Receiving public assistance may affect an immigrant's ability to obtain U.S. residency or citizenship. This depends on whether the government considers you a "public charge". If so, you may be inadmissible for immigration benefits. In my most recent column for La Opinión I explain which benefits can hurt you and which cannot. You can read it by clicking ... Read more
Federal law prohibits discriminatory practices during the search, hiring, employment eligibility verification process (known as Form I-9), or termination of persons authorized to work in the United States. It is important to know what guidelines hiring managers must follow to avoid being a victim of discrimination and to understand what your rights and responsibilities are. Read more
Beginning August 15, 2011, individuals living in countries that do not have USCIS offices will be required to submit their family-based Form I-130 petitions to the Chicago Lockbox facility. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced that this change will improve the efficiency of the process for those filing family-based petitions from the Chicago Lockbox facility. Read more
Due to a computer error, the results of the 2012 Diversity Lottery have been voided, affecting and disappointing thousands of people who thought they had won a visa through the lottery. Apparently, the computer program conducting the lottery mistakenly caused the 90% of winners to be from applications submitted in the first 2 days - and not ... Read more
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced the launch of the Spanish version of its E-Verify website. E-Verify is an Internet-based system that allows businesses to determine whether their employees are legally authorized to work in the U.S. USCIS says it will add information to the website as it ... Read more
Yesterday multiple marches took place around the country, where thousands of people took to the streets to demand comprehensive immigration reform. This Sunday, May 1st, was the 6th anniversary of the monumental march that started this movement. I participated yesterday, as in other years, in the march of ... Read more
In Sunday's edition of The Post Standard newspaper, there was a story about the abuse of a group of immigrants recruited in Mexico to work in Syracuse, New York at a fair. The account of the abuse and mistreatment suffered by 19 Mexicans horrified me. It also infuriated me to learn that there are such inhumane people willing to practically enslave and ... Read more
The total number of people over the age of 18 who became U.S. citizens in fiscal year 2010 was 619,913. According to the Bureau of Immigration Data, of that number, people from Mexico performed the largest number of naturalizations in the U.S. One notable thing about the recently released report is that there has been a large ... Read more
Beginning tomorrow, April 1, applications for H-1B visas for fiscal year 2012 will begin to be accepted. The number of visas available is 65,000. This number does not include the first 20,000 petitions submitted on behalf of individuals who hold graduate degrees obtained in the U.S. The acceptance date for H-1B visas is April 1, ... Read more
Immigration authorities on Monday hinted that decisions on immigration cases involving same-sex couples would be postponed. But today, a spokesman for the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) told reporters that after a legal review by Department of Homeland Security attorneys, it was concluded that the law prohibiting gay and lesbian couples from ... Read more
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