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                Locations                                                            News Archives: September-2004
    
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News:
Sep 14, 2004- Visa Waiver Program Changes
Sep 14, 2004- DV Lottery Scam
Sep 7, 2004- H-1B ALERT II

Sep 14, 2004- Visa Waiver Program Changes

Please see the attached information sheet from The State Department, reminding persons traveling under the Visa Waiver Program that, as of 10/24/04, they will need to present either a machine-readable passport or a U.S. visa. It also indicates that, as of 9/30/04, all Visa Waiver travelers arriving at U.S. ports will be enrolled in US-VISIT.


 (ATTACHMENT)

Sep 14, 2004- DV Lottery Scam

AILA has notified attorneys that an email is being sent to some people purporting to be from "dvlottery.state.gov", telling people that are "one of the lucky winners" of the DV2004 visa lottery, and requesting that they send $349.67 in "clearance/acceptance fees". These emails are fakes, and should be ignored. If you have any questions about the DV lottery, please call us. Nankin & Verma PLLC thanks AILA for this information.

Sep 7, 2004- H-1B ALERT II

Today, the United States Citizenship and Immigration Service announced that as of August 18, 2004, they have received 45,900 H-1B petitions that will be counted against the FY 2005 numerical cap. With a limit of 65,000 for each fiscal year, there remain only 19,100 H-1B visas for FY 2005, which runs from October 1, 2004 through September 30, 2005. 

Of the 65,000, nationals of Chile and Singapore enjoy a special allotment of 6800 visas (1400 for nationals of Chile and 5400 for nationals of Singapore) due to Free Trade Agreements between those countries and the United States. At this time, the Chile and Singapore numbers are not close to being capped out, and whatever numbers are not used by nationals of Chile and Singapore by early October may be made available to all H-1B applicants.

If you are seeking an extension or amendment of H-1B status, you are not subject to the numerical cap. If you wish to obtain your first H-1B visa at this time, we encourage you to contact us immediately so that you may apply before the cap is closed out.

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