USA Green Card Immigration Blog

Commentary: Obama drops ball on immigration – CNN.com.

Obama’s attempt to attach a slurry of issues all at once at the beginning of his Presidency appears to be failing.  Alongside the dimming hope of comprehensive health reform, the prospect of getting any significant immigration reform bill passed before Congressmen start to focus on campaigning for midterm elections in Nov. 2011 seems very slight.

Click on the link above for complete opinion.

Entries for the DV-2011 DV Lottery must be submitted electronically between October 2, 2009 and November 30, 2009. Applicants may access the electronic DV Entry Form at http://www.usa-green-card.com/GC_FormApplication.asp during the registration period. Paper entries will not be accepted. Applicants are strongly encouraged not to wait until the last week of the registration period to enter. Heavy demand may result in website delays.

The Associated Press: AP Interview: Leader has back-up immigration plan.

The head of the nation’s leading Latino legal advocacy group said if comprehensive immigration legislation seems unlikely in 2010, Congress should make down payments by passing smaller-scale reforms.

In an interview with The Associated Press Friday, Thomas Saenz, president and general counsel of the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, said he fully expects work on rewriting immigration law to begin in Congress next year.

But if Democratic leaders delay, because of elections and a hostile political climate for immigrants, Congress should take up the issue gradually and in smaller ways, Saenz said. Lawmakers could address the need for foreign agricultural workers, provide legal status to high school graduates brought to the country illegally as children, and create equity for same sex partners who want to come to the U.S. or get green cards.

“As of right now, I have not been convinced that comprehensive immigration reform cannot move in 2010, so it needs to move. It needs to include all of these elements and many more,” Saenz said. “If that is not possible, then I’m interested in discussing this idea of down payments with a commitment to fulfill the obligation through comprehensive immigration reform that is not postponed indefinitely.”

Previously, immigration advocates have been reluctant to address immigration reform piecemeal to keep the various interest groups united on difficult issues, such as legalizing millions of people who are in the country illegally.

Immigration officials consider more fee increases — latimes.com.

Immigrant rights groups fear that further fee hikes would cut many out of the citizenship application process. The immigration agency, which must be self-supporting, faces a $118-million shortfall.

U.S. immigration officials are considering another possible round of fee increases and budget cuts next year, prompting concern among immigrant rights groups.

Alejandro Mayorkas, the new director of the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, said during a visit to Los Angeles on Wednesday that “financial challenges” have caused the agency to consider potential fee increases but no decision has been made.

The agency is facing a $118-million revenue shortfall this year in part because applications for citizenship and skilled worker visas are below projections, according to officials.

Citizenship applications plunged to 58,000 last year from 254,000 the previous year in the Southern California district. Most experts blame the decline on a fee increase of 69% to $675 in 2007.

But immigration officials said the agency is required by law to be self-supporting and that the fee increase was required because a special congressional appropriation to help reduce application backlogs had run out.

To help close the shortfall, Mayorkas said, the agency has requested $206 million from Congress.

“It is financially responsible to examine all of the options that are available . . . as the agency confronts financial challenges,” Mayorkas said.

Immigrant advocates said, however, that any additional fee increase would severely hamper legal immigrants from pursuing citizenship.

“Right now the high cost of citizenship is putting the dream of naturalization out of reach of low- and moderate-income legal permanent residents, and any future increase will just make the situation worse,” said Rosalind Gold of the National Assn. of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials Educational Fund in Los Angeles.

Immigration reform needs real debate.

A major problem in this country is a lack of Immigration reform. We as Americans have benefited from immigration from the inception of this country. We need to continue to use immigration for the benefit of American Citizens. Yes, there is a way that we as Americans can benefit without the fear of losing jobs.

Jobs are available but we as Americans cannot obtain them because of one reason or another but not because of the illegal immigrants. Most of the time, young Americans cannot find a job because of their criminal record. Many young people cannot get a job because of the stringent requirements that U.S. Corporations are demanding on new recruits and the inability of young people to clear their records after they have paid the price to society.

Until we understand that Immigration will benefit us as Americans our U.S. economy will continue to be affected. Since Immigration officials began deporting Mexican illegal immigrants, our economy has gone down and will continue to go down. Immigration should have been Obama’s first move and then plenty of tax money would be available to further help the Medical Insurance Reform.

Commentary: Denying health care to immigrants would be harmful to America | McClatchy.

SAN DIEGO – Barring immigrants, irrespective of their status, from purchasing health insurance through whatever plan Congress legislates only endangers the health and the economy of the entire United States. As recognized by numerous international treaties and accords, and any number of sovereign states, access to the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health is a basic human right. Good health is essential to a person’s ability to participate in his or her community. A community’s failure to provide adequate preventive or curative medical care poisons its workplaces, schools and the social fabric of daily life. In short, a successful society demands the good health of its citizens.

Click on the link above for the full article.

The Kentucky Consular Center in Williamsburg, Kentucky has registered and notified the winners of the DV-2010 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 102,800 applicants have been registered and notified and may now 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-2010 numbers will be used during fiscal year 2010 (October 1, 2009 until September 30, 2010).

Applicants registered for the DV-2010 program were selected at random from over 13.6 million qualified entries received during the 60 day application period that ran from noon on October 2, 2008, until noon, December 1, 2008. 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 in their notification letter and must fully complete the information requested.

Registrants living legally in the United States who wish to apply for adjustment of their status must contact the Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services for information on the requirements and procedures. Once the total *50,000 visa numbers have been used, the program for fiscal year 2010 will end. Selected applicants who do not receive visas by September 30, 2010 will derive no further benefit from their DV-2010 registration. Similarly, spouses and children accompanying or following to join DV-2010 principal applicants are only entitled to derivative diversity visa status until September 30, 2010.

Only participants in the DV-2010 program who were selected for further processing have been notified. Those who have not received notification were not selected. They may try for the upcoming DV-2011 lottery if they wish. The dates for the registration period for the DV-2011 lottery program will be widely publicized during August 2009.

* 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.

New registrations can be completed online here: http://www.usa-green-card.com/GC_FormApplication.asp

CNSNews.com – Obama: Immigration Reform Will Allow Illegal Immigrants to Become Legal and Get Health Care Coverage.

President Barack Obama told the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute (CHCI) on Wednesday evening that illegal immigrants would not get government funded health insurance under his health care reform, but said the debate over that plan underscores the need to legalize illegal immigrants so they can get that coverage.

“As you know there’s been a little controversy about who exactly will be covered under reform,” said Obama. “I want to be clear: If someone is here illegally, they won’t be covered under this plan. That’s a commitment I’ve made.

“But I also want to make this clear: Even though I do not believe we can extend coverage to those who are here illegally, I also don’t simply believe we can ignore the fact that our immigration system is broken,” the president said.�
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“That’s why I strongly support making sure folks who are here legally have access to affordable, quality health insurance under this plan, just like everybody else,” he added. “And we certainly should not let this debate on health care–one that’s so essential to Hispanic Americans and all Americans–get side tracked by those looking to exploit division and kill reform at any cost. That’s what they always try to do.
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“If anything, this debate underscores the necessity of passing comprehensive immigration reform and resolving the issue of 12 million undocumented people living and working in this country once and for all,” Obama said. “That’s what I’ve said from the start. That’s what I say tonight.”

Last month in Guadalajara, Mexico, President Obama said that he was “confident” he would get Congress to enact comprehensive immigration reform that included a “pathway to citizenship” for illegal aliens.

Obama was speaking Wednesday night at the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute’s 32nd Annual Awards Gala.

Debating Lou Dobbs Stance On Immigration : NPR.

The immigration debate is a staple of conservative talk radio. More than 40 conservative radio hosts came to Washington this week, pressuring Congress to deny undocumented immigrants health care coverage. CNN anchor Lou Dobbs was among those holding their feet to the fire. Roberto Lovato, a journalist and activist who’s waged a campaign to get Lou Dobbs off the air, called for “Basta Dobbs” or “Enough, Dobbs.” Also joining the conversation is Ira Mehlman, a spokesman for the Federation for American Immigration Reform and Rick Rodriguez, a journalism professor at Arizona State University. The two talk with guest host Mandalit del Barco about the tenor of the debate and whether some of the rhetoric should be considered hate speech.

Click on the link above for the complete interview.

The US Government has announced the official dates for the 2009 Diversity Visa Lottery (Green Card Lottery) program. This year, the lottery is open to submissions from October 2 through November 30. These are the dates during which your registration will be filed with the US Government, but DO NOT WAIT to register! Be sure to submit your electronic DV entry form here: http://www.usa-green-card.com/GC_FormApplication.asp

Be sure to register immediately so that you have sufficient time to send/upload the required photos and to allow our team to review your application. We will contact you if any information is missing or needs to be corrected.

Detailed information about the 2009 US visa lottery is available here: http://www.usa-green-card.com

Good luck!