US Immigration News

VISA BULLETIN FOR SEPTEMBER 2005

IMMIGRANT NUMBERS FOR SEPTEMBER 2005

A. STATUTORY NUMBERS

The United States will begin issuing electronic passports in December to help tighten border and identity security, the State Department said 9 August.

A computer chip will be placed in passport covers and will hold the same information that is written on the inside: name, date of birth, gender, place of birth, dates of passport issuance and expiration, passport number and a photo. The chip will also have a unique digital signature designed to protect the data from being changed.

Pay your taxes, carry your green card all the time and do not engage in serious crimes like murder, rape and terrorism. This is some of the wisdom given to new immigrants by the US Citizenship and Immigration Services in a new guidebook.

A recent report by the US government finds that Miami International Airport (MIA) has the US's slowest immigration-control lines. Passengers sometime wait for hours before they are allowed to enter the United States, a congressional agency says.

Travel document requirements for U.S. and Canadian citizens are changing. Certain travelers will now need to carry passports, so it may be necessary to obtain them well before you need to travel. Changes to Canadians and Americans

New proposed legislation in the US introduces a "guest worker" visa category that would allow foreign professionals to take up temporary jobs in the US which cannot be filled from within the country.

Texas republican senator John Cornyn introduced the bill, entitled the "Border Security and Immigration Reform Act of 2003". The legislation is similar, but much more expansive, than the H-2B temporary worker category.