[July 1, 2005]

If you are a citizen of a Visa Waiver Program-designated country, you are allowed to apply for admission for 90 days or less as a non-immigrant visitor for business or pleasure without first obtaining a U.S. non-immigrant visa.  The countries that are qualified under this program are: Andorra, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brunei, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Monaco, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, San Marino, Singapore, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom.

            As of June 26, 2005, if a visitor from one of these countries wants to enter the U.S., he or she must have a machine-readable passport, such a passport must have a sequence of lines that can be swiped by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers to quickly confirm the passport holders?identity and obtain other information about the holder.

            If you do not have such a passport, you should anticipate that you may not be allowed to board an aircraft or cruise ship and if they arrive at a U.S. port of entry, you may be denied admission to the U.S.  At the present time, there is no regulation that will allow a person who is denied admission to be paroled into the U.S.  Still, some parole visa may be granted.  If you cannot obtain a machine-readable passport, then obtain a regular tourist visa from an American Consulate.

            If a child of an individual who qualifies under the waiver program is listed on the machine-readable passport, such child cannot enter.  The child will need his or her own individual machine-readable passport.

When you apply for U.S. citizenship, the question has been asked about the standard for passing the writing examination.  The standard for English proficiency is elementary literacy level (2^nd - 4^th grade level).  Applicants should have the ability to write a sentence in English.  Only one sentence needs to be reasonably understood.  Applicants should not be denied because of misspelling or punctuation.

            The Child Citizenship Act grants automatic citizenship to children born outside the United States who meet three criteria: (1) that the child was under the age of 18 years on the date that the Act became effective, (2) that the child has at least one parent who is a United States citizen, whether by birth or naturalization, and (3) that the child resides in the U.S., pursuant to a  lawful admission for permanent residence, in the legal and physical custody of the citizen parent.

            Expectations are that there will be an unprecedented demand for H-1B visas for the regular visa numbers and the additional 20,000 H-1B visa numbers that are being made available for fiscal year 2005 and the new allotment of H-1B numbers available for FY 2006.  Fiscal year 2006 begins on October 1, 2005 but cases are filed already as of April 1, 2005.

            Great recent 9^th Circuit Decision - Real ID Impact!  The Fernandez-Ruiz v. Gonzales decision stating that no provision of the Immigration and Nationality Act shall preclude judicial review!!

            A special gift was granted to Australian professionals.  Congress created a new E-3 non-immigrant visa category based upon the H-1B temporary professional worker category, but with few of the H-1B’s disabilities.  E-3 applications will be handled by the Department of State and its consulates in Sydney and Melbourne - avoiding CIS entirely with its backlogs and expensive filing fees.  Spouses will be eligible for an “open-minded?work authorization.  Australians will not be subject to the world-wide cap, but instead will have their own quota of 10,500 visas each fiscal year.  The normal limit of 6 years in H-1B will not apply to Australians?E-3.  (Great lobby, Australia!!).  Eligibility for H-1B and E-3 will be (a) the job must require a professional degree, (b) the job candidate must have the appropriate degree or equivalent of a combination of education and work experience, and (c) the employer must pay the prevailing wage in the marketplace of the job.  No showing of shortage of American workers is needed but the Labor Certification Attestation must be filed and approved.