Translate

Thank You USCIS Representatives!

Emerald Isle Immigration Center

would like to send its sincerest thanks to

USCIS Representatives

for their informative session

“Becoming a U.S. Citizen”

VIEW PHOTOS OF THE EVENT (pdf)

Also thanks to the
Honorable Council Member

James Van Bramer
and our
NY Cares Tutors
for all their time and support

Fall 2010 Seminar/Webinar Calendar – Immigrant Legal Resource Center

The Immigrant Legal Resource Center (ILRC) announces 2010 Fall Seminar & Webinar schedule. Webinars create a convenient learning environment and to reach out to the legal/immigration community outside of California.

Fall 2010 Seminar & Webinar Calendar

See entire calendar & register:

www.ilrc.org/seminars

New! You can now purchase webinar recordings on CDs that can be viewed on your computer!

Seminars:

Introduction to Deportation Defense (San Francisco): September 20, 2010, 2:00 pm – 5:00 pm

Essential Elements of Immigration Law: (San Francisco): September 29, October 6, 13, 20, 27, & November 3, 2010, 3:30 pm – 7:00 pm

Webinars:

Intercountry Adoptions: September 15, 2010, 10:00 am – 11:30 am PDT

Motions to Reopen: September 16, 2010, 12:00 pm – 1:30 pm PDT

Good Moral Character in Naturalization Cases: October 8, 2010, 12:00 pm – 1:30 pm PDT

BIA Jurisdiction: October 14, 2010, 12:00 pm – 1:30 pm PDT

Advanced Webinar on Waivers in Consular Processing with a Focus on Ciudad Juárez: October 21, 2010, 12:00 pm – 2:00 pm PDT

U Visa Webinar Series:

Assisting Family Members through the U Nonimmigrant Status Process: September 30, 2010, 12:00 pm – 1:30 pm PDT

Traveling with a U Visa: October 28, 2010, 12:00 pm – 1:30 pm PDT

Addressing Inadmissibility Issues for U Nonimmigrants: December 2, 2010, 12:00 pm – 1:30 pm PST

U Visa Removal Issues: December 9, 2010, 12:00 pm – 1:30 pm PST

Employees of California IOLTA organizations: Contact Sai Suzuki at ssuzuki@ilrc.org to receive an IOLTA registration form.

What is a Webinar?

A webinar is a web conference system that allows you to join ILRC trainings from the convenience of your own office via the telephone and internet. You simply dial a conference call number and click on a web link provided by the ILRC, and you will be able to learn by listening to the instructor’s lecture and watching the computer screen simultaneously.

For more details & questions:

Contact 415-255-9499 x789 or seminars@ilrc.org.

Fees for 90-day visa waiver visitors starting September 8th

Printer Friendly Version Of:
http://www.cbp.gov/xp/cgov/newsroom/news_releases/national/08062010_2.xml
 

DHS, CBP Announce Interim Final Rule For ESTA Fee
08/06/2010

Washington — U.S. Customs and Border Protection today announced an interim final rule that amends Department of Homeland Security regulations to require travelers from Visa Waiver Program (VWP) countries to pay operational and travel promotion fees when applying for an Electronic System for Travel Authorization (ESTA) beginning September 8.

A fee of $4 will recover the costs incurred by CBP of providing and administering the ESTA system and is in addition to the mandatory $10 travel promotion fee established by the Travel Promotion Act of 2009, enacted as Section 9 of Public Law 111-145, the United States Capitol Police Administrative Technical Corrections Act of 2009. The total fee for a new or renewed ESTA will be $14.

All payments for electronic travel authorization applications must be made by credit card or debit card when applying for or renewing an ESTA. ( ESTA – the Official U.S. Government Web Site ) The ESTA system currently accepts only the following credit/debit cards: MasterCard, VISA, American Express, and Discover. Your application will not be submitted for processing until all payment information is received.

DHS published a notice of the interim final rule in the Federal Register today and will accept comments through October 8. Collection of the fees will begin for ESTA applications filed on or after September 8.

ESTA is an electronic travel authorization that all nationals of VWP countries must obtain prior to boarding a carrier to travel by air or sea to the United States under the VWP. This travel authorization has been mandatory since Jan. 12, 2009.

ESTA applications may be submitted at any time prior to travel. Once approved, authorizations are generally valid for multiple entries into the U.S. for up to two years or until the applicant’s passport expires or other specific circumstances give rise to a need to reapply, whichever comes first. Under the new interim final rule, travelers with an approved ESTA will not need to pay the ESTA fees when updating an ESTA application. However, travelers with new passports and re-applying for an ESTA will need to pay the ESTA fees.

Citizens interested in commenting on this rulemaking—identified by docket number USCBP-2010-0025—may submit written comments by visiting the Federal eRulemaking Portal and following the instructions for submitting comments or by mail at: Border Security Regulations Branch, Office of International Trade, Customs and Border Protection, (Mint Annex), Washington, D.C. 20229. ( Regulations.gov )

The VWP is administered by DHS and enables eligible nationals of 36 designated countries to travel to the United States for tourism or business for stays of 90 days or less without obtaining a visa. Additional information regarding the VWP is available on CBP.gov. ( Visa Waiver Program ) For more information about ESTA, please visit CBP.gov. ( Electronic System for Travel Authorization )

U.S. Customs and Border Protection is the unified border agency within the Department of Homeland Security charged with the management, control and protection of our nation’s borders at and between the official ports of entry. CBP is charged with keeping terrorists and terrorist weapons out of the country while enforcing hundreds of U.S. laws.

DV-2011 Lottery Results

The results of the latest round of the DV lottery were released with the July Visa Bulletin.

All applicants selected will be notified by mail. They can also check online to see if they were picked by going to www.dvlottery.state.gov and entering the applicant’s Confirmation Number from the online application receipt, their Last Name/Family Name, and Year of Birth in order to check the status online. It says that results will be posted online after July 1st but it looks active right now.

Results for Ireland are:

Ireland:                201

N. Ireland:           38

DIVERSITY VISA LOTTERY 2011 (DV-2011) RESULTS

The Kentucky Consular Center in Williamsburg, Kentucky has registered and notified the winners of the DV-2011 diversity lottery.  The diversity lottery was conducted under the terms of section 203(c) of the Immigration and Nationality Act and makes available *50,000 permanent resident visas annually to persons from countries with low rates of immigration to the United States.  Approximately 100,600 applicants have been registered and notified and may now make an application for an immigrant visa. Since it is likely that some of the first *50,000 persons registered will not pursue their cases to visa issuance, this larger figure should insure that all DV-2011 numbers will be used during fiscal year 2011 (October 1, 2010 until September 30, 2011).

Applicants registered for the DV-2011 program were selected at random from over 12.1 million qualified entries (16.5 million with derivatives) received during the 60-day application period that ran from noon on October 2, 2009, until noon, November 30, 2009.  The visas have been apportioned among six geographic regions with a maximum of seven percent available to persons born in any single country.  During the visa interview, principal applicants must provide proof of a high school education or its equivalent, or show two years of work experience in an occupation that requires at least two years of training or experience within the past five years.  Those selected will need to act on their immigrant visa applications quickly.  Applicants should follow the instructions in their notification letter and must fully complete the information requested.

Registrants living legally in the United States who wish to apply for adjustment of their status must contact U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services for information on the requirements and procedures.  Once the total *50,000 visa numbers have been used, the program for fiscal year 2011 will end.  Selected applicants who do not receive visas by September 30, 2011 will derive no further benefit from their DV-2011 registration.  Similarly, spouses and children accompanying or following to join DV-2011 principal applicants are only entitled to derivative diversity visa status until September 30, 2011.

Only participants in the DV-2011 program who were selected for further processing have been notified.  Those who have not received notification were not selected.  They may try for the upcoming DV-2012 lottery if they wish.  The dates for the registration period for the DV-2012 lottery program will be widely publicized during August 2010.

* The Nicaraguan and Central American Relief Act (NACARA) passed by Congress in November 1997 stipulated that up to 5,000 of the 55,000 annually-allocated diversity visas be made available for use under the NACARA program.  The reduction of the limit of available visas to 50,000 began with DV-2000.

The following is the statistical breakdown by foreign-state chargeability of those registered for the DV-2011 program:

AFRICA
ALGERIA 1,753
ANGOLA 55
BENIN 508
BOTSWANA 13
BURKINA FASO 183
BURUNDI 72
CAMEROON 3,674
CAPE VERDE 26
CENTRAL AFRICAN REP. 18
CHAD 59
COMOROS 7
CONGO 144
CONGO, DEMOCRATIC
REPUBLIC OF THE 2,575
COTE D’IVOIRE 759
DJIBOUTI 45
EGYPT 4,251
EQUATORIAL GUINEA 13
ERITREA 851
ETHIOPIA 5,200
GABON 41
GAMBIA, THE 72
GHANA 6,002
GUINEA 701
GUINEA-BISSAU 5
KENYA 4,689
LESOTHO 11
LIBERIA 1,826
LIBYA 114
MADAGASCAR 55
MALAWI 33
MALI 88
MAURITANIA 25
MAURITIUS 61
MOROCCO 2,003
MOZAMBIQUE 2
NAMIBIA 13
NIGER 89
NIGERIA 6,000
RWANDA 204
SAO TOME AND   PRINCIPE 0
SENEGAL 427
SEYCHELLES 4
SIERRA LEONE 3,911
SOMALIA 201
SOUTH AFRICA 963
SUDAN 1,156
SWAZILAND 4
TANZANIA 174
TOGO 1,011
TUNISIA 132
UGANDA 490
WESTERN SAHARA 0
ZAMBIA 128
ZIMBABWE 163
ASIA
AFGHANISTAN 97
BAHRAIN 15
BANGLADESH 5,999
BHUTAN 5
BRUNEI 5
BURMA 367
CAMBODIA 434
HONG KONG SPECIAL
ADMIN. REGION 43
INDONESIA 205
IRAN 2,819
IRAQ 147
ISRAEL 129
JAPAN 298
JORDAN 136
NORTH KOREA 2
KUWAIT 88
LAOS 3
LEBANON 214
MALAYSIA 133
MALDIVES 4
MONGOLIA 279
NEPAL 2,189
OMAN 3
QATAR 9
SAUDI ARABIA 91
SINGAPORE 35
SRI LANKA 515
SYRIA 132
TAIWAN 365
THAILAND 77
TIMOR-LESTE 0
UNITED ARAB   EMIRATES 66
YEMEN 95
EUROPE
ALBANIA 1,469
ANDORRA 0
ARMENIA 1,268
AUSTRIA 147
AZERBAIJAN 355
BELARUS 1,104
BELGIUM 94
BOSNIA & HERZEGOVINA 67
BULGARIA 950
CROATIA 97
CYPRUS 11
CZECH REPUBLIC 111
DENMARK 66
Greenland 1
ESTONIA 72
FINLAND 87
FRANCE 767
French Guiana 0
French Polynesia 13
French Southern &
Antarctic Lands 1
Guadeloupe 0
Martinique 0
New Caledonia 9
Reunion 0
St. Pierre & Miquelon 0
GEORGIA 699
GERMANY 1,895
GREECE 62
HUNGARY 272
ICELAND 48
IRELAND 201
ITALY 450
KAZAKHSTAN 370
KOSOVO 134
KYRGYZSTAN 196
LATVIA 122
LIECHTENSTEIN 1
LITHUANIA 262
LUXEMBOURG 3
MACEDONIA 263
MALTA 1
MOLDOVA 894
MONACO 0
MONTENEGRO 5
NETHERLANDS 139
Aruba 6
Netherlands
Antilles 16
NORTHERN IRELAND 38
NORWAY 66
PORTUGAL 61
Macau Special Admin.
Region 5
ROMANIA 821
RUSSIA 2,464
SAN MARINO 0
SERBIA 327
SLOVAKIA 125
SLOVENIA 14
SPAIN 219
SWEDEN 187
SWITZERLAND 195
TAJIKISTAN 257
TURKEY 2,266
TURKMENISTAN 135
UKRAINE 6,000
UZBEKISTAN 5,091
VATICAN CITY 0
NORTH AMERICA
BAHAMAS, THE 18
OCEANIA
AUSTRALIA 683
Christmas Island 0
Cocos Islands 0
FIJI 476
KIRIBATI 9
MARSHALL ISLANDS 6
MICRONESIA, FEDERATED   STATES OF 0
NAURU 7
NEW ZEALAND 333
Cook Islands 0
Niue 8
PALAU 2
PAPUA NEW GUINEA 4
SAMOA 0
SOLOMON ISLANDS 3
TONGA 51
TUVALU 4
VANUATU 1
WESTERN SAMOA 13
SOUTH AMERICA, CENTRAL AMERICA, AND THE CARIBBEAN
ANTIGUA AND BARBUDA 1
ARGENTINA 134
BARBADOS 12
BELIZE 12
BOLIVIA 90
CHILE 63
COSTA RICA 50
CUBA 406
DOMINICA 29
GRENADA 5
GUYANA 36
HONDURAS 61
NICARAGUA 74
PANAMA 31
PARAGUAY 14
SAINT KITTS AND NEVIS 6
SAINT LUCIA 27
SAINT VINCENT AND   THE GRENADINES 21
SURINAME 9
TRINIDAD AND   TOBAGO 145
URUGUAY 23
VENEZUELA 752

Natives of the following countries were not eligible to participate in DV-2011:  Brazil, Canada, China (mainland-born, excluding Hong Kong S.A.R. and Taiwan), Colombia, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, India, Jamaica, Mexico, Pakistan, Peru, the Philippines, Poland, South Korea, United Kingdom (except Northern Ireland) and its dependent territories, and Vietnam.