Immigration Reform

In an effort to deter immigration fraud, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service has revised the Employment Authorization Document or EAD. The new version incorporates a machine-readable zone on the back of the card.

USCIS began issuing the new cards on May 11, 2010. The machine-readable zone is compliant with International Civil Aviation Organization standards. The service has also removed the two-dimensional bar code on the back of the card and moved the informational text beneath the magnetic strip. The revised card continues to retain its existing security features.

Click here to view the new cards.

Last month, the State of Arizona passed the strictest anti-immigrant bill into law. This law makes physical presence in Arizona without the proper papers a criminal offense. There are a lot of things wrong with this piece of legislation but there is one thing Arizona did right. This law has brought immigration to forefront of every discussion. Immigration reform has always been a contentious political issue and therefore every politician has played hot potato with it. Neither side has ever come to the table and discussed the issues fairly and with a goal of reform in mind. This exercise in pushing the constitutional boundaries of State governance has lit the proverbial fire under everyone involved. Young people, elderly, small companies, actors, musicians and even sports personalities have all expressed their opinions on this issue. The American Immigration Lawyers Association has canceled a conference in Arizona that was to be held in late July. The oldest black fraternity, Alpha Phi Alpha, has also moved its conference from Arizona to Las Vegas. The State of Arizona is the black sheep of the family and everyone is trying to teach it a lesson. Unfortunately, not much has been heard from the Capitol. Republicans and Democrats have fired out their opinions on the law but there has yet been a constructive movement towards an amicable solution.

To read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/04/sports/baseball/04rhoden.html

As of this morning, there is a piece of legislature sitting on Governor Jan Brewer’s desk waiting her signature that has the ability to set immigration reform back decades. If she signs this bill into law, she will be responsible for alienating every immigrant, legal or otherwise, residing in this country. One provision of this new law makes the failure to carry your immigration paperwork a state crime. Another gives local law enforcement the power to stop any individual solely for the purpose of verifying their immigration status. Traditionally, the enforcement of U.S. immigration laws has always been under the exclusive jurisdiction of the federal government. This over reaction to the problem of illegal immigration in the State of Arizona will create more problems than it attempts to solve. The law will expand the gap between law enforcement and immigrant communities and create a hostile environment for everyone involved. Leaving local governments to deal with issues created by the federal government is fundamentally unfair. Although, it’s not fair to lay all blame with the government of State of Arizona, the federal government's failure to address this volatile issue has helped create this mess. Local and State governments, especially the ones along the U.S/Mexico border are over burdened with the increasing drug related violence in their jurisdictions. They don’t have the legislative power and/or resources to deal with problems effectively. If corrective measures are taken by the Obama administration soon, it is very likely that similar legislation will spring up in other states as well. Here is hoping that cooler heads will prevail and this bill will suffer a premature death.

To read more see The New York Times

At the Visa Lawyer Group, our attorneys always remain current on developing stories and their impact on immigration laws. We are an immigration law firm that provides legal assistance to clients around the world. Our immigration lawyers can be contacted to work on a variety of immigration related issues. For more information please schedule a free consultation, email us at info@visalawyergroup.com or call us at (845) 353-3500.

U.S. immigration is always a popular topic of discussion. The focus of the discussion is mostly centered on changing the archaic and sometimes contradicting immigration laws embodied in the Immigration and Nationality Act passed by Congress in the late 1990s. The new administration, along with members of Congress make promises to the immigrant communities about reform and a pathway to legalization for the millions of undocumented immigrants in this country. Unfortunately, nothing is said about the system itself, until about two days ago.

The Immigration Commission established by the American Bar Association published a report calling on Congress to overhaul the current court system and create a new, independent immigration court system, similar to tax court in the United States. The American Bar Association is a voluntary, national membership organization for the legal organization. The ABA’s Commission on Immigration focuses on the Association’s efforts to ensure due process and fair treatment to all immigrants and refugees in the United States. The published report describes the current court system and lays out its rationale for a brand new system.

The current immigration court system is not a part of the judiciary; instead it is an administrative style proceeding controlled by the Department of Homeland Security. The immigration judges, sitting on the bench, are essentially employees of the Attorney General. Immigration judges are constantly inundated by a caseload they can barely handle. The American Bar Association proposes that the immigration courts should be independent from the Department of Homeland Security and established under the terms of Article I of the U.S. Constitution. The report also states that the highest judges should be appointed by the President and approved by the Senate. The American Immigration Lawyer’s Association has promised to review the report and the proposed system and provide its feedback.

For more read: http://www.abanet.org/media/nosearch/immigration_reform_executive_summar...

Visa Lawyer Group is an immigration law firm that provides legal assistance to clients around the world. Our immigration lawyers can be contacted to work on a variety of immigration related issues and our US visa lawyers have successfully prepared and filed over 1,000 visa applications with USCIS and U.S. Consulates around the world including but not limited to, India, Jordan, Bosnia, Russia, China, Brazil, Germany and Italy. Please contact them for a free consultation here or at info@visalawyergroup.com and at (845)353-3500. Our immigration and visa lawyers are based in New York with offices in Nyack and Manhattan, New York City.

Talks of immigration reform have always been circling with every new administration and every new session of Congress. Every session, a bunch of Congressmen and Senators get together and introduce a new piece of legislation aiming to reform the currently outdated immigration laws. One such piece introduced in March 2009 is called the Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors Act, more popularly known as the DREAM Act. This Act purports to provide a pathway for legal residency for the thousands of undocumented minors living in the United States. It is a promising piece of legislature if implemented correctly.

The DREAM Act allows undocumented high school graduates with good moral character (which essentially means no criminal background), who arrived in the U.S. as children and have lived here for a continuous period of five years a chance to gain legal status irrespective of their parents’ situation. Qualifying students would receive a six year period, conditional permanent residency status, within which the qualified student must either acquire two years of post-high school education or serve in the uniformed armed services for at least two years. This is an interesting piece of legislation because currently a child who entered the United States with his/her parents can only gain permanent resident status through said parent. With the passage of the Act, hopefully mistakes made by the parents will not be revisited upon their children.