EIIC

PRESS RELEASE – October 30, 2009

The diversity visa lottery application period is currently open again for those who are eligible and interested in applying for a green card. For the seventh year, applications will only be accepted online via the U.S. Department of State website at www.dvlottery.state.gov. 

Emerald Isle Immigration Center is once again appealing to potential applicants to plan early again this year! The DV Lottery website can get frozen the closer we get to the deadline of noon on Monday, November 30th. Regretfully we will be unable to accommodate last minute walk-ins during the final days of the DV Lottery. So please call either of our offices if you need assistance with your application.

Each year, 50,000 green cards are made available through a lottery system to individuals who come from countries with low rates of immigration to the United States. The State Department's National Visa Center holds the annual lottery and chooses winners randomly from about 8 to 13 million qualified entries. About 100,000 entries are notified and given the opportunity to apply for permanent residence. If permanent residence is granted, then the individual, their spouse and any unmarried children under the age of 21 will be authorized to live and work permanently in the United States.

Only natives of certain countries are eligible to apply for the green card lottery. Those born in the following countries are not eligible to apply for the DV-2011 lottery because a total of more than 50,000 immigrants came from these countries to the U.S. in the previous five years: Brazil, Canada, China (mainland-born), Colombia, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, India, Jamaica, Mexico, Pakistan, Peru, Philippines, Poland, South Korea, United Kingdom and its dependent territories (except Northern Ireland) and Vietnam. Persons born in Hong Kong SAR, Macau SAR and Taiwan are eligible. An applicant may, however, claim the country of birth of their spouse, if eligible, or of either parent if they were born in a country of which neither of their parents was a native or a resident at the time of their birth.

All applicants also must have a high school diploma or the equivalent, defined in the United States as the successful completion of a 12-year course of elementary and secondary education or they must have two years of work experience within the last five years in an occupation that requires at least two years of training or experience to perform. Entries for the DV-2011 diversity visa lottery must be submitted electronically from noon on October 2, 2009 through noon on November 30, 2009. Applicants may access the electronic diversity visa entry form at www.dvlottery.state.gov only during the 60-day registration period beginning October 2nd. Paper entries will not be accepted. All entries by an applicant will be disqualified if more than one entry for the applicant is received, regardless of who submitted the entry. Applicants may prepare and submit their own entries, or have someone submit the entry for them. The Department of State will issue DV lottery entrants an electronic confirmation notice upon receipt of a correctly completed Electronic Diversity Visa Entry Form.

Applicants must also attach separate digital photographs of themselves, their spouses and unmarried children less than 21 years of age (except children who are already permanent residents or U.S. citizens). The photographs must be in the Joint Photographic Experts Group (JPEG) format and meet specific resolutions (600 pixels high by 600 pixels wide), color depths (24-bit color) and kilobytes (maximum 240 KB) requirements. If a photograph print is scanned, the print must be two inches square and be scanned at a resolution of 150 dots per inch and with specific color depths. If the digital image does not conform to the specifications, the application will be automatically disqualified.

Applicants will be selected at random by computer from among all qualified entries. Those selected will be notified only by mail between May and July 2010 and will be provided further instructions, including information on fees connected with immigration to the U.S. Persons not selected will NOT receive any notification. DV-2011 visas will be issued between October 1, 2010 and September 30, 2011.

No fee is charged to enter the annual DV program. The U.S. Government employs no outside consultants or private services to operate the DV program. Any intermediaries or others who offer assistance to prepare submissions for applicants do so without the authority or consent of the U.S. Government. Use of any outside intermediary or assistance to prepare a DV entry is entirely at the applicant's discretion. A qualified entry submitted electronically directly by an applicant has an equal chance of being selected by the computer at the Kentucky Consular Center as does an entry submitted electronically through a paid intermediary who completes the entry for the applicant.

The new immigration laws carry heavy penalties for visa overstays.  Those who have overstayed their visa by 6 months, may face a 3 year bar upon their departure from the United States, if they have overstayed for one year or more, they may face a 10 year bar. Successful lottery applicants who are undocumented in the US must be processed for a visa at a US Consulate abroad under current laws. Departing the US will trigger the 3 or 10 year bars making them ineligible for a visa. Undocumented lottery winners with a relative petition or an employer labor certification pending before April 30, 2001, may be eligible to be interviewed in the United States under Section 245(i), provided they have not triggered the 3/10 year bars by leaving the US.

Inquiries may be made to the EIIC at their Woodside, Queens’s office at (718) 478-5502 or at their Woodlawn, Bronx office at (718) 324-3039 or on the EIIC website www.eiic.org.  Both centers along with the Aisling Center on McLean Avenue (914) 237-5121 in Yonkers are currently scheduling DV applications.

EIIC PUBLIC IMMIGRATION INFORMATIONAL SEMINARS

Wednesday, November 4th                        7:00 – 8:30 pm

            QUEENS                               Emerald Isle Immigration Center, Woodside office

                                                                59-26 Woodside Avenue, Woodside, NY

Thursday, November 12th                           7:00 – 8:30pm                                   

                BRONX                 Emerald Isle Immigration Center, Woodlawn office

                                                                4275 Katonah Avenue, Bronx, NY

Thursday, November 19^th             7:00 – 8:30pm                                   

                BROOKLYN                         St. Patrick’s Church, Archway Room

                                                                9511 4^th Avenue, Bayridge, NY

The DV-2011 lottery application period starts this Friday at noon.

Instructions and requirements: Download DV-2011Instructions

The official government website to apply for the lottery is http://www.dvlottery.state.gov/ 

The online entry registration period for the DV-2011 Diversity Visa lottery is between noon, Eastern Daylight Time (EDT) (GMT-4), Friday, October 2, 2009, and noon, Eastern Standard Time (EST) (GMT-5), Monday, November 30, 2009. Entrants apply on Form DS-5501, Electronic  Diversity Visa Entry Form available only during the DV open registration period.

Review the DV-2011 Instructions for more information.

NEWS RELEASE – September 9, 2009
CONTACT:   Alicia Maxey Greene  212-335-9400

Manhattan District Attorney Robert M. Morgenthau announced today the indictment and arrest of a Queens man for defrauding individuals by falsely holding himself out as an attorney, purporting to provide immigration legal services and advice, and selling a forged Social Security card.

The defendant, ROBERT MANGIERI, 68, has been indicted on charges of scheme to defraud, grand larceny, criminal possession of a forged instrument and practicing or appearing as an attorney-at-law without being admitted and registered. The crimes charged in the indictment occurred between December 2003 and September 2008.

The investigation leading to today’s indictment and arrest revealed that MANGIERI operated Mangieri & Associates, with offices at 3001 Broadway in Astoria and 8260 116th Street in Richmond Hill.  MANGIERI purported to offer assistance with applications and petitions pending with the United States Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS).

The investigation further revealed that a victim sought help from MANGIERI to file appropriate paperwork to remain and work legally in the United States.  After charging the victim several hundred dollars and assuring her his fee was lower than one she could expect from other attorneys, MANGIERI guided her through the filing of several applications with USCIS, including an application for employment authorization.  MANGIERI sent USCIS the victim’s employment authorization application directly, along with a letter written on paper bearing the letterhead Hon. Robert P. Mangieri and signed the Hon. Robert P. Mangieri.  USCIS denied the victim’s application for work authorization.  The victim, who was in the United States on a visitor’s visa, did not qualify for employment authorization, as she did not have an application for a green card pending with USCIS.  After the victim’s application for employment authorization was denied, MANGIERI offered to and ultimately did procure a forged Social Security card with the victim’s Tax Identification Number on it.  During the process of applying to USCIS and after several applications had been denied, MANGIERI asked for more money, and the victim doubted him.  To win back her trust, MANGIERI showed the victim what appeared to be a badge, thereby adding to the impression MANGIERI had already created that he was a retired judge or a law enforcement official.  In total, the victim paid MANGIERI approximately $1,300 for his services and for fees MANGIERI claimed were required for filing applications with USCIS.

MANGIERI gave the victim a business card bearing the name “Robert P. Mangieri” above the words “Juris Doctor.”  It also says “Mangieri & Associates,” provides a P.O. Box and a telephone number, and bears an image of the scales of justice.

When MANGIERI offered to procure the Social Security card, the victim contacted Emerald Isle Immigration Center in the Bronx, which referred her to the Manhattan District Attorney’s Immigrant Affairs Program.

MANGIERI is not a licensed attorney. The Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR) confirmed that MANGIERI is not an accredited representative authorized to represent clients before USCIS or the immigration courts.

USCIS confirmed that MANGIERI was involved in filing other applications or the representation of other victims before USCIS.  Those applications were also denied.  We encourage all those who sought services from MANGIERI to contact the Immigrant Affairs Program hotline at 212-335-3600.

MANGIERI has been indicted on one count of Scheme to Defraud in the First Degree, a class E felony punishable by up to 1⅓ to 4 years in prison; one count of Grand Larceny in the Fourth Degree, a class E felony; one count of Criminal Possession of a Forged Instrument in the Second Degree, a class D felony punishable by up to 2⅓ to 7 years in prison; and two counts of Practicing or Appearing As An Attorney-At-Law Without Being Admitted and Registered, a Judiciary Law misdemeanor punishable by up to 1 year in jail.

The investigation is continuing.  The defendant is scheduled to be arraigned today in State Supreme Court, Part 1.

Mr. Morgenthau thanked the Office of Fraud Detection & National Security, New York District, within USCIS; Emerald Isle Immigration Center; and the Fraud and Abuse Prevention Coordinator of the Office of the General Counsel, Executive Office for Immigration Review within the U.S. Department of Justice.

Assistant District Attorney Om Gillett of the Special Prosecutions Bureau is handling the prosecution of this case with the assistance of Assistant District Attorney Daysi Mejia, Attorney-in-Charge of the District Attorney’s Office Immigrant Affairs Program and under the supervision of Assistant District Attorney Thomas Wornom, Chief of the Special Prosecutions Bureau.  Detective Carlo Fargnoli of the District Attorney's Detective Squad assisted in the investigation under the supervision of Sgt. Edward England and Captain Ronald Haas.

 Defendant Information:

ROBERT MANGIERI, 5/20/1941

102 Haney Road

Kunkletown, Pennsylvania

8260 116th Street

Richmond Hill, New York

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