March 2014 Visa Bulletin is Here

To see the complete U.S. Department of State Visa Bulletin for March 2014, please click:  March 2014 Visa Bulletin

Family-Based Immigrant Priority Dates

Family-Sponsored	All Chargeability Areas Except Those Listed	CHINA-mainland born	INDIA	MEXICO	PHILIPPINES
F1	01FEB07	01FEB07	01FEB07	15OCT93	15AUG01
F2A	08SEP13	08SEP13	08SEP13	15APR12	08SEP13
F2B	01SEP06	01SEP06	01SEP06	01MAY93	08JUN03
F3	15JUN03	15JUN03	15JUN03	08JUN93	15FEB93
F4	08NOV01	08NOV01	08NOV01	15NOV96	01SEP90

Employment-Based Immigrant Priority Dates 

Employment- Based	All Chargeability Areas Except Those Listed	China - mainland born	INDIA	MEXICO	PHILIPPINES
1st	C	C	C	C	C
2nd	C	15FEB09	15NOV04	C	C
3rd	01SEP12	01SEP12	15SEP03	01SEP12	01MAY07
Other Workers	01SEP12	01SEP12	15SEP03	01SEP12	01MAY07
4th	C	C	C	C	C
Certain Religious Workers	C	C	C	C	C
5th Targeted Employment Areas/ Regional Centers and Pilot Programs	C	C	C	C	C

Boehner: Immigration reform stalls because GOP has ‘widespread doubt’ about Obama

The Washington Post

By David Nakamura and Ed O'Keefe

A week after signaling that House Republicans would pursue an overhaul of immigration laws, Speaker John A. Boehner declared Thursday that his caucus is unlikely to move forward until President Obama gains their trust.

“There’s widespread doubt about whether this administration can be trusted to enforce our laws,” Boehner (R-Ohio) said during a midday news conference at the Capitol. “And it’s going to be difficult to move any immigration legislation until that changes.”

Boehner was making his first extended public remarks since releasing a list of GOP “standards” for immigration policy at a conference retreat last week. His attempt to place the burden on Obama illustrated the mounting opposition from hard-line conservatives and laid the groundwork for blaming the White House if a deal fails.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) said this week that an immigration deal remains a long shot in a sharply divided Congress. Rep. Raúl R. Labrador (R-
Idaho) suggested that Boehner could lose his speakership if he pursues a bill in a midterm election year.

To read the full article, please click:  Boehner: Immigration reform stalls because GOP has ‘widespread doubt’ about Obama

House G.O.P.’s Immigration Plan Presents Tough Choices for Obama

The New York Times

By Michael D. Shear and Ashley Parker

President Obama and his allies may soon confront a difficult decision: whether to abandon the creation of a new path to citizenship for 11 million illegal immigrants and accept tough border security and enforcement measures that they have long criticized.

Those are some of the concessions that Speaker John A. Boehner of Ohio signaled he would demand in exchange for a willingness to overhaul the immigration system. Mr. Boehner outlined those standards in a one-page document released on Thursday, and if they lead to legislation, Democrats and immigration advocates will be pressured to compromise.

Mr. Obama hinted in an interview broadcast on Friday that he was open to a plan that would initially give many undocumented workers a legal status short of citizenship, as long as they were not permanently barred from becoming citizens.

To read the full article, please click:  House G.O.P.’s Immigration Plan Presents Tough Choices for Obama

House GOP releases plan for immigration reform

Arizona Republic

By Daniel González, Erin Kelly and Rebekah Sanders

Republican House leaders released long-awaited guidelines for overhauling the nation’s immigration system Thursday, drawing measured praise from reform supporters for opening the door to negotiations with Democrats that could lead to passage of a bill this year.

But the guidelines also set off a fiery debate among immigration advocates. On one side are those who are willing to settle for the GOP’s offer of legalization for undocumented immigrants but no special pathway to citizenship. On the other are those who insist any immigration reform bill must ultimately include citizenship.

“I would take it for now,” said Lydia Guzman, national immigration chair for the League of United Latin American Citizens, a civil-rights and immigrant-advocacy group.

“No,” said Petra Falcon, executive director of the Phoenix-based advocacy group Promise Arizona.

To read the full article, please click:  House GOP releases plan for immigration reform

Obama careful on immigration in State of the Union, lawmakers say

Los Angeles Times

By Brian Bennett and Daniel Rothberg

President Obama urged Congress in his State of the Union speech to “fix our broken immigration system,” saying both political parties stood to gain by helping millions of undocumented immigrants get a legal foothold in America.

“Independent economists say immigration reform will grow our economy and shrink our deficits by almost $1 trillion in the next two decades,” he said. “And for good reason: When people come here to fulfill their dreams – to study, invent and contribute to our culture – they make our country a more attractive place for businesses to locate and create jobs for everyone.”

But Obama, aware that House Republicans won’t appreciate any hectoring from him, didn't set out any legislative markers, including requiring a pathway to legal status and ultimately citizenship for the estimated 11 million people in the country illegally.

Sen. Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) said Obama was smart not to make specific demands of Republicans for immigration reform.

To read the full article, please click:  Obama careful on immigration in State of the Union, lawmakers say

Top Republicans to Call for Legal Status for Some Immigrants

The New York Times

By Jonathan Weisman and Ashley Parker

The House Republican leadership’s broad framework for overhauling the nation’s immigration laws will call this week for a path to legal status — but not citizenship — for many of the 11 million adult immigrants who are in the country illegally, according to aides who have seen the party’s statement of principles. For immigrants brought to the United States illegally as young children, the Republicans would offer a path to citizenship.

But even before the document is unveiled later, some of the party’s leading strategists and conservative voices are urging that the immigration push be abandoned, or delayed until next year, to avoid an internal party rupture before the midterm elections.

“It’s one of the few things that could actually disrupt what looks like a strong Republican year,” said William Kristol, editor of the conservative magazine The Weekly Standard, calling an immigration push “a recipe for disaster.”

“Don’t Do It,” said the headline on a National Review editorial on Monday aimed at the House speaker, John A. Boehner of Ohio. “The last thing the party needs is a brutal intramural fight when it has been dealt a winning hand” — troubles with the president’s health care law — ahead of the elections, the editorial said.

To read the full article, please click:  Top Republicans to Call for Legal Status for Some Immigrants

For House Republicans, new momentum on immigration reform

The Washington Post

By David Nakamura

Recent signals from House Republican leaders that they will pursue their own vision of immigration reform have presented the White House with an opening to achieve a major legislative deal this year that has eluded lawmakers for decades.

Speaker John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) is expected to release a brief outline of immigration principles to his caucus as soon as its annual retreat next week. The goals would include strengthening border security and creating new visas for foreign workers, while providing a path toward legalizing the status of the nation’s 11 million to 12 million undocumented immigrants, according to people briefed on the deliberations.

Obama administration officials and congressional Democrats expressed optimism that new momentum in the House could yield results after months in which the issue languished in the lower chamber. But they cautioned that it is far too early to determine whether a compromise could be reached between the House and Senate, which approved a bipartisan plan to overhaul border-control laws last June.

“It’s a very big deal, and there’s a path here that could get it done,” Cecilia Munoz, the White House’s director of domestic policy, said of the potential for an immigration agreement.

To read the full article, please click:  For House Republicans, new momentum on immigration reform