Recent News Items

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services remind certain travelers to they must obtain Advance Parole before traveling abroad. Individuals who have (1) been granted Temporary Protected Status; (2) a pending application for adjustment of status to lawful permanent resident; (3) a pending application for relief under section 203 of the Nicaraguan Adjustment and Central American Relief Act (NACARA 203); (4) pending asylum application; or (5) a pending application for legalization must ask for permission to reenter the United States after traveling abroad. Advance parole is an extraordinary measure that allows an otherwise inadmissible individual to enter the United States due to compelling circumstances. If travelers attempt to reenter without proper prior authorization; their entry may be blocked and their pending applications denied or closed. Processing for an advance parole can take up to 90 days; therefore applicants must plan ahead and apply early.

Source: U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services

In a measure passed last week by the Senate, U.S. Senators moved to end the practice known as the widow’s penalty. The widow’s penalty is a government practice that revokes foreigner’s applications for permanent residency when their U.S. citizen spouse dies short of the two year marriage anniversary. This measure, if signed into law by President Obama, would allow foreigners married to U.S. citizens for less than two years to submit their own petitions for residency with two years of the spouse’s death. The foreigner spouse can do this as long as he/she has not remarried and can prove a good-faith marriage to the now deceased spouse. The law is retroactive and therefore any immigrant whose spouse died within the two year anniversary, no matter how long ago, will have two years from the time the law is enacted to petition for residency. This law is a relief for many and will prevent unnecessary deportation of many.Source: New York Times 

The U.S. Census counts every resident in the United States, and is required by the Constitution to take place every 10 years. The 2010 Census will help communities receive over $400 billion dollars in federal funds. The data collected by the Census will also determine the number of seats each state has in the U.S. House of Representatives. Earlier last week, Senator David Vitter, a Republican from Louisiana, proposed an amendment that would require the 2010 Census to ask a citizenship question to each resident.

Senator Vitter added this amendment to the Commerce, Justice and Science spending bill and would ban the use and distribution of federal funds if this question is not added to the Census. Senator Vitter’s original question included a question about the resident’s legal status in the United States. Civil rights and lobby groups are working overtime urging Senators to oppose this last minute amendment to the Census. Senator Vitter argues that since data collected from the Census determines redistricting, special care should be given so that only U.S. citizens are counted towards allocating seats in the House of Representatives. Only time will tell whether this immigration question will show up in our census forms in 2010.
 

Source: Census 2010; Shreveport Times

USCIS has always bent backwards to ensure that eligible members of the military have the opportunity to become U.S. citizenship through naturalization. On October 21, 2009, immigration officers naturalized member of the military on aboard a ship in the Pacific Ocean.

USCIS Bangkok District Deputy Director Stacy Strong and Seoul Field Office Director Kenneth Sherman were flown, courtesy the U.S. Navy, to the aircraft carrier USS George Washington so that nine sailors could complete their naturalization process. The two officers conducted interviews and administered the naturalization test to the nine sailors. The sailors originally haled from China, the Dominican Republic, Guinea, Jamaica, the Philippines, and the United Kingdom.

In 2009, officers from the Bangkok District naturalized 640 members of the U.S. armed forces. USCIS has always demonstrated a deep commitment to members of armed services by granting eligible candidates citizenship as quickly as possible.

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services

In a vote that took place today, October 20, 2009, San Francisco's Board of Supervisors changed the city policy that required local law enforcement to contact U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services officials every time a juvenile is arrested on felony charges who they suspect is illegal. The policy took effect in summer of 2008 and since then more than 100 juveniles have been turned over to immigration.  The new policy requires police to notify immigration only after the juvenile is convicted. Since 1989, San Francisco has been known as a sanctuary city for its policy of protecting juvenile offenders. The city’s sanctuary policy has been challenged many times over the last two decades.