U. S Visa lottery 2016 closes Monday, Nov. 3

Processing of applications for the Diversity Immigrant Visa Program of the United States of America for the 2016 which began online Wednesday, October 1, 2014 will close Monday, November 3, 2014 at 12:00 noon, Eastern Daylight Time (EDT) (GMT-4).
The congressionally mandated Diversity Immigrant Visa Program is administered annually by the Department of State.

Section 203(c) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) provides for a class of “diversity immigrants,” from countries with historically low rates of immigration to the United States. For fiscal year 2016, 50,000 diversity visas (DVs) will be available. There is no cost to register for the DV program.

Only Nigeria is exempted from the program in Africa because more than 50,000 of natives of the country immigrated to the the United States in the last five years, according to the US Department of State.

However, natives of Nigeria and other countries that are exempted may be eligible to enter;

through two other ways: -

 Was your spouse born in a country whose natives are eligible? If yes, you can claim your spouse’s country of birth — provided that both you and your spouse are named on the selected entry, are issued diversity visas, and enter the United States simultaneously.

 Were you born in a country whose natives are ineligible, but in which neither of your parents was born or legally resident at the time of your birth? If yes, you may claim the country of birth of one of your parents if it is a country whose natives are eligible for the DV-2016 program

The other countries apart from Nigeria that their natives are not eligible to participate are Bangladesh, Brazil, Canada, China (mainland -born), Colombia, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Haiti, India, Jamaica, Mexico, Pakistan, Peru, Philippines, South Korea, United Kingdom (except Northern Ireland) and its dependent territories, and Vietnam.

Applicants who are selected in the lottery (“selectees”) must meet simple, but strict, eligibility requirements in order to qualify for a diversity visa. Selectees are chosen through a randomized computer drawing. Diversity visas are distributed among six geographic regions and no single country may receive more than seven percent of the available DVs in any one year.

USCIS Expands the Definition of “Mother” and “Parent”

USCIS issued a new policy (PA-2014-009) clarifying the definition of “mother” and “parent” under the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) to include gestational mothers using assisted reproductive technology regardless of whether they are the genetic mothers. USCIS and the Department of State (DOS), who exercise authority over these issues, collaborated in the development of this policy. USCIS and DOS concluded that the term “mother” and “parent” under the INA includes any mother who:

• Gave birth to the child, and
• Was the child’s legal mother at the time of birth under the law of the relevant jurisdiction.

Under this new policy, a mother who meets this definition but does not have a genetic relationship with her child (for example, she became pregnant through an egg donor) will:

• Be able to petition for her child based on their relationship
• Be eligible to have her child petition for her based on their relationship
• Be able to transmit U.S. citizenship to her child, if she is a U.S. citizen and all other pertinent citizenship requirements are me

Oregon’s first lady admits to secret past: A green-card marriage to Ethiopian teen

By Lindsey Bever

Kitzhaber, right, and Hayes at the Enjoy Oregon Wine Fair in Tokyo on Sept. 13, 2011. (AP Photo/Hiro Komae, file)

Cylvia Hayes, fiancee of Oregon Gov. John Kitzhaber, at a news conference in Portland, Ore. on Oct. 9, 2014. Hayes admitted that she violated the law when she married an immigrant seeking to retain residency in the United States. (AP Photo/Gosia Wozniacka)

A few years ago, Oregon’s first lady, Cylvia Hayes, shared her rags-to-riches journey — from her dilapidated childhood home in Washington state, to a tent on government land in Oregon, to the governor’s mansion, where she now lives with Gov. John Kitzhaber (D).
But she never mentioned the Ethiopian immigrant she married 17 years ago and divorced in 2002. When stories seeped out this week that she helped him obtain U.S. residency in exchange for $5,000, she said she needed the cash.
“It was a marriage of convenience,” she said in a statement. “He needed help, and I needed financial support.”
Hayes, 47, wiped away tears during a news conference Thursday, explaining that when she married the 18-year-old immigrant in 1997, she was “associating with the wrong people” and attempting to pay for classes at Evergreen State College near Seattle. She said she used the money to buy a laptop and cover school expenses. She was so “ashamed and embarrassed” about the illegal union that she never even told Kitzhaber, her fiance — until the Willamette Week peeked into her past earlier this week.
Hayes was twice divorced and not yet 30 when she married an Ethiopian teenager identified as Abraham B. Abraham, whom she met through a mutual acquaintance in Washington state. He was allegedly trying to stay in America to obtain a college education.
Hayes said the two saw each other only a handful of times and never lived together.
“It was wrong then and it is wrong now and I am here today to accept the consequences, some of which will be life-changing,” she said.
Abraham eventually earned a mathematics degree from Greensboro College in North Carolina. He now lives in the Washington, D.C., area, according to public records. He declined to respond to calls and texts from the Willamette Week, and he refused to speak to a reporter who went to his home.
Although marriage fraud is a federal felony, there’s a five-year statute of limitations, meaning Hayes could not be charged as of 2002. However, there are no limitations on civil penalties. The Oregonian reported that the government has the power to revoke the man’s legal status. Hayes said she has hired an attorney in case there are legal consequences.
Shortly after Hayes got married, she loaded her two dogs in an old Toyota and moved to Oregon. She told the Oregonian in 2011 that she “literally set up a tent on [Bureau of Land Management] land” in the summer while writing her thesis.
She said Thursday that once she got established in Oregon, her past “felt very, very distant and far removed” from her new life.
“I became an active and engaged civic volunteer, community member and I became active politically,” she said. She started a clean economy consulting firm called 3EStrategies. She unsuccessfully ran for Oregon’s House of Representatives in 2004. That’s when she met Kitzhaber.
Years later, Hayes became one of the first live-in partners of an Oregon governor. Kitzhaber calls her the state’s first lady.
Kitzhaber and Hayes confirmed their engagement in August.
The governor’s office did not respond to an e-mail seeking comment late Thursday night.
The story came to light Wednesday when the Willamette Week wrote a story about her private consulting work. In the article, the paper reported that she had been married and divorced three times — only two had been previously publicized.
At Thursday’s news conference, Hayes spoke alone, saying she cannot even look at Kitzhaber without crying. She said she is most upset by how the governor found out about her illegal marriage.
She apologized to Kitzhaber, her friends and family, and Oregonians.
“I deeply regret not being right up front about the fact that I had made a serious mistake,” she said. “I owe you all an apology.”
Here is Hayes’s statement in full:

Seventeen years ago I made a serious mistake by committing an illegal act when I married a person so that he could retain residency in the United States. It was a marriage of convenience. He needed help and I needed financial support.
We were both living in Washington. I was attending Evergreen State College, and we were introduced by mutual acquaintances. This was a difficult and unstable period in my life. I want to be clear today — I was associating with the wrong people. I was struggling to put myself through college and was offered money in exchange for marrying a young person who had a chance to get a college degree himself if he were able to remain in the United States.
We met only a handful of times. We never lived together. I have not had any contact with him since the divorce finalized in 2002.
It was wrong then and it is wrong now and I am here today to accept the consequences, some of which will be life changing. And I cannot predict what direction this will go.
In the few years after this bad decision I completed my degree, got my feet underneath me and established my home and career in Oregon. I became an active and engaged civic volunteer, community member and I became active politically.
My decision to marry illegally felt very, very distant and far removed from the life I was building. I was ashamed and embarrassed. Therefore I did not share this information even with John once we met and started dating.
This is the most painful part for me. John Kitzhaber deserved to know the history of the person he was forming a relationship with. The fact that I did not disclose this to him meant that he has learned about this in the most public and unpleasant way. This is my greatest sorrow in this difficult situation.
I apologize deeply for my actions and omissions, first and foremost to John, the person I love and respect above all others. I also apologize to my friends, family and colleagues who have trusted and supported me. And to Oregonians, I deeply regret not being right up front about the fact that I had made a serious mistake. I owe you all an apology.
The work that I do on behalf of our environment and trying to make people’s lives better is incredibly important to me — it’s the focal point of my life. I will continue to do my best in that arena going forward.
But for the time being, there are more important issues. I need to take some personal time to reflect and address this difficult situation and to focus on my relationship with John.

(Lindsey Bever is a national news reporter for The Washington Post.)

Why does government seek charity for Ports of Entry?

By DAVID NORTH   

Columbus, OH — Does a government ask for donations to maintain its parliamentary buildings? Its Air Force or FBI? No, a self-respecting nation, particularly a prosperous one like the United States, uses public funds for important public purposes.
But the Obama administration has decided to pull out the begging cup for our somewhat tattered ports of entry, where an endless series of important immigration admission decisions are made all day, every day. The administration treats the ports like poor relatives that should be clothed and fed by recycling society's leftovers.

In another, galling indication of how little importance the administration gives to controlling immigration, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) issued a press release this week with the following headline:

CBP and GSA Launch Donation Acceptance Program to Support Port of Entry Infrastructure Needs

The release said, in part: "Accepted donations may be used for activities related to the construction, alteration, operations, and maintenance of CBP or GSA-owned [Government Services Administration] ports of entry."
Many of our land ports of entry are outmoded, deteriorating, and/or insecure; there are major environmental problems, like what do you do about all that carbon monoxide being generated by all those autos waiting to be inspected, particularly at the southern border.
Similarly, I remember visiting one of the small New Mexico ports and watching, in broad daylight, a would-be illegal jump over the fence and sprint toward the interior. The inspector I was talking to said: "It happens all the time. We call the Border Patrol."
So, the administration is right, there are "infrastructure needs".
But isn't that what tax funds are for?
I do not mind the recycling of war-time sensors and fence components from the Department of Defense to the Border Patrol — I hate to see government property go to waste. And I am not worried about the perhaps apocryphal story I heard within the old INS that at one point every INS district director had as his service car a Cadillac that had been seized from some drug dealer.
Congress votes money to fund very expensive, often idle, drones for immigration law enforcement — how about some more money for the not very glamorous ports?

David North, a Fellow of the Center for Immigration Studies, is an internationally recognized authority on immigration policy.

ICE removes South Korean woman wanted by Korean authorities for embezzlement

Columbus, OH. A South Korean woman wanted in her home country on embezzlement charges was removed from the United States Monday by officers with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO). Heakyung Kim, 51, of South Korea, was admitted into the United States in March 2014 under the Visa Waiver Program with authorization to remain in the United States until June 25, but she did not depart the United States in accordance with the program.

On May 8, the District Court in Incheon, South Korea, charged Kim with embezzling the Korean equivalent of $23 million in U.S. currency from a religious organization. South Korean law enforcement and subsequently issued a warrant for her arrest. Based on the active arrest warrant, Interpol issued a Red Notice for Kim May 16.
The Interpol Red Notice prompted a collateral request from Homeland Security Investigations Attaché Seoul for U.S.-based HSI special agents and ERO officers to conduct a joint investigation into Kim’s whereabouts.
HSI special agents and ERO officers arrested Kim Sept. 4 at a McLean apartment complex for remaining in the United States longer than permitted, which violated the conditions of her admission to the United States.
ERO officers removed Kim from the United States Monday via a commercial flight that departed Washington Dulles International Airport in Chantilly. On Oct. 7, upon arrival at Seoul Incheon International Airport, ERO officers transferred Kim to the custody of South Korean law enforcement authorities.
“The removal of Ms. Kim demonstrates how ICE works with its law enforcement partners across the globe,” said ERO Washington Field Office Director Yvonne Evans. “We take our country’s immigration laws seriously, and individuals who try to game the system, especially those wanted on charges abroad, will be removed to their home countries.” 
In fiscal year 2013, ICE conducted 368,644 removals nationwide. Nearly 60 percent of ICE's total removals had been previously convicted of a criminal offense; 82 percent of individuals removed from the interior of the United States had previously been convicted of a criminal offense.
 In addition to convicted criminals, the agency's enforcement priorities include those apprehended while attempting to unlawfully enter the United States, illegal re-entrants – individuals who returned to the United States after being previously removed by ICE – and immigration fugitives. In fiscal year 2013, 98 percent of ICE removals met these priorities – a record high.

Finding job in Australia may become easier

Changes to the Australian Subclass 457 visa programme have been proposed

By Majorie van Leijen

People who are looking for a job overseas and have opted for Australia to be their new home may find it easier to do so as changes to the main immigration programme for temporary workers are under discussion.

When finding work in Australia, foreigners most probably have to apply for the Subclass 457 visa, or temporary skilled worker visa. This visa enables employers to fill skills shortages by recruiting qualified overseas workers where appropriately skilled Australians are unavailable.

However, over the years restrictive measures have made it more complicated for employers and overseas workers alike to comply with the imposed requirements.

These restrictions have been picked up by the Australian government and recommendations have been made for a more accessible visa programme.

Outlined in a government-commissioned report on the 457 visa programme were recommendations such as the abolishment of labour market testing; changes to English language requirements for 457 visa applicants; changes to market salary rate rules and more support for trusted legitimate sponsors.

Australian Immigration Minister Scott Morrison welcomed the report, looking positively at the possibility of change.

“The English language requirements are unnecessarily restrictive, serving more as an industrial lock-out rather than an honest attempt to ensure appropriate language skills which the government does believe is important,” he was quoted as saying.

He hinted towards a reduction on the income bar for exemption from market rate assessment, and said that the procedure for trusted sponsors could be simplified.

However, he said labour market testing was unlikely to be abolished.

Since November 23, 2013, Labour Market Testing has been enacted as a requirement for the visa.

Rather than merely being encouraged to recruit workers from the local labour market, employers are required to provide evidence of their efforts to do so, in the form of advertising vacancies, local recruitment drives and active involvement in domestic career expositions.

These efforts would have to be made from at least four months prior to sponsoring a 457 visa for a position, with the intention of avoiding misuse of the possibility of hiring overseas labourers at the cost of the local workforce.

According to the report, the measure had proven ineffective in the Australian context. “It is (…) clear from coverage in the media and through our consultation process that any Australians who are struggling to find work perceive 457 visa holders as a threat.

“However, the evidence put to us lends little support to these more negative views that have formed around the programme,” reads the report.

Morrison agreed that the measures put in place were restrictive, however, abolishment of these measures would be controversial, and other changes could lead to an improvement of the accessibility of the programme.


Since 2011 Australia has seen a sharp increase in the number of applicants through the 457 visa programme, with 66,000 primary visa grants each year.

However, since the changes made in July, 2013 the number of grants were greatly reduced across all occupations.

Canadian FSW program ends December

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Columbus, OH. The current application cycle for the Federal Skilled Worker Program (FSWP), which opened in May, 2014, will finish at the end of this year. With just three months remaining in 2014, potential candidates have a limited window of opportunity to apply for this program. Successful applicants will gain Canadian permanent residence.

What is the Federal Skilled Worker Program?
The FSWP assesses candidates based on their human capital — that is to say, their ability to become economically established upon immigration to Canada — using a points-based system. Applicants must score at least 67 points based on the criteria set by Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC).
The current FSWP determines that 50 occupations are in demand in Canada, and candidates must have at least one year of work experience in the past 10 years in one of 50 eligible occupations. A total of 25,000 applications will be accepted for processing under the current FSWP, with a cap of 1,000 per eligible occupation. In addition to the fact that there is a limited time period left in which to make an application, candidates should also be aware that some of the occupation caps are close to reaching their limit.
Under the current Federal Skilled Worker Program, an eligible applicant applies knowing with a degree of certainty that he or she will be able to immigrate, so long as he or she is not criminally inadmissible, doesn’t have major health problems, and works in an occupation that has not yet reached its cap. We are now entering the final three months in which the Government of Canada will be accepting applications under the FSWP in its present form.
How do candidates determine their eligibility for the current FSWP?
The first step in the entire process is to determine one’s eligibility for the program. Candidates need to know whether or not meet the eligibility criteria to make an application. If a candidate is eligible to apply, he or she should begin their Educational Credential Assessment immediately and sit the IELTS exam. No one is exempt from the requirement for language testing, regardless of their country of origin or education.
“Candidates still have time, but they need to move fast. In practical terms, they need to determine their eligibility today and, if they are eligible, they need to start the process almost immediately,” says Attorney David Cohen. “Candidates who fulfil the criteria of the current Federal Skilled Worker Program should apply now, knowing with a degree of certainty that they will be able to immigrate to Canada.” 
After December 31, 2014, the current rules and procedures for the FSWP will no longer be in place.
What comes after the FSWP?
As of January 1, 2015, candidates will no longer apply directly to the FSWP. From that date, Canada will transition to a new expression of interest immigration selection system called ‘Express Entry’.
Under Express Entry, the federal government and provincial governments, as well as Canadian employers, will be able to select potential immigrants from a pool of candidates who have declared an expression of interest in immigrating to Canada and who meet the eligibility criteria for at least one of Canada’s economic immigration programs:

• The Federal Skilled Worker Program
• The Federal Skilled Trades Program
• The Canadian Experience Class
• A portion of the Provincial Nominee Program

The highest-ranked candidates (those deemed to have the best chances for economic success) may then be invited to apply for permanent residence in Canada under one of these programs.
“From January, candidates will be relying on being cherry-picked by either the federal government, a province, or a Canadian employer. Now is the time to take action,” says Attorney David Cohen.