US Immigration News

Special, temporary U.S. residency issued to thousands of Central Americans is due to expire in the coming months, and many of the immigrants fear they will be sent home.

The temporary status granted to Nicaraguans and Hondurans after Hurricane Mitch in 1998 and to Salvadorans following a devastating earthquake in 2001 has been renewed repeatedly with little public debate, but opposition is growing.

Critics say the program was never meant to be permanent and that it's time for the more than 300,000 people it protects to return home.

Every month, José Valencia sends between $300 and $400 to his sisters and other relatives in Ecuador from the Delgado Travel office in Queens, N.Y. Diana Ransom of the Christian Science Monitor reports.

"We never cease to do that," says Mr. Valencia, who heads the New York Association for New Americans, an immigrant advocacy group. "We are always going to send money home."

Earlier this week, Mexico announced plans to give US maps to would-be illegal immigrants, detailing where to find water and help in the desert as they attempt to reach the United States. Mexico announced yesterday, however, that it would not go through with the plan. After the plan drew strong condemnation from the U.S. government, Mexico's National Human Rights Commission said it had suspended the program, which was drawn up to reduce deaths from thirst and exhaustion.

A Mexican government agency is to issue some 70,000 maps marking main roads and water tanks for people wanting to cross illegally into the US.

The National Human Rights Commission says the maps are aimed at cutting the death toll among migrants.

US advocates of tougher border controls criticised the move, saying it would encourage illegal immigration. But the plan is backed by Humane Borders, a US-based organisation which operates about 70 emergency water stations near the 3,200-km border.

According to an update from US Citizenship and Immigration Service, the quota of 20,000 H1B visas for those with Master's Degrees or higher was exhausted on January 17, 2006.

Under current law, the annual cap on the H-1B category is 65,000 (down from 195,000 in financial year 2003). Within the quota of 65,000, Congress created an exemption for 20,000 foreign nationals earning advanced degrees from US universities.

The US announced this week its plans for a "paperless" U.S. visa application system that will enable foreigners to apply for visas electronically and use digital video technology to conduct remote interviews. The country will also allow U.S. citizens to use new simplified "passport cards" instead of regular passports when traveling to and from Canada and Mexico after Jan. 1, 2008.