Emerald Isle Immigration Center

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.

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 1^st 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:

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.

Emigration on rise to US and Britain

JAMIE SMYTH Social Affairs Correspondent

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2010/0505/1224269734931.html

Wed, May 05, 2010

THE NUMBER of Irish people emigrating to the US increased by 12 per cent last year despite a significant drop in the number of temporary visitors from Ireland.

There was also a slight increase in the number of people from the Republic registering to live and work in Britain in 2009, according to immigration figures compiled by the US and British authorities.

Some 1,637 Irish people were granted legal permanent residence in the US in 2009, up from 1,465 a year earlier. The vast majority (1,066) were granted residence on the basis of having an immediate relative with US citizenship. A further 494 people gained residence on the basis of employment, according to the US department of homeland security.

The rise in emigration to the US mirrors recorded increases in emigration to Canada and Australia in 2009, which experienced 13 per cent and 25 per cent jumps respectively in the number of residence visas issued to Irish nationals.

Figures published by the British department for work and pensions show there was a 7 per cent rise in the number of Irish people registering to work in Britain in the first nine months of 2009.

Some 8,620 people were issued national insurance numbers in Britain up to the end of September, compared to 7,990 in the same period a year earlier. The vast majority of those who registered to work (7,380 people) were between the ages of 18 and 34.

Peter Hammond, director of the London Irish Centre, said there was probably a slight increase in the numbers of Irish people arriving, but it was nothing like the situation in the recession of the 1980s, when there were larger numbers of Irish emigrants.

“People who come here are finding it difficult enough to get work. It’s important to realise the streets of London are not paved with gold,” he said.

Crosscare Migrant Project, which provides advice to people considering emigration, said temporary options of travelling to Australia and Canada continued to be more popular than the US, which has a more cumbersome visa application procedure.

“There continue to be general inquiries about the US but it is simply not as accessible as Canada and Oz for young people who are interested in taking a year or two out doing casual work,” said Joe O’Brien of Crosscare.

Some 18,400 Irish nationals emigrated in the year to April 2009. The Economic and Social Research Institute predicts this trend will continue during 2010 and 2011, with a further 100,000 people leaving the country to travel or find a job.

Despite the increase in emigration the overall number of people travelling to the US for tourism or business fell by 103,893 to 526,017 in 2009. The number of students taking part in exchange visits to the US fell to 11,402 in 2009, down from 13,721 a year earlier. There was also an 11 per cent fall in the number of Irish temporary workers and their families entering the US during 2009.

Usit said the number of J1 visas issued in 2009 was down on the previous year.

“There was probably not one dominant factor but a squeeze on discretionary spending here and the fact that many Irish students may not have wanted to lose their existing part-time jobs by travelling to the US are factors,” said Seona MacRéamoinn of Usit.

Joanne Richardson, chief executive of the American Chamber of Commerce in Ireland, said the recession was clearly affecting tourism and business travel.

© 2010 The Irish Times