As we have suffered along with the rest of you waiting the government to reopen (a great number of our cases have been delayed because various agencies are not operating), we have enjoyed reading e-mail new years greetings from a number of our loyal readers. We appreciate all the kind thoughts and once again wish you all a good new year.
We had hoped to have information on the upcoming green card lottery to all of you by this time, but do to the government shutdown, the rules have not yet been released. We believe the lottery will occur in February, but this has not been confirmed. Many of you who have visited our web site recently will notice that we have a special green card lottery section. When the rules are released, you will find there a detailed question and answer document explaining how to enter yourself. As an added service this year, we are providing an online registration form which will let readers use our firm to enter the lottery. This should be of interest to those who are nervous about making a mistake on the application, those concerned about getting the application in on time because they are outside the US and those who simply do not wish to bother thoroughly learning the rules. To get to the registration form, visit our web site at http://visalaw.wpengine.com/~gsiskind/.
We have received a number of requests for information on visas for researchers and professors and so we are including a Visa Spotlight on the EB-1 Outstanding Researcher/Professor category. We also are frequently about applying for student visas in Mexico or Canada. Our University Corner article on getting back into the US on your current I-94 card should be of great interest (of course, this assumes that the government shutdown will end some day and the US consulates will reopen). Finally, we are including a n article on what to consider when hiring an immigration lawyer. As consumers of legal services, I welcome additional comments from you on what is important in this area. I will be including this article as a FAQ linked to the front page of our web site.
And, as always, we include our regular features such as INS processing times, the State Department Visa Bulletin and Ask Siskind and Susser.
Disclaimer: This newsletter is provided as a public service and not intended to establish an attorney client relationship. Any reliance on information contained herein is taken at your own risk. The information provided in this article has not been updated since its original posting and you should not rely on it until you consult counsel to determine if the content is still valid. We keep older articles online because it helps in the understanding of the development of immigration law.