USA: C.I.S. REPORT

A CIS News, CIS Weekly and CIS Announce press release from the Center for Immigration Studies.

Is this email not displaying correctly? View it in your browser.

Facebook |  YouTube |  Twitter |  Google+ |  forward to a friend

Immigration Enforcement Agency Lacks Interest in Immigration Enforcement Report Finds Deficient Regulation of Foreign Student Program WASHINGTON (January 2, 2013) – A new Center for Immigration Studies (CIS) Backgrounder finds that the agency responsible for overseeing educational institutions hosting foreign students rarely exercises its enforcement authority. The Student and Exchange Visitor Program (SEVP), a subset of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) within the Department of Homeland Security, oversees nearly 1.2 million foreign students and their dependents, plus close to 7,000 educational institutions. The new report finds that despite a substantial budget and wide regulatory responsibility, SEVP rarely rejects an institution’s application for the authority to issue the Form I-20, the document allowing a potential foreign student to secure a visa from an American consulate abroad. Even more worrisome, the agency averages a mere 2.2 indictments a year of "visa mills", groups posing as bona fide educational institutions but which exist mainly to collect "tuition" in exchange for visas. The report is online at http://cis.org/sevp-migration-enforcement-agency-discourages-funds-for-Its-own-work. Report author David North, a CIS fellow and respected immigration policy researcher, comments, “It is incredible that after the would-be Wall Street bomber, the Times Square bomber, and the two 9/11 pilots were all found to have student visas, the Department of Homeland Security makes so little effort to pursue corrupt visa mills, flight schools not authorized by the Federal Aviation Administration, and needless language schools. National security requires the enforcement of our immigration laws.” The Backgrounder describes the assessment process: “There is no direct governmental screening of the I-20s within the United States; it is up to the consular or the USCIS officers to determine if the alien is eligible for the visa or adjustment. Nor is there any routine face-to-face contact between the SEVP and foreign students after their arrival in the United States.” The SEVP, staffed by 750 workers and armed with $120 million in fee revenue, has ignored Congress’ mandate to recertify all of its institutions every two years. As of March 2012, the agency had only recertified 19 percent. Since one out of eight institutions approved for the issuance of I-20s has no accreditation, recertification is of particular importance. Mr. North notes, “Limited resources, the agency’s excuse for not seeking or challenging fraud, is not credible with a 2012 end of the year cash balance of 135.2 million.”

The Center for Immigration Studies is an independent, non-partisan, non-profit research organization founded in 1985. It is the nation's only think tank devoted exclusively to research and policy analysis of the economic, social, demographic, fiscal, and other impacts of immigration on the United States. Center for Immigration Studies 1629 K St. NW, Suite 600 Washington, DC 20006 phone: (202) 466-8185 fax: (202) 466-8076 help@cis.org

UK: STATE SUBSIDIZED REPRODUCTION

From UK DAILY MAIL

Families with three or more children cost taxpayers some £2.3billion in housing benefits. The government has vowed to cut this back by imposing a cap on the maximum amount that can be claimed in welfare to £26,000 a year.
Cabinet ministers have also triggered controversy by urging welfare recipients to consider whether they can afford to have more children.
Official figures show that families with nine children receive more than £11,000 a year in housing benefit, or £925 a month.
The average family spends £606 a month on rent or mortgage payments, a third less than is being paid out in housing benefit to these large families. The payments also go to families or individuals in work but on low incomes.

No of children	Families receiving out of work benefits	Jobseekers' allowance	Incapacity Benefit/Severe Disablement Allowance	Income Support	Employment and Support Allowance	Pension Credit
5	25,980	4,610	4,750	18,340	2,020	240
6	8,780	1,620	1,690	6,230	630	100
7	3,200	570	680	2,290	240	40
8	1,080	180	270	770	90	10
9	360	60	90	240	40	10
10	130	30	30	90	10
11	30		10	30
12	10		10	10
13	10

Separate figures released this week showed that 40,000 households with five or more children where at least one parent is on welfare cost taxpayers a massive £150million in child benefit alone.
The overall burden on the state of super-size families where one parent is on a jobless or sickness benefit is at least £350million – not counting housing benefit.
Some 180 families on jobless benefits have ten or more children, and ten families have an astonishing 13 or more.
The figures were released by the Department for Work and Pensions under a Freedom of Information request from the Sun newspaper.
They cover families where at least one person is claiming jobseeker’s allowance, incapacity benefit, severe disablement allowance, income support, employment and support allowance or pension credit.
Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith warned in October that families where no one is working could face benefit cuts if they chose to have more children.
George Osborne has ordered that the welfare bill be cut by a further £10billion, on top of the £18billion reductions already under way. The Chancellor warned that parents claiming unemployment benefit could lose child benefit, income support or tax credits if they had another child.
The move triggered controversy but Mr Osborne insisted that working families had to make choices, so the same should apply to those on out-of-work welfare.
He said: ‘When you are in work and you want another child, you consider the financial cost. When you are on benefits you automatically get extra money.’

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2255203/200-families-claiming-housing-benefit-10-children-taxpayers-face-150million-benefit-broods.html#ixzz2GjgFlRk2
Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook

NIREN & Assoc. NEWSLETTER

 

 

Newsletter | January 2013 Edition | Vol # 1-1-2013

 

 

 

Have a Happy New Year ! From the Niren & Associates Team

Niren & Associates would like to thank you for choosing our firm to assist you with your  immigration matters in 2012. We are delighted to have served you and, its been a pleasure helping you achieve your goals. We look forward to serving you again with any future needs. On behalfeveryone at Niren & Associates, we wish you a healthy and prosperous 2013!

 

 

 

 

Click here for more information
http://www.visaplace.com/blog-immigration-law/skilled-worker-program-2/federal-skilled-worker-program-re-open-4-2013/

 

Federal Skilled Worker Program to Re-Open May 4, 2013

 

According to this news release from Citizenship and Immigration Canada, Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism Minister Jason Kenney has announced that the Federal Skilled Worker program will re-open with several changes. The changes made to the program were in an effort to ensure the program attracts the kind of workers Canada needs.

New Official Changes to the Skilled Worker Program
The changes include:

• Creating a minimum official language level and making language the most important factor in the points selection process by awarding more points for language abilities.
• Offering more points for younger immigrants who will spend more years contributing to the Canadian economy.
• Creating a program called the Educational Credential Assessment to better consider the value of foreign credentials compared to Canadian ones.
• Creating the ability for employers to hire applicants faster by making changes to the arranged employment process.
• Awarding points to the applicants for having work experience in Canada and for having spouses with language proficiency in English or French.
• "The government's number one priority remains jobs, economic growth and long-term prosperity," he said. "The new Federal Skilled Worker program criteria will ensure Canada is selecting the skilled immigrants our economy needs, who are most likely to succeed and fully realize their potential in Canada."

The Skilled Worker Program is the largest economic immigration program in Canada, and these changes are expected to make it so that it only takes a few months to process applications instead of a few years. If you would like to immigrate to Canada under the Skilled Worker Program, please contact us to speak with one of our immigration professionals.

As this is a highly competitive program, we can help you determine if you are eligible to begin the application process. Best advice? Plan in advance!

 

Click here for more information
http://www.visaplace.com/blog-immigration-law/skilled-worker-program-2/federal-skilled-worker-program-re-open-4-2013/

 

 

 

 

New Federal Skilled Worker Point System

 

In our September 2012 newsletter we posted the new point system. Here is the new point system and details about how the points will be awarded to the applicants.

Old Points System Grid		New Point System with Changes
First Official Language: Maximum 16 points No official language ability required		First Official Language: Maximum 24 points New Mandatory Minimum
Basic Approx. CLB/NCLC 4 or 5 1 Point per ability to max. of 2		Minimum threshold in all abilities Initially set at CLB/NCLC 7 4 Points per ability Understands the main points and important details of a conversation and can write routine business correspondence; able to participate in small group discussions and express opinions and reservations about a topic.
Moderate Approx. CLB/NCLC 6 or 7 2 Points per ability		Threshold + 1 CLB/NCLC level 5 Points per ability CLB/NCLC 8 Participates in business meetings and debates; understands a broad range of general and abstract topics; writes formal and informal notes and summary documents.
Second Official Language: 8 Points		Second Official Language: 4 Points
Maximum 8 Points		Maximum 4 Points CLB/NCLC 5 in all abilities
Age: Maximum 10 Points		Age: Maximum 12 Points
21 to 49 yrs	10 Points	18 to 35 yrs	12 Points
20 or 50 yrs	8 Points	36 yrs	11 Points
19 or 51 yrs	6 Points	37 yrs	10 Points
18 or 52 yrs	4 Points	Less one point per year	--
17 or 53 yrs	2 Points	46 yrs	1 Point
<17 or >53 yrs	0 Point	47 and over	0 Point
Work Experience: Maximum 21 Points		Work Experience: Maximum 15 Points
1 yr	15 Points	1 yr	9 Points
2 yrs	17 Points	2 to 3 yrs	11 Points
3 yrs	19 Points	4 to 5 yrs	13 Points
4+ yrs	21 Points	6+ yrs	15 Points
Education: Maximum 25 Points		Education: Maximum 25 Points Points will be awarded based on an assessment of educational credentials by a designated organization, indicating the foreign educational credential's equivalent in Canada.
Master's or Doctoral level (+17 yrs)	17 Points	Doctoral level	25 Points
Two or more credentials at the bachelor's level OR 3-year post-secondary credential (+15 yrs)	22 Points	Master's level or professional degree	23 Points
Bachelor's (2 years or more) OR 2-year post-secondary credential (+14 yrs)	20 Points	Two or more post-secondary credentials, one of which is a three-year or longer post-secondary credential	22 Points
Bachelor's (1 year) OR 1-year post-secondary credential (+13 yrs)	15 Points	Three-year or longer post-secondary credential	21 Points
One-year post-secondary credential (+12 yrs)	12 Points	Two-year post-secondary credential	19 Points
Secondary school	5 Points	One-year post-secondary credential	15 Points
Secondary school not completed	0 Points	Secondary school	5 Points
Arranged Employment: 10 points		Arranged Employment: 10 points In order to receive points for arranged employment, applicants will need to have a LMO from HRSDC, plus an indeterminate job offer. In some cases, applicants will be LMO exempt and will only require the indeterminate job offer. New measures, including introducing a labour market assessment and genuineness elements in the regulations, are expected to increase program integrity, improve labour market responsiveness, and streamline processing for employers.
Adaptability: Maximum 10 Points
Spousal/partner education	5 Points	PA Previous Work in Canada (min. 1 yr at NOC 0, A, B)	10 Points
Previous Study in Canada PA or spouse/partner	5 Points	Or a combination of... Previous study in Canada -- PA	5 Points
Previous Work in Canada PA or spouse/partner	5 Points	Previous study in Canada -- accompanying spouse/partner	5 Points
Relative in Canada	5 Points	Previous work in Canada -- accompanying spouse/partner	5 Points
Arranged Employment	5 Points	Arranged employment	5 Points
		Revised: Rel. in Canada (18 years or over)	5 Points
		Added: Accompanying spouse/partner's official language (CLB/NCLC 4)	5 Points
		Eliminated: Accompanying spouse/ Partner education	3 to 5 Points
Pass mark = 67		Pass mark = 67

 

 

Immigration Videos this Month

 

 

 

 

 

USCIS to Start Accepting H-1B Petitions for FY 2014 on April 1, 2013

 

Now is the time for employers to consider whether an H-1B is appropriate for an existing or new foreign worker for their company. U.S. businesses use the H-1B program to employ foreign workers in specialty occupations that require theoretical or technical expertise. Such workers include scientists, engineers, and computer programmers, amongst others.

The cap (the numerical limit on H-1B petitions) for FY 2014 is 65,000. The first 20,000 H-1B petitions filed on behalf of individuals with U.S. master's degrees or higher are exempt.

USCIS will monitor the number of H-1B petitions received and will notify the public of the date when the numerical limit of the H-1B cap has been met. This date is known as the final receipt date. If USCIS receives more petitions than it can accept, it may on the final receipt date randomly select the number of petitions that will be considered for final inclusion within the cap. USCIS will reject petitions that are subject to the cap and are not selected, as well as petitions received after it has the necessary number of petitions needed to meet the cap.

In addition to petitions filed on behalf of people with U.S. master's degrees or higher, certain other petitions are exempt from the congressionally mandated cap. Petitions for new H-1B employment are exempt from the annual cap if the beneficiaries will work at:

• Institutions of higher education or related or affiliated non-profit entities;
• Non-profit research organizations; or
• Governmental research organizations.

Petitions filed on behalf of current H-1B workers who have been counted previously against the cap do not count towards the H-1B cap.

To find out whether your employee may qualify for an H-1B, please contact our offices and book an appointment to speak with an immigration professional.

 

 

 

 

Follow:

 

 

Michael H. Niren B.A., LL.B. Managing Partner and Founder of Niren and Associates Michael is a graduate of Osgoode Hall Law School in Toronto. He is a member of the Law Society of Upper Canada, the Canadian Bar Association's Citizenship and Immigration Section and the Associate Member of the American Bar Association. Read more about Michael Niren

 

Why UK MDs emigrate

From UK DAILY MAIL

Welcome to Britain's most expensive street: The Chelsea crescent where £12m will buy you a four-bed terrace with a tiny garden

Egerton Crescent in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea in London has just been named the most expensive street in Britain. The average price of a house there is more than £8million - with one four-bedroom family home recently selling for a massive £12million. That’s more than 74 times the price of the average home in the UK, which currently sells for just £160,879.

(Owners have exclusive used of GATED GARDEN at a yearly fee)