If you submitted an entry for the DV-2013 lottery (meaning you would have done so in the fall of 2011), tomorrow, May 1, 2012, is when you’ll be able to find out the results. They won’t be announced publicly: You will need to go to the State Department’s Electronic Diversity Visa website and enter your confirmation number, name, and year of birth.

If you win, congratulations — but realize that you are only at the beginning of the green card application process. You will need to submit various forms and documents, and prove that you are not inadmissible to the U.S. (for health, security, or financial reasons), and do so before the visas run out. (For more on inadmissibility, see Inadmissibility: When the U.S. Can Keep You Out.)

It might be worth your while to hire an experienced immigration attorney to help with this part of the process.

Don’t miss this recent update on Nolo’s site if you are applying for a green card in the U.S. through the procedure known as “adjustment of status,” might like to travel while awaiting your green card interview, but were afraid to leave because your accrual of unlawful presence in the U.S., might result in you being found inadmissible upon your return.

The Board of Immigration Appeals has held that departures under Advance Parole with an adjustment of status application pending do NOT trigger the unlawful presence bars. You can travel after all.

There’s more information here, under “New Ruling Allows Applicants for Adjustment of Status to Leave U.S. With Advance Parole Without Facing Time Bars Upon Return.“

I suppose we should be glad that no one gets a free pass from U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officials, no matter how great their fame or following. Yet something seems out of whack when international celebrities, whose regular world travels are practically part of their job description, routinely report major trouble entering the United States.

The latest such account comes from mega-Bollywood star Shah Rukh Khan. Khan was reportedly detained and held for over two hours by U.S. immigration officials upon a recent arrival in New York. He had come from India by private jet in order to address students at Yale University — and ended up late for his talk.

The  reports did not indicate the basis upon which Khan was detained. The rest of his group was cleared for entry immediately.

Khan is quoted as commenting, “Whenever I start feeling too arrogant about myself I always take a trip to America. The immigration guys kicked the star out of stardom.”

For more such tales, see “International Celebrities Denied U.S. Entry Visas.”

With the next Presidential election a mere 208 days away, it’s interesting to see the Department of Homeland Security’s recently released statistics on naturalizations that took place in 2011.

The total number of newly sworn in U.S. citizens was 694,193.

This breaks down by country of origin as follows:

• Mexico: 94,783
•  India: 45,985
• the Philippines: 42,520
• the People’s Republic of China: 32,864, and
• Colombia (22,693).

Of course, these new citizens also need to register to vote, which depends on getting in touch with a state authority. In some states, the deadline to register in time for this election is mere days away.

Conflict in Syria, as its citizens continue to rise up against President Bashar al-Assad and his Ba’ath Party rule, has led the U.S. government to deem the country unsafe for return by nationals currently living in the United States.

Janet Napolitano, Secretary of Homeland Security, announced on March 23rd that Syria would be designated for Temporary Protected Status. (See Napolitano’s announcement.) TPS is not a permanent right to remain in the U.S., but offers temporary rights to remain and to work, up to a specified deadline — in this instance, through September 30, 2013.

What this means in practice is that, if you’re a Syrian national currently in the U.S., have been residing here continuously since the designation date (March 29), and are not ineligible due to security, criminal, or other grounds of inadmissibility, you can avail yourself of TPS protection by registering with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). You will receive a work permit.

Go to the Temporary Protected Status page of the USCIS website for details.

It’s no secret that the agency responsible for immigration enforcement, namely U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), does not have the time or resources to deport or remove every undocumented or otherwise deportable immigrant who lives in the United States. So, it must set enforcement priorities — in other words, figure out who, or what type of foreign national, should be at the top of its list for arrest and removal. The rest, the agency routinely overlooks.

This policy leaves plenty of room for inconsistency and for concentration of agency resources on people who aren’t doing any harm in the U.S. — who may in fact have close family or other ties here. That’s why the policy was clarified and adjusted in a June 17, 2011 memo by ICE Director John Morton.

The Morton memo recommended that ICE agents exercise discretion by focusing mainly on cases where the undocumented or deportable immigrants have a criminal record or are otherwise threats to public safety — and to give a break to upstanding immigrants with strong or longstanding ties to the U.S., who contribute to their community.

In particular, the memo recommended giving consideration to people who arrived in the U.S. as children, are successfully pursuing advanced degrees or have graduated from U.S. high schools, have served in the U.S. military, whose removal from the U.S. would split up a family, and so on. By extension, the memo offered a possible way for gay and lesbian partners of U.S. citizens, who are not eligible for a green card based on marriage, to avoid deportation.

What does this new policy mean, in practical terms? It’s not an amnesty, nor a way for undocumented immigrants to apply for a green card. What it does mean is that not only should ICE agents stop arresting people who are low on the priority list, but the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) will close active cases in the immigration court system that fit the new guidelines. The cases will be put on pending, inactive status — essentially placing the person in limbo.

Implementation of this policy has itself been a bit inconsistent. However, reviews of immigration court cases under the new policy has begun. And according to a recent report by Ben Winograd, called “Crunching — and Clarifying — the Numbers on Prosecutorial Discretion,” 13,000 of the 165,000 cases reviewed so far were found eligible for a favorable exercise of prosecutorial discretion– though proceedings have not yet been suspended in all these cases. (The need for background checks may be creating a holdup.)

Clearly, this area of  immigration policy is still developing, and we are likely to see more adjustments — and possibly opportunities — as it does so.

As I mentioned in an earlier entry (called “Great News for F-1 and H-1B Visa Holders,”) DHS has announced plans to allow H-4 spouses to work in the U.S., during the time that the H-1B visa holder is awaiting action on an adjustment of status (green card) application, and after a “minimum time spent in the U.S.”.

Thanks to Gary Endelman and Cyrus Mehta, we have a bit more information about that “minimum time.” Their column, “Working: H-4 Spouses Get to Take a Step Forward, But Is It a Giant One?” reveals that the government is requiring that H-1B holders have already received an extension of their stay in order for the spouse to qualify for a work permit (EAD) — in practical terms, that the H-1B holder have already been in the United States for six years.

As happens so often, we can describe the immigration rules, but we can’t explain the logic behind them. As Endelman and Mehta point out, nothing in the underlying immigration laws actually prohibits H-4 spouses from working in the first place. This is all a matter of agency “interpretation” (though I’d prefer the word “overthinking”).

If you read my earlier blog, called “Hopeful News for Immigrating Spouses of U.S. Citizens Stalled by the 3- and 10 Year Time Bars for Unlawful Presence,” you hopefully learned two things:

1. I sometimes give up on presenting complex immigration law matters in a short, catchy headline, and
2. the hopeful news discussed, namely the opportunity to apply for a time-bar waiver BEFORE, not after leaving the U.S., had NOT happened yet.

And it still hasn’t happened, though USCIS is working on figuring out the exact procedures. Which is particularly important to know given that, according to suggestions by USCIS, scammers are already out there taking people’s money to file this supposed new waiver. A USCIS press release issued on February 22 explains:

These procedures are not in effect and will not be available to potential applicants until USCIS publishes a final rule in the Federal Register specifying the effective date. USCIS plans to publish a notice of proposed rulemaking in the coming months and will consider all comments received as part of that process before publishing a final rule.

·         Do not send an application requesting a provisional waiver at this time. USCIS will reject any application requesting this new process and we will return the application package and any related fees to the applicant. USCIS cannot accept applications until a final rule is issued and the process change becomes effective. 

·         Be aware that some unauthorized practitioners of immigration law may wrongly claim they can currently file a provisional waiver application (Form I-601) for you. These same individuals may ask you to pay them to file such forms although the process is not yet in place. Please avoid such scams. USCIS wants you to learn the facts about protecting yourself and your family against scammers by visiting www.uscis.gov/avoidscams.

If you already have an immigrant visa interview with the U.S. Department of State, we strongly encourage you to attend. The Department of State may cancel your immigrant visa registration if you fail to appear at this interview.

Keep your eyes on this blog and the headlines for news of when the new waiver is actually available — and the form to go with it. Scammers who attempt to file for this waiver on your behalf will most likely use the standard waiver Form I-601; but USCIS has indicated that it will likely create a new form just for this waiver.

And before you believe a supposed attorney or other practitioner, check out his or her bar membership (it might be in another state than your — that’s okay) and interview more than one lawyer before choosing one.

If anyone needed a reminder that:

1. the U.S. immigration authorities REALLY hate being lied to, and
2. crimes that seem relatively non-threatening to most observers can have drastic immigration consequences

. . . then look no farther than the case of Fausto Carmona, the Cleveland Indians pitcher recently arrested for lying about his name and age in order to get the opportunity to play in the United States. Attorney Cesar Garcia Hernandez provides an excellent analysis in the Columbus Dispatch, reprinted on his February 9, 2012 blog.

A January 31 press release from Homeland Security (DHS) contains some positive changes for students and H-1B workers — all with the headlined goal of attracting and retaining highly skilled immigrants.

With the caveat that nothing is final until the immigration folks work out regulations and policies (which can take months), here is what we have to look forward to:

• Eligibility for a 17-month extension of optional practical training (OPT) for F-1 international students with a prior degree in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM). At the moment, F-1 students are limited to 12 months of OPT.  DHS also plans to continually review emerging fields for possible inclusion in the list of eligible STEM degree programs.
• Allow spouses of F-1 students to enroll in part-time study academic classes (currently, they are limited to taking recreational or vocational courses).
• Allow spouses of H-1B holders (H-4 visa holders) who are waiting for USCIS action on an adjustment of status (green card) application to apply for work authorization after meeting a minimum period of H-1B status in the U.S.
• Broaden the scope of types of evidence that outstanding professors and researchers can present in order to prove their academic achievement in support of their employment-based immigrant visa applications.
• Treat E-3 visa holders from Australia and H-1B1 visa holders from Singapore and Chile the same as related work visa holders by allowing them to continue working with their current employer for up to 240 days while their petitions for extension of status are pending, assuming these petitions were filed in a timely manner.
• Launch an initiative called “Entrepreneurs in Residence” at the end of February  2012, which will bring together high-level representatives from the entrepreneurial community, academia, and various federal government agencies to discuss how to maximize current immigration laws’ potential to attract foreign entrepreneurial talent.

All very sensible reforms — why didn’t someone think of them sooner?