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The Emerald Isle Immigration Center's highly qualified staff assists clients in many aspects of immigrant life and law. The EIIC prides itself on the extraordinary services it provides.

The Celtic Cruise Makes Waves

The Hudson River displayed a particularly greenish hue last Wednesday as New York’s Irish came out in force for the “Celtic Cruise,” a fundraising event set up by AOH Division 7’s Celtic Charity to benefit the Emerald Isle Immigration Center- an organization whose fine work in their Queens and Bronx offices has so greatly helped Immigrants on these shores, both new and old alike since its founding in 1988.

Held aboard the glamorous cruiser The Spirit of New York, the attendees were greeted at Pier 62 by a be-kilted Irish bag-piper who played as guests embarked. Once safely aboard, the open bars across three floors of music, food, and free flowing conversation did much to help make this a night to remember for over four hundred passengers who had come out to show their support for a very worthy cause.

With music outside on the top deck provided by the Shay Mac Band, and more musical entertainment coming later from The Chris Kelly Band, The Cunningham Brothers and Celtic Cross, the dance floor saw more than its fair share of jigs and reels as the evening wore on and night began to fall on Manhattan. Crowds took in the sight of the city’s breathtaking skyline from the ships decks with glasses in hand, and even after having taken its happy passengers the length of the Hudson and back for over 3 hours people were reluctant to leave the ship as she began to make her return journey.

As they disembarked, all involved couldn’t help but remark on the cruise being such a huge success. Not only were all aboard suitably entertained, but the reason for the event was never far from people’s minds either, with the Emerald Isle Immigration Center’s Executive Director Siobhan Dennehy remarking how grateful we are to be the beneficiaries of the Celtic Cruise this year as the needs of our programs have grown throughout the recent downturn in the economy and every penny earned will go to protecting our current portfolio of services.

Diversity Visa Lottery 2013 (DV-2013) Results Announced

 

The Kentucky Consular Center in Williamsburg, Kentucky has registered and notified the winners of the DV-2013 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 105,628 applicants have been registered. Applicants may check the status of their entry using the confirmation number through Entrant Status Check on the website www.dvlottery.state.gov. Entrants selected may 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-2013 numbers will be used during fiscal year 2013 (October 1, 2012 until September 30, 2013).

Applicants registered for the DV-2013 program were selected at random from 7,941,400 qualified entries (12,577,463 with derivatives) received during the 30-day application period that ran from noon, Eastern Daylight Time on Tuesday, October 4, 2011, until noon, Eastern Daylight Time on Saturday, November 5, 2011.  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 provided on the website www.dvlottery.state.gov.

Registrants living legally in the United States who wish to apply for adjustment of their status must contact the USCIS for information on the requirements and procedures.  Once the total *50,000 visa numbers have been used, the program for fiscal year 2013 will end.  Selected applicants who do not receive visas by September 30, 2013 will derive no further benefit from their DV-2013 registration.  Similarly, spouses and children accompanying or following to join DV-2013 principal applicants are only entitled to derivative diversity visa status until September 30, 2013.

Dates for the DV-2014 program registration period will be widely publicized in the coming months.  Those interested in entering the DV-2014 program should check the Department of State’s Visa web page for more details in September.

* 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-2013 program:

AFRICA
ALGERIA 2,161 GABON 38 SAO TOME & PRINCIPE 0
ANGOLA 47 GAMBIA, THE 85 SENEGAL 394
BENIN 809 GHANA 5,105 SEYCHELLES 0
BOTSWANA 18 GUINEA 1,350 SIERRA LEONE 2,516
BURKINA FASO 296 GUINEA-BISSAU 25 SOMALIA 197
BURUNDI 94 KENYA 4,410 SOUTH AFRICA 956
CAMEROON 3,858 LESOTHO 6 SOUTH SUDAN 5
CAPE VERDE 25 LIBERIA 1,916 SUDAN 747
CENTRAL AFRICAN REP. 18 LIBYA 138 SWAZILAND 3
CHAD 28 MADAGASCAR 40 TANZANIA 150
COMOROS 8 MALAWI 29 TOGO 1,065
CONGO 156 MALI 80 TUNISIA 145
CONGO, DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE 3,924 MAURITANIA 31 UGANDA 513
COTE D’IVOIRE 805 MAURITIUS 67 ZAMBIA 87
DJIBOUTI 79 MOROCCO 2,068 ZIMBABWE 169
EGYPT 5,015 MOZAMBIQUE 10
EQUATORIAL GUINEA 19 NAMIBIA 21
ERITREA 804 NIGER 53
ETHIOPIA 4,910 NIGERIA 6,218
RWANDA 369
ASIA
AFGHANISTAN 128 ISRAEL 175 OMAN 10
BAHRAIN 15 JAPAN 440 QATAR 24
BHUTAN 4 JORDAN 251 SAUDI ARABIA 287
BRUNEI 8 NORTH KOREA 0 SINGAPORE 31
BURMA 403 KUWAIT 137 SRI LANKA 802
CAMBODIA 986 LAOS 1 SYRIA 170
HONG KONG SPECIAL ADMIN.REGION 92 LEBANON 269 TAIWAN 360
INDONESIA 215 MALAYSIA 67 THAILAND 75
IRAN 6,029 MALDIVES 0 TIMOR-LESTE 1
IRAQ 164 MONGOLIA 167 UNITED ARAB EMIRATES 98
NEPAL 4,370 YEMEN 266
EUROPE
ALBANIA 1,520 GERMANY 1,253 NORTHERN IRELAND 45
ANDORRA 0 GREECE 99 NORWAY 50
ARMENIA 1,174 HUNGARY 246 POLAND 2,038
AUSTRIA 108 ICELAND 38 PORTUGAL 40
AZERBAIJAN 373 IRELAND 138   Macau 2
BELARUS 1,195 ITALY 396 ROMANIA 711
BELGIUM 79 KAZAKHSTAN 533 RUSSIA 2,846
BOSNIA & HERZEGOVINA 54 KOSOVO 183 SAN MARINO 0
BULGARIA 1,299 KYRGYZSTAN 237 SERBIA 303
CROATIA 75 LATVIA 140 SLOVAKIA 100
CYPRUS 10 LIECHTENSTEIN 0 SLOVENIA 5
CZECH REPUBLIC 73 LITHUANIA 248 SPAIN 196
DENMARK 77 LUXEMBOURG 4 SWEDEN 162
  Faroe Islands 9 MACEDONIA 262 SWITZERLAND 131
ESTONIA 47 MALTA 4 TAJIKISTAN 330
FINLAND 72 MOLDOVA 1,330 TURKEY 1,807
FRANCE 549 MONACO 3 TURKMENISTAN 94
  French Polynesia 11 MONTENEGRO 11 UKRAINE 6,424
  New Caledonia 0 NETHERLANDS 109 UZBEKISTAN 5,101
  Saint Barthelemy 4   Aruba 8 VATICAN CITY 0
GEORGIA 723   Curacao 7
  Sint Maarten 2
NORTH AMERICA
BAHAMAS, THE 16
OCEANIA
AUSTRALIA 1,035 NAURU 14 TONGA 91
  Christmas Islands 0 NEW ZEALAND 373 TUVALU 3
  Cocos Island 2   Cook Islands 0 VANUATU 5
  Norfolk Island 4   Niue 7 WESTERN SAMOA 30
FIJI 597   Tokelau 7
KIRIBATI 5 PALAU 1
MARSHALL ISLANDS 0 PAPUA NEW GUINEA 18
MICRONESIA, FEDERATED STATES OF 1 SAMOA 0
SOLOMON ISLANDS 0
SOUTH AMERICA, CENTRAL AMERICA, AND THE CARIBBEAN
ANTIGUA & BARBUDA 3 DOMINICA 17 SAINT LUCIA 19
ARGENTINA 117 GRENADA 18 VINCENT & THE GRENADINES 14
BARBADOS 5 GUYANA 43 SURINAME 4
BELIZE 22 HONDURAS 90 TRINIDAD & TOBAGO 137
BOLIVIA 74 NICARAGUA 65 URUGUAY 15
CHILE 42 PANAMA 31 VENEZUELA 924
COSTA RICA 63 PARAGUAY 8
CUBA 490 SAINT KITTS & NEVIS 5

Natives of the following countries were not eligible to participate in DV-2013:  Bangladesh, Brazil, Canada, China (mainland-born, excluding Hong Kong S.A.R., Macau S.A.R., and Taiwan), Colombia, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, India, Jamaica, Mexico, Pakistan, Peru, the Philippines, South Korea, United Kingdom (except Northern Ireland) and its dependent territories, and Vietnam.

Press Release: President Higgins at Emerald Isle

President Higgins Visits the Emerald Isle Immigration Center in Woodlawn

President Michael D. Higgins visited Emerald Isle Immigration Center on Wednesday May 2nd, accompanied by his wife Sabina, Ambassador Michael Collins and Consul General Noel Kilkenny. He was welcomed by EIIC Chair Brian O’Dwyer, members of the Center’s Board and Staff. Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz greeted the President with a proclamation and declared May 2 “Irish Day” in the Borough.

The President was then introduced to all of the Center’s programs and spoke with many participants and volunteers about the work of Emerald Isle. In these difficult times he was particularly impressed by the work of the Center in alleviating the strain on the most vulnerable members of the community. Addressing the audience, President Higgins said that: “What is important is the kind of solidarity you show; the care, the instinct to look at strangers as someone like yourself.”

President Higgins was presented with a blanket that was made by the Center’s Knitting Group and met with the Gaelic Group. As a fluent gaeilgeoir he held a lively conversation with the group “ as gaeilge”, overcoming the gap between the dialects of Kerry and Connemara. The musical traditions of Ireland were represented by the beautiful singing of Mar y Courtney, who played throughout and was warmly greeted by the President and his wife.

Executive Director Siobhan Dennehy said that “We were thrilled with the opportunity to showcase the work of our staff and we were all delighted to have been part of the President’s inaugural visit to the United States.”

The assembled crowd was addressed by Chair Brian O’Dwyer, President Higgins and Board Member Jim Lombard, who made a presentation to the President. All of the speakers affirmed the importance of the work that the Center is doing, the multicultural nature of the services and the importance of community and hospitality in its work.

Emerald Isle Immigration Center: Drawing from the momentum of the campaign for immigration reform in the 1980’s, Emerald Isle was created to provide an outlet for the Irish community to receive immigration  assistance. The Center has expanded over the years to provide a broad range of services, including immigration, social services and employment programs, to a wide cross-section of the immigrant population in New York and its environs.

The Center has dedicated immigration staff in Queens and the Bronx who assists thousands of immigrants each year, helping them with anything from finding a job on arrival to processing for citizenship. These services are provided for free and are supported by the Government of Ireland’s Emigrant Support Program, the City Council of New York, NY State and the kind donations of many individuals.

Please contact Executive Director Siobhan Dennehy for further details on the event and Emerald Isle’s programs and history.