Government Information
Asylum/Refugee/Human Rights Documentation
Immigration Organizations
Commercial Sites
http://www.uscis.gov/
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). Formally the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS). The site provides a history and overview of the USCIS, including its enforcement and examination responsibilities, and the departments responsible for each. Has links to forms, laws, regulations, administrative decisions, interpretations and operation instructions.
http://www.ice.gov/graphics/index.htm
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is comprised of four law enforcement divisions and several support divisions. ICE is responsible for identifying threats at the nation's border. The site contains descriptions of each division and further information on the Student and Exchange Program (SEVP), which manages a web-based system for maintaining information on international students and exchange visitors in the United States.
http://cbp.gov/
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) is responsible for the inspection of persons and goods entering the United States.
http://www.usdoj.gov/eoir/
Executive Office for Immigration Review. Provides information on the organization and authority of the Executive Office of Immigration Review. Has a link to press releases and other information. The Virtual Law Library provides an index to the Board of Immigration Appeals decisions and to the decisions of the Office of the Chief Administrative Hearing Officer. The full-text of most decisions is available in PDF.
http://www.state.gov/
Department of State. Contains information on the organization and documentation produced by the DOS. Has information on country conditions and the full text of the Foreign Affairs Manual.
http://travel.state.gov/
Bureau of Consular Affairs. Includes links to U.S. Embassy and consular web sites around the world. Visa Bulletin and other current information on visa processing.
http://travel.state.gov/visa_services.html
Visa Services. Contains links, forms, and information on: visa services abroad, visa reciprocity tables, visitor and student visas, immigrant visas, employment visas and marriage to foreign nationals. Attorneys representing non-citizens should remember information is biased, as it has a Department of State slant.
http://www.dol.gov/dol/topic/hiring/foreign.htm/
Department of Labor - Foreign Labor Certification. Contains links and references describing the Labor Certification program. Includes forms and instructions for completing labor certification.
Asylum/Refugee/Human Rights Documentation
http://www.refugeecaselaw.org/Refugee/Default.asp
University of Michigan Law School Refugee Case Law. Collects, indexes, and publishes selected recent court decisions that interpret the legal definition of a "refugee." Contains cases from highest national courts from several countries. Has a search engine. Links to national, regional, and international refugee law and refugee law journals.
http://www1.umn.edu/humanrts/
University of Minnesota Human Rights Library. Contains U.S., foreign, and international documents on refugees and asylum. Has the full-text of treaties and agency documentation from the United Nations and other international organizations. Also contains a list of bibliographies on human rights research.
http://www.amnesty.org
Amnesty International Online. Contains country reports on human rights abuses and the latest news releases detailing Amnesty International's concerns about human rights stories around the world, information on campaigns and appeals for action to help protect human rights. Also contains links to hundreds of web sites with a human rights theme and an online order form for hard copy publications.
http://www.refugees.org/
U.S. Committee for Refugees. Contains updates and news articles on various issues affecting refugee petitions in the United States. Supplies charts and statistics on refugees by country origin. Gives news alerts on legislation and recent cases. Also has fee services for more extensive refugee reports and surveys.
http://fletcher.tufts.edu/multi/humanRights.html
Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy - Multilaterals Project. The page lists links to full-text reprints of international treaties and conventions on human rights issues that affect refugee and asylum law issues. Includes historical texts and treaties on issues arising from WWII.
http://www.aila.org
The American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA). Contains a general description of the Immigration and Nationality Act and provides access to immigration news, legislation and updates.
http://www.immigrationforum.org
National Immigration Forum. An organization dedicated to providing accurate information on immigration and immigration policy. Has legislative summaries of recent changes made to the INA with case examples. Provides current facts on visa processing, refugees, and asylees and has a few citations to primary authority for these facts. Fails to list the date it was last updated on many fact pages. Provides a comprehensive list of immigration-related web sites.
http://www.aclu.org/
American Civil Liberties Union. Has link to Immigrant's Rights which contains news and updates ACLU court and legislative action on behalf of non-citizens.
http://www.shusterman.com/
Law Offices of Carl Shusterman. The site provides updates and reprints of selected regulations and agency decisions. The site also provides access to Shusterman's Immigration Update, a monthly newsletter on immigration law issues.
http://www.visalaw.com
Siskind Susser Bland, Immigration and Nationality Law. The site is focused on visa processing and naturalization of non-citizens rather than asylum and refugee issues. Contains reprints of INS processing times, the State Department Visa Processing Bulletin, INS forms and guides. The site also offers Siskind's Immigration Bulletin, a monthly publication that provides updates and analysis on a broad range of immigration law issues. Subscription to the Bulletin is free and is delivered via e-mail.