US Immigration News

The United States has offered permanent residence to immigrant investors for 15 years, but to date just 6,000 such visas have been issued. Permanent residence has been granted to just 650 investors.

Asians (83%) most often use the opportunity, but it seems that many others are put off by bureaucracy, long waits and rigorous procedures. Some applicants have been waiting for ten years for their permanent residence status, according to a Congressional report.

The US Embassy in Colombo announced on April 4 that Sri Lankans traveling to the United States are now eligible to receive multiple entry visas valid for a five-year period.

Travelers whose visa requests are approved and have compelling reasons to travel often to the United States will automatically be issued the five-year validity visas.

Previously, Sri Lankans could obtain a US visa for a maximum period of one year.

In order to bolster border security in the United States, by 2007, most Canadians will need a passport to enter the US. By 2008, Americans going to Canada will also need to show a passport in order to re-enter the US.

Currently, Canadians and Americans are able to enter the United States with a driver's licence or a birth certificate, though a passport has sometimes made it simpler to satisfy immigration officers at the border.

Mark Thatcher, son of former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, was denied a visit visa to enter the US and visit his family. Thatcher called it a result of his guilty plea involving a coup plot in Equatorial Guinea.

Thatcher, 51, pleaded guilty in January in a court in Cape Town to a role in a mercenary plot to overthrow the government of oil-rich Equatorial Guinea. He was given a four-year suspended sentence and a $500,000 fine in a plea bargain.

Many Europeans will need to apply for a visit visa to visit America later this year after the US Congress said that there was little chance of postponing a deadline for the introduction of biometric passports. It is currently the case that most Europeans can come under the US visa waiver scheme without having to apply for a visit visa at an US Embassy or Consulate.

If you wish to submit an H-1B Visapetition with a start date of 1 October 2005 or later you may submit anapplication from today 1 April 2005. However, you should not submitapplications under the additional 20,000 quota over and above the quotafor the last fiscal year until such time that the USCIS has announcedfull details of the regulations to come under the additional quota.