New York, November 2005
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Immigrants Often Unpaid for Katrina Work
 GULFPORT,
Miss. - A pattern is emerging as the cleanup of Mississippi's Gulf Coast morphs
into its multibillion-dollar reconstruction: Come payday, untold numbers of
Hispanic immigrant laborers are being stiffed. Sometimes, the boss simply
vanishes. Other workers wait on promises that soon, someone in a complex
hierarchy of contractors will provide the funds to pay them. Nonpayment of wages
is a violation of federal labor law, but these workers — thousands of them,
channeled into teams that corral debris, swaddle punctured roofs in blue tarps
and gut rain-ravaged homes — are especially vulnerable because many are here
illegally.
After Katrina hit, Armando Ojeda paid $1,200 to be smuggled across the desert
border from Mexico, a walk that took several nights. Talk of $10 an hour — more
in a day than he made each week at a computer factory back home — led him to pay
another $1,200 to be crammed in van with a dozen other immigrants and driven
1,600 miles, from a safe house in Arizona to Mississippi.
The passengers were not fed — Ojeda recalls his mouth watering when he smelled
tacos the driver ate — and were discharged near the Naval Construction Battalion
Center in Gulfport, where Ojeda sleepwalked though his first day clearing
hurricane-strewn junk. The job was supposed to pay $7 an hour. But six weeks
later, Ojeda still hasn't been paid the $600-plus he said he is owed for eight
days of dawn-to-dusk labor.
Source: Associated Press
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Downloadable Immigration eBooks are now Available
 NEW YORK
- Immigration Services (an independent organization) has recently started offering immigration kits as downloadable PDF files, also called "eBooks".
Previously, immigration packages could only the ordered in hard copy format,
which meant applicant had to wait until the requested immigration kit arrived
by mail, before the application process could start. Now with the introduction
of downloadable immigration kits, applicants can order the desired application
kit online, and receive the download link within seconds. This is a much faster
and convenient way to order immigration application kits. Immigration eBooks are
also cheaper than regular application kits, since there is no shipping and
handling charges. Downloadable immigration kits contain the same information as
regular hard copy immigration kits, including application requirements and
instructions, and all required USCIS application forms. Immigration eBooks are
available for download at
www.usimmigrationsupport.org
The most popular titles include: "H-1B Work Visa", "Green Card through
Marriage", "Green Card Renewal", "U.S. Citizenship" and "U.S. Passport", among
others. The view full list of immigration kits, please visit
www.usimmigrationsupport.org
UNITED STATES IMMIGRATION
APPLICATION KITS: $49.95 |
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Diversity Immigrant Visa Program - Green Card Lottery
 2005 Green Card Lottery (DV-2007) Registration is
open until DEC 04, 2005.
Every year the US government issues 50,000 permanent Green
Cards through the Diversity Immigrant Visa Program; the
Green Card Lottery.
Applicants are selected randomly by a computer generated drawing. If you are
selected, you and your family will be authorized to live and work permanently in the United
States. Registration for the 2005 Green Card Lottery is open until December 04,
2005.
Instructions for the 2005 Green Card Lottery are now available.
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New Passports Will Have High-Tech Features
 WASHINGTON
- The State Department said Tuesday that it's adding two security features to
the new electronic passports that it will start issuing in December. The
announcement partially assuaged privacy advocates who feared the technology
wouldn't protect travelers from identity theft or from people who aim to harm
Americans traveling abroad. "Is it a step forward? Yes. Is it foolproof? That
remains to be proven," said Barry Steinhardt, a lawyer with the American Civil
Liberties Union.
As a result of tougher post-Sept. 11 security requirements, all new
U.S.
passports issued by the end of this year are supposed to have a microchip
containing the holders' name, nationality, sex, birth date, place of birth,
issuing office and a biometric identifier — a digital photograph. A tiny antenna
embedded in the passport cover will allow remote reading devices to capture the
data on the chip. Privacy advocates said anyone with a portable reader could
remotely read, or "skim," a passport holder's personal information.
UNITED STATES PASSPORT
APPLICATION MANUAL:
$49.95 |
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The State Department said its original proposal in February generated 2,335
comments that were overwhelmingly opposed to the technology because of concerns
that terrorists could identify and target them as U.S. citizens. So the new
passports' front covers and spines will include an anti-skimming material that
blocks the radio waves that could pick up the data.
Source: Associated Press
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Proposal Would Fence Off Mexico
 WASHINGTON
— House Armed Services Committee Chairman Duncan Hunter (R-El Cajon) on Thursday
called for constructing a high-tech fence along the nation's border from the
Pacific to the Gulf of Mexico as part of a sweeping crackdown on illegal
immigration. The proposal would also increase penalties on employers who hire
undocumented workers, step up deportation of
illegal immigrants already living
in the U.S. and deny citizenship to U.S.-born children of
illegal entrants,
among a host of enforcement measures. The bill, to be introduced soon, is a wish
list for immigration control advocates in the pending congressional debate over
President Bush's plan to create a guest worker program.
"This legislation … implements appropriate and necessary solutions to many of
our nation's immigration problems," Hunter said. The call for a border fence
drew immediate reaction.
"I predict the fence will be a hugely popular concept and there will be an
enormous groundswell of support," said Dan Stein, president of the Federation
for American Immigration Reform, which favors limits. "What it will really do is
separate the true reformers from those who want cheap labor." Homeland
Security spokesman Russ Knocke declined to comment on Hunter's bill, but the
Bush administration already has taken a stand against building a fence along the
2,000-mile-long border with Mexico.
Source: LA TIMES
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New Rules for European Tourist Visa
 BRUSSELS,
Belgium - The Schengen Visa has made traveling between its 15 European member
countries much easier and less bureaucratic than before. Traveling on a Schengen
visa means that the visa holder can travel to any (or all) member countries
using one single visa, thus avoiding the hassle and expense of obtaining
individual visas for each country. This is particularly beneficial for persons
who wish to visit several European countries on the same trip. The Schengen visa
is a “visitor visa”. It is issued to citizens of countries who are required to
obtain a visa before entering Europe. The purpose of the visit must be leisure,
tourism, or business. Upon the issuance of the visa, the visa holder is allowed
to enter all member countries and travel freely throughout the Schengen area. It
is strongly recommended to plan your journey within the timeframe of the
Schengen Visa as extensions can be very difficult to obtain, thus forcing you to
leave to stay in compliance with the Schengen Rules and Regulations.
All Schengen countries are in Europe. However, it should not be confused with
the European Union (EU). Schengen and EU are two different agreements between
European countries.
Note: European Schengen Visas are usually easier to obtain than U.S. B-2
Tourist Visas. For more information visit the Schengen Visa Information Center
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