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Historical Permanent Residency Statistics

Chris Gafner — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 15:36:09 +0000

For those that either enjoy statistics or history (or both), the Department of Homeland Security has provided an excellent map and bar graph collection of historical permanent residency levels from different regions and countries throughout the world. Many of the statistics go back to the 1800s.

The charts are on the DHS’s website.

Immigration And the Federal Shutdown

Chris Gafner — Thu, 07 Apr 2011 13:10:50 +0000

The possibility of a federal shutdown looms large as the government must reach a compromise by Friday to avoid it. If a shutdown does occur, how it might affect immigration processing is not quite known. However, the following are a few observations.

Since USCIS processing is paid for through filing fees, it is expected that it will continue to process immigration petitions. However, the Department of Labor is not funded through filing fees and will not be processing any immigration petitions. This means that PERM applications will be stalled, and that H-1B processing may be halted (as the prerequisite labor certification will not be completed by the DOL).

Of course, the immigration detention centers will continue to hold detainees and the Customs & Border Protection agency will continue to inspect individuals entering the United States.

The Department of State, however, will not be operating as normal. It is unlikely that U.S. passport applications will continue to be processed. Additionally,visa petitions to the Department of State will be halted. During the last government shutdown (in 1995-6), “200,000 U.S. passport applications went unprocessed during the shutdowns and 20,000 to 30,000 foreign visa applications were unprocessed.” (AOL News)

Lets hope that a compromise is made quickly. Otherwise, immigration applicants should expect slowed, if any, immigration processing.

Faster Immigration Security Checks Coming Soon?

Chris Gafner — Mon, 13 Sep 2010 10:17:29 +0000

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is establishing a single, multi-agency database that includes all immigrant data. The database will be searchable by government officials and will allow immigration officials to more easily detect fraud by those seeking to gain immigration benefits. The new database will be a mirror copy of existing DHS databases, and will be updated in real-time.

The new database is good news for national security and for immigrants seeking entry into the United States. Often times, immigrants are held up by delays caused by the need to do fraud and security checks. Although the program will not eliminate all the delays – It is hoped that the new database will improve the situation.

DHS Issues Yearbook of Immigration Statistics

Chris Gafner — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 10:37:45 +0000

The Department of Homeland Security has released its Yearbook of Immigration Statistics for 2009. Each year the DHS issues the yearbook that is filled with statistical information, including the annual number of immigrants who obtain permanent resdiency, the country of origin for those permanent residents, and the location in the United States were the permanent residents reside.

To view the Immigration Statistics Yearbook, please visit the DHS website.

DHS Announces 2009 Accomplishments

Chris Gafner — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 12:07:01 +0000

Department of Homeland Security Secretary Napolitano recently issued a press release highlighting the accomplishments of the department for 2009. The accomplishments concerning immigration included:

DHS has implemented a “new, comprehensive strategy to reduce the demand for illegal employment,” including a new worksite enforcement policy that has led to 1,897 cases and 2,069 Form I-9 inspections targeting employers. The initiatives have also resulted in 142 Notices of Intent to Fine totaling $15,865,181.
Reformation of the immigration detention system.
Launch of the new, bilingual USCIS website.
Clearance of FBI background checks that had a backlog of a year or more. Currently the vast majority of checks are completed within 30 days.
USCIS has also reduced the backlog of immigration petitions by nearly 90% from fiscal year 2008 – with the average processing time for naturalization applicants dropping by nearly five months.
DHS has begun accepting petitions for qualified widows of U.S. citizens and their minor, unmarried children to seek permanent legal status.

Lets hope that 2010 brings more good changes to DHS.