Government agencies have an Ombudsman who issues reports to Congress and liaises between consumers and the agency to resolve problems. The USCIS Ombudsman released its report for 2016 at the end of June. Important issues for attorneys, individuals, and employers have been visa RFEs and visa delays, Employment Authorization Document application delays, fee waivers, the EB-5 program, and processing times in general. The Ombudsman’s report is over 100 pages. Here are some highlights:

• The Ombudsman noted the excessive number of Employment Authorization Document applications that are taking over 90 days to adjudicate, despite a regulation that states it must take place within 90 days. One seventh of the Ombudsman’s caseload related to delayed EAD applications. The Ombudsman writes:

“Thousands of EAD applicants and their employers continue to be negatively impacted by the agency’s failure to timely adjudicate Form I-765. The proposed regulatory changes will not improve processing times absent allocation of significant resources to meet processing times goals. The Ombudsman continues to highlight EAD issues as a systemic issue, and will monitor and engage the agency as long as this matter remains unresolved.”

• USCIS has a proposal to eliminate the 90 day adjudication requirement and replace that with an automatic 180 day extension of the employment card’s validity upon a timely filing. That proposal has not been implemented. The Ombudsman repeated that it has made multiple efforts and recommendations to rectify EAD issues over the past 8 years.
• H-1B, L-1A, and L-1B RFE rates have decreased from the previous year. This has been monitored for years because of high RFE rates. There are also discrepancies in RFE rates between the Vermont and California Service Centers. Those discrepancies persist.
• O-1 and P-1 visa petitions are receiving high rates of RFEs (49% and 65%).
• There is mixed data as to whether the Service Centers issue RFEs toward the end of the premium processing 15 day period as a delaying tactic.
• Processing times for Naturalization applications are highly variable by USCIS Field Office. Times range from 4 months to 9 months.
• Processing times for Permanent Residence applications are highly variable by USCIS Field Office. Times range from less than 4 months to over 10 months.

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I have posted this before, but this is a good reminder on our Independence Day of who we are as a nation.

“All of us are like cards in deck. But without even 1 of them, the deck of cards doesn’t work and that’s what Mr. Matthews says is America.”

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USCIS is celebrating the Fourth of July this year with 100 naturalization ceremonies throughout the country. The majority of naturalizations occur in the courtroom or at USCIS. A few naturalizations occur at special ceremonies such as the ones occurring throughout the country this weekend. The hashtag for the ceremonies is #newUScitizen.

Here are some of the largest naturalizations:

Largest All Military

5,000 at Fenway Park

Ellis Island

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One of the requirements to become a naturalized citizen of the United States is to pass a civics test. The knowledge contained within the civics test is supposed to be basic historical, social, and political information about the United States. There are many requirements to become a citizen – good moral character, physical presence, continuous residence – but the citizenship test is one that is symbolic of the process.

Ipsos Public Affairs gave the examination to 2,000 Americans. You can see how they performed here.

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USCIS likes to celebrate American holidays by naturalizing new citizens in large ceremonies. For Presidents’ Day, USCIS will be holding 180 different naturalization ceremonies. From February 12 – February 22, over 20,000 new American citizens are expected to be naturalized.

“Whatever their backgrounds and political views, our presidents have all recognized that we could not have succeeded as a nation were it not for the contributions of immigrants,” said USCIS Director León Rodríguez. “Through the contributions they make, and by choosing to naturalize, our newest citizens will strengthen the fabric of our nation and reinforce America’s unique heritage as a nation of immigrants.”

Director Leon Rodriguez will be naturalizing 50 people at Mount Vernon, which is George Washington’s home, on February 22, 2016.

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The Visa Bulletin for March was just released by the Department of State. EB-2 India moved forward ten weeks after taking a quantum leap in the February 2016 Bulletin. EB-2 China jumped ahead by five months in comparison to last month. EB-3 China, India, and Philippines remain far behind. Many Family Based categories remain far behind currency, but the F2A category is doing very well at June 15, 2015. F2A is for Permanent Residents who file for their spouses and unmarried children under 21 years of age.

Whereas a US Citizen can file for his spouse or unmarried child under 21 years of age and consider them to be an immediate relative (meaning that an immigrant visa is immediately available and consular processing is not required abroad), a US Permanent Resident must go through consular processing abroad and wait for currency date. An approved family-based petition in the F2A category from before June 15, 2015 means that it is available for an immigrant visa. This could be a compelling reason for a Permanent Resident who is eligible for US Citizenship to become a citizen and file for her spouse or unmarried child.

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The anti-immigration rhetoric has been vociferous in recent months, largely emanating from presidential candidacies. The usual course of discussion over immigration in recent years has been policymaking and legislation for unauthorized migrants. There are 11-12 million unauthorized migrants in the United States. They either entered the country without authorization or they entered legally but remained past their legal limit. The Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals and Deferred Action for Parents of Americans programs that President Obama initiated through executive order have sought to address immigration issues through the executive branch. The legislative branch has not been able to agree on comprehensive immigration reform.

In contrast to proclamations of immigration bans and restrictions, President Obama spoke at a naturalization ceremony in Washington DC, where people from 25 different countries took the oath to become American citizens. President Obama was there to commemorate the journey that those individuals had to take to become American citizens, on the 224^th anniversary of the Bill of Rights. The president had many remarkable statements about immigration and immigrants:

Just about every nation in the world, to some extent, admits immigrants. But there’s something unique about America. We don’t simply welcome new immigrants, we don’t simply welcome new arrivals — we are born of immigrants. That is who we are. Immigration is our origin story. And for more than two centuries, it’s remained at the core of our national character; it’s our oldest tradition. It’s who we are. It’s part of what makes us exceptional.

The first refugees were the Pilgrims themselves — fleeing religious persecution, crossing the stormy Atlantic to reach a new world where they might live and pray freely. Eight signers of the Declaration of Independence were immigrants. And in those first decades after independence, English, German, and Scottish immigrants came over, huddled on creaky ships, seeking what Thomas Paine called “asylum for the persecuted lovers of civil and religious liberty…

We can never say it often or loudly enough: Immigrants and refugees revitalize and renew America.

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Thanksgiving is a quintessential American holiday, combining copious amounts of food, football, and family members into a one day celebration of gratitude and togetherness. Cutting across religious, racial, and cultural divisions, the holiday has been celebrated since the famed 1621 Plymouth feast between Native Americans and passengers of the Mayflower who had arrived in an unknown land. The feast celebrated a successful harvest and collaboration between the Natives and immigrant Europeans. The day was celebrated on all different days until President Franklin Roosevelt decreed that the fourth Thursday of November was Thanksgiving in 1939.

The Macy’s Parade and bottomless buffets of football and food boost the holiday’s fun qualities, but there is a deeper significance buttressing the holiday’s purpose and meaning. The story of Thanksgiving, even if slightly apocryphal, has multiple dimensions of resonance for us today, even a full four centuries later. Colonial America was rife with conflicts between the newly arriving Europeans and established Native Americans, who had created civilizations of their own for hundreds of years. Thanksgiving symbolizes harmonious interchange between the Native Americans and immigrant Europeans. As elementary schoolchildren are taught every year, the immigrant Europeans

had come from England via Holland, escaping religious persecution and an oppressive government. Their story resembles a modern day asylum, as they were fleeing extreme stress and strife to a country where they would be safe (and religion is a protected ground for asylum). The overall history of European immigration, settling, and expansion throughout the continent boded poorly for Native Americans, who were overwhelmed by settlement, wars, and diseases. However, the day of feasting that we now celebrate as Thanksgiving represents the promise of a bright, harmonious future between the various groups that make up the United States of America – whether they are generations of Americans whose grandparents entered through Ellis Island or newly minted Americans who are recent immigrants, lawful permanent residents, and citizens.

The Law Offices of Andrew Wood wishes you a Happy Thanksgiving.

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Dearborn, MI or (“Dearbornistan”) is 40% Arab-American. It hosts the largest Lebanese American population and the highest percentage of Arabs of any city.

There are more immigrants living in New York City than there are people in Chicago, the third largest city in the United States.

There are over 80,000 immigrants in the Washington Heights neighborhood in Queens. 71% of the Elmhurst neighborhood in Queens is foreign born.

In 2010, Mexicans were the most populous immigrant group in 34 US states. Their homogenous dominance across the American landscape is countered by the Atlantic and Northeast, where the immigrant demographics are more even. Canada is second, counting its diaspora the most populous in 5 US States. Indians are the most populous in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and West Virginia. El Salvador takes Maryland and Virginia. Massachusetts’s largest group is Chinese, Rhode Island’s and New York’s are Dominican, Connecticut’s is Jamaican, and Alaska’s and Hawaii’s is Filipino.

In 1910, Mexicans were the most populous immigrant group in 3 US States – New Mexico, Texas, and Arizona. Arizona and New Mexico did not even receive statehood until 1912.

Over 3,000 immigrants take the oath of naturalization to US citizenship on July 4 every year at Monticello. Monticello is Thomas Jefferson’s estate. Thomas Jefferson, the third president, died July 4, 1826, fifty years after the famed Declaration of Independence signing.

Chief Justice Warren Burger led the naturalization ceremonies of 15,000 new citizens on July 4, 1986.

460 languages are spoken in the United States and 150 languages are spoken by students of the New York City public school system. Queens is the most linguistically diverse area on the earth.

The post Fun Immigration Facts appeared first on Wood Immigration Law.

Naturalization Celebrated

Credit: @grand_canyon_nps – Flickr

September 17 is Constitution Day, with 2014 being the 227^th anniversary of the signing of the United States Constitution. Authored mostly by founding father and later fourth President James Madison, the document has guided our nation’s laws and been amended accordingly (27 amendments including the Bill of Rights). September 17 is also Citizenship Day, and the United States Citizenship and Immigration Service celebrates the occasion by inaugurating thousands of citizens in naturalization ceremonies throughout the country.

This year, USCIS naturalization ceremony will include 27,000 new citizens in 160 different ceremonies over the course of a week throughout the country. For Americans who are not born with US citizenship, naturalization can be one of the most special days of their lives. USCIS is encouraging new citizens to share their experiences with the hashtag #newUScitizen. The Law Offices of Andrew Wood, LLC are proud to have been able to contribute this years new naturalized citizens.

Eric Matthews teaches a citizenship class:

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