Department of State: * Nationals of the twenty-six countries subject to additional DOS consular scrutiny are experiencing lengthy delays in the processing of nonimmigrant visa applications. For example, the U.S. Consulate in Paris is unable to specify how long its additional administrative processing will take for these cases, and the previously indicated time frame of 30 days is no longer applicable ...
Department of State: * DOS has released the instructions for the 2004 diversity immigrant visa program. The congressionally mandated program is a lottery for 50,000 permanent residence visas. Applicants must meet strict eligibility criteria. Instructions have been issued by the DOS at www.travel.state.gov/DV2004.html * Jordanians are now eligible for E treaty trader/treaty investor visas upon the basis of reciprocity secured by the United States-Jordan Free Trade Area Implementation Act ...
Department of State: * U.S. Consulate Ciudad Juarez, Mexico will no longer process Third Country National visa applications as of November 1, 2002. Only residents of the consular district and Third Country Nationals with FM2/3 visas will be allowed to apply. * DOS non-immigrant visa application fee will increase to $100.00 effective November 1, 2002 ...
Department of State: * DOS issued a Worldwide Caution on September 9, 2002 advising of the continuing threat of terrorist actions, which may target civilians and include suicide operations. DOS also indicates terrorist groups may seek softer targets including foreign facilities where American citizens are generally known to congregate or visit, such as clubs, restaurants, places of worship, schools or outdoor recreation events ...
Homeland Security Act of 2002: * On November 25, 2002, President Bush signed the “Homeland Security Act of 2002” into law, which establishes the Department of Homeland Security and includes provisions which may significantly alter the visa issuance process at U.S. Consulate/Embassy posts and adjudication of INS petitions. We will continue to provide updates as information becomes available. Department of State: * DOS issued a Worldwide Caution on November 20 reminding the country that U.S ...
Department of Justice/Immigration and Naturalization Service: * INS has temporarily lowered its filing fees for certain petitions/applications. The fee change is due to a provision of the Homeland Security Act of 2002 requiring the elimination of a surcharge the INS previously attached in order to fund asylum and refugee services, fee exemptions and fee waivers ...
Department of Justice/Immigration and Naturalization Service: * DOJ is implementing the National Security Entry-Exit Registration System (NSEERS) to enable the government to track the approximately 35 million non-immigrants who enter the U.S. each year. As part of NSEERS, certain non-immigrants will continue to register at a port-of-entry upon admission to the U.S. Other non-immigrants who were admitted to the U.S ...
Department of Justice/Immigration and Naturalization Service: * DOJ’s Immigration and Naturalization Service becomes part of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) on March 1, 2003. Within the DHS, the Bureau for Citizenship & Immigration Services (BCIS) will handle the immigration benefits function, including employment-based nonimmigrant and immigrant petitions and applications for adjustment of status. The new Director of the BCIS is Eduardo Aguirre ...
Department of Homeland Security/Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Service: * Immigration benefits previously provided by the Department of Justice’s Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) are now the responsibility of the Department of Homeland Security’s Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Service (BCIS). All familiar customer services are to remain in place ...
Department of Homeland Security/Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Service: * BCIS announced plans to implement electronic filing (e-filing) as an option for two of the most commonly submitted immigration applications, the Application to Renew or Replace a “green card” and the Application for Employment Authorization. BCIS plans to launch e-filing for these applications in May 2003 and to further expand e-filing to other applications and petitions in fall 2003 ...
Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services (“BCIS”): * BCIS has announced the availability of electronic filing (e-filing) for two types of applications: Form I-90, Application to Replace Permanent Resident Card, and Form I-765, Application for Employment Authorization Document. Although many applicants will be eligible to take advantage of the e-filing system, some applicants will still need to make paper filings. Additional e-filing information may be obtained at www.bcis.gov ...
Immigration
The Republic of Serbia's Commission for Protection of Competition, upon completion of an in-depth procedure, has approved Imlek's acquisition of Niška Mlekara's shares, making them 100% owners of this dairy company. The fulldecision document regarding this case has been published on the Commission'sofficial website ...
The recent spat between Yoko Ono and a Polish drinks company highlights the importance of registering trade marks.What happened in this matter was that John Lennon’s widow, Yoko Ono, threatened a small Polish lemonade manufacturer with legal action. The issue? The product that the Polish company sells in a number of European countries is called John Lemon ...
Last Friday, the Illinois Supreme Court delivered the highly anticipatedRosenbach v. Six Flags Entertainment Corp., 2019 IL 123186, opinion. Businesses and consumers alike watched for the Court’s opinion regarding whether mere technical violations of the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act (“BIPA”) gave plaintiffs the requisite standing to seek damages under the statute ...
On March 23, 2021, Governor Pritzker signed a new law (Senate Bill 1480) that makes several meaningful changes to the Illinois Human Rights Act (IHRA). One significant change under the new law states employers may not use criminal conviction records when making employment decisions unless employers consider specific factors and take certain steps before making a final employment decision ...
While a few legislative races are still being tabulated, Democrats maintained their supermajority status in both the Illinois House of Representatives and Senate in this election cycle. Current projections, that are subject to change pending mail-in ballots, are for a Democrat supermajority of 72-46 in the House and 41-18 in the Senate. This was not an unexpected outcome, though most pre-election predictions had the Democrats achieving an even wider gap in the Legislature ...
Earlier this year, Executive Order no 13, which aims to strengthen the fight against illegal gambling in the Philippines, was issued. EO No. 13 mandates relevant law enforcement agencies to coordinate on campaigns against illegal gambling, and clarifies the territorial jurisdiction of government authorities that issue licenses for gambling and online gaming facilities ...
What is an illegal contract and is it enforceable? If an illegal contract is unenforceable, does the party who received its benefit get to keep that windfall? The short answer to the first question is that a contract is illegal when it is either contrary to a statute or is contrary to public policy. Generally, illegal contracts are not enforceable. The answer to the second questions is “it depends” ...
On March 3, 2023, the Court of Appeal of Santiago granted a constitutional petition for protection (“recurso de protección”) filed by a bookstore chain against the Municipality of Santiago for not adopting adequate and effective measures to prevent the installation of street vending in Ahumada Street ...
As a part of conversations with clients webinar series, Jonathan Lipman, Group General Counsel of Mercedes-Benz UK, joined Sebastian Price to discuss what IHL team can do to help deliver ESG goals. What does environmental, social and governance (ESG) mean? ESG is about in-house lawyers (IHLs) wanting to do the right thing, together whilst driving the wider goals of the business ...
The July/August issue of the International Financial Law Review (IFLR) included an international briefing article entitled “Promoting Foreign Investment”. The article was contributed by SyCipLaw partner Carina C. Laforteza and associate Lito Paolo T. Martin II. The article discussed the enactment of Republic Act No. 10881, which was set to make the Philippine sa more attractive destination for foreign investors in the financing industry ...
The October issue of the International Financial Law Review (IFLR) included an international briefing article entitled “Mining Developments”. The article was contributed by SyCipLaw partner Aaron Roi B. Riturban ...
The March issue of the International Financial Law Review (IFLR) includes an international briefing article by SyCipLaw Partner Jose Florante M. Pamfilo entitled “Philippines: Foreign equity ownership decision”. The article discusses the Philippine Supreme Court decision on the case of Roy v. Herbosa (GR no. 207246) to invalidate the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Memorandum Circular no ...
