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U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) seeks public comments on a proposed rule published in the Federal Register today that would enable USCIS to process certain applications approved between 1995 and 1998 by immigrant investors under the fifth preference employment-based immigrant visa classification, also known as EB-5.

The proposed rule would implement provisions of the 21st Century Department of Justice Appropriations Authorization Act. These provisions apply to a group of immigrant investors who had a Form I-526, Immigrant Petition by Alien Entrepreneur, approved between Jan. 1, 1995, and Aug. 31, 1998.

Specifically, the rule would enable USCIS to process cases for approximately 580 principal immigrant investors and their dependents whose Forms I-526 were approved during the period described above and who, prior to Nov. 2, 2002, sought to:
Register for permanent residence or adjust their status (using Form I-485); or
Remove conditions on permanent residence obtained as an alien entrepreneur (using Form I-829).

The processes outlined in the proposed rule would provide an additional two-year period for most of these immigrant investors to meet the EB-5 investment and job-creation requirements. This rule would not impact any other applications or petitions filed under the EB-5 program.

EB-5 visas are available to immigrants seeking to enter the United States to invest capital in a commercial enterprise that will create at least 10 full-time jobs for qualifying U.S. workers. The public has 60 days—from Sept. 28 to Nov. 28, 2011—to submit comments on this proposal, which is available for review at www.regulations.gov.

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Prime Minster David Cameron announced that the Foreign and Commonwealth Office will be expanding its diplomatic presence in Canada by upgrading the UK Trade & Investment office in Calgary to a full Consulate-General next summer.

Speaking during his press conference in Ottawa, UK Prime Minister David Cameron said:
“Clearly in trade and investment, we are both massive investors in each other’s countries. The trade links are already very strong, but I always believe it’s with your best customers you can do even more business.”
Dr. Andrew Pocock, UK High Commissioner to Canada said:
“We are committed to refreshing and deepening our relationship with Canada, building on our existing close links. A clear indication of how highly we value the relationship is that we will be expanding our diplomatic presence there, upgrading the UKTI office in Calgary to a full Consulate-General. This will be our fourth Consulate-General in Canada – as well as the High Commission in Ottawa”.

Alberta is Canada’s third largest economy and has led Canadian growth for 20 years. Please note that consular services will continue to be provided for Alberta out of the Vancouver Consulate General.

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Australia’s seaports are more secure than ever before, highlighted by the Department of Immigration and Citizenship’s grant this week of the millionth maritime crew visa (MCV).

“This is an impressive milestone given that the department first introduced the MCV on 1 January 2008,” a departmental spokesman said.

Since its introduction, all foreign shipping crew are required to apply for the visa, which involves a formal visa application process.

This process strengthens border protection at Australian ports by allowing for security checking as with other temporary entrants. Prior to the MCV’s introduction, crew accessed special purpose visa arrangements that did not involve a formal application process.

“The MCV is specifically for crew entering by sea and allows multiple entries during its three-year life. Visa holders are then permitted to continue work in relation to the usual operational requirements of the ship while they are in Australia,” the spokesman said.

The top nationalities using the visas include Filipino, Chinese, Indian, Indonesian and Ukrainian. In an average month, up to 20 000 MCVs are granted.

“The MCV scheme has maintained an impressive compliance rate of 99.8 per cent since its inception. This is testament to the support the visa has had from the shipping industry, crew manning agents, shipping operators and foreign crew themselves,” the spokesman said.

More than 60 per cent of maritime crew visas are applied for and granted online, while about 40 per cent are referred to the department’s global processing centre for additional manual assessment and processing.

Major factors that have contributed to the overall success of the MCV include the streamlined application form and processing arrangements, the absence of an application fee and the timeliness of decision-making. Most electronically lodged applications are finalised within a few days, if not immediately upon receipt.

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The U.S. immigration agency is enforcing a new set of rules that can make life harder for Americans and their non-citizen spouses living overseas.

The new process of obtaining an immigrant visa increased from three months to a minimum of five. Sometimes it may take as long as three years, The New York Times reported on Aug. 14.

Ukraine is no exception. Americans married to Ukrainians residing in their home country will have to go through a long and complicated visa process if they decide to leave. The U.S. Embassy in Ukraine estimates that the rule will affect approximately 5,000 Americans internationally.

In an effort to centralize the process, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security now requires applicants abroad to mail the visa document called I-130 to a central immigration office in Chicago, whereas before it was enough to contact a local consulate.

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Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov, who is visiting New York to attend the 66th session of UN General Assembly, and his Colombian counterpart Maria Angela Holguin Cuellar have signed a package of bilateral agreements.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan informs that the package composes an agreement on the exchange of visa requirements for holders of diplomatic, official and service passports as well as the memorandum on the introduction of a mechanism of political consultations between Foreign Affairs Ministries of Azerbaijan and Colombia.

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The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine has approved an intergovernmental agreement between Ukraine and Serbia waiving mutual visa requirements for short-term stays in these countries.

The cabinet’s resolution is dated September 21, according to the government’s Web site.

The agreement between the governments of Ukraine and Serbia on visa-free travel for citizens of both countries was signed in Kyiv on May 31, 2011.

According to the document, citizens of Ukraine can stay in Serbia for up to 30 days without visas. The same applies to Serbs visiting Ukraine.

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The U.S. Department of Labor’s Employment and Training Administration today announced a 60-day postponement of the effective date for the final rule concerning the wage methodology for the temporary nonagricultural employment H-2B program. The delay will permit the various courts involved in ongoing litigation surrounding the implementation of the rule to determine the appropriate venue for the resolution of all claims and allow the department to avoid the possibility of administering the H-2B program under potentially conflicting court orders.

In consideration of these pending challenges, the department determined under Section 705 of the Administrative Procedure Act that the interest of justice would be served by postponing the effective date of the rule from Sept. 30, 2011, until Nov. 30, 2011. A Federal Register notice to that effect will be published next week.

The H-2B program allows the entry of foreign workers into the U.S. when qualified U.S. workers are not available and the employment of foreign workers will not adversely affect the wages and working conditions of similarly employed U.S. workers. The H-2B program is limited by law to a cap of 66,000 visas per year.

The department published a final rule on Jan. 19, 2011, that revised the wage methodology for the H-2B program and set the effective date of the wage rule as Jan. 1, 2012. On June 16, 2011, in response to a challenge, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania invalidated that date and ordered the department to announce a new effective date within 45 days.

In response to that court’s order, the department issued a notice of proposed rulemaking on June 28, 2011, which proposed that the wage rule take effect 60 days from the date of publication of a final rule. After a period of public comment, the department published a final rule on Aug. 1, 2011, which set the new effective date for the wage rule as Sept. 30, 2011, without altering the substance of the rule.

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Britain could be the first country in the European Union that will introduce passports which do not contain details of the holder’s sex. The move has been proposed because some people have not yet decided whether they are male or female. This is a cause for worry for them at the airports’ border control.

The Liberal Democrats party that has lost its supporters is seems to have invented a method to leave its trace in the country’s history. The coalition government decided to introduce amendments to the passports of Britons on the initiative of the Liberal Democrats.

The citizens of Britain are issued dark red passports, which are like the Russian ones in colour, to travel abroad. Like in passports of all European states, it also has notification of the holder’s sex. Politicians insist on abolishing this information. The column “sex” will remain but instead of M for male and F for female there will be simply a cross. The Liberal Democrats believe this move will defend the rights of people who are undergoing a sex change operation or who have both male and female sexual organs. These people have to inscribe all these intimate details to border guards, who sometimes cannot grasp how this is possible when a woman is standing before them and hands over her passport with a photograph of a male. Although the number of such people is not so high, the Liberal Democrats suggest introducing a gender-free passport for all citizens unexceptionally.

Some officials of the Home Office oppose the move saying that the British border guards, who are working under constant tension owing to terrorist threats in the country, will have to do additional work with the identification of the personality. However, the supporters of the new move insist that details of the passport holder’s sex are not important at all. They point to the identity card issued to all British servicemen, which contains all details of its holder but no information about the holder’s gender.

According to the Home Office officials, no final decision has been taken yet about the amendments to the passport.

In fact, they will have an opportunity to study how this innovation has materialized in the former British colony, Australia. The holder of an Australian passport can write x – unidentified gender on the column of sex or ordinary identification male or female. This is a responsibility of a citizen and his physician because surgery to change the sex is unnecessary to make amendments to passport details. According to the clergy, the innovation not only defies Divine law but also commonsense.

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U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), marking a significant milestone in its efforts to provide relief to victims of crimes, has for the second straight year approved 10,000 petitions for U nonimmigrant status, also referred to as the U-visa.

On an annual basis, 10,000 U-visas are set aside for victims of crime who have suffered substantial mental or physical abuse and are willing to help law enforcement authorities investigate or prosecute crime.

“Providing immigration protection to victims of crime and their families while aiding law enforcement efforts to bring criminals to justice is of the utmost importance to the Agency and the public we serve,” said USCIS Director Alejandro Mayorkas.

Due in large part to public education and partnerships forged with law enforcement agencies and service providers, USCIS reached the statutory maximum of 10,000 U-visas per fiscal year for the second year in a row since it began approving petitions for them in 2008. It is a significant milestone for the program created by Congress to strengthen law enforcement’s ability to investigate and prosecute cases of domestic violence, sexual assault, human trafficking, and other crimes while at the same time offering protection to victims of such crimes. More than 45,000 victims and their immediate family members have received U-visas since the implementation of this program.

As part of this effort, USCIS adjudications officers have traveled to 30 cities, including Boston, Philadelphia, Seattle and Los Angeles to train federal, state and local law enforcement and immigrant-serving organizations on immigration protections available to immigrants who are victims of human trafficking, domestic violence and other crimes.

USCIS will continue to accept and adjudicate new U-visa petitions, and will resume issuing U-visas on Oct. 1, 2011, the first day of fiscal year 2012.

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In recognition of Constitution Day and Citizenship Day on Sept. 17, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) will welcome more than 27,000 new American citizens during 285 naturalization ceremonies held across the country and around the world during the week of Sept. 15. As part of this celebration, USCIS is again partnering with the National Park Service (NPS) to hold naturalization ceremonies at 14 national park sites across the country.

“Each year on Constitution Day and Citizenship Day, we commemorate the signing of the U.S. Constitution and what it means to be a citizen of this great nation,” said USCIS Director Alejandro Mayorkas. “We continue to be enriched by our diversity and united by our shared respect for the foundational rights and responsibilities enshrined in the Constitution.”
To introduce our newest citizens to the natural wonders and treasured historic sites across our great country, USCIS and NPS have partnered again this year to hold naturalization ceremonies at NPS sites across the country.

The capstone ceremony will take place on Sept. 23 at the Washington Monument in Washington, D.C. In addition, this year’s celebration includes a ceremony at Federal Hall in New York City, where George Washington took his oath of office as the first President of the United States, and at Yosemite National Park in California, one of America’s first wilderness parks. Other national park ceremonies will include Fort Vancouver National Historic Site in Washington state, the Roger Williams National Memorial in Providence, R.I., and Point Reyes National Seashore in California.

“I can’t think of places more appropriate to welcome our newest citizens than national parks,” said NPS Director Jonathan Jarvis. “National parks preserve significant natural resources and cultural heritage sites, and are places where one can learn about and reflect on the American identity and the responsibilities of citizenship.”
USCIS will also host ceremonies at Golden Hall in San Diego, the National Archives in Atlanta and Boston, and the Campbell Heritage Theater in California, in addition to a military naturalization ceremony on the USS North Carolina in Wilmington, N.C.