The Permanent Partners Immigration Act ( PPIA ) has received new cosponsorship in the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Senate version of PPIA ( S.1510 ) now enjoys the support of six cosponsors with the recent addition of Sen. Frank Lautenberg, D-NJ.
The PPIA gained two additional cosponsors in the House of Representatives, Corrine Brown ( D-Fla. ) and Danny Davis ( D-Ill. ) . With the addition of these two members the current number of cosponsors on the House bill ( H.R. 832 ) jumps to 117.
The Department of State has announced the 2005 Diversity Visa Lottery Program. Registration for the Lottery will being Nov. 1, 2003. This year, for the first time, the application process will be entirely electronic —no paper applications will be accepted. According to the Department of State ( DOS ) , it is switching to an electronic system both to cut down on fraud ( particularly multiple entries into the lottery ) and as an information-gathering tool in the fight against terrorism. It is not clear whether DOS plans to use this information to track undocumented immigrants, but with the new electronic system, there is now a substantial risk for undocumented immigrants in the U.S. to apply for the DV lottery and they should not do so without first consulting a qualified immigration attorney.
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