Immigration and Naturalization Fundamentals

by Paul Anderson

These following principles are incarnated in federal law on legal permanent residence, the Immigration and Naturalization Act (INA) in the year 1952. - The reunification of families
- The admission of immigrants with needed skills
- The protection of refugees
- The diversity of admissions by the country of origin   Noncitizens are described as "any person not a citizen or national of the United States" another word is 'Alien'. In this category even the people who violated the rule of the Immigration and Naturalization Act (INA), who are here legally.   There are two basic types legal of aliens are immigrants and non-immigrants. Immigrants are aliens who look for obtaining Green Card and later which will lead to obtain US Citizenship.

Non-immigrants - such as tourists, foreign students, diplomats, skilled and unskilled workers, exchange visitors are admitted for specific purpose and short or temporary period time.

Preference Category   Entering US either in immigrant or non-immigrant visa is subjected to numerical limits and preference category, on basis of family relationship, geographic diversity and skilled workers. Allocated number for  Family based immigration is 226,000, for employment based is 140,000 and for diversity (Lottery Program) is 55,000 and few numbers for refugees and aslyees which come around 650,000 worldwide cap (which changes yearly).   Most of immigrants enter US because of the relationship with the US Citizen or even Lawful Permanent Residence. 64% legal immigrants entered US on the basis of family ties (FY 2001) below list provide the break-up for each of Immigrant category.   1. Immediate relatives of citizens - 443,964
2. Family preference - 232,143
3. Employment preference - 179,195
4. Refugee and asylee adjustments - 108,506
5. Diversity - 42,506
6. Other - 58,495   Refugees and Asylees   Obtaining a Refugees status or admission is a persecution of situations of "special humanitarian concern" to the United States. The allocation of the number for Refugee preference, among refugee groups are decided at the start of the each fiscal year by the President after consulting with the Congress. Asylum status is granted on a case by case basis to alien physical presence in US.   Removal from US

CBP (Customs and Border Protection) are the consular officer upon entry to the US of an Alien they decide whether you are eligible, if ineligible under so called "grounds of inadmissibility" of INA. Categories are:

- health-related grounds;
- criminal history;
- national security and terrorist concerns;
- public charge (e.g., indigence);
- seeking to work without proper labor certification;
- illegal entrants and immigration law violations;
- lacking proper documents;
- ineligible for citizenship; and,
- aliens previously removed.

About the Author

US Citizenship is not legal advice site, but its a place for all immigration related issues. Where in you can fill the forms on Visa(Green Card Renewal, US Citizenship, Student Visa, Work Visa, Tourist Visa, many more) online. We will make sure your form is 100% error free, before you submit to USCIS.Please visit my blogs http://immigrationissues.wordpress.com/ and http://becomeuscitizen.wordpress.com/.

Illegal Immigration to Canada

by Shane Hill Add to that the government's cost on maintaining these illegal immigrants. Now, this begs the question, "Do illegal immigrants pay taxes?" The answer to the question is yes and no. Contrary to popular belief, many illegals do pay their taxes. This is not just a product of a very creative mind; it is a fact that has been acknowledged by none other than the Federal Government. In 2008, it was estimated that about $9 billion dollars worth of tax was paid by illegals. This is despite the fact that they are not eligible for tax credits or Social Security benefits. The amount is substantial enough to merit a large contribution from the often maligned minority group in the country. Of course not all illegals pay taxes, but for those who do, the contribution is substantial enough to add funds to Medicare and Social Security, which benefit Americans more than the illegal aliens. What does this mean? It means that there is substantial funding from illegals that would benefit the baby boomers who are now in the retiring age. Not many people know this fact and they condescendingly ask "Do illegal immigrants pay taxes?" Given the important contribution of illegals when it comes to paying taxes, anti illegal immigration groups have continued to express their sentiments on the government's inability to track down illegal aliens and deport them to their respective home countries.

While nationally, there is no law that would force authorities to keep track of illegal immigrants, Arizona has passed a law that could be the spark that would ignite a major crackdown on these illegal aliens.

Word is that several states near the US-Mexico border are seriously considering following suit, but they are proceeding with caution and planning things secretly. They are said to be closely monitoring the developments in Arizona and playing things by ear. Perhaps if they know the answer to the question, " Do illegal immigrants pay taxe?" they would not be too hasty in passing discriminatory laws designed to track down illegal immigrants. In the history of human population, the humans have always moved from one land to another more prospect land, otherwise known as immigration. Immigration is the movement of one country into another for the sole purpose of a stable residence. The United States has long been considered as a stable residence for many and is known as the "free country," where residents have full freedom on rights in which they choose and allege. Since each year, an increasing percentage of immigration occurs in the United States. Immigrants from foreign countries immigrating to the United States have been a controversial topic of debate. Some of the biggest problems of immigration within the United States is the contemporized issues with regards to illegal immigrants, job settlement, and economic benefits. Immigrants travel everywhere in search of more prospect land to live upon and initially settle for a place close to home. For the immigrants that were not accepted by other closer countries, they turn to the United States as a possible solution to reside their needs. Immigrants decide to settle in the United States from inspirational dreams of prosperity and opportunity not found in the third world. While immigrants from third world countries look upon the United States for prosperity, there is also another type of immigrant called illegal immigrants. About the Author Owner and Creative Director at Hill Media in Waterloo, ON, Canada.

Illegal immigrants: A fact check on their place in health reform

Reuters did a "fact box" on illegal immigrants and President Obama's health care reform push.

Among the findings: "There were 46.3 million people without health insurance in the United States in 2008 from 45.7 million a year earlier, according to the Census Bureau's Current Population Survey released on Thursday."

"Some 44.7 percent of non-citizen immigrants were uninsured in 2008. Among native-born citizens, the figure stood at 12.9 percent in 2008."

"There is no widely accepted national estimate of the annual cost of healthcare for illegal immigrants, partly because hospitals do not collect immigration figures."

"The Federation for American Immigration Reform, which advocates a temporary moratorium on most immigration, puts the cost at $10.7 billion and calls the estimate conservative" (Bigg, 9/13).

PolitiFact's "Truth-O-Meter," which ruled Rep. Joe Wilson wrong when he called President Obama's a liar on immigrants and health reform, weighed in on the GOP's follow-up: "The Republican conference ... says, 'Fact: Nothing in any of the Democrat bills would require individuals to verify their citizenship or identity prior to receiving taxpayer-subsidized benefits, making the president's promise one that the legislation itself does not keep.' We dug into the facts and found the Republicans were partly right and gave them a Half True" (Jacobson, 9/10) .

Land of Opportunity or Land of Entitlement?

by NotYourDaddy

Wouldn't a true free market approach to illegal immigration be to just open up the borders and laissez faire? In an ideal world, perhaps. But we're dealing with reality.

This country was founded by immigrants. Part of what makes this country great is the diversity of thought and culture brought here by immigrants from all parts of the world over many generations. People who come to this country seeking freedom, and the opportunity to work hard and educate their children and provide a better life for those who come after them, often have a greater appreciation of this country and what it stands for than many people who were born and raised here.

But there are other people who come here who, like many Americans, would rather get a free ride. They see America, not as the land of opportunity, but as the land of entitlement. This has nothing to do with where they're from; it has everything to do with individual character. Unfortunately, there are a great many such people in the world. If we were to open up our borders, without first fixing the existing issues with our entitlement programs, it would only serve to further inflate the ever-growing subsidized class that never rises up to become productive members of society but, instead, exacts a constant and perpetual toll on the rest of us.

Anybody who has a child born in this country is automatically eligible to collect welfare, food stamps, and HUD rental housing assistance, whether the parents are here legally or not. If we grant them citizenship, they're immediately eligible for food stamps and HUD assistance, whether they have children or not.

If people want to come here and work, and there's work for them to do, we should make it possible to do that legally. But, when people want to come here just to sidle up to the trough, that's not right. We need to wean our own citizens off the trough, not encourage more people to come an' get it while the gettin' is good. We can't solve all the poverty in the world by opening wide our doors and hollering "Come and get it!" That's not a free market solution.

Another problem with aliens who don't come here to work is crime. From 2001-2004 (the latest period for which the GAO has statistics), ~27% of inmates in federal prisons were aliens, the majority of them from Mexico. The number of aliens incarcerated rose 15% over the four year period. The cost to the federal government (i.e., taxpayers) was over $5.8 billion. And this does not include the costs to state and local governments for aliens incarcerated in state prisons and local jails.

My first impulse is always to prefer a free market solution, because that aligns with my fundamental principles. But there are situations in which particular circumstances may make a complete free market solution impractical or impossible. This is one of those situations. I believe the closest we can get today is a guest worker program. That will allow those who want to come here to work to participate in the free market, while keeping out the ones who just want to suck on the system or prey on our citizens.

About the Author
NotYourDaddy is a conservative libertarian who believes in free will and the free market. NYD thinks the role of the government is to protect the rights and liberties of its citizens. Stop there.
NYD's attitude toward ever-expanding government can best be summed up by snarling "Get your hand out of my pocket and leave me alone!"
Visit NYD's blog at Government is not your Daddy.

A Free Market Approach to Illegal Immigration

by NotYourDaddy

I applaud the work ethic of anybody who comes here seeking to do honest labor because there isn't enough work to support their families in their own country. But I do not support amnesty, nor do I welcome with open arms all who wander across the border for whatever reason.
From a free market perspective it's clear that, if the marketplace is providing jobs for illegal immigrants, there's a need that they're filling. Employers hire them because they're willing to provide a service at a fair market price that Americans either will not provide at an equivalent price because it's easier to collect welfare, or cannot provide at an equivalent price because labor laws and unions require greater compensation and benefits than the market will bear.

Some insist that it's not a "fair market price" because it doesn't satisfy U.S. labor laws, but labor laws are not what determines a fair market price. A fair market price is the price at which both parties are willing to freely engage in a transaction. If the workers were not better off accepting these jobs at the wages and conditions offered than they would be if they remained in their own country, they would not be so eager to come here and take these jobs. By eliminating the jobs, we hurt the workers as well as the employers. How is that more fair?

By hurting the employers, we also hurt the economy. The significantly higher labor costs would have to be passed on to the consumer and food prices would rise dramatically, driving up the cost of living across the nation. Food being, literally, at the bottom of the food chain, when food prices go up, people at the lower end of the economic ladder need to get pay increases (or apply for public assistance) to feed their families. This necessarily sets off a chain reaction up the economic ladder leading to overall inflation.

Nevertheless, I don't support amnesty. One reason is because granting amnesty to illegal immigrants is unfair to all the law abiding immigrants who have gone through the long and arduous process of obtaining citizenship legally. The other reason is because I don't believe it will solve the problem. In fact, I believe it will make it worse.

As soon as the illegal immigrants become legal, they lose their competitive advantage. As citizens, they'd have to make at least minimum wage, and the employers would have to provide benefits and pay employment taxes. Once the unions get involved, the stakes become even higher. The reason agribusiness employs illegal immigrants is to avoid those costs. So, once the workers gain legal status, what's to stop the employers from dropping them and bringing in more illegal labor from across the border?

Then we'd have a bunch of new citizens with no jobs, tossed into the already overloaded social services system, and we'd still have a problem with illegal immigration. Our social welfare programs would suddenly be flooded with hundreds of thousands of poor, unemployed (but legal) immigrants who can't find work because the only jobs they're qualified for have been given to a new crop of illegals. It's a bad idea.

What I do support is a guest worker program that provides temporary permits for people who enter the country to work and leave when the work is finished, deportation of anybody who's in the country illegally, starting with the immediate deportation of anyone who commits any kind of crime, and a constitutional amendment to cease granting automatic citizenship to babies born in this country to non-citizen parents. I also support anybody who wants to become a citizen getting in line and going through the citizenship process.

About the Author
NotYourDaddy is a conservative libertarian who believes in free will and the free market. NYD thinks the role of the government is to protect the rights and liberties of its citizens. Stop there.

How Do We End Illegal Immigration? (II)

by John DeJong

Now what happens during the voluntary ninety-day relocation period? In order to insure that the illegal immigrants head back to where they came from we will need to remove all of the benefits that have been bestowed upon those who have violated our immigration laws. First, we act in accordance with the 14th Amendment when applying the law of citizenship. Despite what the supporters of illegal immigration claim, this Amendment should not allow for automatic citizenship for babies born here from illegal immigrants of foreign nations. So first off, we reclassify all illegal babies born on American soil to the status of their parents natural country of origin.

The illegal immigrants will no longer be allowed to send their children into our public schools. Nor will they be eligible for any government entitlements or other social programs. If they appear at any hospital or clinic with injuries or illness then they can be treated only after immigration officers have arrived to take them into custody for the purpose of deportation. The lone exception here would be life-threatening issues, which require immediate treatment. Yet the immigration authorities still must be notified even before this emergency treatment commences. Once all these measures are enacted, the illegal immigrants will depart on their own. If not, they will eventually be found anyway.

Once the illegal immigrants are back in their countries they can apply for entrance into the United States by way of work permits. They must list their experience and skills and other pertinent information. They must have some working knowledge and basic 6th grade understanding of the spoken and written English language. All schools will be directed toward teaching legal immigrant children the English language. There will be no more bi-lingual signs, voice mails or any other instruction in foreign languages because the English language will become the official language of the United States.

In order to enter the USA they and their dependents will submit to fingerprinting and photo identification and they will have to be matched or sponsored with an employer certified by the immigration services. They will also be required to report to Immigration Services on a monthly basis to ensure that they have not relocated out of state without authorization. Any felony conviction or repeated misdemeanor offenses of an illegal immigrant will result in deportation without the possibility of ever returning to the USA.

Those employers who wish to employ legal immigrants will have to be certified by the United States Immigration Services. They will have to list the employee skills they need and the amount of people wanted. They will have to list whether the employment is of a permanent or temporary nature. The most important aspect of employing immigrants will be that the employers will be responsible for providing an equal rate of starting pay and benefits as those of their employees who are American citizens. That will prevent the slave labor or poor wages that are currently employed by many in this country.

How Do We End Illegal Immigration? (I)

by John DeJong

In the past few decades, our country has been besieged by a plethora of immigrants entering the United States under false pretense and without legal merit. These are what we refer to as illegal immigrants or aliens. Now even as you read the words, illegal immigrants, you doubtlessly think of Mexicans, right. Yet what I am referring to is ALL illegal immigrants and not just those flooding in from Central and South America. No, I am writing of ALL those who are coming in from countries all over the world.

Though billions of immigration enforcement dollars work to some degree we still cannot fully stop this stampede. Nor will we ever be able to fully block those who are intent upon entrance. There is just not enough manpower or money to cover every last inch of bordering land, air and sea. Safety in numbers is as true a statement today as the day it was first coined. So instead of trying to catch all of the foxes that are trying to get into the henhouse, why not remove the chickens? Now let me explain how we can completely stop the foxes or in this case, illegal immigration.

In concert with President Bush, all illegal immigrants must leave the United States within ninety days. This is where the President and I begin to differ on immigration. I submit that we will not expend another dime on hunting down illegal aliens after that ninety-day period. That is because after ninety days the enforcement of illegal immigrants will be turned over to the investigation of American employers who use illegal immigrants. In short, we will begin to act upon and enforce the employment laws that are already in place.

After the ninety-day period, any employer who is found to have illegal immigrants in their employ will be fined $10,000 per illegal and placed on probation for two years for each illegal found. They should not be incarcerated on the first offense. However, if they are caught employing an illegal a second time then the penalty will be grave. The second offense will result in a fine of $100,000 for each illegal in their employment and five years in prison with no parole. We must get serious if we are to stop illegal immigration.

Furthermore, their business and assets will be sold and the money generated from the sale will be used as an offset to enforcement costs. Additionally, there will be no bail allowed for their second offense of this crime. Therefore, if you are arrested for a second offense you had better be sure you have your harmonica with you because you will be staying in jail for quite some time.

to be continued