PROCESSING BACKLOG

The United States gave legal permanent residence last year to 660,477 foreigners, the lowest number in a decade as the federal Immigration Service struggled to deal with a growing backlog of applications.
The figures for fiscal 1998, announced recently by the Immigration and Naturalization Service, reflected a 17% drop from 1997 and a 28% drop from 1996.
The Immigration and Naturalization Service estimated that it would have granted legal permanent residence to as many as 140,000 additional people last year had it been able to keep pace with its caseload. The backlog is 890,000, a sharp increase from the backlog of 121,000 applications in fiscal 1994. An immigration service spokesperson said Aprocessing times had soared to as much as three years from an average of four months in 1994".
As of October 1, 1999, a new problem is emanating. Since 1989, the Immigration and Naturalization Service had been putting 10-year expiration on Green Cards. A large number of such Cards will expire this year. It is estimated that 2.5 million Green Cards will expire in the next three years, which is bound to add to a further delay in the processing time of new ones.
In response to concerns regarding problems that some immigrants might face if their Green Cards are not promptly renewed (such as traveling abroad or changing employers), immigration officials are expected to stamp the passports of the renewing applicants showing that they have such an application pending, which will avoid problems.
One-fifth of the legal immigrants last year came from Mexico. Overall, immigrants from Mexico and Canada accounted for 38% followed by those from Asia (33%) and Europe (14%).

In addition, 637,000 people were granted citizenship last year. At present, the citizenship backlog is 1.7 million.
SENATE BILL COULD RELIEVE HIGH TECH VISA SHORTAGE
Next week a Bill introduced to raise the annual limit on the number of high tech H-1B visas for foreign workers to 200,000 for the next three years is being considered by the Senate. As our readers are well aware, the U.S. work force needs highly skilled foreign workers due to the shortage created by the information technology boom of the 90s. The immigration policy needs to be a bridge, not a barrier to U.S. economic development. Gurtu & McGoldrick LLP is in favor of the Bill=s passage and is in the process of communicating its use to the office of Senator Trent Lott, a co-sponsor of the Bill. At issue is America=s global competitiveness as we enter the Millennium.

Dated: August 31, 1999