Short News

No luck for the lucky winners

Nine Russian citizens who have been denied their immigration visas after they had won in the green card lottery have now sued the US Department of State and its consulate in Moscow. One of the requirements for legal entry into the country is that the respective person must sign an application form. In order to make sure that this has really happened, the consular officer must make sure that the applicant signs a second form during the interview. Then both signatures will be compared and if they don't match the visa will be denied due to intention of fraud.

The Russian plaintiffs' lawyer bases his complaint on the fact that consular officers are not qualified to compare signatures. That's why he criticizes that the processing of the applications is a very arbitrary process and thus the required discretionary power is missing from the start. However, the lawsuit goes beyond the above mentioned event, it is aimed at making the US Sate Department introduce some regulations that require the sending of a forensic experts in cases like these.

Nepotism doesn't protect against deportation

A Saudi princess who, according to some reports of a Florida TV station, has mistreated an employee and discharged without pay, is now being questioned by US authorities. Buniah al-Saud, a niece of Saudi King Fahd, was arrested after her employee, an Indonesian woman by the name of Memet Ismiyati, had escaped from the house and told some neighbors about the mistreatment. The Saudi embassy in Washington defends the relation of the famous royal family and talks of diplomatic immunity, while US immigration claims that the fact that the royal relation had not informed the INS about her family would rob her of her diplomatic immunity. Apparently, it isn't even quite clear whether she is in the US on a diplomatic mission at all.

Census

After the last census in 2000 that recorded the current population as of April 1, Florida's population has increased by 2.6%, 70% of this due to immigration. In the southern part of the state, according to the new statistics, immigrants account for 70% of the population growth. Also California as one of the most popular reasons is still an attractive destination for immigrants, 50% of population growth is still due to immigration.

Freudian Slip - or: shrinks for officers!

Recently, the INS has hired a psychologist for their inspection department at the airport Newark in New Jersey. This measure became necessary after an inspection report had described the department as being unable to work. The report had not been meant for the public originally, but a local newspaper, "The Report," got hold of it anyway.

According to the regional INS director, Andrea Quarantillo, the employees were afraid to go to work. Quarantillo said - when asked about the curious situation in his district - that this fact and the fact that the department was apparently under bad leadership proved that there were serious problems that an expert had to take care of now.

A new coalition?

A new coalition of anti-immigration groups calling itself ‘united to protect America' has started an advertising campaign aimed at creating greater obstacles for immigration. At present the group is advertising in newspapers and television stations in the state of Missouri. They motivate people to write to Congress to demand a stronger annual limitation of the number of immigrants allowed in the country.

Family business

Recently some INS officers had declared the visa of a Pakistani student invalid and apparently created a precedent with this. According to observers this might make it more difficult for foreign student to get student visas in the future. 19-year old Najeeb-Ul-Hasnain had arrived at McCarran International Airport in Las Vegas on November 4. The purpose of his trip was to visit his family in the US, before beginning his college course. US immigration officials questioned him at the border and roughly 5 weeks later, after thorough investigation, revoked his visa. According to Hasnain the officials' reason was that his sister had overstayed the time on her visa before and so they suspected him of planning something similar.

According to US immigration experts, this decision of the INS is a remarkable one. It is the first of this kind in history, never had someone been punished for a crime a family member had committed. Some even claimed that this was further proof that the liberal principles of US immigration law were more and more abandoned after September 11.