The US government has posed certain restrictions on all its permanent residents when it comes traveling abroad. The reentry permit is an answer to these permanent residents who can enter the United States. This permit tends to identify the intentions of the immigrant whether he wanted to abandon his status or not. This program allows an individual to enter the United States after having been overseas for 2 years. This is when he has not acquired a retuning resident visa. This permit usually lasts for duration of 2 years from the date that it has been issued.

In order to apply for this permit, the applicant needs to submit the Form I-131 along with the fee. It is suggested that this form is filed way in advance to the trip, atleast 60 days in prior. Also, the candidate should be present in the United States while filing this form.

Incase, the applicant intends to reside outside the United States for less than a year, he does not need apply for this permit. Also, if the applicant has been residing overseas for less than a year, he is permitted to use his Permanent Resident Card in the form of his document for travel.

The total fee is $385 which also involves the fee for application which costs $305 along with a biometric fee of another $80. Incase the candidate would want an email notification or a text message once his application has been accepted; he needs to file the Form G-1145 E-Notification of Application/Petition Acceptance. This form should be attached with the first page of the main application.

Once the application has been submitted, within 30 days the applicant would receive the Form I-797 Receipt Notice which confirms that the application has been accepted. This would be followed by a Notice for Appointment which would need you to be present at the Local Application Support Center where in your fingerprints would be taken.

However, the application would not be approved if the applicant already has a valid reentry permit. And also, if it has been prohibited by the federal register where in a notice has been kept to not allow such a permit for travel purposes to the specific places.

Immigration is a life altering decision which involves an investment of an entire lifetime worth of savings. So, it is important to think at least ten times before taking the plunge. Be it any developed nation such as the United States, United Kingdom or Canada, a strategy has to be formed keeping all the loopholes and the Plan Bs ready. Research and answering all your questions is the key to have a successful immigration. The research never goes waste…if you do not believe it now; time would surely prove it to you. How to go about the process effectively and what to do – all depends on your initial research. So, your first goal should be to have an objective to immigrate. And you should be very clear about it.

So, how would you go about this objective? In other words, why do you want to immigrate? The reasons can be many based on your purpose. Some such instances include:

• I want to pursue my higher studies at a subsidized fee in the United States.
• I would like to invest in the US economy and start a business.
• I am looking forward to better work and life opportunities in Canada. So, I want to immigrate to Canada.
• My company wants me to go to the UK and set up a new office but doing so is better if I am an immigrant and a permanent resident. That gives me much leverage with financial institutions and local business community.
• My husband is a citizen of Australia and so, I would want to immigrate to live with him.
• Quality of life issues such as law and order problems, pollution and corruption are important and therefore, I must migrate to a place where systems work and people can live honorably and without fear.
• I am concerned about the future of my children

The above are few of the many reasons as to why people would want to immigrate to a developed nation. After knowing the reasons behind your immigration plan, the next step is how to go about it. For this, get informed about the kind of visa that is required and whether you are eligible for it or not, how to apply for it, the documents required, the fee that has to be paid, the various procedures that have to be followed and so on.

During the above process, it is essential that you do not get confused. To avoid this, it is best to hire a registered immigration consultant who would be able to guide you through the process. This would help clear the road map further.

It has to be noted that successful immigrants in various nations have always had clear plans which has led to the accomplishment of their goals. Thus, even a consultant would be of help only if you know what you want. Good Luck!

According to stats, the total number of children in America born to undocumented workers has risen to a heavy number of 4 million in the year 2009. Contrary to this, the number was almost half in the year 2003. It was 2.7 million as confirmed from a report that came on Wednesday.

Those kids, who have been given an automatic citizenship of the country, represent a percentage of 5.4 out of all those children who are below the age group of 18 in the country. If a comparison is done from the statistics of six years earlier, it was 3.7 as confirmed by the non-partisan Pew Hispanic Center.

The report has further confirmed that this figure will see a high in the coming years. Approximately 340,000 babies out of the total 4.3 million infants who were born in the country in the year 2008 were from undocumented workers. This counts for 8 percent of the total number.

There are huge demands from the sides of legislators who are demanding a revision of the 14th Amendment which says that all those born in the country would be granted a citizenship.

Also, the U.S. Census Bureau has confirmed that the overall percentage of native-born people in the U.S. has dropped by a huge margin in last four decades. According to Jeffrey Passel from the Pew Hispanic Center, the future will see a drop in the percentage of white non-Hispanic and on the contrary, the coming years will see a hike in the number of immigrants as well as their kids.

The US government trusts that the new law which has brought about a hike in the visa fee would not bring about a difference in the ties it has with India. This law has been brought about to secure the Mexican borders with the United States by raising $600 million. This amount would be generated by increased visa fee which the Indian firms operating in the US have to pay for deploying its personnel in the States. According to Janet Napolitano, Secretary, US Homeland Security, the Obama administration has a close relationship with India and it intends to keep it that way.

As per Napolitano, this increased visa fee would only pay for immigration. And this is only for a few specific business-related visas. The visa fee hike has been on the H-1B and L visas. This way, the funds for securing the borders would not come from the general fund which is much more important for other aspects. So, this would not add to the deficit and permit the enforcement resources on a permanent basis.

The fee has increased by more than $2000 which has to be paid by the Indian firms to deploy their personnel in the United States at the client sites. More so, these firms have been called as a handful of foreign firms which tend to exploit the visa program in the United States.

All in all, the bill has been signed which would allow the funding for 1,000 new personnel to be placed at the border as the US Border Patrol agents. They would form a strike force. With this about 250 new Customs and Border Protection officers at the ports of entry and another 250 agents under the Immigration and Customs Enforcement are being recruited.

John Morton, the Director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (USICE) hosted a press conference in Arizona to inform the federal government functioning under President Obama has removed more number of undocumented migrants than it has ever before from the nation. About 380,000 illegal migrants were subject to deportation in the last fiscal year. Of these, only one-thirds had been convicted of criminal activities. In this fiscal year, about 136,000 who are convicted of crimes have been deported. And so, a record has been made.

At the same time, it has to be noticed that most of those deported are hard working migrants only because they overstayed their visa. This also questions the effect of the change; this cannot be considered as immigration reform. The above is a clear example of the government only catching people and deporting them.

At the same time, the increase of funds to deploy more personnel at the US-Mexican border is coming from the increased visa fee for the Indian firms operating in the US. The new bill is which is to be signed by the President intends to hire more than 1,000 new security personnel, about 250 more agents for immigration and customs enforcements and another 250 officers for customs and border protection.

On the other hand, the President can actually bring about some reform to certain specific segments of immigration that require help greatly. But then it seems to take a while before some work is actually done.

It cannot be denied that the United States has been built on the dreams of many immigrants and their generations who came and built the nation as we know it today. Yet, we see Republicans trying to cut down on any form of measure being taken by the Obama administration.

The immigration law in Arizona brought about violent national debate which in itself had many flaws and some of its key points have been put on hold. With this, similar incidents happened with a nun being killed in a car accident in Virginia.

Here, the driver was an illegal migrant and was accused of drunken driving. In this case, the accused Carlos A. Martinelly had been convicted twice but ended serving only a period of 20 days in the prison for one of the convictions. The main reason behind this was that Martinelly was handed over to the Federal Immigration Enforcement officers by the local authorities. The immigration officials never investigated into his case.

The above clearly questions the insight of the immigration officials who overlooked such a serious case. More so, it only led to a nun being killed only because the convict was left in open. At the same, it was requested by the Benedictine Sisters of Virginia to not politicize the issue.

However, this did not stop the Chairman for the Board of Supervisors at Prince William County, Corey Stewart to coming forth with a statement which charged President Obama along with Janet Napolitano, Secretary for Homeland Security of having blood on their hands.

Keeping the above aside, a new legislation is being proposed by the Senate and some of the Republicans in the House which would amend the US Constitution. This amendment would enable to deny citizenship and legal immigration status easily. More so, some of the Republicans also want to bring about changes in the 14th amendment which would US citizenship being granted to some of the children being born in the nation.

All in all, there is a serious need for a dialogue in the matter of immigration. Reform where it matters has to be the goal.

According to the 14th Amendment, any child born in the United States is automatically a citizen of the nation. This also includes those children who are born to parents who are not the citizens of the United States. But with the current issue of illegal immigration being the debate, this amendment is being questioned. Many leading Republicans are urging to reconsider this 14th Amendment.

In order to curb illegal immigration, few Republican senators have said that such children, especially born to parents who are illegal migrants should not be accepted as US citizens, despite being born in US. According to Senator Lindsey Graham, just crossing the borders only to deliver a child should not be the reason. With the intent to ensure that their children are US citizens motivates these undocumented migrants to cross the borders illegally.

Since there are already about 11 million undocumented migrants in the United States, adding more to the number through illegal means and projecting them as being legal is something which cannot and should not be tolerated by the government of any nation.

It has also been proposed by the Senate GOP leaders to not have a system of automatic citizenship unless one of the parents is a citizen of the US. The citizenship clause in the 14th amendment came about 1868 so as the freed slaves could obtain a citizenship.

On the other hand, the Democrats feel that the Republicans are giving way to anti-immigration extremists and thus, doubting the very Constitution they have sworn to preserve.

Above all, this change could only be brought out after a Constitutional amendment has been brought about. For this, it is important to get the consent of two-thirds majorities from both the Congress chambers and from three-fourths of the states.

US Senator Lindsey Graham recently spoke to the press to clarify his statements he made on the US immigration laws which were questioned by people and categorized as controversial. Lindsay is a one-time lawyer who provides legal status to undocumented workers. While speaking to the press, he said that he wants to be practical and fair when it comes to dealing with the immigration issues and above all, he wants to fix this problem as soon as possible.

To reduce the problem of illegal immigration in the United States, he is focusing on fixing the problem by working on various federal reforms. He is planning to end giving birthright citizenship to the US born babies of illegal migrant parents. He further said that people from foreign countries come to the nation to give birth to their children in the US hospitals so that they can become the legal US citizens. They come here illegally but they make their children a legal citizen of the nation. This is not been followed by other countries and the United States should also not follow it. Such statement made by him has raised quite a controversy amongst people in the US.

One of the spokesperson for Hispanics, Diana Salazar said that not providing citizenship to the US born babies is unfair as it is the constitutional right of them. She further said that Graham’s proposal is against many people residing in the United States. His proposal is in favor of few people only but fails to deal with the welfare of masses. There are many families of the United States which are dependent on the Latino population working as servants such as nannies for them. Salazar openly criticized the proposal of Graham by saying that his proposal does not represent the whole state and so should not be encouraged.

Immigration is definitely an issue and has become a big problem for illegal immigrants living in US but this has not deterred many youths of the country from taking the path of righteousness. Many youngsters from United States gathered outside the White House to admit their status as an illegal immigrant in front of the US government publicly.

They declared about their illegal status openly in a hope to create some changes and help out other undocumented youngsters living in the nation like them. And they are doing this at one of the most politicized areas of the country that is outside the White House.

Teodoro, a student at the University of Massachusetts and one of the participant students expressed herself by saying that she would not lie about her status and would prefer to be arrested rather than always living under fear. Her parents were deported to Brazil from the United States a couple of years ago. Like her, many other youngsters have almost the similar story to share. And they all have rested their hopes on Dream Act; a bill to be passed by US Immigration .This legislation would provide a path for illegal young immigrants to become the legal citizens of the United States under two conditions. One is either they serve the country by working in the military or obtain a college degree.

There are many young students living illegally in the nation who are attending the classes in which they are meeting the legislators sharing their personal information about their illegal status. Most of these youngsters have been living in America since their childhood and identify themselves as Americans only. This is truly a bold step take by these youths which needs to be applauded and this speaks aloud about their limit of frustration for living under fear. Such step is the reflection of the urgent need of some change in the immigration law in United States for this would be affecting the lives of many people to a large extent.

Are you looking forward to settle and work in Alberta permanently? Then Alberta Immigrant Nominee Program (AINP) can surely help you realize your dreams of seeking better opportunities for life. The AINP has been initiated by Government of Alberta and the Immigration and Employment Ministry in association with Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) in concern with immigration process to Alberta.

There are various categories for immigrants which come under this program based on which an applicant can apply for immigration. One of the categories is the US Visa Holder Category. This category is meant for those candidates who are at present working in the United States on a temporary skilled worker visa. The purpose of this category is to promote the entry of US visa holders who are working temporarily in the United States into Alberta to strengthen the permanent labour force of province. Such candidates are quite high in demand in Alberta.

The eligibility criteria for this category include the following conditions:

• An applicant must be able to demonstrate his intentions and abilities to live permanently in Alberta.
• An applicant must be currently an employee of the United States employer.
• He must be having a valid visa in one of the following categories- H-1B, H-1B1, H-1C, E-3 to show it as proof when the CIC accepts the application of the candidate.
• An applicant must have worked for at least one year in the United States in any one of the qualifying visa categories as mentioned above.
• The current profession of an applicant must come under AINP Occupation under Pressure List for the Strategic Requirement Stream-US Visa Holder Category (this list may include certain changes depending upon Alberta’s current needs in labour market).

There can be inclusion of other conditions as well, for that one must refer to the official website of Citizenship and Immigration Canada. For further information, you can contact any visa and immigration consultants for professional help and guidance.