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Land transportation & border security
In a ruling by the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) was allowed to continue its practice of warrantless searches through computer data held by U.S. citizens and foreigners alike; with this in mind, an expert offers practical ideas on how to handle sensitive corporate — and personal — information as one crosses into the United States
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Land transportation and border security
Yes, U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s warrantless search policy at the border has been upheld by the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, but it is still the wrong policy; business people should do something about it
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Land transportation and border security
U.S. economic downturn and tighter border security have led to a steady decline in illegal immigration from Mexico; fewer immigrants who go back to Mexico try to return
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DHS pushes (the department says “realigns”) TWIC compliance date from 15 October 2008 to 15 April 2009; industry, port wanted more time; some ports will have to comply with original deadline
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Land transportation & border security
The U.S. Department of transportation launches Fast Lane, a departmental blog aiming to air the views of department’s big-wigs, but also to offer a forum for guest bloggers from government, industry, and the transportation community
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Boeing’s Project 28 — showcasing advanced technologies to be used in making U.S. borders more secure — was hobbled from the start by technological glitches and delays; it delivered much less than what was promised, and DHS decides to scrap it
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Moving to implement one more recommendation of the 9/11 Commission, DHS announces that by 30 June 2009 all visitors leaving the United States will have their biometric details taken and recorded
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Hundreds of monitoring stations would be used to track cars every five seconds — with daily itemized accounts of all trips made by Britain’s thirty million drivers; move is part of a national pay-as-you-drive road pricing plan; government says plan will reduce congestion and pollution
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US authorities said Tuesday they had received too many applications for a visa program for skilled workers for the coming year, meaning a random lottery will determine the winners
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U.S. companies can apply for H1-B visa for a skilled foreign employee beginning 1 April for the fiscal year which begins 1 October; last year, all 65,000 H1-B visas were filled on the first day of application; tomorrow will be no different
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Nine more countries enter the Schengen area as of Sunday; air border checks will no longer be necessary for European passengers to go to of from these new area members
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U.S. companies can apply for H1-B visa for a skilled foreign employee beginning 1 April for the fiscal year which begins 1 October; last year, all 65,000 H1-B visas were filled on the first day of application; tomorrow will be no different
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Beginning 11 May, individuals who want to enter federal buildings or board a plane will have to show a state driver’s license complying with the Real ID Act — unless their state has been granted an extension by DHS (the extension is until 11 October 2009); Maine and South Carolina do not have Real ID-compliant licenses, and they are yet to apply for an extension (the deadline is today)
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The U.S. Government Printing Office’s (GPO) decision to outsource the production of the new e-passports to companies in Europe and Thailand makes legislators, security experts worry; Thailand is an unstable country with a tradition of corruption and rising Islamic terrorism problem; the Dutch company which operates the Thai e-passport production facilities filed court papers in October 2007 charging that China had stolen the company’s patented technology for e-passport chips
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New York’s JFK joins a list of other U.S. airports now requiring non-U.S. citizens to submit ten fingerprints; on a typical day, JFK sees almost 14,400 international visitors complete US‑VISIT biometric procedures
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Texas will invest $2 million to place 200 video cameras along its border with Mexico; Texas citizens could watch the videos on their computers at home, and alert the authorities if they see something suspicious
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The United States, continuing to defy the EU, grants pre-visa waiver status to Slovakia, Hungary, and Lithuania; EU wants to negotiate a package deal on behalf of the twelve new EU members, while U.S. prefers to deal with each country on its security merits
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U.K. market
UKVisas is part of the U.K. government’s e-border program - and to date has moved faster than other components of the scheme; the program wins a technology award, which is a good occasion to see where the program stands today
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The United States allows millions of little-educated, low-skill immigrants to come to the country, while allocating a tiny number of visas to high-skill scientists and engineers; this is going to change, but critics complain that bill still leaves major problems — chief among them: setting wage floor for H-1B employees — unaddressed
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Most EU countries have visa waiver agreements with the United States — but not 11 of the 12 states which joined the EU since 2004; the EU wants to negotiate a package deal for these countries, but the United States prefers bilateral deals so it can pick and choose among the new EU members; the EU says this violates the EU rules
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The long view
Social Acceptance of Immigrants Working as Politicians or Judges Is Low
Often, the dominant society develops negative attitudes towards immigrants and their descendants because their integration is too successful – and not because they are unwilling to integrate. A possible explanation for negative attitudes towards successful immigrants could be the dominant society’s fear of immigrants occupying influential and value-based occupations. This applies, for example, for immigrants working in local politics or law.