Robert Downey Jr.: “I probably should have seen there was a sign that said ‘No Felons Allowed’. That was in English and Japanese, and I haven’t had that expunged yet. You can actually get things expunged, but I’ve been pretty busy. I was detained, I was interrogated. God, it was a blast.” When Letterman asked, “Haven’t you kind of settled up, sort of ‘paid your debts’ to whatever that was, to whoever…” Downey Jr. cracked another joke: “Clearly I haven’t paid my debts to Japan.”
On December 14, 2009, the Department of State published a proposed rule to increase the nonimmigrant visa application processing fees. The proposed rule also establishes a tiered structure with separate fees for different visa categories. The Department is proposing the increase to cover the increasing cost of processing nonimmigrant visas. This increase applies to nonimmigrant visas placed in passports. Japan nationals seeking to enter the US now pay the US$131 (~¥11,750) application fee like all other applicants around the world, with no guarantees of actually getting the visas.
Democratic congressional lawmakers introduced a comprehensive bill Tuesday that, among other provisions, would offer a path to legalization for the country’s estimated 12 million illegal immigrants.
Gutierrez, one of 87 House Democrats sponsoring the 700-page bill, said it was based on months of discussions with community organizations, unions and other groups around the country in hopes of gaining enough momentum to get reforms passed.
Japanese police arrested a young Chinese woman who had been previously deported but sneaked back into the country. Lin Rong, 27, had been deported to China in March 2007 for working as a hostess at a bar in Akasaka, Tokyo, after her visa had expired. Police said she paid roughly $1,500 for a plastic surgery that allowed her to evade Japan’s immigration control. The fingerprint scam would go undetected, but for Rong’s continuing bad luck. According to Japanese officials, this time she was arrested for faking a marriage license after entering Japan. A casual look at her fingers revealed scarred tissue, which led to further investigation. Police found that she paid to remove patches of skin from her thumbs and index fingers and then graft them on to fingers on the opposite hand. Her identity was not detected when she re-entered Japan illegally through the border control using bogus fingerprints.
Департамент Национальной Безопасности США объявил, что после 28 ноября 2009 года китайские и российские граждане смогут получить так называемый “статус пароль” на посещение Содружества Северных Марианских Островов (ССМО) для целей ведения бизнеса и для туризма. Заявки на данный статус будут рассматриваться на индивидуальной основе Федеральным агенством Таможенной и Пограничной Охраны США. Переходный период, во время действия которого будет выдаваться данный статус, заканчивается 31 декабря 2014 года. Заявки на статус пароль рассматриваются в аэропортах ССМО при проверке пассажиров, прибывающих не из Соединенных Штатов Америки.