fiance on Sept. 20. As Tyrrell excitedly approached the customs gate at Edmonton International Airport, her only worry was her satin wedding dress might be too big for a carry-on.

The customs officer had no problem with Tyrrell’s dress but he wouldn’t let her board her plane. Nearly six hours later, Tyrrell found herself driving home to Beaumont instead of flying towards the altar.

“I was supposed to have a fiance visa,” she said. “Because I didn’t have the paperwork or what not, it was recommended that they withdraw my application to enter the States.”

Tyrrell’s fiance Joe Marks had already consulted with U.S. immigration officials however, and they advised him not to get a fiance visa. He said he was given two options: either get a fiance visa or marry in the U.S. and then deal with the paperwork later.

At least two officials recommended the latter option, Marks said.

“They said that would be the easiest way to do it because we’d be circumventing the fiance visa,” Marks said. “They said it would be no problem. Obviously, we were under the impression that we were doing the right thing.” Read the rest of this entry »

Share this article:

More »

Posted in Family Immigration | Comments Off

USCIS Reminds Naturalization Applicants of the New Naturalization Test

September 3rd, 2008

In the interest of creating a more standardized, fair, and meaningful naturalization process, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) recently completed a multi-year redesign of the naturalization test. The revised test, with an emphasis on the fundamental concepts of American democracy and the rights and responsibilities of citizenship, will help encourage citizenship applicants to learn and identify with the basic values we all share as Americans.

Redesign Process
The major aim of the redesign process is to ensure that naturalization applicants have uniform, consistent testing experiences nationwide, and that the civics test can effectively assess whether applicants have a meaningful understanding of U.S. government and history. Following a basic U.S. history and civics curriculum, the redesigned test will serve as an important instrument to encourage civic learning and patriotism among prospective citizens.

To accomplish these goals, USCIS initially piloted a new test–with an overhauled English reading and writing section, as well as new history and government questions–in ten sites across the country. The feedback from this pilot was then used to finalize testing procedures, English reading and writing prompts, and a list of 100 new history and government questions. To ensure the pilot accounted for a representative sample of candidates with a variety of education levels, the test was also piloted at adult education sites nationwide.

The resulting redesigned test was publicly introduced on September 27, 2007. Naturalization applicants will begin taking the revised test on October 1, 2008.

Which Test Do I Take?

USCIS will begin administering the redesigned (new) naturalization test on October 1, 2008. Use the chart below to determine if you will take the current or redesigned (new) test.

Read the rest of this entry »

Share this article:

More »

Posted in General Immigration | Comments Off

VisaJourney.com News

Love conquers all, even language barrier, borders

Rules could infringe on basic civil rights in Tennessee

USCIS Revises Direct Mail Program for the Application for Naturalization (Form N-400)

Report Finds Some Federal Judges Put Off Swearing-in New Citizens

USCIS Makes Progress in ‘08

U.S. to Waive Tourist Visa Requirements for 7 Countries

USCIS Delays Implementation of Direct Mail Program For N-400, Application for Naturalization

N-400 (Application for Naturalization) Filing Location Changing in October

Bride to miss wedding due to U.S. visa rules

USCIS Reminds Naturalization Applicants of the New Naturalization Test

Which Test Do I Take?

Categories

Archives