Myimmigrationpath Blog

According to reports released by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, South Korea should be included in the U.S. Visa Waiver Program by the end of 2008.

Under the Visa Waiver Program, South Koreans would be permitted to visit the U.S. for up to 3 months without obtaining a visa. This report refutes prior rumors that South Korea’s Visa Waiver Program was facing delays due to policy differences between the two nations. Negotiations regarding the Visa Waiver Program between the U.S. and South Korea have been previously delayed due to conflicts over the sharing of criminal records of tourists.

South Korea previously stated that the sharing of criminal records is a basic violation of human rights, while U.S. officials proclaim the sharing of criminal records as a necessary step in combating terrorism, and as a necessary requirement for all countries participating in the Visa Waiver Program.

In order to fulfill some of the conditions for participating in America’s Visa Waiver Program, South Korea has already begun issuing electronic passports, or e-passports. These e-passports contain a microchip which holds the bearer’s personal data, including any criminal history. The electronic passports are intended to help prevent forgery. There are currently 27 nations participating in the Visa Waiver Program, most of which are located in Europe. By the conclusion of 2008, the U.S. also hopes to finalize Visa Waiver Program negations with seven other Eastern European nations, including the Czech Republic.

The Green Card lottery, also referred to as the Diversity Visa Lottery, begins October 2, 2008 and runs through December 1 of the same year. Lottery winners are usually notified by the U.S. Department of State between May and July of the following year.

Under the Diversity Immigrant Visa Program, American immigrant hopefuls can have the chance to enter a drawing to gain a Green Card, which allows unrestricted residency and work eligibility in the United States.

Green Card winners are selected through a computer-generated drawing and applicants must meet certain criteria in order to be considered eligible for the program. Specifically, qualified individuals must be natives of an eligible country, and have a minimum of a high school education or two years work experience. If selected for the Diversity Visa Lottery program, successful applicants as well as their spouse and all unmarried children under age 21, are eligible to apply for permanent resident status in the United States.

Diversity Immigrant Visa lottery winners, however, are not guaranteed a Green Card or United States citizenship and must submit several other applications and wait for approval before they receive permanent residency status. It takes about 30 minutes to submit an application for the Green Card lottery, and is currently free to apply. 80 percent of applicants participating in the lottery are from African or European nations. Under the Diversity Lottery program, over 50,000 Green Cards are given each year.

After much media attention and anticipation on behalf of US voters, Senator Barack Obama recently announced his Vice Presidential running mate as Senator Joe Biden, a Democratic senator for the state of Delaware. Together, Obama and Biden support comprehensive immigration reform, and Barack Obama promises to make immigration reform one of his top priorities if elected president.

Obama states that he plans to execute immigration reform by creating secure borders, offering undocumented immigrants with no criminal background a path towards citizenship, and removing incentives for illegal immigration by working closely with Mexico as well as prosecuting employers in the US who knowingly hire illegal immigrants. Senator Obama states: “The time to fix our broken immigration system is now… We need stronger enforcement on the border and at the workplace… But for reform to work, we also must respond to what pulls people to America… Where we can reunite families, we should. Where we can bring in more foreign-born workers with the skills our economy needs, we should.�

Senator Obama’s Vice Presidential nominee, Joe Biden, was elected to the United States Senate at the age of 29, and is currently serving his sixth term as senator to the state of Delaware, making him the longest-serving senator to the state.

According to Joe Biden’s prior voting record, he is in favor of a path towards citizenship for illegal residents currently residing in the United States, supports a guest worker program, and has voted in favor of construction of a 370 mile fence along the Mexican border.

Presidential nominee Barack Obama and Vice Presidential nominee Joe Biden have both previously voted in favor of the Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act of 2006, which would have established a path towards citizenship for undocumented immigrants residing in the country and create a guest-worker program.

nstructors and directors at several Inland adult schools and immigration groups have noticed a small bump in enrollment in citizenship classes in recent weeks. They attribute that in part to students wanting to beat the Sept. 30 deadline for eligibility for the current civics exam, which requires less detailed answers than the one about to be put into use. But they say the increase in students would have been greater if there had been no application-fee increase.

People who apply for naturalization before Oct. 1 have a choice between taking the new or old exam. Kathy Bywater, citizenship coordinator at Riverside Adult School, said most students at her school are opting for the old exam.

Teachers at the school have been trying to alleviate students’ concerns by assuring them that the new test is not necessarily more difficult. But students are convinced that it is, Bywater said.

The new exam is designed to make studying for citizenship more meaningful, Rummery said. It tests concepts rather than easy-to-memorize facts, she said.

For example, the current exam asks, “Who was the main writer of the Declaration of Independence?� The new exam asks respondents to name two rights in the document.

Fred Tsao, of the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights, which spearheaded a nationwide petition drive against the new test, said many questions are too abstract.

For example, one question is “What is the ‘rule of law?’ �

“It’s hard to know what the questioner is looking for,� he said.

English Level

In addition, the test requires a higher level of English — and educational attainment in general — from applicants, because the questions are sometimes worded confusingly and require longer answers, he said.

“We don’t want to cut off citizenship for people who are hard-working, patriotic and fully committed to life in this country, and to people who are struggling with the language and may not have had educational opportunities here or in their home country,� he said.

Rummery said the government has always required a high-beginner level of English. Study materials for the tests come with answers, so students will not be confused by questions if they study the answers in advance, she said.

The immigration agency administered more than 6,000 of the new exams last year in a test run and saw the pass rate rise, from 84 percent with the old exam to 92 percent with the new one, Rummery said. The government used feedback from the test run to eliminate questions that applicants found confusing. In many questions on the new exam, students have a range of answers they can give, such as naming one of the five rights in the First Amendment.

With the new and old exams, applicants can study from a list of 100 questions. During their citizenship interviews, applicants are asked up to 10 of the questions, she said. They must get at least six right.

Amaya said he likes the new exam more than the old one.

“It permits people to think a little more what it means to be a citizen,� he said. “That’s something we support, because we want citizens to participate in the political process.�

Citizenship applications are down dramatically this year, with the sluggish economy and a big fee increase deterring many applicants.

The financial burden is discouraging even those who were hoping to apply for naturalization before a new citizenship exam — which many fear is more difficult than the old one — becomes mandatory Oct. 1.

Last year, new applications soared 89 percent nationwide, as immigrants rushed to beat a July 30, 2007, increase in the application fee, from $400 to $675.

In the weeks before the fee hike, an average of 100 people showed up at citizenship workshops sponsored by Catholic Charities San Bernardino/Riverside, said My-Hanh Luu, director of refugee and immigration services for group. “Now we’re lucky if we get 10,� she said.

From May to July 2007, more than 70,000 people applied for citizenship in Riverside, San Bernardino, Los Angeles, Orange, Ventura, Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties, up from under 30,000 in the same three-month period in 2006.

In May to July of this year, applications tumbled to just over 16,000.

That is partly because people who might have waited until 2008 instead applied earlier to beat the fee hike, said Sharon Rummery, a spokeswoman for U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.

But Inland nonprofit groups and adult schools that help citizenship applicants say the biggest reason for the sharp decline is that people cannot afford to pay the steeper fee.

“They have to choose between citizenship and food on their table for their children,� Luu said.

Miguel Sanchez, a Mexican immigrant from Banning, wants to apply for citizenship as soon as possible. Last week, he asked a citizenship class teacher at Beaumont Adult School whether the government would let him pay the $675 fee in installments. He was disappointed when she told him no, but he signed up for the class anyway. He plans to find day-labor or other work to supplement his $8-an-hour packing job to raise the money.

“I’ll do whatever I can, because it’s for my family,� Sanchez, 30, said during a break in an English class.

His wife and four children are U.S.-born American citizens. He is a legal resident, but he wants the permanence that citizenship would afford him.

Many immigrants work in construction and other industries that have been hit hardest by the economic downturn, so they’re among the least able to afford the fee, said Emilio Amaya, executive director of San Bernardino Community Service Center, which assists immigrants in the naturalization process.

Last year, immigrant-rights groups that fought the fee increase had predicted it would lead to a drop in applicants.

The extra revenue is paying for expanded security checks and fraud detection, modernization of computer systems and increased efficiency, said immigration service spokeswoman Marie Sebrechts.

Yet the backlog in applications caused by last year’s surge has caused processing delays that will prevent many applicants from voting in the Nov. 4 election. People who applied at the end of July 2007 are just now getting their citizenship interviews, Rummery said.

Wait times for new applicants are already falling as the immigration agency works through the backlog, Sebrechts said.

A lot of fees for the immigration forms increased too. USCIS is just making it harder and harder every year.