The American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) reported today that Representative King, a Republican from Iowa introduced the Birthright Citizenship Act (H.R. 140) on January 5, 2011.  If the bill were to be signed into law, it would amend the immigration law and, the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which would redefine who can be deemed a U.S. citizen at birth.  [...]

The New York Times reported today that state legislators from Arizona, Georgia, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania and South Carolina came together and began a national campaign yesterday to end the automatic granting of American citizenship to children born in the U.S. of undocumented immigrant parents. The 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution guarantees the right to U.S. citizenship for for everyone born or [...]

The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) released yesterday a revised form N-648 (Medical Certification for Disability Exceptions) for lawful permanent residents (green card holders) with certain disabilities who are seeking a waiver of the English language and U.S. history and government requirements for naturalization. The immigration laws concerning naturalization require that applicants are able to correctly answer questions about U.S. history and government plus, [...]

The U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Services (USCIS) reported today that in Fiscal Year (FY) 2010, the agency has naturalized over 11,000 U.S. military service members in military duty stations throughout the U.S. and abroad. That is the largest number of military naturalizations in any year since the Korean War. The number of military naturalizations is increasing due to the USCIS’ outreach to eligible military [...]

The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) reported today that it has begun issuing a new version of the Certificate of Naturalization (Form N-550) with enhanced security features to combat fraud. The enhanced features on the new certificates include the individual’s digitized photo and signature laser printed into the document.  The background on the certificate has also been enhanced and contains a color-shifting ink pattern that is difficult [...]

The U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Services (USCIS) via its Administrative Appeals Office (AAO), issued two (2) precedent decisions yesterday.  Those decisions are published by the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) as part of the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ). Furthermore, those decisions are binding on all USCIS and DOJ personnel for deciding cases.  The precedents that were set established rules and reasonings for deciding [...]

The New York Times reported this past weekend about an immigrant from St. Kitts named Joseph E. Joseph who registered to vote back in 1992, voted in every presidential election since then and because of what he referred to as “doing his his civic duty”, he now faces deportation. In the U.S., only citizens are authorized to vote in [...]

The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) will celebrate our nation’s 233rd birthday by naturalizing over 6,000 applicants for citizenship in special ceremonies held across the United States and overseas. This year, USCIS’ has scheduled about 50 citizenship oath ceremonies during the course of this week, including ceremonies on July 1 at the Sacramento Memorial Auditorium for about 800 applicants and on July [...]

The American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) reported recently that Senators Menendez (D-NJ), Gillibrand (D-NY) and Leahy (D-VT) introduced the Orphans, Widows and Widowers Protection Act (S. 1247) to amend the immigration laws to provide benefits for applicants who have submitted family-based petitions based on marriage to U.S. citizen spouses who subsequently pass away during the immigration process.   The bill if [...]

The U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Services (USCIS) reported that the U.S. Embassy in Honduras hosted yesterday, the first naturalization ceremony ever held in Latin America.  Yesterday’s ceremony was held in Honduras which has now become the 15th country where the USCIS has held citizenship ceremonies outside the United States.   The National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2004 authorized the USCIS to schedule citizenship interviews [...]