Entering the US
Reprieve on biometric passport issue

New passports
Biometric US VISAS in effect by late October

Contributors wanted
ACA book project

Traveling
Additional security at US airports

Your taxes
Basics on taxation of Americans abroad

Visas
Overview of family based immigration

L-1B visas
How special is the chef's special?

Swiss Museum
An analysis of America at play

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Thanks to the generous contribution of an anonymous donor, ACA has recently sent out to its entire database a special four-page newsletter encouraging overseas Americans to register now to vote in federal elections next November. REMEMBER, "federal elections" include voting for your state's members of Congress, as well.

One reader enthused, "Hey, I can vote! Wow, I can actually vote! For years, I've been under the impression that I had foolishly forsaken the right to vote by neglecting to ask for an absentee ballot in 1980. And I've been kicking myself ever since."

Thanks also to the consulate general in Sydney for the reminder that if you are requesting an absentee ballot for the upcoming election in the United States from the states of Michigan and Mississippi please note that these states require that your request be notarized. Consular posts charge no fee for notarials provided for electoral requests.

REGISTER NOW TO VOTE !

The Federal Voting Assistance Program (FVAP) website was literally "out of sight" for Americans in some 25 countries, revealed the International Herald Tribune in a front page article on 20 September. The FVAP site is for historical reasons under the Department of Defense (American military overseas could vote from abroad before this right was granted to private citizens as well in 1975). The Defense Department initially claimed to be blocking specific servers as a protection against hackers, but later said an earlier block (unexplained) intended to be temporary had inadvertently not been lifted.

Media attention did the trick, and several days later, access was restored to the FVAP site www.fvap.gov. Report any problems of access to the FVAP.

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On 9 August 2004, President Bush signed into law H.R. 4417, which will extend by one year, to October 26, 2005, the requirement for Visa Waiver Program (VWP) countries to include biometrics in passports. Earlier legislation had set end-October 2004 as the deadline by which citizens of the 27 VWP countries (who can now enter the US for three months without a visa) would have to apply for a US visa if their country did not have a program in place to produce biometric passports.

As it became increasingly clear that none of the countries concerned would be able to meet the deadline, and that even the US cannot produce such passports at present, the year's reprieve was voted.

Note however that machine-readable passports still WILL be mandatory as of 26 October this year (2004) for individuals from VWP countries, or they will need to obtain a visa.

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The General Accounting Office (GAO) recently reviewed the State Department's rollout of the Biometric Visa Program, including its implementation progress. The State Department is implementing the Biometric Visa Program at all 207 overseas consulates by October 26, 2004, as a complement to the Department of Homeland Security's United States Visitor and Immigrant Status Indicator Technology (VISIT) program. The program requires that all persons applying for U.S. visas have certain biometrics and a digital photograph collected during the visa application interview. This information must be cleared through the DHS Automated Biometric Identification System before an applicant can receive a visa.

DHS and the State Department have not developed and not provided comprehensive guidance that includes directions to consular officers on when in the visa process prints are to be scanned and when and how information from the database on visa applicants should be considered by consular officers.

GAO is recommending that DHS and the State Department develop and provide to consular posts guidance on how the program should be used to help adjudicate visa and that the State Department direct each consular post to develop an implementation plan based on this guidance. (excerpted from Siskind's Immigration Bulletin - see www.visalaw.com). For further details see GAO Highlights (at www.gao.gov) of September 9, 2004 and the related report.

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Tell us about yourself! Americans living abroad have incredibly varied life experiences. Let's compile and share them with others. Let's shout to the world how interesting we are! ACA invites you to submit two-to-three thousand words about your life or how living abroad has affected your outlook. Send by 30 November 2004 to: bookproject@bluemail.ch. Full details here, or contact the ACA office (acage@aca.ch or by snail mail to ACA, 5 rue Liotard, CH-1202 Geneva, Switzerland; phone/fax: +41 22 340 0233)

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Starting the week of 19 September 2004, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) branch of the Department of Homeland Security www.tsa.gov will implement stricter security procedures at US airports. It will be mandatory to remove outer coats and jackets to pass through X-ray, and security agents will have more latitude to execute "enhanced secondary screening", including pat-down searches of passengers if warranted, based on visual observation. And beware items classified as "dual use" - harmless under normal use but perceived as potential weapons. A listing of "yes" and "no" items is available on the TSA website.

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Steven Weiser offers an easily read introduction to taxation while living abroad in the September 1, 2004 issue of Weiser Tax Briefs. Go to www-lw-law.com, click on Law Briefs and select September 1, 2004.

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An article in Siskind's Immigration Bulletin of 21 September 2004 gives a clear summary of family-based immigration. Check www.visalaw.com.

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A recent memo to the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS - formerly INS) Service Center Directors from Fujie Ohata, Director of Service Center Operations gives guidance to Citizenship and Immigration Services staff on the adjudication of L-1B visa petitions for aliens seeking to obtain a Chef and Specialty Cook position. L-1B visas are reserved for employees with specialized knowledge within an international organization.

Consideration must be given to how skilled the chef or cook is and whether or not his or her skills are common to other chefs, but also the role the chef plays within the petitioning organization and the impact his or her services would have on the operations of the U.S. based business. Part of the criteria are "whether the product is noteworthy and uncommon, or if the knowledge of the process and procedure is advanced." Any volunteers for taste-testing?

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The Swiss Museum of Games will be featuring an exhibition called "AMERICANOPOLY America as seen through its games" (Monopoly, etc.) from September 10, 2004 through February 28, 2005. The museum is located at: 11 Rue du Château, CH-1814 La Tour-de-Peilz, Swtizerland. Check out its website at: www.museedujeu.com and investigate whether you are a real "ludologist".

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This News Update is, like ACA itself, of, by, and for Americans abroad. ACA is staffed through the efforts of volunteers, with its primary income source being membership fees and donations from private American citizens around the world.

WAYS TO CONTRIBUTE HANDS-ON TO ACA WORK:

1. NEWS UPDATE EDITORS. ACA is seeking to supplement its News Update staff. Work involves actually writing the News Update 2 - 3 times a year, under supervision of a Senior Editor, and monitoring raw material considered for the newsletter on a regular basis. Calls for e-mail access and an ability to write/edit succinctly and against a deadline. ACA takes pride in the global spread of its editors.
2. BOOK REVIEWS/REVIEWERS. ACA is interested in discovering books of particular interest to Americans abroad. It also seeks individuals willing to review such books. Reviewers get to keep the book, and to see their contribution in print. Click here for a list of books or contact the ACA office.

WAYS TO CONTRIBUTE TO ACA'S FINANCIAL SUCCESS:

1. Did you know that by accessing amazon.com (click on any Amazon link you find in the book review section, ACA web site) and then browsing and purchasing as normal, ACA receives—at no cost to you—a small percentage on the purchases you make? Check ACA's web site and make a painless contribution: it makes $&sense!
2. Join us for our annual auction. The FUNdraiser evening produces the single largest annual contribution to ACA's working budget. And the highest bids are for items ingenious and/or exotic. It's a good bet that someone in the attending crowd of internationals will be intrigued by even the most distant and/or unusual of objects or services.
3. And, of course, an outright contribution via check or charge card is the most obvious way to support the work of ACA and its worldwide volunteers working to help YOU. Membership is only $40 a year ($30 for seniors). Secure payment via this web site, or mail to: ACA, 5 rue Liotard, CH-1202 Geneva, Switzerland.

Disclaimer: "While ACA makes every effort to be accurate in the information it transmits, such information is not to be considered a substitute for specific and qualified professional advice."

JOIN US!