US Immigration News

A US immigration official announced this week that the US is looking at ways to keep more foreign-born high-tech entrepreneurs in the country. Members of California's Silicon Valley start-up community met with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service Director Alejandro Mayorkas for an informational meeting to officially launch its "Entrepreneurs in Residence" program.

The US Midwest state, Iowa, has reported an increase in enrollment of Chinese students in the state's schools over the past few years. At Iowa State University, Chinese undergraduate enrollment grew from 72 students in 2002 to 1,212 this year. At the University of Iowa, the enrollment of Chinese undergraduate and graduate students on F-1 student visas went from 591 in 2005 to 1,737 last year.

Irish Minister for Foreign Affairs Eamon Gilmore and US Senator Scott Brown believe "early progress" will be made on securing the Irish E3 visa bill. If passed, the new bill will allow 10,500 highly skilled Irish professional level workers to apply for the US E-3 visa program each year.

A member of the US House of Representatives has introduced a bill that would allow eligible Israelis to receive non-immigrant E-2 Treaty investor visas in the US. Under current law, Israelis are ineligible for the E-2 treaty visa. The E-2 Treaty Investor visa, allows foreign investors to temporarily live and work in the US in their US based business.

This week San Francisco will host the first-ever national US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) Chinese-language public engagement forum where US immigration officials will answer questions about the US naturalization process. The event, which will also be held in Mandarin and Cantonese, is being held in the hope that it will encourage more Chinese immigrants to become US citizens.

US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced this week that Self Check, a free online service which is part of the E-Verify system and allows workers to check their own employment eligibility status, is now available in all 50 states. Along with all 50 states, it is also available in Washington, D.C., and the US territories of Guam, Puerto Rico, and the US Virgin Islands.