Free Republic

Senator Chuck Schumer is one of two senators introducing a bipartisan bill aimed at improving the housing market by offering an incentive to foreign buyers, the Wall Street Journal report. He and Sen. Mike Lee of Utah want to offer residence visas to any foreigner that spends at least $500,000 on residential real estate in the United States. The measure compliments existing rules that offer visas to foreign investors that create jobs in America.

As part of its 2012 Diversity Visa program, the U.S. State Department is considering 5,662 applicants from countries deemed ‘State Sponsors of Terrorism’ – Iran, Syria, Sudan and Cuba. In 2011, the State Department awarded 2,427 Diversity Visas to people from Iran, Syria and Sudan -- 1,842 for Iran; 553 for Sudan; and 32 for Syria.

The rapidly growing Occupy Wall Street movement taking place in Manhattan's Financial District and spreading with satellite versions popping up in cities nationwide recently lost a whopping $100,000, The New Haven Independent reported. The $100,000 loss happened when attempted online credit card donations were rejected because the account was frozen for over three days. After a series of finger pointing and blaming other companies, the reason for the freeze turned out to be the fault of Occupy Wall Street's designated fiscal agent, the Alliance for Global Justice, a D.C.-based not-for-profit. About a week ago, AFGL said that an account already...

Dick Durbin's Amendment stipulates new rules that will lead to lower fees for merchants when you swipe a debit card in their stores. Merchants currently pay around 1% of every debit card transaction to the credit card cartel. The lower fees to merchants, in theory, could lower prices in stores. We don't think consumers will benefit. The Australian government capped credit and debit interchange in 2003, which has resulted in some pretty pathetic credit card offers compared to what we have stateside. The average annual fee in Australia is $132, compared with $19 in the US. Rewards programs are also...

HARRISBURG, Pa.—Foreign students who walked off their jobs in protest this week at a plant that serves The Hershey Co. may soon be getting a free trip to see some of the United States' cultural and historical landmarks. Rick Anaya, chief executive of the nonprofit that helped bring the students to the U.S., said Friday that the plan emerged after a two-hour conference call with representatives of the other companies involved in their employment. The students began a strike Wednesday, saying their work was so strenuous and low-paying they've been unable to see much of the country.

WASHINGTON — US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Friday the United States is easing visa terms for Iranian students here as part of efforts to support their aspirations for political change back home. In what she called a "big step forward" in the Obama administration support's for Iran's people, Clinton said Iranian students and exchange visitors are now eligible for two-year, multiple entry visas. "This gives young Iranians the opportunity to return home for family events, to participate in internships, to travel outside the United States -- and they won't need to get a new visa every time," she...

Almost a decade after Middle Eastern terrorists with expired visas attacked the U.S., the government has failed to implement a security measure to adequately track foreigners like them who enter the country legally but never leave. As a result nearly half of the nation’s estimated 12 million illegal immigrants actually entered the U.S. legally but overstayed their visa, according to a new federal report. That’s because the agency responsible for keeping the nation safe—the Department of Homeland Security—can’t keep track of immigrants who remain in the U.S. after their visas expire. This clearly creates a huge national security issue...

Republican legislators think they have a way to keep Minnesotans on welfare from spending their benefits on booze, smokes and lottery tickets: They'd keep them from taking more than $20 in benefits in cash. Right now, welfare recipients can use their electronic benefits cards to withdraw much of their monthly allotment in cash. The proposed legislation would require more people on welfare to get a second card to use for cash withdrawal, and would limit that to no more than $20 a month.

More than 18,000 illegal immigrants, plus 14,000 of their relatives, have gained U.S. visas under a new law since 2009 because they were victims of crime. While many immigrants may still be unaware of the U visa, word is spreading fast in some communities. The controversial rules state that if you are a victim of crime and you cooperate, or are 'helpful' with authorities, then you stand a good chance of getting a U visa. Since 2009, the United States Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS) has issued 18,654 and rejected 5,639 U visas — a 77 per cent approval rate....

A Silver Spring man convicted of falsifying immigration documents had threatened to blow up the White House, the U.S. Treasury building, a federal courthouse and a Metro stop, vowing to "slaughter the enemies of Islam," federal prosecutors said Monday in court. Lajqi, an ethnic Albanian who came to the United States through Mexico in the mid-1980s, is a self-described "extremist militant," who said he was trained by Bosnian Muslim rebels, according to court papers. He was angry about American military involvement in Kosovo in the 1990s, and "blamed all Albanian deaths in Kosovo on the United States," the court papers...

Immigration: The Saudi charged in a plot to bomb U.S. targets entered the country under the same student visa deal we knocked President Bush for brokering with Saudi King Abdullah. We warned in a series of editorials starting in November 2005 that the generous Saudi immigration program would import potentially more terrorists into the country. How right we were — Bush himself was one of the targets of Khalid Aldawsari. The FBI last week arrested the 20-year-old Saudi college student in Lubbock, Texas, for allegedly plotting to bomb the ex-president's Dallas home, as well as nuclear plants and several other...

The Russian Foreign Ministry warns of a possible mirror response to the recent Canadian changes in visa application form for Russians. The Russian Union of Travel Industry has complained to the Ministry that the new Canadian form contains too inquisitive questions. In particular, Canada wants a Russian applicant to specify not only the fact of service in the army, police or intelligence, but also the term of service, military branch , unit number, its location, the rank of the applicant and his duties as well as surname, first name and patronymic of the unit commander. The union considers that a...

EW DELHI: India is confident of resolving a visa restrictions issue with the United States outside the WTO framework, a senior government official said on Thursday. India had objected to US legislation passed this month to strengthen security along the border with Mexico, funds for which will be raised through a hike in visa fees that may affect Indian companies like Infosys Technologies and Wipro. India's trade secretary, Rahul Khullar, said last week the move was not compatible with World Trade Organisation rules. The Indian government is speaking to the US government on the issue. Members of the apex Indian...

While securing the border remains the focus of national attention, the government continues ignoring millions of illegal immigrants who entered the U.S. legally but never left when their visas expired like several of the 9/11 terrorists. Nearly half of the nation’s estimated 12 million illegal immigrants fall into this category yet few are ever caught because it’s simply not a priority for the government, according to an Arizona newspaper report that provides alarming statistics on the matter. Border Patrol presence along the U.S.-Mexico border has doubled in the last five years, but there has been no effort to increase the...

Note: The following text is a quote: May 6, 2010 ICE deports Iraqi national with ties to Al Qaeda operatives SEATTLE - U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) today announced that an Iraqi citizen, who had ties to an Al Qaeda leader and was deemed a national security risk by a federal immigration judge, an administrative appeals court and a federal appeals court, was recently removed to his native country. Sam Malkandi, 51, was living in Kirkland, Wash., in 1999 when he attempted to fraudulently obtain a U.S. visa for Tawfiq bin Attash to travel here and purportedly receive medical...

An immigration proposal circulated by Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) would make it easier for foreign fashion models to work America’s catwalks. Just don’t bother asking Schumer’s office how it got there. Or why it’s now out of the bill. POLITICO put the question to Schumer’s office five times. The main response: The provision won’t be in the final version of the bill. So does that mean that the next Gisele Bundchen might have to wait in line with other foreign workers for visas?

For Mexicans seeking refuge in the United States from crime-related violence in Mexico and for many Mexicans already in the United States, there is a new hurdle. The State Department quietly changed its policy recently on many of its visas for Mexicans — mostly those who own, or want to own, businesses and houses here and who do not intend to immigrate. It reduced the amount of time those visas are valid from the three to five years that had been common to just one year. San Antonio immigration lawyer Nancy Shivers, of the Shivers & Shivers law firm, said...

In a new and ridiculous policy, the US is denying Israeli scientists who work at the Dimona reactor site an opportunity to refresh their knowedge, Joshua Pundit reports: Ma'ariv reported today that the Israeli government was stunned when every nuclear technician at Israel's Dimona reactor who had submitted visa requests to visit the United States for ongoing university education in Physics, Chemistry and Nuclear Engineering had their visa applications summarily rejected, specifically because of their association with the Dimona reactor.

SNIPPET: "Following the attacks of September 11th one of the immediate concerns was the millions of people who had entered the United States with legal temporary VISAS and had "somehow" become lost or misplaced. This was known as the VISA overstay problem. It is still estimated that as many as 30% of the people living illegally in this country have overstayed their temporary VISAS (nearly 200 million temporary visitors come to this country each year). Today, the problem of VISA Overstay remains unsolved . Last year, 39 million foreigners entered the United States, and using paper logs, DHS has confirmed...

Higgens was paid by dozens of foreign students -- mostly from the Middle East -- who were paying him to sit in class, take exams and write papers for them so their student visas would remain valid. Investigators with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement said the demand was so great that he hired employees, including a blond woman who they believe posed as an Middle Eastern man to take a test. Agents are continuing to investigate the case and believe Higgins had several co-conspirators.