US Immigration News

A recently announced budget deal in California could pave the way for children, living in the USA illegally, to receive state-funded healthcare coverage. California would be the first state in the US to subsidize the healthcare costs of illegal immigrant children.

A deal struck between Governor Jerry Brown and legislative leaders would provide cover for an estimated 170,000 immigrants aged 18 years and under. It's expected that the plan will easily pass the state Senate and Assembly.

The US Department of State issued a press release on 29 June with an update on the US Visa System failures. According to the release, published online at travel.state.gov, all visa-issuing embassies are now back online. This problem had also delayed issuance of passports to US citizens.

Visa interviews, for the issuing of non-immigrant and immigrant visas are also being scheduled. However, there are still issues with online immigrant visa applications, but the Department of State is working round the clock to rectify the issue.

Over 700,000 US visas have been delayed due to ongoing computer problems at United States Embassies around the World.

On June 7th the US visa and passport system went down due to problems with its biometric data system, which is used to record applicants' fingerprints and photographs. The US has said the system will not be operating at full capacity until at least the end of June, with many applicants being told they will not be interviewed until after July 6th.

There were hopes that the March 2015 draft guidelines for US L-1B non-immigrant work visas would make it easier for employers and applicants for L-1 visas. Sanwar Ali Editor ofworkpermit.com News one of the most popular visa related websites in the World has the following to say:

FWD.us (that's "Forward Us") may not be a household name but its founder is. Mark Zuckerberg who is also one of the founders of Facebook started the immigration reform lobby group in 2013 along with a team of tech company insiders which includes a veritable who's who of Google, Facebook, Microsoft and Dropbox.

FWD.us advocates:

Two Indian-Americans were arrested on 13 May, 2015 on suspicion of H-1B visa fraud. The arrests took place in New Jersey following a federal complaint claiming that they had been hiring foreign workers, mainly from India, without the skills and qualifications usually required for H-1B workers.

32-year-old, Hiral Patel, and 31-year-old, Shikha Mohta, employees of SCM Data Incorporated and MMC Systems Incorporated, face charges of conspiracy to bring in and "harbour aliens" and to pervert the course of justice.