TN Status Now Available In 3-Year Increments
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced that foreign nationals in Trade-NAFTA (TN) status can now be admitted to the U.S. for three-year periods, up from the one-year period that was previously authorized. A Canadian or Mexican professional may work in the U.S. in TN status under the following conditions:
7 Countries Added To Visa Waiver Program
On October 17, 2008, President Bush announced that seven new countries would be eligible to participate in the visa waiver program (VWP). These seven countries are: the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Slovakia, and South Korea. The VWP allows citizens of qualifying countries to travel to the U.S. for 90 days or less without having to obtain B-1/B-2 (visitor) visas. These individuals may come to the U.S. for business, pleasure, or in transit. They may not work in the U.S., however.
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced that it would start administering a revised civics test to citizenship applicants in October of 2008. According to USCIS, the new test will still focus on the U.S. Constitution, federal law and American democracy, but it will also have questions on geography and the rights and responsibilities of citizenship.
All new applicants for naturalization must take the new test. Those who filed their applications before October 1, 2008 but who are interviewed on or after that date will be given the option of taking either the old test or the new test.
USCIS provides a link to the 100 questions that will comprise the civics portion of the new test on its website, www.uscis.gov/newtest. USCIS has also posted the reading and writing vocabulary lists, a side-by-side comparison of the new test and old test, and answers to frequently asked questions on its website.
New religious worker regulations complicate visa process
On November 21, 2008, USCIS made major revisions to the special immigrant and R-1 (nonimmigrant) religious worker regulations. With regard to the R-1 program, all employers must now submit a Form I-129 to USCIS before a prospective worker can apply for an R-1 visa in his/her home country (this was not required previously). In addition, the standard initial period of stay for R-1 workers has been reduced from 3 years to 30 months. With regard to the special immigrant and R-1 programs, the new regulations require all employers to submit special Attestations regarding the worker’s qualifications, the job offered, and the legitimacy of the organization, and they provide for increased on-site inspections of the religious organizations.
This Immigration Bulletin is not intended as a substitute for professional legal advice.
Debra R. Shpigler is a member of the American Immigration Lawyers Association.