Kennedy's Immigration Law Report : Iowa Immigration Lawyer & Attorney : Austin Kennedy : Brick Gentry Law Firm : Green Cards, Permanent Residency

The U.S. Census Bureau recently released its figures from the 2007 American Community Survey.  The annual ACS survey has replaced the more commonly-known census, which was only administered once every 10 years.  As you might imagine, the ACS provides reams of frequently-updated social, economic and demographic data about our nation. 

One of the headline-grabbing bits of information to emerge from this year's ACS is that the number of immigrants entering the United States decreased dramatically from 2006 to 2007.  In 2006 we attracted 1.8 million immigrants.  In 2007, the number was approximately 500,000 (Ed. note:  the ACS claims that its estimates for immigrants include those in the country legally and illegally because the agency does not ask about legal status--official figures put the number of illegal immigrants in the U.S. at approximately 12 million.).   

According to the new data, 14 states showed declines in the estimated number of immigrants from 2006 to 2007, including:  New Jersey, New Mexico, Vermont and South Dakota.  I'm searching for Iowa-specific data and will update when and if I find it. 

So, the logical question is, what's going on here?  Why is this happening? Are we no longer the beacon of light, attracting the huddled masses, yearning to breathe free? 

In my view there are a number of factors that correlate with this downturn in immigration.  Now mind you, I'm not claiming that there is a direct causal connection between the events, but I think its fairly safe to say that they are partially interconnected. 

Factor #1--The Fee Hike:  As a starting point, the downturn in the number of people immigrating to the United States needs to be viewed in the context of The GREAT PROCESSING FEE SPIKE of 2007.  For those of you who might not follow these issues on a daily basis, in January of 2007 USCIS announced that it would soon dramatically increase the fees applicants and petitioners had to pay in order to have their paperwork reviewed and processed by the USCIS.  In many cases this amounted to an increase of hundreds or thousands of dollars of extra costs for families and companies.  As a result,  families and companies alike rushed to file any and every case that possibly could be filed before the fee hike took effect.   This, in turn, caused a huge swell in the number of people attempting to immigrate to the United States.  One figure indicated that more than 460,000 people applied for their citizenship during the month of June 2007 alone.  It's probably safe to say that numbers were also likely inflated a fair bit during April and May.  In sum, there clearly has been a precipitious fall off since last year in the number of people immigrating to the U.S., but last year's numbers were also inflated due to the swell caused by USCIS' processing fee hike.  As we move a couple of years into this newly-inflated processing fee regime we'll be able to judge more accurately whether the costs imposed by the government are serving as a deterrent to legal immigration.  Stay posted. 

Factor #2--Downturn in the Economy:  Economic opportunity has always been the engine that drives immigrants to the U.S.  With the jobless rate passing 6% (the highest rate since 2003) it makes a fair bit of sense that immigration rates have correspondingly slowed a bit.  In particular, the slump in the housing and construction sectors has been one of the largest factors stemming the flow of immigrants into the country. 

Factor #3--Increased Enforcement (ie., ICE Raids): Postville, Iowa.  Laurel, Mississippi.  These are just a few examples of the ICE raids that have rocked virtually every region of our country over the course of the past twelve months.  By design these raids have generated gobs of news headlines and, in turn, caused families and employers all over the country to wait and worry in a state of suspended anxiety.  A recent Pew Hispanic Center survey detailed the extent to which the raids have taken a psychological toll on the Latino community in particular.  No doubt these ICE raids have caused plenty of otherwise likely immigrants to stay the heck away, while causing some who are already here to conclude that this environment simply isn't worth the trouble.   

Most of my readers have probably by now figured out that I view healthy immigration numbers as an integral part of our country's on-going success.  But I'm not particularly worried about the dip we've seen from last year to this.  As I've explained above, the governement's fee hike, our current economic plight and the increased ICE raids have all contibuted to cause this year's numbers to fall somewhat dramatically.  But, in my view, there's hope.  At least two of the deleterious factors should be temporary.  Maybe as I write this Congress is getting their act together enough to pass a reasonable bailout (er, economic stabilization) bill.  And maybe after November 4, 2008 we'll have the congressional and presidential leadership necessary to achieve pragmatic immigration reform.  One can always hope...

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 Every once in a while a client will call to request a meeting about a mysterious and as of yet unnamed subject that can’t be discussed over the phone. They’ll come to the office, I’ll greet them, and we’ll sit down at the table like normal. After we’ve exchanged niceties the client will assume a sly and stealthy look. They’ll don a skeptical smile, lean in very close, and drop their voices. In a barely audible whisper they’ll tell me that one of their crazy friends is trafficking in the outlandish rumor that a person can win a lottery to immigrate to the United States! 

Well, the truth is that we do have a so-called "green card" lottery here in the United States. It’s formally known as the Diversity Visa Lottery. Most importantly, the window of opportunity for this year’s edition of the Diversity Visa Lottery is opening at noon on Thursday, October 2, 2008, and then will close again at noon on December 1, 2008. You only have two months to submit an application, and you won’t have this opportunity again for another year. So if you or someone you know wants a legitimate shot at immigrating to the United States, please spread the word that applications need to be put in order rather quickly. For more specifics on eligibility criteria, see the next post below.   

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 So, you ask, what is the Diversity Visa Lottery? And how does it work?

In the most general sense, the diversity lottery is really just that—a lottery. But unlike the “WIN A MILLION DOLLARS” type of lottery, the diversity visa lottery doesn’t allow just anyone to enter. And even if you do “win” the diversity visa lottery, you should expect that it won’t be an instant rags-to-immigration-riches process. Hopefully the post below will demystify the process enough to answer your basic questions.   

This year’s lottery opens October 2, 2008 and closes December 1, 2008. The annual visa lottery program makes immigrant visas (ie., “green cards” or legal permanent residency) available to persons meeting the strict but simple eligibility requirements. Once the applicant has met the surface level eligibility criteria, then a computer-generated random lottery drawing chooses selecteees for diversity visas.  

As I mentioned, not everyone is eligible to enter this lottery. In fact, while 55,000 “green cards” are made available each year through the diversity lottery, only natives from countries with low rates of immigration to the United States are eligible to enter. Please note: for immigration purposes, being a “native” of a country usually means that you were born in that country. There are exceptions to the native rule, but if you find that you were born in a country that seems to render you ineligible for the diversity visa lottery (and you don't have other immigration avenues), you should probably your explore options with an attorney.   

The visas are distributed among six geographic regions with a greater number of visas going to regions with lower rates of immigration, and with no visas going to nationals of countries sending more than 50,000 immigrants to the U.S. over the period of the past five years. 

OK--so let's get down to brass tacks-- for this year's diversity lottery (ie., DV 2010) natives of the following countries are NOT eligible to participate in the diversity lottery: 

                                BRAZIL, CANADA, CHINA (mainland), COLOMBIA, DOMINICAN REPUBLIC, ECUADOR, EL SALVADOR, GUATEMALA, HAITI, INDIA, JAMAICA, MEXICO, PAKISTAN, PHILIPPINES, PERU, POLAND, SOUTH KOREA, UNITED KINGDOM (except Northern Ireland) and its dependent territories, and VIETNAM.  Persons born in Hong Kong SAR, Macau SAR and Taiwan are eligible.

So, if you were NOT born in one of the above-listed countries, then you ARE eligible.  And yes, for this year's lottery people from Russia and Kosovo are again eligible to apply. 

Once you’ve determined that you are a native of an eligible country, you’ve only cleared the first hurdle. In addition to satisfying the native country element of the equation, in order to be eligible to enter the lottery you must also have EITHER a high school education (defined as successful completion of a 12 year course of elementary and secondary education) OR two years of work experience within the past five years in an occupation requiring at least two years of training or experience to perform. The question of whether your educational or job history qualifies you to enter the lottery is probably a question that should be directed to your lawyer.   

Finally, readers should realize that winning the diversity lottery is really a three step process. First an applicant has to meet the initial eligibility criteria (ie., be a native of an eligible country AND have a high school education or sufficient job experience). Second, the applicant must be chosen by the government’s random computer-generated selection process. If the applicant is randomly selected, the government will send the applicant written notification (by mail, NOT email). Unfortunately the government’s current policy is to NOT send notice to those whose applications were NOT selected. Please note, however, that being selected by the computer is not the final step in the process. As the third step, the selected applicant must then go forward and prove that they are eligible to adjust status here in the U.S. or at a consulate abroad by submitting the necessary supporting evidence and presenting it to the appropriate authorities. 

In summary, the diversity visa lottery presents a great opportunity to immigrate to the United States, but it shouldn't be associated with the instant gratification attributed to the money lottery programs you see advertised on television.  If the other avenues of immigration (family, asylum, refuge, employment, investor) are closed off to you, then the visa lottery system might be your only option.  But the program also has a supplemental strategic quality to it.  If for instance, you are on an H-1B visa but your employer hasn't yet sponsored you for your permanent residency, you can take matters into your own hands and apply for the diversity lottery (assuming you otherwise qualify).  Plus, if you aren't selected this year, there's nothing stopping you from applying again next year. 

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Howdy! ¡Hola! Namasté! Whether you intentionally set out looking for an immigration attorney or just happened to be meandering about the internet and landed here at this blog, I’m glad to you’re here and hope that you’ll come back soon. This blog will be a running conversation on all things immigration-related. My law practice focuses more on employment-based immigration visas (ie., work visas) and work site enforcement issues (ie., avoiding and recovering from ICE raids), so I’ll probably drift a bit more in that direction, but I hope with time to basically cover the wide, colorful and ever-evolving immigration spectrum. 

People often ask me why and how I got started practicing immigration law. As near as I can tell, I think the seeds were planted twelve (has it been that long already?! sigh) years ago when I enrolled at Macalester College in the chilly north lands of St. Paul, Minnesota. Mac, as the alumni call it, is an institution dedicated to internationalism and multiculturalism. Mac’s student body is typically comprised of nearly 15% international students, and while I was there I believe we had students from 90 different countries (alums far more notable than I include former United Nations Secretary General Kofi Anan, Walter Mondale, author Tim O’Brien, Ari Emanuel and thousands of other curious and wildly entertaining characters).  

The faculty at Mac continually taught us to consider the implications of our thoughts, actions and policies and how they would play out beyond the borders of the United States. For a kid from rural Iowa, it was mind-blowing to sit in a classroom with students from India, Pakistan and Cyprus and discuss the pluses and minuses of timely topics like globalization. Mac taught us not only to passively consider the global community, but also to actively engage it. Most of all, my time at Mac taught me that interacting with people from other countries will make your life more informed and vastly more entertaining.

So, since my time at Macalester I’ve carried with me the conviction that the United States and the world as a whole gets stronger, smarter, more interesting and more productive when we have people from different countries living and working in our communities. We gain different perspectives and fresh modes of thought. We learn first-hand the challenges of living in places other than the United States, and why so many people want to come here. We learn about new and different people and, in so doing, we learn about ourselves. We understand a little more, we grow a little more. And in the end we come to realize that people are just people, whether they live in Des Moines, Iowa, or Jaipur, India. We all want to live full productive lives, do well by our families and have enough time left on the margins to kick back, relax, and have some fun. 

All of which is a long, round about way of explaining how and why I practice immigration law. The world is a big and wonderful place. The more we actively engage it, the longer it’ll be around for us to enjoy. 

My hope is that you'll come back every now and again to check back in on Kennedy’s Immigration Law Report. This is an exciting time in immigration law and in the world at large. I want this blog to be informative, collaborative, respectful and fun. I promise to add new posts on a regular basis. And I do want this blog to facilitate a conversation. I don’t pretend to know everything about immigration law and policy, so please, share your knowledge, experiences and thoughts. If you see interesting immigration-related news items, send them my way. If you have an immigration-related community event to announce, I’ll be glad to post your event’s details. If you enjoy the site or think it can be made better in some way, let me know. Thanks again and remember to check back regularly.

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