Resident Nonimmigrant Population in the U.S.

The Department of Homeland Security recently released a report, “Estimates of the Size and Characteristics of the Resident Nonimmigrant Population in the United States: January 2012.”

 

It analyzes the size and characteristics of resident “nonimmigrants” in the U.S.  in terms of variables such as age, country of origin, and type of visa. Nonimmigrants are defined as foreign-born nationals with a visa as opposed to permanent residents, tourists or business travelers.

 

The report showed:

• A total of about 1.9 million nonimmigrants lived in the U.S. in 2012.
• Majority of them (80%) were between the ages of 18 and 44.
• About half of the resident nonimmigrants (980,000) were citizens of Asian countries, including India (23% or 430,000), China (11% or 210,000), South Korea (8% or 140,000) and Japan (5% or 90,000).
• The largest categories (45% or 840,000) were temporary workers and their families and students (38% or 720,000) and their families.
• Nearly 50% of the students were citizens of China (22%), India (14%) or South Korea (13%).
• Their top destination states were California, New York, Texas, Florida, and Massachusetts.

Starting June 1, USCIS will limit the validity period for all Forms I-693 to 1 year from the date of submission to USCIS.

In the email sent by USCIS earlier today (May 30, 2014), it was incorrectly stated that starting today, USCIS will limit the validity period for all Forms I-693, Report of Medical Examination and Vaccination Record, to one year from the date of submission to USCIS.

The correct date is June 1, 2014.

Starting June 1, 2014, USCIS will limit the validity period for all Forms I-693, Report of Medical Examination and Vaccination Record, to one year from the date of submission to USCIS. Applicants must also submit Form I-693 to USCIS within one year of the immigration medical examination.

USCIS will also provide additional ways to submit Form I-693. As outlined in policy alert PA-2014-005, this updated policy applies to any Form I-693 supporting a benefit application that USCIS adjudicates on or after June 1, 2014.

USCIS will hold an engagement on June 12, 2014 to address questions about the new policy and provide guidance on filing Form I-693. The Form I-693 has been updated on their website.

For more information, please visit http://go.usa.gov/8y9d

Hilary Clinton, "a Huge Supporter" of Immigration Reform and Her Promise to Push Comprehensive Immigration Reform

Hilary Rodham Clinton, the former secretary of state, said that she was a strong supporter of comprehensive immigration reform and the path to citizenship for the nation's 11 million unauthorized immigrants.  "I'm a huge supporter of immigration reform and a path to citizenship and will continue to advocate for that," said Clinton.


At an event hosted by the Clinton Foundation Thursday, Clinton was asked by a 19-year old woman, an undocumented immigrant, what she would do about immigration.
The young woman explained that her family had illegally brought her to the US from Croatia when she was five-years-old.  "It's been very hard ... because I don't have the documentation to get a job, to vote—which is essential obviously to women representation—to buy an apartment, to take out a loan to go to college, so I couldn't even go to my dream college because of that, to get no financial aid."


Clinton responded, "I believe strongly that we are missing a great opportunity by not welcoming people like you and 11 million others who have made contributions to our country, into a legal status so you don't have to worry, you can go to school, you can work, you can pursue your dreams."  Clinton made it clear that reforming the broken system would be one of her priorities.  She is “strongly in favor” of the bipartisan immigration bill passed in the Senate and that it is “a big missed opportunity for our country” that the House has not yet taken up the legislation.


Clinton has also supported the Obama administration's deferred action initiative for young unauthorized immigrants who would benefit from congressional approval of Dream Act legislation.


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Poll Shows Wide Support for Immigration Reform

According to the poll released by POLITICO, voters showed broad support for comprehensive immigration reform, even among Republicans.  64% of GOP respondents said they want comprehensive reform, compared with 78% of Democrats and 71% of independents.  The POLITICO poll is just the latest in a long line of national surveys that has found wide support for immigration reform.

Congress has not been able to get nothing done on legislations since the Senate passed its bill last June.  Overall, only 12% of those respondents in the POLITICO survey said they "strongly oppose" the reform.  Hispanics and Latinos "strongly supported" comprehensive reform while 85% of those respondents said it was "important" and 53% said it was "very important."  Most of the opposition was from Republican conservatives and Tea Party members.

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Immigration Legislation: Deadline is this August??

According to Florida Rep., Mario Diaz-Balart, the deadline to pass immigration legislation is this August. Diaz-Balart is part of the effort to develop an immigration bill that could pass the House.


Diaz-Balart told CQ Roll Call at the Congressional Hispanic Leadership Institute's awards gala that "the legislative process in essence, frankly, has to work on deadlines.  There's a deadline.  And the deadline is that if we don't get it done by August, it doesn't happen."


"If Congress doesn't act by the August break, the president is going to do something.  And once that happens, two things happen... No. 1 is that the possibility of any further negotiations - of any - disintegrate" said Diaz-Balart.


Diaz-Balart feels optimistic that it will get done because he "thinks most people in the House understand that what we have is unacceptable" and "if we don't get it done by this August, it just doesn't get done."


He cautioned that an immigration overhaul still faces an uphill climb to pass the House.  However, "I wouldn't be working hard at it if I didn't think there was a legitimate chance of getting it done," he stated.

Leaving the Country without Obtaining Advance Parole

Advance Parole is most commonly used when someone has pending Form I-485 (application to register permanent residence or to adjust status).  If you depart the United States while your I-485 application is still pending without first obtaining Advance Parole, your case will be denied unless you fit into a narrow exception for those maintaining certain nonimmigrant status.


If you have an emergency and need to leave the United states without having advance parole, what can you do?


If you experience an extremely urgent situation where you need to leave the country, you may visit your local USCIS office to request an emergency advance parole document.  When visiting a field office to request emergency advance parole, please bring the following items:

• A completed and signed Form I-131 (Application for travel document)
• The correct I-131 filing fee, or receipt of a pending Form I-131, if already filed
• Evidence to support the emergency request (e.g. medical documentation, death certificate)
• Two passport-style photographs

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Spouses of H-1B Holders May Be Able To Work

According to a proposed rule change the Department of Homeland Sec, spouses of H-1B visa holders may be able to receive work authorization in the U.S.  This would remove obstacles for some high-skilled workers to staying in the U.S. 


DHS Deputy Secretary, Alejandro Mayorkas, stated "these steps will help the U.S. maintain competitiveness with other countries in our efforts to attract the best and the brightest high-skilled workers from around the world to support companies here at home.  Businesses continue to need these high-skilled workers, and these rules ensure we do not cede the upper hand to other countries competing for the same talent."


The current regulations do not allow employment authorization to dependents of H-1B highly-skilled non-immigration workers, or H-4 non-immigrants.  This has "long caused difficulties for the spouses of skilled immigrants, mainly from China, India and the Philippines, who are working here on temporary visas known as H-1B.  The spouses, mainly wives, often have skills and education too, but are not authorized to work in the United States, causing their careers to languish" according to the New York Times.


The proposed rule would allow H-4 non-immigrants to request employment authorization as long as the H-1B visa holder has already started the process of seeking lawful permanent residence through employment.




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DV-2015 Winners Announced!

Diversity Immigrant 2015 (“DV-2015”) lottery winners have been notified.
Please check your result!

For DV-2015, approximately 125,514 applicants have been registered and notified. The winners may now make an application for an immigration visa.   50,000 resident visas will be given annually.  The larger figure should insure all DV-2015 numbers will be used since it is likely that some of the first 50,000 persons registered may not pursue their cases to visa issuance.  For the DV-2015, 9,388,986 qualified entries (14,397,781 with derivatives) were received during the 30-day application period.  

Dates for the DV-2016 program registration period will be publicized in the coming month.  Congratulations to the DV-2015 winners!

The following is the statistical breakdown by foreign-state chargeability of those registered for the DV-2015 program:

(source:  http://travel.state.gov/content/visas/english/law-and-policy/bulletin/2014/visa-bulletin-for-june-2014.html )

AFRICA
ALGERIA  3,076	ETHIOPIA  4,988	NIGER  334
ANGOLA  173	GABON  81	RWANDA  690
BENIN  1,758	GAMBIA, THE  110	SAO TOME AND PRINCIPE  0
BOTSWANA  12	GHANA  3,381	SENEGAL  620
BURKINA FASO  390	GUINEA  2,314	SEYCHELLES  9
BURUNDI  188	GUINEA-BISSAU  7	SIERRA LEONE  2,182
CABO VERDE  20	KENYA  3,534	SOMALIA  275
CAMEROON  5,000	LESOTHO  3	SOUTH AFRICA  924
CENTRAL AFRICAN REP.  33	LIBERIA  5,000	SOUTH SUDAN  21
CHAD  99	LIBYA  263	SUDAN  3,484
COMOROS  6	MADAGASCAR  62	SWAZILAND  5
CONGO  243	MALAWI  27	TANZANIA  231
CONGO, DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE  4,943	MALI  123	TOGO  1,824
COTE D’IVOIRE  1,487	MAURITANIA  29	TUNISIA  221
DJIBOUTI  77	MAURITIUS  55	UGANDA  642
EGYPT  4,988	MOROCCO  2,844	ZAMBIA  116
EQUATORIAL GUINEA  14	MOZAMBIQUE  11	ZIMBABWE  249
ERITREA  815	NAMIBIA  19
ASIA
AFGHANISTAN  305	JAPAN  636	QATAR  51
BAHRAIN  12	JORDAN  374	SAUDI ARABIA  517
BHUTAN  45	NORTH KOREA  0	SINGAPORE  47
BRUNEI  0	KUWAIT  241	SRI LANKA  1,303
BURMA  453	LAOS  1	SYRIA  598
CAMBODIA  2,079	LEBANON  408	TAIWAN  498
HONG KONG SPECIAL	MALAYSIA  129	THAILAND  81
ADMIN. REGION  160
INDONESIA  288	MALDIVES  2	TIMOR-LESTE  0
IRAN  4,992	MONGOLIA  186	UNITED ARAB EMIRATES  195
IRAQ  289	NEPAL  4,991	YEMEN  875
ISRAEL  231	OMAN  15
EUROPE
ALBANIA  2,946	GREECE  147	NORTHERN IRELAND  41
ANDORRA  2	HUNGARY  329	NORWAY  49
ARMENIA  2,049	ICELAND  42	POLAND  961
AUSTRIA  134	IRELAND  157	PORTUGAL  82
AZERBAIJAN  454	ITALY  779	Macau  29
BELARUS  1,466	KAZAKHSTAN  772	ROMANIA  1,068
BELGIUM  107	KOSOVO  227	RUSSIA  4,103
BOSNIA & HERZEGOVINA  171	KYRGYZSTAN  403	SAN MARINO  0
BULGARIA  1,418	LATVIA  92	SERBIA  399
CROATIA  87	LIECHTENSTEIN  3	SLOVAKIA  110
CYPRUS  32	LITHUANIA  287	SLOVENIA  11
CZECH REPUBLIC  125	LUXEMBOURG  0	SPAIN  393
DENMARK  65	MACEDONIA  436	SWEDEN  217
ESTONIA  71	MALTA  16	SWITZERLAND  194
FINLAND  88	MOLDOVA  2,809	TAJIKISTAN  528
FRANCE  816	MONACO  1	TURKEY  3,688
French Polynesia  11	MONTENEGRO  16	TURKMENISTAN  191
Saint Martin  1	NETHERLANDS  151	UKRAINE  4,679
St. Pierre & Miquelon  2	Aruba  5	UZBEKISTAN  4,368
GEORGIA  804	Curacao  13	VATICAN CITY  0
GERMANY  1,354	Sint Maarten  1
NORTH AMERICA
BAHAMAS, THE  14
OCEANIA
AUSTRALIA  1,798	MICRONESIA, FEDERATED STATES OF  6	SAMOA  32
Christmas Island  1	NAURU  19	SOLOMON ISLANDS  3
Cocos Islands  1	NEW ZEALAND  589	TONGA  123
Norfolk Island  12	Cook Islands  14	TUVALU  1
FIJI  857	Niue  3	VANUATU  7
KIRIBATI  6	PALAU  6
MARSHALL ISLANDS  1	PAPUA NEW GUINEA  20
SOUTH AMERICA, CENTRAL AMERICA, AND THE CARIBBEAN
ANTIGUA AND BARBUDA  6	DOMINICA  5	SAINT KITTS AND NEVIS  7
ARGENTINA  109	GRENADA  8	SAINT LUCIA  18
BARBADOS  15	GUATEMALA  86	SAINT VINCENT AND THE GRENADINES  7
BELIZE  3	GUYANA  53	SURINAME  11
BOLIVIA  69	HONDURAS  165	TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO  193
CHILE  37	NICARAGUA  54	URUGUAY  20
COSTA RICA  72	PANAMA  19	VENEZUELA  1,556
CUBA  1,480	PARAGUAY  6