Click here to view the December Visa Bulletin.

The U.S. Department of State (DOS) released the Visa Bulletin for November 2008. The Certain Religious Workers category is unavailable.  Click here to link to view the current bulletin.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has amended its regulations to allow an increased period of admission and extension of stay for Canadian and Mexican citizens who seek temporary entry to the United States as professionals pursuant to the TN classification, as established by the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA or Agreement). This final rule increases the maximum allowable period of admission for TN nonimmigrants from one year to three years, and allows otherwise eligible TN nonimmigrants to be granted an extension of stay in increments of up to three years instead of the current maximum of one year. In addition, this rule grants the same periods of admission or extension to TD nonimmigrants, the spouses and unmarried minor children of TN nonimmigrants to run concurrent.

This final rule (.pdf, 1027 KB) is effective October 16, 2008.

Presidential candidate, Barak Obama, responded to a Sanctuary survey on immigration reform and public policy. Sanctuary is a pro-migrant and civil liberties group.

The group recently asked both presidential candidates John McCain and Barack Obama to complete an immigration-related questionnaire., and hoped to provide a side-by-side comparison of the candidates. However, Senator McCain has not responded to the Sanctuary’s request.

Here are Senator Obama’s responses (.pdf, 29KB). If McCain decides to respond, I’ll upload his completed survey.

The Diversity Visa 2010 [DV-2010] Lottery begins at Noon EDT on October 2, 2008, and ends at Noon EST on December 1, 2008.

Information and instructions for the DV-2010 lottery will appear on the Travel.State.Gov website as soon as available. Be sure to check this webpage frequently within the next few days.

The United States Government issues 50,000 permanent Green Cards every year through the Diversity Immigrant Visa Program, also known as the Green Card Lottery. Applicants from countries with low immigration rates to the U.S. are selected randomly by a computer-generated drawing.  If you are selected, you and your family will be authorized to live and work permanently in the United States.