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In view of Mr. President Barack Obama visit to South Asian giant ‘India’, here are some updates on Indo-US bilateral relationship. The basic purpose of Mr. Obama’s visit is to strengthen the bilateral relationship. U.S. President Barack Obama began his maiden visit to India on last Saturday by promising to remove restrictions on sensitive high-tech exports, a nagging irritant in the evolution of bilateral ties, even as he declared deals worth $15 billion that would support some 54,000 American jobs and seek to answer critics back home. This visit and the expected outcome of more employment generation is considered to be greatest achievement of Mr. Obama after the recent debacle in US Polls.

The White House will, of course, stay in Washington but the heart of the famous building will move to India when President Barack Obama landed in Mumbai on Saturday. Communications set-up and nuclear button and majority of the White House staff will be in India accompanying the President on this three-day visit that will cover Mumbai and Delhi, India. He will also be protected by a fleet of 34 warships, including an aircraft carrier, which will patrol the sea lanes off the Mumbai coast during his two-day stay there beginning Saturday. The measure has been taken as Mumbai attack in 2008 took place from the sea. Mr. Obama visit to Mumbai went considerably good.

The United States is the world’s largest recipient of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI). India is among the fastest growing investors in the United States. As the U.S.-India economic relationship deepens, investment from India contributes to the growth and vibrancy of the American economy and in the creation of jobs in the United States. Over the last decade, investment capital from India grew at an annualized rate of 53% reaching an estimated $4.4 billion in 2009. This growing flow of capital from India reflects the increased integration of the two economies and has brought many benefits to the United States, increasing U.S. exports and supporting tens of thousands of jobs in the last six years alone.

The US Embassy in Slovakia stated in an announcement that its country’s visa regime works according to the principle of reciprocity and noted that after several years of negotiations, the Slovak government has failed to modify the visa validity for Americans working in Slovakia beyond the current limit of two years.

Currently, Slovaks working temporarily in the United States in the H, L, O, P, and R categories receive visas valid for five years. Based on this lack of reciprocity, the US government has reduced the validity of the H, L, O, P, and R non-immigrant visa categories for Slovaks from the current 60 months with multiple entries, to 24 months with multiple entries, effective immediately.

A $60 reciprocity fee, payable at the US Embassy at the time of the interview for a US visa, will also be added, the embassy wrote, in order to bring the two countries’ fees into a more reciprocal relationship.

Congressmen Chris Lee and Brian Higgins plan to announce plans for a grand opening of a new State Department passport office on Genesee Street in downtown Buffalo.

The full-service passport issuance agency in Western New York provides greater convenience and service for communities, and it will be able to issue required travel documents within hours in the case of emergencies.

The closest passport agency right now is located in downtown Manhattan. The official announcement of the new passport center will be made next week.

US plans to maintain a strong presence in the eastern part of the capital, despite moving bulk of services to Arnona neighborhood. After six years of construction, the American Consulate in Jerusalem will open its new facility for consular services on Rehov David Flusser in the southern Arnona neighborhood next Tuesday.

The office that previously dealt with consular services, located on Nablus Road in east Jerusalem, will remain open for consulate programs, along with the facility in west Jerusalem on Rehov Agron, and America House, a cultural outreach center in east Jerusalem.

“The [new] facility was designed to enhance the provision of consular services to American citizens and local residents,” a US Consulate representative said. Consular services include issuing passports and visas, and reporting deaths and births abroad. There are 80,000 registered American citizens living in Jerusalem, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, which makes the Jerusalem consulate one of the US’s busiest in the world. It maintains an “e-consulate” for Gaza residents, offering most services online.

Employers will see higher charges for most employment-based immigration petitions and applications and for premium processing services when a new U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services fee schedule takes effect on November 23, 2010.

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) will increase the fees for many immigration filings, including premium processing cases, and will introduce new fees for applications and services that were previously processed without charge, according to a final regulation that is set to be published in Friday’s Federal Register. The new fee schedule will take effect 60 days after publication, on November 23, 2010. Petitions and applications postmarked on or after November 23 must include the new fees.

According to USCIS, the agency is altering its fee schedule to reflect the full cost of processing applications and petitions. New Fees for Employment-Based Filings:

Costa Rica’s appeal to the Arizona District Court over the rights of illegal immigrants in the United States was thrown out last week because it was submitted past deadline. In an e-mail to The Tico Times, an assistant to the clerk of the court confirmed that “the motion was denied on Sept. 2, 2010 as untimely.”

Federal Judge Susan Bolton entered an order on July 1, stating that any interested party wishing to file an amicus curiae must do so no later than July 14, according to the court. (An amicus curiae is someone not involved in a case who volunteers information that could affect the could bear on the case’s outcome.) Costa Rica filed its motion on July 21.

Costa Rica was not the only one to file a motion with the Arizona District Court. Mexico, Argentina, Bolivia, Ecuador, El Salvador and Nicaragua also denounced Arizona’s new law.The Costa Rican Foreign Ministry wrote in a press release that it was concerned for the civil and human rights of Costa Rican citizens while in the United States. Faithful to its tradition of promoting and defending human rights, Costa Rica has raised its voice against discrimination against immigrants in the United States.

Indian Government sources had said that the Bureau of Diplomatic Security had contacted the ministry of external affairs (MEA), India around the time Mr Pacheco was incarcerated for his alleged involvement in the mysterious death of his girlfriend Nadia Torrado — he was in jail from July 9 till July 26, when he was awarded bail. He is a former Goa, India tourism minister Francisco Xavier “Mickky” Pacheco was caught on the backfoot on Sunday once again as reports surfaced that the US State Department’s Bureau of Diplomatic Security had informed India that Mr Pacheco might be involved in a big immigration and money laundering racket.

Mr Pacheco used to operate an employment agency along with his estranged wife Sara Pacheco which specialized in finding employment for Goans abroad. But according to the former minister, he has had nothing to do with the agency since he separated from his wife around four years back.

Mr. Mickey Pacheco has been accused by the US Bureau of Diplomatic Security of running an international immigration and money-laundering racket. The bureau got in touch with the external affairs ministry through the US embassy in Delhi and reportedly backed its allegations with documents and details of banking transactions. The ministry then passed on the information to the CBI. The evidence is being described as substantive. According to the US Bureau of Diplomatic Security report, Pacheco had 15 million dollars in his account in the US. He recently transferred 2 million dollars to India.

Figures show that between 2005 and 2009, illegal US immigration fell by more than 60 per cent. In the first half of the decade, an average of 850,000 people were moving to the US without the correct US visas. However, this has fallen to just 300,000 between 2007 and 2009, according to new figures released by the Pew Hispanic Centre.

The fall is thought to be the result of a combination of factors, including tougher border controls and the recession. The drop has also impacted the overall estimated number of illegal immigrants living in the US. In 2007, the number was thought to total around 12 million. This number had fallen by around eight per cent to 11.1 million by last year.

Some 60 per cent of the people moving to the US without US visas are coming over the border from Mexico, with a further 20 per cent coming from other parts of Latin America. The remaining illegals come mostly from Asia, Africa and Canada.The new figures may go some way towards calming the national debate about Arizona’s new US immigration act, which encourages law enforcement officers to question people about their immigration status if they have reason to believe they may be living in the US illegally.

Haitian F-1 students experiencing severe economic hardship from the Jan. 12, 2010 Haiti earthquake eligible for employment authorization. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has approved special relief for certain F-1 Haitian students who have suffered severe economic hardship as result of the Jan. 12 earthquake in Haiti. This relief applies only to students who were lawfully present in the United States in F-1 status on Jan. 12, and enrolled in an institution that is certified by ICE’s Student and Exchange Visitor Program.

The suspension of certain regulatory requirements, by notice in the federal register, allows eligible Haitian F- 1 students to obtain employment authorization, work an increased number of hours during the school term, and, if necessary, reduce their course load while continuing to maintain their F-1 student status. F-1 students granted employment authorization by means of this notice will be deemed to be engaged in a full course of study if they meet the minimum course-load requirements specified in the notice.

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services will celebrate the grand opening of its new field office and application support center in Bedford on Thursday, Sept. 2, with a ribbon-cutting ceremony, naturalization ceremony and tours of the facility. USCIS Associate Regional Director Shelley Goodwin will preside during the naturalization ceremony and will administer the Oath of Allegiance to 25 citizenship candidates. She will be joined by USCIS’ Boston District Director Denis Riordan and USCIS’ Manchester Field Office Director Simon Abi Nader.

Gov. John Lynch will join USCIS and delivering remarks for the special naturalization ceremony. Joining USCIS for the ribbon-cutting ceremony will be Bedford Town Manager Russell Marcoux, Mayor of Manchester Ted Gatsas and Glenn C. Rotondo, acting regional administrator of General Services Administration, New England region.

The new office, at 9 Ridgewood Road, will provide a range of immigration services, including naturalization interviews, lawful permanent resident processing, fingerprinting and photographic services and is well-suited to serve the area’s immigrant community. The new facility replaces the former Manchester location on Canal Street. The new office is based on a national model for new USCIS office locations throughout the country.