US Immigration News

An economist has advised the United States government to increase immigration quotas in order to revive the economy.

Charles Kenny, a fellow at the Center for Global Development and the New America Foundation, says that the US needs more unskilled migrants to work in agriculture and other sectors. It also needs more skilled immigrants to work in high tech industries. It should also encourage foreign investors to immigrate to the US and encourage students who graduate from US universities to stay in the country.

Hurricane Sandy, the most powerful storm to hit the eastern coast of the United States at least since Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans in 2005, has caused offices of the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) to shut down in a number of states.

The storm caused the closure of the New York Stock Exchange on Monday 29th October 2012 for the first time since the September 11th 2001 attack on the World Trade Center. So far 20 people are known to have been killed in the US and Canada.

On Tuesday 30th October 2012, USCIS offices in

The Financial Times has reviewed a new book warning of the dangers caused to the US by its immigration policy. Vivek Wadhwa, who came to the US as an immigrant himself, says that the US is losing its pre-eminence as a destination of choice for immigrants because of an immigration policy that is hostile to immigrants.

The US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has made it much harder for applicants to get H-1B and L-1 visas since 2008 and this is disproportionately affecting Indian applicants.

The National Foundation for American Policy (NFAP), a think tank based in Arlington, Virginia, says that its analysis of USCIS figures shows that the tougher line is affecting Indian applicants particularly hard and that the tougher line is damaging the US economy.

The latest figures from the US government's Department of Homeland Security show that 1,062,040 people obtained their 'green cards' properly known as lawful permanent residence in the USA last year, 2011.

Of these, 90,712 came from Europe. 13,443 came from the UK with a further 1,533 coming from the Republic of Ireland. The UK was the European country from with the most new green card holders. Twice as many came from the UK than from Germany, which came second out of the European Countries.

Statistics recently released by the United States Department of Homeland Security tell a remarkable story of the rise of India as a business power in the US and in the world at large. The Department has recently published the 2011 Yearbook of Immigration Statistics. It shows Indian citizens gaining more visas in certain categories than the citizens of any other nation on earth. Only seven years ago, the story was rather different.