USA Green Card Immigration Blog

Illegal immigration down sharply; immigration hysteria up sharply

USCIS is planning to revise the fees for immigration benefit applications and petitions. It has proposed a federal rule regarding the adjustment of the fee structure. According to the proposed rule, even though there would be a 10 percent weighted average increase in the overall fees for the immigration benefit applications and petitions, the naturalization application fee will in no way be affected. In order to the get the public opinion, the proposed federal rule has been posted to the federal register.

USCIS is primarily funded by the fees paid for applications and petitions by individuals seeking immigration benefits. The fee is accountable for about 90 percent of USCIS’s budget. In order to verify that U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services are not facing any loss of income, review of its fee structure every two years has been made mandatory by the law.

Alejandro Mayorkas, Director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, expressed that USCIS is considerate about the effect of this proposed fee hike on the people. He also added that USCIS is also analyzing other cost cutting measures in order to reduce the impact of the proposed fee increase. Taking into account, the importance of becoming the citizens of the United States and the significant advantage it offers to the nation, the application fee for naturalization has not been increased.

Since the fiscal year 2008, the revenue generated from the fee for immigration benefit applications and petitions has remained low. Although there have been budgets cuts of around $160 million, under the recommendations from Congress, they were not adequate to compensate between the costs and expected revenue. Therefore, altering the fee structure by the proposed rule was inevitable in order to recover the costs.

In the proposed fee structure three new fees are intended to be added. They include a fee for Applications on regional center designations under the Immigrant Investor Pilot Program, a fee for Applications on Civil Surgeon Designation, and a fee to recover the cost involved in processing immigrant visas granted by the Department of State. Further, as the processing costs are low, the processing fees for certain individual applications and petitions will be reduced.
The public views on the proposed rule can be posted through www.regulations.gov till July 26, 2010.

The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) Seoul Field Office commemorated the “Military Appreciation Month” with a naturalization oath ceremony of 81 members of the Yongsan U.S. Army Garrison military community.

Of the 81 members included in this USCIS naturalization ceremony, 57 members belonged to the U.S. armed forces, 22 were spouses, and two were children of members of military located across South Korea.

Kenneth Sherman, USCIS Seoul Field Office Director, after directing the Oath of Allegiance in the citizenship ceremony, stated that though the month of May is dedicated as a mark of respect to the military, it is has always been a priority of USCIS to extend their support to the Military officers and their families every day. He also added that their commitment to defend the United States of America prior to naturalization has only served as an inspiration to ensure that the military community receives quality immigration services in any place they are stationed.

Maj. Gen. Lawrence L. Wells, Deputy Chief of Staff for the United Nations Command and U.S. Forces Korea, said that he felt proud to see the American service men and women administer the Oath of Allegiance during their naturalization oath ceremony while they already serve the U.S armed forces. The army personnel who were naturalized belonged to 30 different countries. More than 59,300 service personnel have been naturalized since September 2001 where 889 became citizens in ceremonies held in South Korea.

The National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2004 has facilitated persons serving in the military to become citizens of United States even while they are in service at a foreign nation. Prior to this, the military service members were to be present in the United States for the naturalization ceremony to take place.

On January 15, 2010, Janet Napolitano, Secretary of Department of Homeland Security (DHS) publicized a rule of DHS’s longstanding policy. This policy was announced to honor the men and women who are bravely serving in the armed forces of the United States. In addition, the DHS also considered the importance of updating and reforming the citizenship process of the members.

The secretary stated that the strong base of the national security was built by the patriotic service and unselfish sacrifices of the men and women of the armed forces. Speeding up the citizenship process will definitely show the country’s dedication and tribute to the new citizens (men and women of armed forces) who have come from various parts of the globe to serve the country.

In order to receive naturalization through military service, the time requirement was reduced from three years to one year for the applicants who served in time of peace. This rule was recompensed with DHS regulations and conformed to the National Defense Authorization Act, 2004. On the other hand, the Reserve of the Ready Reserve of the U.S. Armed Forces can have extended benefits. According to the rule, selected members who served in active-duty status or in the Selected Reserve of the Ready Reserve for any time from September 11, 2001, can apply for citizenship.

The members of the military need not file biographic information forms (Form G-325B) along with their naturalization applications. It helps in removing administrative repetitions and to increase efficiency for the workers who lost their lives in order to safeguard the nation.

Receiving naturalization is becoming a citizen of the country, DHS has a procedure and provides different forms (eg. N-600K, N-400K etc.) to receive naturalization for different age group. The Department of Homeland Security helps you in U. S. immigration and citizenship process required for members of the military and their families.

For the first time ever, the 2010 census will take the indigenous immigrants into account. Indigenous immigrants — the Native Americans of Mexico and Central America, usually have a hard time describing themselves on the U.S census forms. This is because their ancestry can cover multiple census categories, and they must also overcome a significant language barrier and a mistrust of government. The indigenous immigrants are discriminated in their home country for their origin and in USA for their immigration status. The 2010 census will tally all the indigenous immigrants, and will give a clear picture of the growing segment of the indigenous immigrant population.

Michele Lowe, spokesperson of the census bureau has said that in the 2010 Census, the bureau will tabulate handwritten entries specifying whether the respondent belongs to a Central American indigenous group such as Maya, Nahua, Mixtec, or Purepecha. The list of different populations that end up being counted will be made public when results are released in 2011. This will give a complete portrait of the American people. The 2010 census will show us that there are a lot of indigenous immigrants in America.

An accurate count of the indigenous immigrants in the 2010 census is very essential to themselves and to the federal government for allocating funds to the state and local governments. The indigenous immigrant population speaks many different languages making it hard to campaign for the 2010 survey. But several, Indigenous organizations are working independently within their communities to dispel the hesitation and encourage participation in the 2010 census survey through organizing workshops, public forums, flyers, and radio broadcasts. Jonathan Fox, a professor of Latin American and Latino Studies at the University of California, Santa Cruz states that “more indigenous migrants are willing to come out in public and claim their ethnic identity.”

‘Virtual’ Immigration Continued Rising During Recession – Real Time Economics – WSJ.

The global economic downturn spurred declines in physical immigration — the movement of people across borders — in 2008 and 2009. But a new Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas report says “virtual” immigration — moving the work rather than the workers — continued to grow.

“Most likely, the difference stems from the jobs the two types of immigrants typically do,” authors Michael Cox, Richard Alm and Justyna Dymerska write in the Dallas Fed’s Economic Letter. “Physical immigrants work in construction and other highly cyclical industries. Virtual immigrants are more likely to work in the services economy. It has traditionally been less sensitive than goods to cyclical fluctuations, largely because services aren’t subject to the kind of inventory bulges that make goods production unstable.”

Still, virtual immigration increased at a slower pace during the downturn. “Hard times might pressure companies to cut costs, quickening offshoring’s pace,” they write. “At the same time, companies might pull back on offshoring because of cuts in IT budgets and plentiful labor close to home.”   For instance, India’s exports in software and IT services are forecast to continue expanding. But the projected growth rate of 17% for 2009 is less than half the pace of the prior four years.

In July 2008, the Los Angeles County had brought into effect strict federal verification rules to scrutinize documents submitted by the beneficiaries covered under Medi-Cal, the public healthcare program for low-income residents. These rules were enforced not only to deny health insurance to illegal immigrants, but also to ensure that legal citizens are covered under its umbrella. This check is done by verifying the documents submitted by people who apply for the healthcare policy. These documents should prove their citizenship or legal status.

Leonardo Rincon, a health worker in Los Angeles, and his colleagues have initiated the verifying procedure in their county. According to Deborah Walker, the Medi-Cal director, they haven’t yet identified any illegal immigrant who has been enjoying the benefits as a legal resident. Between July 2008 and February 2009, only less than 1% of the applicants had not submitted the necessary documents, which they eventually did produce. Even among new Medi-Cal applicants, cases of fraudulent entry were very few.

A few healthcare officials feel that the amount of fund and time invested in this verification is not offering any payback. There is also an on-going debate on curtailing new public health benefits to illegal immigrants. US citizens have access to full public health benefits, while illegal immigrants are entitled only to pregnancy and emergency care.

Members of Congress have suggested a few guidelines to improve the verification method. Applicants have to produce photo identification proof or biometric ID cards. Other methods include checks with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s immigration database and so on.

The purpose of implementing strict immigrant verification process is to discourage illegal immigrants from availing health benefits, which in turn would save huge amounts of money. There are immigrant advocates who agree to the contrary. They feel that these regulations are not cost-effective and also deprive US citizens of their healthcare policy in case they cannot produce relevant documents. Two federal studies validated their point by proving that these rules led to huge administrative costs.

In spite of recession, there has been a constant rise in Massachusetts’s immigrant population. The rise in immigrants in this state is in contrast to the national trend, which shows a decrease in foreign-born residents after so many decades.

According to the 2008 American Community Survey conducted by the Census Bureau on 3 million households nationwide, the number of immigrants rose to 937,200 last year from 913,957 the previous year, States such as California, Florida, and Rhode Island on the other hand, have seen a decrease in the immigrant population.

So the increase in the immigrant population in the Bay State, though a modest 2.5%, has bewildered researchers and advocates. In Framingham alone, the rise in immigrants was almost a quarter of the total town’s population, much to the surprise of researchers.

Researchers have put across various theories to explain this trend. The performance of the state’s economy than other states and the exclusion of the departures from Massachusetts by the survey are some of the reasons cited. Some point out that, immigrants in Massachusetts who account for 14 percent of the state’s population are highly educated and are less likely to leave as they have an advantage even if the economy is not faring well.

Moreover, the population of illegal immigrants is also very less when compared to other states. Only one in five Massachusetts immigrants is here illegally. This is well below the national average of one in three.

Other reason for the immigrant influx in Massachusetts is the welcoming environment. For instance, Governor Deval Patrick has ordered a yearlong study on ways to integrate immigrants.

Andrew Sum, director of the Center for Labor Market Studies at Northeastern University is of the opinion that the availability of work was one of the main reasons that immigrants stayed in Massachusetts.

Illegal Immigration from Mexico Hits Lowest Level in Decade – WSJ.com.

The recession in the US has impacted the flow of Mexican illegal immigration into the United States over the past year, but there is no evidence to suggest that the rate of return to Mexico by illegals living in the US has increased.

The current Mexican immigrant population in the United States is about 11.5 million, down from an estimated recent high of 12 million.

The trend should not be constrained to Mexican immigration alone.  Immigration flows across the globe have been affected by the global economic downturn.

Annual immigration to the US has ebbed and flowed through the years, with the most recent drop (by one third) occurring after the September 11th terrorist attacks.