October 19, 2011

California's Governor Jerry Brown has signed into law the second portion of the California "Dream Act," AB 131, which allows undocumented students to qualify for state-funded scholarships and financial aid for state universities after other legal resident and U.S. citizen students have applied. ... [read more]

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit issued an injunction pending appeal on October 14, 2011, blocking certain provisions of Alabama's new immigration law, HB 56. The provisions blocked included requiring the immigration status of students to be checked in public schools and making failure to “complete or carry an alien registration card” a misdemeanor for immigrants. ... [read more]

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) seeks public comments on a proposed rule published on September 28, 2011, that would enable the agency to process certain applications approved between 1995 and 1998 by immigrant investors under the fifth preference employment-based (EB-5) immigrant visa classification. ... [read more]

On September 30, 2011, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) posted a notice on its website stating that, effective September 12, 2011, the agency began sending original Form I-797, Notice of Action, receipt and approval notices directly to applicants and petitioners. ... [read more]

U.S. Customs and Border Protection has discontinued the H-2A and H-2B Temporary Worker Visa Exit Program Pilot, effective September 29, 2011. ... [read more]

The Executive Office for Immigration Review's Office of the Chief Administrative Hearing Officer (OCAHO) has ordered Ketchikan Drywall Services, Inc., of the Puget Sound area of Washington, to pay penalties for various I-9 violations. ... [read more]

The Department of Justice (DOJ) filed a lawsuit on September 30, 2011, against Generations Healthcare, a provider with skilled nursing facilities throughout California, alleging that it engaged in a pattern or practice of discrimination by imposing unnecessary documentary requirements on naturalized U.S. citizens and non-U.S. citizens to work in the U.S. ... [read more]

The Department of State's Visa Bulletin for November 2011 includes the following: The November employment-based second preference cut-off date for applicants from China and India is the most favorable since August 2007. ... [read more]

Green Card Stories. The immigration debate is boiling over. Americans are losing the ability to understand and talk to one another about immigration. We must find a way to connect on a human level. ... [read more]