Briana Cornelius: The DLG-Proust-Actors Studio Questionnaire

“I’m an old person now,” Briana says and laughs. She’s talking about her predilection to stay home with a nice glass of wine and also, of course, to study long hours, the good law student she is. Briana is our Summer Associate (along with Carolyn), who is back at Daryanani & Bland after having worked previously for three years at the firm as a Paralegal and Office Manager (we affectionately called her BOM—Best Office Manager).

But she is not old. She’s only twenty-five with a bright future ahead of her. Born and raised in San Diego, California, Briana moved to Manhattan in 2006 to attend New York University (move-in day of freshman year was her first time in the City), and upon graduation she joined Daryanani & Bland fulltime. After her stint as “Best Office Manager” (Protima laughs and says: “No comment”), Briana left last year to attend William and Mary Law School (where she made Law Review!).

“My first semester was tough,” she says, “but I really got into it second semester. I like law. I’m sure it’s been said before, but law school for me has been useful in how it teaches you to approach and to think about things. I’m learning that there’s not an answer to many things. You can research and research and not find an answer, because there is no answer. You have to think of what the answer should be. You have to make the best argument. It’s difficult but it’s also an appealing aspect.” 

Read more

The Guardian and Bloomberg: What Will Obama do?

Congress began a five-week recess without passing any legislation to address immigration reform or the current border surge.  President Obama says he now intends "to act alone." The Guardian explores the options available to the President, from extending Deferred Action to the parents of DACA recipients or parents of children born in the United States, to Parole in Place, to new procedures and standards for deportation. 

It will be interesting to see how far the President goes. Many, including the President himself, believe he extended his administrative powers to their limits last year in providing Deferred Action for the DREAMERS.  Bloomberg highlights this aspect of the problem stating:

“Among the actions being considered is granting some of the 12 million immigrants in the U.S. illegally work permits that would allow them to stay in the country, according to a Democratic Senate aide and immigration advocates.

That’s sure to reignite Republican accusations that Obama exceeding his constitutional authority, one of their main campaign themes for November’s midterm elections. The Republican-controlled House last month voted to sue Obama over implementation of his signature health-care law.”

Some Republicans are even going as far as stating that they would call for impeachment if the President stretched his powers too far.  Stay tuned.  We will be sure to post updates as soon as we have them.

 

The Museum of Moving Image

How many YouTube videos do you watch per day? What are your favorite classic films? How many episodes of Breaking Bad have you crammed into one weekend? The subject of these questions, however diverse, is moving image, and this, as the name suggests, is what The Museum of Moving Image is all about. Located in Astoria, Queens in New York, the museum takes visitors on a journey to discover the history of filmmaking as well as modern phenomena and trends in the medium of moving image.

Read more

Border Surge Update: Children Reuniting with their Parents

It is estimated that more than 57,000 unaccompanied minors have crossed the US-Mexico border in the last several months, overwhelming the border agents and immigration courts seeking to stem the tide, as well as communities and legal resources seeking to help them. Most of these children are fleeing severe poverty, and many are fleeing gang and drug violence. Many of these children are also coming to reunite with their parents, immigrants living without legal status in the US. ABC News features a story of one young woman from Guatemala, 19-year old Washington, D.C. resident Cindy Monge, who made the journey herself when she was only 11 years old. Like many of the children coming now, Cindy had never met her father and rarely saw her mother when she left home in 2006 to reunite with her family.

The New York Times reports that a “vast majority” of the children coming to the US now are coming, at least in part, to reunite with their families. According to the article, Government officials are aware that many of the sponsors are also living illegally in the US. Since there is no requirement that a sponsor taking in a child be lawfully present in the US, many of these parents have quickly reclaimed their children. According to the article, those children who are not claimed remain in the custody of the Office of Refugee Resettlement, which is frantically scouring the country looking for suitable shelters to house the children as they process asylum claims and go through removal proceedings. 

AP: “U.S. passport and visa database crashes due to an 'unspecified glitch' leaving millions of travelers stranded”

The Associated Press is reporting that the Department of State’s database for issuing US passports, visas, and other travel and identity documents has crashed. There is no indication yet of the cause of the crash, but travelers and others abroad applying for these documents are warned of “major delays.” According to the AP, “potentially millions” of US citizens and international travelers in need of visas are affected by the problem, which “is worldwide and not specific to any particular country, citizenship document, or visa category.” The State Department’s Consular Consolidated Database is used to verify that background checks on applicants are conducted and to print the visas and other documents.

SECOND UPDATE 7/31/14: The main travel page of the State Department’s website is providing daily updates as they work towards a resolution.  They have added a FAQ page which provides more extensive information on the problem and the steps they are taking to process visa applications faster. They’ve also announced that during this period, priority is being given to immigrant visa processing. As for nonimmigrant visa processing (i.e., the processing of temporary work and travel visas), the site states: “Some Embassies and Consulates may temporarily limit or reschedule nonimmigrant visa interview appointments until more system resources become available to process these new applications.” Therefore, applicants for nonimmigrant visas are encouraged to give themselves plenty of time to process their visa stamps, and to expect significant delays until the visa system is back up and running at full capacity.   The Wall Street Journal has detailed some of  the difficulties these technical problems have caused.

New Visa Appointment System at US Embassy in Paris

The US Embassy in Paris has officially announced that it will be transitioning to a new visa appointment system on July 31, 2014. This US Embassy will be the latest to join the dozens of other US Embassies and Consulates worldwide that have already contracted outside companies to handle the logistics of various aspects of the consular process, including appointment scheduling and passport delivery, through call centers (as discussed in my post on scheduling visa appointments in London, Protima’s post about changes in Germany, and my AILA Athens Report post).

Exciting features of the new appointment system will allow applicants to pay the Machine Readable Visa (MRV) fee online by debit card or bank transfer, and for passports with visas and other documents to be returned to applicants by a courier service, able to be tracked online, at no cost to the applicant. No more trekking to La Poste to pay the MRV fee in-person by Mandat Compte or to purchase a pre-paid Chronopost envelope! These features promise to streamline the appointment process at the US Embassy in Paris once launched.

For the next nine days, until the new system launches, the US Embassy in Paris warns that “the new visa appointment system may cause some temporary delays[.]" After speaking to personnel on the visa appointment line this morning, we understand there is very limited availability for visa appointments between now and mid-August. Visa appointment dates for late August and September are not currently being offered, but will be made available at the time the new appointment system launches on July 31st. The US Embassy is encouraging applicants who do not have to travel by mid-August to wait until after July 31st to schedule their appointment, so they may use the new visa appointment system.

We are looking forward to using the new visa appointment system for the US Embassy in Paris; in particular, to the added efficiency it promises in the visa appointment process!

Carolyn Szaiff: The DLG-Proust-Actors Studio Questionnaire

“I’ve heard that before,” Carolyn says when I suggest that she become a spy. It just seems to fit her: she is a bit quiet, a little mysterious, highly intelligent, a hard worker, and most importantly, excellent at researching peoples' backgrounds on Google.

But Carolyn is not going to be a spy. She has a sweet disposition and is a mild-mannered second-year law student at Michigan State University College of Law, where she has made Dean’s List every semester. She is also currently a Summer Associate here at Daryanani & Bland, where she worked previously for two years as a paralegal.

Read more