Top 10 Immigration Headlines from North America The November Visa Bulletin—issued by the U.S. Department of State—continues a positive trend started in October, which made visas available for individuals with older priority dates in the Employment-Based Third Preference (EB-3) category following five months of visa unavailability and priority date retrogression. Fall is Diversity Visa Lottery Registration time! It is that time of the year again when individuals from most countries of the world can apply to be selected in the Diversity Immigrant Visa Lottery Program (“DV Lottery”). The Department of Homeland Security (DHS), US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), issued an interim rule revising the list of documents acceptable for the employment eligibility verification process. The following article provides guidance as to when foreign licensed attorneys are permitted to represent clients before the Department of Homeland Security (hereafter referred to as “DHS”). As part of its effort to deter fraud in the immigration process, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) is conducting random unannounced site visits at employers of H-1B and L-1 workers. On October 9, 2009, the Federal Government proposed major changes to regulations pertaining to Canada’s Temporary Foreign Worker Program (the Program). E-Verify is an Internet-based system operated by the Departmentof Homeland Security's U.S. Citizenship and ImmigrationServices (DHS) in partnership with the Social SecurityAdministration (SSA) that allows participating employers to verify electronically the identity and employment eligibility of their newly hired employees, regardless of citizenship. Recently, the Department of Homeland Security has announced—and companies have reported—an increase in site visits by USCIS representatives to the facilities of companies petitioning for temporary work visa classification on behalf of employees. The ability to move personnel across borders and to recruit skilled workers from abroad is of increasing importance to many business operations. On July 1, 2009, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) announced that in an unprecedented operation, more than 652 businesses nationwide will be issued Notices of Inspection (NOIs), which is more than the agency issued for the entire previous fiscal year. | 
