2010 Green Card Lottery Open Registration Dates Halved

swilson@101freeway.com — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 18:24:02 +0100

In an unexpected announcement, the U.S. State Department announced a major change to the annual electronic (EDV) diversity visa lottery for calendar year 2010. The usual 60-day open registration period was reduced to only 30 days, running from Tuesday, October 5, 2010 at 12:00 noon EST and ending Wednesday, November 3, 2010 at 12:00 noon EST.

The official announcement for DV-2012 also mandates that scanned photographs are now scanned at 300 dpi, not 150 dpi as in previous years.

TRead More...

Judge Susan Bolton’s SB1070 Ruling and (un)FAIR’s Dan Stein

swilson@101freeway.com — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 23:37:32 +0100

We are pleased Judge Susan Bolton had the wisdom to strike down key provisions of SB1070. Her restraining order says Arizona can't require immigrants to carry immigration papers or require police to question immigrants about their status, By saying federal law has precedence over state law Judge Bolton has, in effect, ruled that SB1070 is unconstitutional. The text of her ruling is available here.

The new Arizona law was set to go into effect Thursday, July 29. There have been scatteRead More...

Racism and the Political Right-a Lesson for Immigrants

swilson@101freeway.com — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 14:50:06 +0100

The recent flap over United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) employee Shirley Sherrod points to the lingering influence of racism in America. As immigrants or potential immigrants, many of you may be from countries where racism and ethnic discrimination are virtually pandemic, and you may well wonder why Americans seem to be overly sensitive to this issue.

After all, minorities in many other countries seem to live with prejudice, oppression, and even violence as an everyday occurrence.

DV-2011 Results Are In

swilson@101freeway.com — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 20:44:23 +0100

The results of the 2009 Diversity Visa (green card) lottery are now available. According to the U.S. State Department there were a total of 16.1 million entries including all family (derivative) members. This compares favorably with, but was slightly below, my August 2009 estimate of 17 million total entrants for last year’s lottery.

According to the U.S. State Department there were a total of 12.1 million applications filed, meaning that each registration counted for an average of Read More...

DV-2011 Green Card Lottery Entrants Can Check Winning Status On-line Beginning July 1

swilson@101freeway.com — Thu, 01 Jul 2010 10:49:27 +0100

Beginning July 1, 2010 entrants in the annual diversity visa lottery sponsored by the U.S. State Department can check on-line to see if they won. The Electronic Status Check (ESC) web address is: http://www.dvlottery.state.gov/ESC.

Just like last year, you need three pieces of information from your 2009 registration: 1) Your CONFIRMATION NUMBER, 2) your FAMILY NAME (Last Name), and 3) your BIRTH YEAR.

If you did not enter using a last name, check the box for “No Last/Family Name&rdRead More...

Mad Dogs and Arizona State Senator Russell Pearce

swilson@101freeway.com — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 11:44:28 +0100

It is not hard to understand the hatred directed toward illegal immigrants. After all, we have alternately reviled Mormons, the Chinese, Irish, Jews, Japanese, Blacks, and most recently Muslims at one time or another. Why not hate illegal mainly Hispanic immigrants too? Isn't it their turn?

Not really. Unlike chimpanzees humans have the capacity to reason. However, some people choose to give in to their baser instincts and others choose to sponsor xenophobic policies for political gain. Maybe Read More...

Redesigned Green Cards are High Tech and Green

swilson@101freeway.com — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 16:22:08 +0100

On May 11, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced it will begin issuing a redesigned Permanent Resident Card--commonly referred to as the “Green Card.” For the first time in over 30 years, newly-issued Green Cards will actually be green in color.

Green Cards are evidence of a non-citizen’s right to live and work in the United States permanently and are valid for 10 years. The existing beige cards currently in use are valid through the expiration date listRead More...

USCIS Immigration Fees to Increase

swilson@101freeway.com — Mon, 14 Jun 2010 03:32:39 +0100

Last last week Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced moderate increases for most immigration processing services and green cards. Averaging about 10%, these changes will take effect later this summer after a period of public comment. Although most fees will go up, there are some new fees, and five will actually decrease. But the fee for naturalization will be unaffected.

This fee was increased 69% to $675 in 2007, triggering a 3-fold increase in applications before the new feeRead More...

Green Card Lottery Dates, Deadlines and Statistics

swilson@101freeway.com — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 19:07:49 +0100

If you follow the annual diversity visa (green card) lottery sponsored by the U.S. State Department, you may be surprised by their lack of transparency. As incredulous as it seems, they refuse to provide visa lottery registration statistics without a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request. This is hardly what I expected from Obama’s new open government initiative.

Even worse, the KCC does not release the rules of the upcoming lottery until just days before the opening registration datRead More...

Who Will Win the NM Gubernatorial Primary?

swilson@101freeway.com — Sat, 29 May 2010 00:42:02 +0100

I didn’t receive too many responses to my immigration policy questionnaire from the Republican gubernatorial candidates. So I attended last night's KOB sponsored debate at UNM’s Rodey Hall to get more insights into their thinking. As a Progressive, I felt a little like Daniel walking into the lion’s den.

First, I want to preface this article by saying that most of us are not and should not be single issue voters. In fact, I can think of many other topics that shoRead More...

NM to Palin: We are not Arizonans Now or Ever

swilson@101freeway.com — Tue, 25 May 2010 03:19:30 +0100

As late as November 2009 we were unclear of Sarah Palin’s immigration policy. That was shortly after she published Going Rogue and well before Arizona’s new S1070 law was passed. (You can download it here.) But now the real Palin has emerged.

During a stump speech for Governor Jan Brewer of Phoenix, Palin declared, “We are all Arizonans now”, and urged other states to follow Arizona’s example. Uhh… really, Sarah?

Let’s look at the fallout from ARead More...

Illegal Immigrant Crime and Arizona

swilson@101freeway.com — Thu, 13 May 2010 20:54:26 +0100

OK, what is the truth behind crime by the undocumented, especially in Arizona? The left seems to be saying it is non-issue, and the right says there is a tidal wave of crime caused by the undocumented.

For example, Fox News (no standard bearer of journalistic ethics) claimed that unauthorized immigrants “kill 2,158 people”.

Media Matters looked into Fox’s claim and found out this 2,158 number is based on an “estimate” that assumes unauthorized immigrants in Read More...

Green Card Lottery Entrants: Winner Notification Has Started

swilson@101freeway.com — Thu, 06 May 2010 12:23:23 +0100

If you entered last year’s green card lottery (DV-2011), the U.S. State Department is now sending winning notification letters and forms to those who won. Winner notifications will run from now until the end of July, 2010.

MyGreencard.com, a leading web site dedicated to the green card lottery, just released “Lottery Winners ONLY” for lottery winners. You can view the Table of Contents.

This new publication includes: How and When to Check Online to See if You Won, AdjuRead More...

OK Secure the Border But Give Us Reform

swilson@101freeway.com — Fri, 30 Apr 2010 23:14:27 +0100

Comprehensive Immigration Reform (CIR) has been rightfully back-burnered by Obama in favor of other priorities left over from the Bush administration. But now, the Party-of-No has given Democrats a opening to finally solve this festering problem, and at just the right time.

We know that continuing to ignore the presence of 12 million undocumented immigrants is not a solution. Nor does the right-wing fantasy that we can make the undocumented “just leave” by making tRead More...

Will Arizona be the Fort Sumter of Immigration Reform?

swilson@101freeway.com — Mon, 26 Apr 2010 19:03:09 +0100

Arizona’s wrongheaded move to cast racial profiling into law will likely backfire against conservatives. Rather than drive the undocumented further into the shadows, the bill is more likely to catalyze passage of comprehensive immigration reform (CIR).

Under Arizona SB-1070 which Governor Jan Brewer signed into law April 23, police can stop a person on “reasonable suspicion” that they are an illegal immigrant and arrest them if they are not carrying identification proving theRead More...

Right-Wing Hate Talk and Immigrant Crime

Sun, 25 Apr 2010 11:35:54 +0100

In my last article I presented ample evidence that immigrants, particularly illegal/undocumented immigrants are not committing crimes at a higher rate than native-born Americans. In fact, they are the least likely to commit violent felonies.

However, this has not stopped nativists from highlighting crimes by illegals to help block comprehensive immigration reform or create controversy for the sake of ratings and viewership.

We've seen this kind of domestic fear-mongering beRead More...

Illegal Immigrants, Crime, and Racism

swilson@101freeway.com — Wed, 21 Apr 2010 12:29:23 +0100

Writing about crime and illegal immigration can make good reading. Unfortunately it completely distorts reality.

Immigrants, particularly illegal immigrants, have the lowest crime rates. This has been documented in detail by multiple nonpartisan groups.

For example, according to Robert J. Sampson, in Rethinking Crime and Immigration:

"… first-generation immigrants (those born outside the United States) were 45 percent less likely to commit violence than third-geRead More...

Birthright Citizenship and Comprehensive Immigration Reform – Part II

swilson@101freeway.com — Mon, 05 Apr 2010 20:57:21 +0100

In my last article I explored key reasons anti immigration proponents typically use to promote ending automatic birthright citizenship, a core American value enshrined in the 14th Amendment.

This argument was recently revived by an article authored by popular conservative columnist George Will. He suggested ending the practice of giving citizenship to the children of illegal immigrants. And Rep. Nathan Deal (R-GA) re-introduced (HR 1868), the “Birthright Citizenship Act&rdquoRead More...

Birthright Citizenship and Comprehensive Immigration Reform – Part I

swilson@101freeway.com — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 02:35:42 +0100

I’ve been distracted from writing about comprehensive immigration reform by the recent health care debate and the regrettable response by conservatives. Now that the bill has finally been signed into law, it’s time to get back to one of the core issues of interest to U.S. immigrants and others who will be affected by this pending legislation.

Our nation’s laws are built on the idea of compromise – finding a middle way between two extremes. This simple concept seRead More...

Immigrants Should Remember Republican Tactics Come Election Time

swilson@101freeway.com — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 13:41:21 +0100

For those of you who recently immigrated to the United States from countries with repressive regimes, the latest antics by high level Republicans may seem eerily familiar. In case you have been too busy trying to make a living during to the Bush recession, consider these recent events:

First, there is Liz Cheney’s attempt upstage her father, the former Vice-President Dick Cheney, as chief of un-American activities. Recall that Cheney, acting the part of Dr Strangelove, ushered in new lowRead More...

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