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In a room full of non-native speakers, 'there isn't any chance of understanding'. It might be their language, but the message is often lost. Editor's Note (29 December 2016): Through the end of the year, BBC Capital is bringing back some of your favourite stories from 2016. It was just one word in one email, but it triggered huge financial losses for a multinational company. The message, written in English, was sent by a native speaker to a colleague for whom English was a second language. Unsure of the word, the recipient found two contradictory meanings in his dictionary. He...

The Trump administration moved on Thursday to make permanent a new questionnaire that asks some U.S. visa applicants to provide their social media handles and detailed biographical and travel history, according to a public notice. The questionnaire was rolled out in May as part of an effort to tighten vetting of would-be visitors to the United States, and asks for all prior passport numbers, five years' worth of social media handles, email addresses and phone numbers and 15 years of biographical information including addresses, employment and travel history. A State Department official declined to provide data on how many times...

The push toward a cashless society is becoming more of a shove. Before today I had never heard of “The Visa Cashless Challenge”, but after reading about it I have to say that I am quite alarmed. Visa is trying to “encourage” businesses to go cashless, and one of the ways that they will be doing this is by “awarding up to $500,000 to 50 eligible US-based small business food service owners who commit to joining the 100% cashless quest”. The food industry is still one of the last bastions where cash is used very heavily, and so it makes...

The Russian lawyer who penetrated Donald Trump’s inner circle was initially cleared into the United States by the Justice Department under “extraordinary circumstances” before she embarked on a lobbying campaign last year that ensnared the president’s eldest son, members of Congress, journalists and State Department officials, according to court and Justice Department documents and interviews.

Hezbollah is a greater and more longstanding foundational threat to our homeland than ISIS. This was brought to the forefront last week when two Hezbollah operatives were arrested on charges of surveilling targets for the Iranian-backed terror group on our own soil. They were also naturalized citizens who were admitted from Lebanon as immigrants years ago. Sadly, this story received very little media coverage. President Trump would be wise to give a televised address making the case for his immigration moratorium and travel ban by using this case as a perfect case study for the need for smarter vetting and...

The Labor Department announced that it will increase protections for Americans as much as it can, while cracking down on fraud and abuse within various foreign guest worker programs. In a news release, the Labor Department said it would implement a series of changes aimed at “aggressively” combating fraud and abuse within visa programs like the H-1B visa. Every year, more than 100,000 foreign workers are brought to the U.S. on the H-1B visa. Most recently, that number has ballooned to potentially hundreds of thousands each year, as universities and non-profits are exempt from the cap. With more entering the...

More than half a million foreigners stayed in the United States after their visas expired during the last fiscal year, according to a new report released by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Monday. Of the more than 50 million foreigners that entered the U.S., 1.47 percent -- or 739,478 people -- stayed in the country past the length of their visa. That includes those who stay one day over their allowable time, as well as people who have no intention of ever leaving the U.S. {snip} Of the total number of overstays last year, 628,799 people or 1.25 percent...

Senator John Cornyn (R-TX) is looking to expand the number of wealthy foreign nationals who can pay their way to permanent legal residency in the U.S. under the EB-5 visa. Cornyn is floating draft legislation that would essentially erase the current cap for EB-5 visas, which is set at 10,000 a year. Under the EB-5 visa, foreign nationals can claim that they will invest $500,000 and thus receive Green Cards for their family for at least two years, with pathways to citizenship available as well. The only requirement is that the EB-5 holder create 10 U.S. jobs.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4481200/Kushner-family-hoping-lure-Chinese-investors-US.html

The United States issued about 40 percent fewer temporary visas in March to citizens of seven countries covered by President Donald Trump's temporary travel bans than it did in an average month last year, according to a Reuters analysis of preliminary government data released on Thursday. At the same time, the data showed that the total of U.S. non-immigrant visas issued to people from all countries was up by nearly 5 percent in March compared to the 2016 monthly average. Citizens of the seven Muslim-majority nations under the bans - Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen - received...

Uber Technologies, Inc. has filed 986 labor condition applications for H1B visa and 167 labor certifications for green card from fiscal year 2014 to 2016. Uber Technologies was ranked 124 among all visa sponsors. Please note that 23 LCA for H1B Visa and 3 LC for green card have been denied or withdrawn during the same period.

Uber Technologies, Inc. has filed 986 labor condition applications for H1B visa and 167 labor certifications for green card from fiscal year 2014 to 2016. Uber Technologies was ranked 124 among all visa sponsors. Please note that 23 LCA for H1B Visa and 3 LC for green card have been denied or withdrawn during the same period.

Australia will abolish a temporary work visa popular with foreigners and replace it with a new programme requiring better English-language and job skills, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said on Tuesday. Turnbull, struggling with poor voter approval ratings, rejected suggestions the visa policy change was in response to far-right wing political parties, such as One Nation, demanding more nationalistic policies. But in a Facebook announcement Turnbull said: "Our reforms will have a simple focus: Australian jobs and Australian values." In a similar vein, U.S. President Donald Trump will sign an executive order on Tuesday directing changes to a temporary visa programme...

The H1-B visa program, which is used by tech companies to bring in high-skilled workers, will see a bit of an overhaul on Tuesday when the President issues a new executive order. The President will sign the executive order at a manufacturing plant in Kenosha, Wisconsin, which reportedly will make it far more difficult for U.S. employers to “look overseas for workers to fill middle-income jobs”.

MIAMI - Uruguay’s banking crisis had already claimed Rosana Araujo’s savings when she and her family, tourist visas in hand, boarded a Miami-bound plane in Montevideo. She stayed in Miami after her visa expired, supporting herself on random jobs, cleaning homes or babysitting. “I feel lucky because I got here in a plane,” she said. “I feel lucky because I didn’t have to cross a desert.” While the national discussion on immigration focuses on securing the U.S.-Mexico border with a multibillion dollar wall, travelers such as Araujo who overstay their visits have become the main source of illegal immigration in...

The European Parliament has taken the first step in potentially revoking visa-free travel of Americans to the European Union. The parliament’s civil liberties committee voted to end Americans’ visa-free travel to European Union countries, forcing the European Commission to reintroduce visa requirements on in-coming American travellers. The vote gives the Commission two months to adopt the needed legal measures revoking a reciprocity agreement the European Union had with the United States on travel. As long as neither the EU Parliament nor the Council of the European Union object, American travellers will be forced to apply for entry into the EU...

The EB-5 program will get you permanent residency in the US through capital investment With the new US President's anti-globalisation and anti-immigrants stance, those wishing to toil their way in to a US citizenship might find it hard in the near future. But money might buy you a rightful place under the US sun. This can be achieved with the help of the EB-5 program, that can get you permanent residency and eventually citizenship, provided you have a deep pocket. Many countries, including the UK, Australia and exotic locales such as Malta and Cyprus provide a channel to high networth...

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security announced steps on Monday to prevent the fraudulent use of H1B visas, used by employers to bring in specialized foreign workers temporarily, which appeared to fall short of President Donald Trump's campaign promises to overhaul the program. Trump had promised to end the lottery system for H1B visas, which gives each applicant an equal chance at 65,000 positions each year. Lobbyists for businesses who rely on H1B visas, commonly used by the tech sector, had expected Trump to upend the lottery in favor of a system that prioritized workers who are highly skilled and...

"...What it means: This aligns with the administration's focus on reserving the temporary visas for very high-skilled (and higher-paid) professionals while encouraging low- and mid-level jobs to go to American workers instead. The new guidance affects applications for the lottery for 2018 fiscal year that opened Monday..."

President vowed changes to the high-skilled-worker program President Donald Trump ran for office promising changes to the H-1B visa program, which brings high-skilled foreign workers to the U.S. But come Monday, the government opens another round of applications using rules that have long been in place. Demand for the program badly outstrips the supply so, as in past years, the government will use a lottery to decide which companies get them. The visas are coveted by tech firms, who have unsuccessfully lobbied Congress to increase the cap, which is set at 85,000. The new visas become available each year in...