General information

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Effective June 1, 2009, all travelers entering the United States or Canada, by land or sea, will need to be in possession of a valid document. In most cases, this would be a U.S. or Canadian passport. There are also “trusted traveler cards,” “U.S. passport cards,” and, in some instances, “enhanced driver’s licenses” which will serve the same purpose. People trying to travel between the U.S. and Canada who are not in possession of one of these documents will be refused entry.

On September 30, 2008, the U.S. Department of State released instructions for entering the 2010 Diversity Visa Lottery program. To enter the Diversity Visa Lottery, applicants must submit an on-line application at http://www.dvlottery.state.gov/ between October 2, 2008 and December 8, 2008. Applicants are encouraged to apply early as website problems are expected toward the filing deadline. Applications will only be accepted until noon EST on December first.

In the Diversity Visa Lottery program certain countries and regions are granted quota visas to diversify the immigration to the United States. Natives of Brazil, Canada, mainland China, Colombia, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, India, Jamaica, Mexico, Pakistan, the Philippines, Peru, Poland, South Korea, the United Kingdom (except Northern Ireland) and Vietnam are ineligible for the Diversity Lottery. For instructions on applying for the Diversity Visa Lottery, please see the Department of Consular Affairs’ website at travel.state.gov/visa/immigrants/types/types_1322.html.

On January 22, 2008 the United States and Vietnam entered into a repatriation treaty. Prior to this agreement, Vietnamese nationals with final orders of deportation could not be removed to Vietnam. Now, however, the US may effectuate orders of deportation to Vietnam provided that the alien (1) arrived in the U.S. on or after July 12, 1995, (2) is subject to a final order of removal, (3) is not a citizen of the U.S. or any other country aside from Vietnam, and (4) does not have residence in another country. This agreement is valid for 5 years and will be automatically renewed every three years thereafter unless the U.S. or Vietnam objects to such extension. It is estimated that this agreement will trigger the deportation of 1,500 Vietnamese currently living in the U.S.

USCIS has received a significant increase in the number of applications filed. In July and August, nearly 2.5 million applications and petitions of all types were received. This compares to 1.2 million applications and petitions received in the same time period last year. This fiscal year, we received 1.4 million applications for naturalization; nearly double the volume we received the year before. The agency is working to improve processes and focus increased resources, including hiring approximately 1,500 new employees, to address this workload.

As a result, average processing times for certain application types may grow longer. In particular, naturalization applications filed after June 1, 2007 may take approximately 16-18 months to process.

USCIS has several informational services to keep you apprised of the agency’s progress. We encourage you to take advantage of information posted on our website and to create and monitor your profile in our Case Status Online system to properly track your case. You will find a link to Case Status Online in the Related Links section of this page.

We will continue to provide additional information on application processing times as it becomes available.

Border crossing cardholders (BCC) may remain in the U.S. for up to six months and travel more than 25 miles from the border when they are issued I-94 cards. During the holiday season, the busy ports of entry at San Ysidoro, Otay Mesa and Calexico process approximately 3,000 I-94 applications a day. Unfortunately, this high volume leads to processing times in excess of three hours. To avoid inconveniences and unnecessary delays, CBP has stressed that BCC travelers wishing to use I-94 cards for holiday vacations should apply early for their I-94 cards at the San Ysidoro, Otay Mesa and Calexico ports of entry. The Calexico West facility, located in downtown Calexico, will be open 24 hours a day and the Calexico East facility will be open from 6:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. The ports at San Ysidoro and Otay Mesa will begin 24-hour operation December 14, 2007. These extended hours will last until January 6, 2008. All ports allow for applications up to 30 days in advance of the travel. It is important that all members of the family wishing to travel on BCCs and I-94s present themselves at these ports of entry when applying for the I-94 cards in advance of travel.

DENVER (November 9, 2007) Immigration lawyer Ken Stern of Stern & Curray LLC was selected by his peers for inclusion in 2008 edition of The Best Lawyers in America® for immigration law.

Stern has been listed in this prestigious guide for more than 10 years.

Published biennially since 1983, but now published annually, The Best Lawyers In America® is widely regarded as the preeminent referral guide to the legal profession in the United States. The Best Lawyers in America® lists are based on an exhaustive peer-review survey whereby almost two million votes are cast on the legal abilities of other lawyers in their specialties.

The Government announced that USCIS will be taking over the adjudication of applications for humanitarian parole from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Humanitarian parole is given to individuals who can show a compelling humanitarian need to enter the United States but do not qualify for any visa. These applications considered on a case-by-case basis and are granted very sparingly. The application procedures for humanitarian parole within the Department of Homeland Security will remain the same. It is unknown whether this transfer of authority will lead to more or less favorable adjudications.