What to do if you are detained by Immigration!
USCIS Reaches FY 2009 H-1B Cap
WASHINGTON – U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced today that it has received enough H-1B petitions to meet the congressionally mandated cap for fiscal year 2009. USCIS has also received more than 20,000 H-1B petitions filed on behalf of persons exempt from the cap under the “advanced degree” exemption. Before running the random selection process, USCIS will complete initial data entry for all filings received during the filing period ending on April 7, 2008. Due to the high number of petitions, USCIS is not yet able to announce the precise day on which it will conduct the random selection process.
USCIS will carry out the computer-generated random selection process for all cap-subject petitions received. USCIS will select the number of petitions needed to meet the caps of 65,000 for the general category and 20,000 under the “advanced degree” exemption limit. USCIS will reject, and return filing fees for all cap-subject petitions not randomly selected, unless found to be a duplicate. USCIS will handle duplicate filings in accordance with the interim final rule published on March 24, 2008 in the Federal Register.
The agency will conduct the selection process for “advanced degree” exemption petitions first. All “advanced degree” petitions not selected will be part of the random selection process for the 65,000 limit.
Related Files · Update (25KB PDF)
Update on Green Cards issued by INS between 1979 & 1989
New proposed regulations issued recently by the United States Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS) will require lawful permanent residents with green cards without expiration dates (i.e. issued between 1979 and 1989) to apply to replace them. In 1995, the then INS required that all green cards issued before 1979 (also, without expiration dates) be replaced immediately. Also, all lawful permanent residents are required to update their address with the USCIS if they have moved since their green card was issued.
Please check your green cards and call us at either of our offices if you have any additional questions.
We suggest that residents with those old editions of green cards either immediately apply for naturalization, if they are otherwise eligible, or file an I-90 application to renew their green card now before the surge of applications when the proposed rule becomes final.
The Emerald Isle Immigration Center (EIIC) is a private, not-for-profit organization dedicated to providing services to Irish and other immigrants to the United States. Our services include immigration counseling, citizenship counseling, education, employment and computer training.
Note: our Seniors (60+) Introduction to Computers class has space available for Spring 2008.
For further details for Woodside class availability call 718/478-5502 and ask for Maire Kerins for Woodlawn call 718/324-3039 and speak to Lisa McGovern.
The EIIC is an initiative of the Irish American communities of New York.
February 10, 2008
Woodlawn
By JAMES ANGELOS
IN the north Bronx neighborhood of Woodlawn, where it seems every storefront is adorned with a shamrock, there has been talk lately that the Irish may be coming back.
In recent years, many Irish immigrants returned to Ireland, drawn by a rapid economic expansion there that began during the 1990s and provided additional work opportunities. Stricter immigration laws in the United States after 9/11 helped drive away many of the undocumented.
But some signs suggest that the trend may be reversing.
“There’s been a renewed interest in people coming back,” said Siobhán Dennehy, executive director of the Emerald Isle Immigration Center of New York, whose offices are in Woodlawn and in Woodside, Queens, another Irish stronghold.
In the past two months, she has noticed more new immigrants coming in to inquire about apartments and job opportunities, she said. Many of the recent arrivals had lived in New York but returned to Ireland within the past few years, with the intention of remaining. As the Irish economy slowed recently, however, and with the cost of living there high, they are returning.
Danny Moloney, the owner of Liffey Van Lines, a mover, has also seen changes. This month, his company is serving six families who are moving to the New York area from Ireland. Six months ago, Mr. Moloney said, he knew of no one making the move.
Although a recent article on the subject in The Irish Voice has been the talk of Woodlawn, not everyone is convinced that the numbers are rising.
“I haven’t seen this new wave everyone’s been talking about,” a waitress at Eileen’s Country Kitchen, a busy restaurant on McLean Avenue, just beyond the city line, said in a brogue as she poured coffee for a customer one recent Monday afternoon. “If there had been new faces in town, I would have seen them.”
But across the street at the Butcher’s Fancy, at least one new face was in evidence, that of Ryan McDade, a 21-year-old with blue eyes and an easy smile, who was standing behind the counter in a white butcher’s coat, cleaning a deli slicer. With the rare benefit of a green card, he arrived from Northern Ireland in September. There, he had been a welder, working mostly on fences and gates, but a slowdown in building caused work to dry up.
“There was nothing for me there,” Mr. McRae said. As to the future of Irish immigration to New York? “They’ll be coming back,” he said, “because there is no work left in Ireland.”
© Copyright 2007 - The New York Times Company
October 26, 2007 – For Immediate Release
The diversity visa lottery application period is currently open again for those who are eligible and interested in applying for a green card. For the fourth year, applications will only be accepted online via the U.S. Department of State website at www.dvlottery.state.gov.
Emerald Isle Immigration Center is once again appealing to potential applicants to plan early again this year. The DV Lottery website can get frozen the closer we get to the deadline of December 2, 2007. Regretfully we will be unable to accommodate last minute walk-ins during the final week of the DV Lottery.
Each year, 50,000 green cards are made available through a lottery system to individuals who come from countries with low rates of immigration to the United States. The State Department's National Visa Center holds the annual lottery and chooses winners randomly from about 6 to 8 million qualified entries. About 100,000 entries are notified and given the opportunity to apply for permanent residence. If permanent residence is granted, then the individual, their spouse and any unmarried children under the age of 21 will be authorized to live and work permanently in the United States.
Only natives of certain countries are eligible to apply for the green card lottery. Those born in the following countries are not eligible to apply for the DV-2009 lottery because a total of more than 50,000 immigrants came from these countries to the U.S. in the previous five years: Brazil, Canada, China (mainland-born), Colombia, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, India, Jamaica, Mexico, Pakistan, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Russia, South Korea, United Kingdom and its dependent territories (except Northern Ireland) and Vietnam. Persons born in Hong Kong SAR, Macau SAR and Taiwan are eligible. An applicant may, however, claim the country of birth of their spouse, if eligible, or of either parent if they were born in a country of which neither of their parents was a native or a resident at the time of their birth.
All applicants also must have a high school diploma or the equivalent, defined in the United States as the successful completion of a 12-year course of elementary and secondary education or they must have two years of work experience within the last five years in an occupation that requires at least two years of training or experience to perform. Entries for the DV-2009 diversity visa lottery must be submitted electronically from noon on Wednesday, October 3, 2007 until noon on Sunday, December 2, 2007. Applicants may access the electronic diversity visa entry form at www.dvlottery.state.gov only during the 60-day registration period beginning October 3rd. Paper entries will not be accepted. All entries by an applicant will be disqualified if more than one entry for the applicant is received, regardless of who submitted the entry. Applicants may prepare and submit their own entries, or have someone submit the entry for them. The Department of State will send DV lottery entrants an electronic confirmation notice upon receipt of a correctly completed Electronic Diversity Visa Entry Form.
Applicants must also attach separate digital photographs of themselves, their spouses and unmarried children less than 21 years of age (except children who are already permanent residents or U.S. citizens). The photographs must be in the Joint Photographic Experts Group (JPEG) format and meet specific resolutions (320 pixels high by 240 pixels wide), color depths (24-bit color, 8-bit color or 8-bit grayscale) and bytes (maximum 62,500 bytes) requirements. If a photograph print is scanned, the print must be two inches square and be scanned at a resolution of 150 dots per inch and with specific color depths. If the digital image does not conform to the specifications, the application will be automatically disqualified.
Applicants will be selected at random by computer from among all qualified entries. Those selected will be notified only by mail between May and July 2008 and will be provided further instructions, including information on fees connected with immigration to the U.S. Persons not selected will NOT receive any notification. DV-2009 visas will be issued between October 1, 2008 and September 30, 2009.
No fee is charged to enter the annual DV program. The U.S. Government employs no outside consultants or private services to operate the DV program. Any intermediaries or others who offer assistance to prepare submissions for applicants do so without the authority or consent of the U.S. Government. Use of any outside intermediary or assistance to prepare a DV entry is entirely at the applicant's discretion. A qualified entry submitted electronically directly by an applicant has an equal chance of being selected by the computer at the Kentucky Consular Center as does an entry submitted electronically through a paid intermediary who completes the entry for the applicant.
The new immigration laws carry heavy penalties for visa overstays. Those who have overstayed their visa by 6 months, may face a 3 year bar upon their departure from the United States, if they have overstayed for one year or more, they may face a 10 year bar. Successful lottery applicants who are undocumented in the US must be processed for a visa at a US Consulate abroad. Departing the US will trigger the 3 or 10 year bars making them ineligible for a visa. Undocumented lottery winners with a relative petition or an employer labor certification pending before April 30, 2001, may be eligible to be interviewed in the United States under Section 245(i), provided they have not triggered the 3/10 year bars by leaving the US.
Inquiries may be posed to the EIIC at their Woodside, Queens’s office at (718) 478-5502 or at their Woodlawn, Bronx office at (718) 324-3039 or on the EIIC website www.eiic.org. Both centers along with the Aisling Center on McLean Avenue (914) 237-5121 in Yonkers are currently scheduling DV applications.
>>DV Lottery 2009/General Immigration Information
>>EIIC Public Immigration Seminars
October 9, 2007 – For Immediate Release
Over the past three weeks, the Emerald Isle Immigration Center has received countless calls from friends and families of individuals who have been detained by Homeland Security and are in the process of being deported.
These are all tragic circumstances and highlight the plight of the undocumented in our community and the urgent need for immigration reform. Until there is any change, we should be reminded of the risks our community faces with any travel in the US and with any encounter with law enforcement authorities, including during traffic stops. The reality remains that travel within the US is not without risk. That risk increases the closer you travel to the border with Canada or Mexico and especially if you are within 100 miles of that border, the current law permits ICE to demand proof of ANYONE’S legal status within the US. The best way to prevent these situations is to pay strict attention to obeying local traffic laws and avoid unnecessary confrontation with authorities.
"Many of our undocumented community have entered the US on the Visa Waiver program, explained Siobhan Dennehy, Emerald Isle Immigration Center’s Executive Director " and actually, what that waiver means is that if you have overstayed, you have waived your rights to a defense for your overstay in front of an Immigration Judge and that if caught, you will be automatically deported. This applies to everyone who signs that green visa waiver form upon entry to the US.
We are typically contacted in the midst of these proceedings and at that point, there is little (if anything that can be done) other than contact the Irish government representative for the region and ensure that they get in touch with the Irish national being detained. Additionally, we can provide the family and friends with a referral for a local immigration representative to seek a bail bond if possible and expedite the deportation proceedings.
We would encourage anyone detained by the Department of Homeland Security to contact a local Immigration center to get the name of a reliable Immigration Attorney who will handle deportation cases and be able to make a referral to an AILA (American Immigration Lawyers Association) attorney qualified to deal with the case depending on the region involved. It has been our experience, that once detained a person in deportation proceedings might have to wait anywhere from two to eight weeks before they are flown home.
We will be addressing these issues along with the DV Lottery and changes to Drivers Licenses legislation with our annual Immigration community outreach meetings starting November 5th @ 7pm at St. Barnabas Cafeteria on 413 E. 241st/McLean Ave. Please check out our website for additional locations and times as they are determined.
For further details contact:
Siobhan Dennehy, Executive Director 718/478-5502 Ext. 206
John Stahl Esq, Immigration Attorney 718/478-5502 Ext. 201
