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E&M Visa Update for May 9, 2003 Volume
Three, Number Five sign
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Visa Spotlight: BCIS Begins Electronic Filing for I-765 & I-90 on May 29 Married Couple Working at US Embassy in Sri Lanka and 7 Others Charged with Visa Fraud All Service Centers Update Processing Time Reports
Visa
Spotlight: BCIS Begins Electronic Filing for I-765 and I-90 on May
29 BCIS intends to add electronic filing capabilities for additional forms in the Fall of 2003. Additional forms for e-filing will include: Form I-129, Petition for Nonimmigrant Worker; Form I-131, Application for Travel Document; Form I-140, Immigrant Petition for Alien Worker; Form I-539, Application to Extend/Change Nonimmigrant Status; Form I-821, Application for Temporary Protected Status; and Form I-907, Request for Premium Processing. Filing instructions and eligibility information for e-filing will soon be available at www.bcis.gov. BCIS applicants who have a receipt number for an application or petition filed at a Service Center can check the status of their pending case online through the BCIS Web site at https://egov.immigration.gov/graphics/cris/jsps/caseStat.jsp and avoid prolonged waits on the phone or at a local office. It is estimated that more than 30,000 persons use the status check service every day. The BCIS Web site also provides forms online for users to download free of charge. BCIS applicants are able to print out the forms, complete them and mail them to the appropriate office for adjudication.
BCIS
Grants Asylum to Iraqi who Aided in Rescue of Jessica Lynch; Asylee
Makes $500K Book Deal with HarperCollins
Ridge
Announces USVISIT Entry-Exit Tracking System; Successor to NSEERS
Will Slowly Ramp Up Departure Tracking The implementation deadlines for the entry-exit system fall into the following three groups: 1) Airports and seaports-- December 31, 2003; 2) Top 50 high traffic land border ports-- December 31, 2004; and 3) Remaining implementation for all other ports-- December 31, 2005. The slow phase-in of these border security enhancements means that the system will be very "leaky" for many years to come, allowing illegal exits via Mexico and Canada to remain un-tracked for the next two and a half years.
Consulate
in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico Resumes Visa Processing for Third Country
Nationals, Except B-1 and B-2 Visitors Ciudad Juarez WILL process those who arrived in the US with a B-1/B-2 visa with a "prospective student" annotation, but will NOT process those who seek to change to another nonimmigrant status from an un-annotated B or who arrived in the US with a B visa with no annotation and later obtained a change to another non-immigrant status. Ciudad Juarez indicates that, for workload reasons, it does not intend to process E applications, nor will it accept cases with "special processing requirements". Due to potential security risks, TCN processing at Ciudad Juarez was discontinued shortly after 9/11.
Ninth
Circuit Saves $500K Investors from INS Attempt to Change "Investor
Green Card" Program Regulations The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco concluded that the INS, now part of the Department of Homeland Security, should not have retroactively applied new and tougher rules to investors who had already received their conditional permanent residence (two year "green cards"). Calling the INS action in 1998 "an abrupt departure" from past practices, the court stated that the changes were "impermissibly retroactive" and resulted in an undue hardship for investors who expected the government to uphold its end of the bargain. The new, tighter rules were put in place in 1998 after the discovery of manipulation of the investor visa program, which effectively lowered the minimum investment threshold and often failed to create real jobs.
Supreme
Court Permits Detention of Green Card Holders with Criminal Convictions
during Deportation Trials Since the decision, deportation officers from BICE (Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement) may sit quietly in the back of the Immigration Courts, listening for cases involving a Legal Permanent Resident (LPR) with a criminal history. Those LPRs believed to fit the criteria for mandatory detention are often detained upon leaving the courtroom and taken into custody.
Married
Couple Working at US Embassy in Sri Lanka and 7 Others Charged with
Visa Fraud The indictment charges all nine defendants with conspiring to defraud the United States and to bribe public officials and to commit visa fraud. The charged defendants are: Long N. Lee, 51, a State Department Foreign Service Officer and career State Department employee; Acey R. Johnson, 32, who is married to Long N. Lee and was until recently a Consular Associate employed in the consular section of the U.S. Embassy in Sri Lanka; Vinesh Prasad, 33, of Sacramento; his brother Minesh Prasad, 28, of Sacramento; Narinderjit Singh Bhullar, 40, of Sacramento; his brother Davinder Singh Bhullar, 44, of India; Phuong-Hien Lam Trinh, 35, of Torrance, California; Rajwant S. Virk, 46, of Herndon, Virginia; and Rachhpal Singh, 32, of Hayward, California.
Temporary
Protected Status Extended for an Additional 18 Months to Eligible
Hondurans And Nicaraguans
All
Service Centers Update Processing Time Reports The Nebraska Service Center Processing Time Report was updated on May 7 for the period ending May 1. The Vermont Service Center Processing Time Report was updated on May 6 for the period ending May 1. The Texas Service Center Processing Time Report was updated on May 1 for the period ending April 30. To
view and print out the most recent INS service center processing
time reports, please visit http://www.emvisa.com/bcisreports.htm
Thank you for taking the time to read this E&M Visa Update.
Elliot & Mayock LLP Immigration Attorneys
"visas made easier"
1629 K Street NW, 12th Floor Washington, DC 20006-1643 (202) 429-1725 Fax: (202) 452-0161
220 Sansome Street, 12th Floor San Francisco, CA 94104-2327 (415) 765-5111 Fax: (415) 765-5122
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