MyUSGreenCard.com Blog

 [Blog Main Page]  [Login]  [RSS]  [Register]

The complexity of the process is one of the reasons that using a registered migration agent or immigration lawyer is a good idea. These professionals are trained and qualified to manage the visa pathway process from beginning to end. Planning: * Decide what visa suits your circumstances; * Ensure you meet relevant conditions of the visa at the time of application, time of grant and throughout the permanent residency period;

* Research or obtain advice about your suitability to meet mandatory criteria of the visa;
* Decide your immigration timeline and have realistic expectations about the turnaround time for a visa grant before the authorities.

(more…)

Many foreigners send remittances to family left behind in their native countries. For some the relatives still back in their home countries, remittances help supplement income, but for others it may be their only source of income. Immigrants recently arrived in the United States and earning relatively low wages tend to send money often and in smaller amounts.

 
They usually send $200 or $300 home on a monthly basis. Foreigners who have been in the United States longer and are better off financially tend to send money less often but in larger amounts. It is estimated that worldwide remittances amount to more than $126 billion. Remittances have become a considerable force in the economy of many countries. Among the countries that receive the most in remittances are Mexico, the Philippines and India. Last year Mexico received more than $17 billion in remittances. The amount of remittances in Mexico exceeds the amount of foreign direct investment in the country. This is not surprising given that a significant portion of Hispanics in the United States are of Mexican descent. Other Latin American countries like El Salvador are popular destinations for remittances. In 2005 approximately $2.5 billion was sent to El Salvador. The amount represented more than 13% of the El Salvador’s GDP or gross domestic product. It is estimated that Latin Americans residing in the United States send $30 billion dollars to their native countries. (more…)

Although it’s a uniquely American holiday, all cultures can appreciate the concept of Thanksgiving: Be thankful for what you have no matter who you are or where you’re from. It’s a simple but effective way for busy Americans to stop and appreciate what’s important.

 
The enthusiasm for the holiday is especially apparent in those who entered as foreigners but now are proud to call themselves Americans.
 
Restaurant owners specializing in cuisine other than American — for example, Chinese, Mexican, French, etc. — often are from the country of origin, and rightfully so. Who better to create the specialties of a specific region? But what do these 21st-century pilgrims make of our day of turkey and what are their Thanksgiving plans?
 
The English touch
 
Heresa Gaffney, owner of the Puddingstone Inn (formerly Larison’s Turkey Farm) in Chester, has been in the United States for 25 years. Her first Thanksgiving was “a very strange celebration,” she said, “because in England, we only eat turkey for Christmas. But it’s very interesting to eat pumpkin pie and sweet potatoes.” (more…)

MIAMI, FL - One prevalent fear of illegal immigrants is deportation. Many have been deported after being detained in an immigration raid or being pulled over for a simple traffic violation.

 
Last month an immigrant couple was pulled over by Miami police for having expired tags on their car. When police discovered they were illegally in the country, they contacted the Immigration and Customs Enforcement or ICE.
 
The couple, Lucia Mendoza-Santoyo and Constantino Vazquez-Tapia, have an 11 year old child and both worked at a plant nursery. They mentioned to ICE officials that they had a child who was under the care of a family member. The uncle who lived with the parents was the one who looked after the child when the parents worked. (more…)

For Mr George Owino, going to America was not his priority, and the thought had not crossed his mind.   “I never applied for the green card by myself. It’s actually my aunt who enrolled my name for the lottery, and I happened to be a lucky winner,” says the University of Nairobi alumnus.

 
Excited, amazed, and even enthusiastic, Mr Owino knew that the green card was a godsend since he had no stable job. Like other Kenyans he thought the US Embassy would automatically offer an air ticket, accommodation and a job once he arrived in the US.
 
“Before I went to the US, I thought it was a country where there is too much money. Next, I thought that if you land in the US you automatically get a job,” he says. “That’s a dream in America. If you work hard, you’ll get what you want and I believe that America is a land of opportunities if you are smart.” (more…)

Prague- U.S. ambassador to the Czech Republic Richard Graber announced that the number of Czech applications for U.S. visas had dropped to 6.7 percent, which might qualify Czechs for inclusion in the U.S. visa waiver regime in one or two years. The 6.7 percent of rejected applications is well below the 10 percent which the recently passed U.S. legislation sets as the upper admissible limit for the visa-free regime.

Graber said all further steps to be taken for the visa duty to be lifted could be fulfilled within the current term of President George W. Bush that expires in January 2009.

Graber told journalists that the steps would definitely take no more than one or two years.

Graber said the Czech Republic and the United States also must reach agreement on a security memorandum.

Also important for the visa waiver regime introduction for Czechs is the completion of the U.S. electronic system that will monitor the arrivals of visitors to the United States.

The Czech government has been striving for the lifting of the visa duty for both tourist and working trips to the Untied States for a long time. (more…)

SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) — The placards made clear this was not your typical immigrant rights march: “We played by the rules, now it’s your turn,” read one. “Legal immigrants keep America competitive,” read another. High-tech workers here on federal permits are speaking out — many for the first time — over rules that leave them in personal and professional limbo.

After Congress failed to reform immigration laws for the second year in a row, hundreds of the largely India- and China-born workers protested this summer in Silicon Valley and Washington, D.C. They were frustrated that the divisive debate over illegal immigration had overwhelmed efforts at comprehensive immigration reform.

“I’ve never held a banner before, but I don’t know what else to do,” said Gopal Chauhan, a high-tech employee who has been waiting seven years for a green card. “We usually have better things to do, like invent the next iPod.”

Legal immigrants who feel squeezed by limits on the number of green cards issued each year are trying to separate their complaints from the protests by illegal immigrants. And high-tech companies that say they can’t fill jobs because of a cap on skilled-worker visas have stepped up their long-standing plea for the cap to be raised.

“It gets too frustrating sometimes,” said Sandeep Bhatia, a software engineer from Mumbai who first applied for a green card in 2001.

Since then, Bhatia has completed an MBA and was joined in the U.S. by his wife Preeti, who also has an MBA. But he cannot be promoted to a job that would use his new skills, and Preeti can’t get a job, until the government finishes processing his green card. (more…)

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — A state janitorial contractor that was fired over allegations it employed illegal immigrants sued the state Thursday, accusing Gov. Matt Blunt of racial discrimination and abuse of power.

Blunt called the lawsuit “ludicrous” and defended his decision to cancel the contract of Sam’s Janitorial Services and bar the company from state work.

About 25 company employees were arrested in a March 6 sting at a Jefferson City state office building by federal and state law enforcement officers, according to the lawsuit.

The owner of Sam’s Janitorial, K. Asamoah-Boadu, claims Blunt exceeded his gubernatorial powers when he terminated the contract and disqualified the company from future state work. Asamoah-Boadu wants nine canceled contracts reinstated, the company’s ban from state work reversed and an unspecified amount of money for damages, according to the lawsuit filed in Cole County Circuit Court. (more…)

WASHINGTON | The Senate faces another contentious showdown on immigration today when it considers legislation designed to put thousands of undocumented immigrant students on track to U.S. citizenship.

Although far more limited than a comprehensive immigration bill that collapsed in the Senate in late June, the debate on the new measure will probably resurrect the same warring sides from the earlier immigration battle.

The Senate faces a late-morning vote to take up the measure, with supporters needing at least 60 votes to move forward with debate. The chief sponsor, Sen. Richard Durbin, an Illinois Democrat, said Tuesday that his side had solid assurances of only about 55 votes, but he hoped to secure commitments from wavering senators. (more…)

America’s two other winners of Nobel prizes show how important it is that the U.S.get immigration policy right. Al Gore’s Nobel Peace Prize is getting almost all the attention, but America’s two other new Nobel laureates also have interesting stories. Geneticists Mario Capecchi and Oliver Smithies won the Nobel Prize in medicine for their work in gene targeting. And while their honor highlights the quality of American research, it also shows how our scientific community is enriched by highly skilled immigrants.

Capecchi, who endured a heart-wrenching early childhood in wartime Italy, immigrated with his mother to the United States after World War II, who survived the Dachau concentration camp. Today, he leads research teams at the University of Utah. Smithies, a native of Britain, came to the United States in the 1950s to work at the University of Wisconsin and has spent the last 19 years at the University of North Carolina. Both are now U.S. citizens.

Foreign-born researchers are common in the U.S. academic and scientific communities. In fact, more than a third of American Nobel laureates in the sciences over the last 15 years were born outside the U.S. These scientists are conducting research with extraordinary promise for improving lives, as well as great potential to produce commercialized therapies and technologies that drive U.S. innovation and economic growth. (more…)

Questions? support@myusgreencard.com
© 2004-2007 MyUSGreencard.Com, All Rights Reserved.

Estreet Loans |  Key Degree |  Student Loans |  Loan Info Now |  Go2Direct Ads

Myusgreencard.com assists persons seeking US Citizenship to apply for the US green card lottery.

 

We are not affiliated with the US Government or US Citizenship and Immigration Services and do not guarantee applicants have a better chance of winning a US visa by applying for the Diversity Lottery using our service. We are well-versed in the terms and conditions for application to the US Diversity Lottery. Our service provides the electronic submit needed to enter the green card lottery on your behalf. You provide the information, and for a fee we review and submit your application.