Free Republic

The American Embassy in Baghdad announced Thursday that it had expanded tenfold its program to help Iraqi employees of the American government here, who faced threats for their work, to obtain visas and ultimately citizenship in the United States. The decision is the latest step in the administration’s attempt to answer sharp criticism over its failure to help even those Iraqis who have made the American presence in Iraq possible by serving as translators and supervisors on embassy projects, for the American military and for the Agency for International Development. But critics in the refugee relief community noted that the...

By now we all know that a visa extension is no longer a matter of bringing the right identity photos to the Public Security Bureau. What used to be a routine process is now a dangerous lottery, made all the more confusing because different PSBs seem to be following completely different application procedures and demanding different requirements, and the rules may change again next week.

In the six-and-a-half years that the U.S. government has been fingerprinting insurgents, detainees and ordinary people in Afghanistan, Iraq and the Horn of Africa, hundreds have turned out to share an unexpected background, FBI and military officials said. They have criminal arrest records in the United States. There was the suspected militant fleeing Somalia who had been arrested on a drug charge in New Jersey. And the man stopped at a checkpoint in Tikrit who claimed to be a dirt farmer but had 11 felony charges in the United States, including assault with a deadly weapon. The records suggest that...

U.S. considers Tehran office to issue visas Rice 'Determined' to Reach Out to People of Iran June 24, 2008 The Washington Times Nicholas Kralev With the U.S. and Iran barely on speaking terms for nearly three decades, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice dropped an eyepopping hint Monday that the U.S. is considering a visa office in Iran to draw more Iranian visitors to the United States. The opening of a U.S. interests section, similar to the one the United States maintains in Cuba, would be the first U.S. diplomatic presence in the Iranian capital since Iran freed 52 American hostages...

WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court made it easier Monday for some foreigners who overstay their visas to seek to remain in the United States legally. The court ruled 5-4 Monday that someone who is here illegally may withdraw his voluntarily agreement to depart and continue to try to get approval to remain in the United States. [...] Justice Kennedy wrote the majority opinion, joined by his four liberal colleagues. The four conservative justice dissented. Justice Antonin Scalia said, "The court lacks the authority to impose its chosen remedy."

Comprehensive immigration reform may have eluded the 110th Congress, but House Democrats are still hoping to help two groups of workers — fashion models and computer geeks — who are usually linked only in implausible online fantasies. Under current immigration policy, models coming to the United States for a photo shoot or an event — regardless of how short the stay — compete with high-tech workers for precious H-1B visas. But under a bill that cleared the Judiciary Committee last week, the models would be moved into a separate immigration category, freeing up more H-1B slots for the much-needed nerds....

iGate isn't only 'villain' hiring foreign high-tech workers By Mark Houser TRIBUNE-REVIEW A local high-tech company has put a Pittsburgh face on a national debate about hiring foreign workers. Computer consulting firm iGate Corp. of Findlay paid the Justice Department $45,000 in April to settle charges it discriminated against U.S. workers by posting online job ads seeking foreigners with special visas. The fine for favoring holders of H-1B visas, which go primarily to computer and engineering specialists, is the highest yet, said Justice Department spokeswoman Jamie Hais. Critics say cases such as iGate's are not the only problem with the...

Iraqi Christians seeking to resettle in the West should not get special treatment based on religion, said a Roman Catholic cardinal on Monday. Cardinal Leonardo Sandri, the head of the Vatican’s Congregation for the Oriental Churches, says Western countries should issue visas based on needs and not because the applicant is Christian or Muslim, according to Reuters. “There is a new E.U. solution to take in many Iraqi refugees, Christians and otherwise,” Sandri said to reporters during a visit to Paris. “We will continue to support such efforts.” Last month, the European Union said no specific steps should be taken...

US Ambassador Ford Fraker said in Sakaka that his country aims to double the number of student visas issued to Saudis. “Currently there are 15,000 Saudi students in the US,” he said during an event on Sunday with local business leaders to an audience at the Al-Jouf Chamber of Commerce and Industry. “We aim to increase their numbers to 30,000 over the next five years.” Fraker said Saudi Arabia should bolster its English-language programs because it is generally required for Saudis seeking to pursue higher studies in the US. Fraker also stressed the need for popularizing English teaching programs because...

Thank you for contacting me to share your views on increasing the number of H-1B visas. I appreciate hearing from you. Like most countries of the world, the United States limits the type and number of foreign workers who can enter our country. As you know, H-1B visas are used by foreign nationals who will be employed temporarily in a specialty occupation due to their skilled knowledge. H-1B visas have several safeguards for not displacing American workers, such as requiring employers to attest to the lack of an available U.S. worker with proper skills and requiring employers to pay a...

OTTAWA (AFP) - Canada on Saturday announced it would no longer require citizens of Poland, Slovakia, Lithuania and Hungary to obtain temporary resident visas for a visit to Canada. "Canada enjoys strong ties with these countries," said Citizenship and Immigration Minister Diane Finley. "Lifting the visa requirement will help build those relationships to the benefit of Canadians and the citizens of Poland, Slovakia, Lithuania, and Hungary." The Canadian visa requirement remains in effect for now for citizens of two recent EU members: Bulgaria and Romania.

The extent of a person's freedom is determined by the status of their passport. For people who live outside the EU's charmed circle, travelling not only earns them the distrust of the country they wish to leave, but also the country they wish to enter, writes Nelly Bekus-Goncharova. Amsterdam is not the first city where I have had to start afresh – exploring the neighbourhood, figuring out the city's most convenient routes and its spatial logic, learning the timetable of its life, discovering its funny quirks, historical anecdotes, and customs. This is like mastering some kind of mundane ritual that...

Poles to visit Canada without visas? 13.11.2007 08:04 Reports in the Polish press are claiming that Canadian authorities have decided to abolish travel visas for the Poles, though the Canadian Embassy in Warsaw has told Polish Radio that the story is merely speculation and no firm decision has yet been taken. Poland is to be inspected by Canadian immigration officers who are to decide when to allow visa free traffic between Poland and Canada. Canada’s authorities are considering abolishing visa traffic in the first half of the next year, writes Rzeczpospolita. So far the main reason for keeping the visa...

OMAHA, Nebraska (AP) -- A 13-year-old illegal immigrant who fled to his native Mexico amid a sex scandal with his schoolteacher could be eligible to return to the United States under a new visa the government started granting the week before he disappeared. The visa helps illegal immigrants who are victims of sex crimes. If the boy, who spent most of his life in Lexington, Nebraska, qualifies, he could stay legally in the United States for four years and eventually apply for permanent residency. It also would extend temporary residency to his parents and his unmarried siblings under 18, if...

A deeper look into Poland’s visa problems By Roy Nasstrom | Guest view Stewart Shaw’s mention of the visa requirement for ordinary Polish visitors to the United States deserves attention. Although the visa issue has not received much attention in most of the American media, Congress and the White House have taken it very seriously. It does seem unfair to exclude Poland from the visa waiver program. This program allows citizens to enter the United States for a visit with only a passport and without subjection to sometimes humiliating questions that must be answered when applying for a visa. All...

BROWNSVILLE — Alberto Peña, a former administrative analyst for the Division of Student Affairs at University of Texas-Brownsville/Texas Southmost College, was arrested over the summer in Houston by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement special agents on charges of enticing an undocumented immigrant to enter the United States. He and his twin brother, Bernardo, are implicated in obtaining H-2B temporary work visas for some 88 Indian nationals through their business AMEB Business Group Inc., according to authorities. Bernardo, who has not been charged in the alleged scheme, is listed as AMEB’s registered agent, public records show. Alberto traveled to India on...

Immigration: Talk about confused. The State Department lists terror-sponsoring states, then lets immigrants from those states into the U.S. in the name of cultural diversity. In fact, the agency has welcomed to America nearly 10,000 immigrants from Iran, Syria, Sudan and other officially blacklisted terror states since just the start of this decade, and most of them since 9/11. That's the shocking finding of a new report released by the U.S. Government Accountability Office.

WASHINGTON -- Nearly 10,000 people from countries designated as sponsors of terrorism have entered the United States under an immigration diversity program with relatively few restrictions, a report released on Friday said. The report by the U.S. Government Accountability Office said the State Department's inspector general warned in 2003 that the Diversity Visa Program posed a significant risk to national security and recommended it be closed to people from countries on the U.S. list of state terrorism sponsors. But four years later, the program remains open to people from those nations and little is known about what becomes of them...

TITLE: "Mexican Consulates (in USA) Refuse to Grant Visas to Central American Undocumented Immigrants" By Paula Diaz Diaro Hoy (213-237-4582) pdiaz@hoyllc.com 11 of September, 2007 (TRANSLATED INTO ENGLISH FROM SPANISH FOR FREEPERS. From the Original "Consulados de México niegan visas a centroamericanos indocumentados") Los Angeles -- The Consulates of Honduras and Guatemala have expressed their concern about the problems that face undocumented immigrants from Central America, in the United States, when they wish to try to transit back through Mexico to go back to lands of their origin and return home. The Central American diplomats said that the Consulates...

The Visa Barrier By Janusz Reiter Wednesday, August 29, 2007; Page A17 Congress's recent changes to American visa laws will be of little comfort to people in Central Europe who wish to travel to this country. Citizens of these countries will continue to undergo visa application procedures whose rules they do not understand and which they consider to be anachronistic, unjust and even humiliating. American visa policy is driven by two concerns: fear of unwanted immigrants and concern about U.S. security. These concerns are reasonable, but it's difficult to understand why they should create a barrier against people from Central...