February has started and all eyes are on the U.S. Congress. The Senate is scheduled to discuss the various bills introduced in the Senate during the past few months. The debate on comprehensive immigration reform is likely to generate a lot of interest. The activity in the Congress during the next few weeks will decide the future of employment-based immigration to the United States.

Last week I found some time to review the report of Congressional Research Service (CRS) on L-1 visa submitted to the Congress. L-1 visa is for intra-company transferees who work for an international firm or corporation in executive and managerial positions or have specialized knowledge of their company’s products or services. In FY 2005 the U.S. Department of State issued 122,981 L visas, out of which 65,458 are L-1 visas for principal nonimmigrant and the balance for dependants (L-2). Another interesting figure coming out of the report is that almost two-thirds (32.4%) of the L visas were issued to aliens from India, followed by Great Britain (10.5%) and Japan (9.8%). We will analyze this report in the next issue of Immigration Monitor.

We were overwhelmed with the positive feedback received from our friends from all across the world commending our initiative to cover visa procedures at various consulates in your Immigration Monitor. While we visited East Asian countries last month, this time we halt on the banks of The Thames. Our In Focus article for this month explains E-2 visa processing at the U.S. Embassy in London, U.K. Keep sharing your immigration experiences with us so that we can include your experiences in our articles for the benefit of our other friends.

Very often we get queries from individuals who are confused between the dates that are stamped on their visa and the date stamped by the officer on the I-94 card at the airport at the time of entry into the U.S. We have seen a lot of cases where a nonimmigrant mistakes the dates on his visa as the period of his authorized stay, and thus, ends up in serious trouble. The Immigration Article in this issue helps you to know the difference between 'Visa' and 'Status'.

Last month’s poll question seemed to be a bit challenging for our readers. The opinion was again divided. More than half of the participants believe that the Government needs to do more to secure America’s borders. This month we have an interesting question for you to express Your Opinion. So don’t forget to cast your vote.

Pallavi Vajranabhaiah deserves all the Congratulations for winning last month’s Immigration Quiz. A significant number of participants confused the denial of visa application with the denial of the petition. Make sure you research well for this month’s question. Who knows, your name may find a mention in the next newsletter. All the Best!

Last month I also gave you a glimpse of some exciting projects that we are working on for this year. And here we are with the first of them… www.VisaPro.in, a website specifically for our patrons in India. Let me know what you think about this initiative. I just can’t wait to see it all happening during the coming year, but let’s unfold each surprise one at a time.

Don’t forget to add our address Immigration-Monitor@VisaPro.com to the list of your contacts so that you see the Immigration Monitor in your email Inbox every month and you will not miss the latest immigration activity.

See you in the next month with a lot more!