Category: ESTA News

Exemption from face-to-face interviews for issuance of non-immigrant visas necessary for study in the United States or employment will be extended until the end of next year.

The Federal State Department said in a press release on the 23rd that “consuls can waive face-to-face interviews on a case-by-case basis for certain categories of visas until December 31, 2023.”

Visas that can be exempted from face-to-face interviews include H-2 for unskilled temporary workers, F and M visas for international students, and J visas for exchange students.

In addition, H-1B for high-skilled workers, H-3 for job training, L for expatriates of multinational companies, O for those with exceptional abilities in fields such as science and art, and H-3 for athletes, artists, and entertainers. P and Q visas for international cultural exchange program participants may also be exempted for some applicants.

The State Department also said face-to-face interviews for applicants applying for renewal of the same visa within 48 months of the visa expiry will be waived until further notice.

“Nearly half of the approximately 7 million nonimmigrant visas issued in fiscal 2022 were processed without face-to-face interviews,” the State Department said. “Embassies and consulates may still request face-to-face interviews depending on individual circumstances,” he added.

The U.S. government is expanding wastewater testing, including feces of passengers entering the U.S., to detect dangerous viruses such as the Corona 19 mutation at an early stage.

According to the US political media Politico on the 16th, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is strengthening the “travel agency genome monitoring” program to collect samples from international passengers arriving at US airports in preparation for the spread of Corona 19 in China.

First introduced in the second half of 2021, this program is useful in determining when and where what kind of virus is introduced by taking a sample from the nose of only volunteers among passengers entering the United States to check for infection, such as Corona 19.

This program served as a kind of early warning, identifying subvariants of Omicron BA.2 and BA.3 before they were discovered elsewhere in the United States.

The CDC introduced this program to Seattle-Tacoma International Airport late last year and Los Angeles International Airport earlier this year to expand sample collection for passengers arriving from China.

Currently, 500 flights arriving from 30 countries are subject to sampling, and 4,500 samples were obtained from 7 airports in the first week of January.

However, considering the total number of passengers, it is still a small number, and it is possible that the sample may not be representative as those who are more susceptible to COVID-19 are more likely to volunteer.

In response, the CDC is discussing with airlines and airports how to collect wastewater samples from long-distance international flights.

It is trying to expand the wastewater inspection program, which was piloted only at JFK Airport in New York, to several airports.

The CDC took samples of wastewater from aircraft arriving at JFK Airport from Europe in August and September of last year, and in the samples, a variant of Corona 19, which was mainly spreading in Europe, was detected.

The CDC expects that wastewater testing will help more accurately identify the virus’s entry route as more samples can be collected at a lower cost.

CDC wants to build a global system by working with other countries that run similar programs.

On the 4th, the European Union (EU) announced strengthened quarantine measures for inbound travelers from China, recommending wastewater testing for aircraft departing from China. It announced on the 9th that it decided to test for Omicron mutation and monkeypox virus.

Ginkgo, a partner of the US CDC, recently agreed to run a wastewater inspection pilot project with the Ukrainian government and is also developing aircraft wastewater inspection programs in Rwanda and Qatar.

While the Republican Party, which secured leadership in the House of Representatives, announced its policy to investigate the Biden government’s response to Corona 19, the US government further extended the Corona 19 public health emergency on the 11th.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced today that it is re-extending the COVID-19 public health emergency for another 90 days.

The United States first declared a public health emergency in January 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic began, and has since been extended in increments of 90 days.

If the state of emergency remains, COVID-19 tests, vaccines, and treatments can be provided free of charge to the public.

In the United States, based on the Public Health Act, in the event of an emergency due to a serious illness, the Secretary of Health and Welfare can declare a public health emergency for 90 days to mobilize resources necessary for response, and the period can be extended if necessary.

If it ends, it is expected that there will be big changes in medical insurance, drug approval, and telemedicine.

In this regard, the Ministry of Health and Welfare plans to give advance notice to hospitals 60 days before the end of the state of emergency.

Accordingly, if the US government decides not to extend the state of emergency further, it is expected that the related policy will be announced next month.

An official from the Ministry of Health and Welfare told the US media, “The decision to suspend the corona public health emergency will be made by the Minister of Health and Welfare based on data and science.”

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), as of the 4th, the number of confirmed cases per day in the United States was 67,000, and about 390 deaths were counted as corona-related deaths.

The Republican Party, which has criticized the Biden government’s corona quarantine policy, launched an investigation into the government’s corona response in the House of Representatives.

The House of Representatives, led by the Republican Party, formed a special subcommittee on the COVID-19 pandemic on the 9th.

The so-called is planning to investigate the theory of corona origin in China, vaccine development, quarantine measures such as school closures, and emergency funding from the federal government.

It is known that the subcommittee is scheduled to hold a hearing around February for former and current government officials regarding the response to Corona 19.

Due to the heavy rain in the atmosphere that started on the night of the 8th, damage such as flooding, road and school closures, and traffic congestion continued. The unfortunate death toll from this storm has risen to 16.

The San Lorenzo River in the Pelton Grove area of the Santa Cruz Mountains rose to more than 13 feet (4 meters) in 4 hours on the 9th and flooded, flooding several houses and roads. As a result, evacuation orders were issued in Pelton, Aptos Beach Flat, Soquel, and Paradise Park areas.

Mud slides along with the floods caused large trees to fall, closing several roads and leaving several residents stranded on flooded roads. The Pajaro Valley Unified School District in the county closed schools on the 9th, and schools in the evacuation zone canceled classes until the 10th.

In Gilroy, several homes were flooded, and sections of Highway 101 were closed. Evacuations have been ordered in the town of Walton, near the Kosumiz River in Sacramento County, as the river swelled rapidly. Monterey County issued an emergency evacuation order for residents near the Carmel River region, and Bay Area counties such as Santa Clara, Alameda, and Solano also issued evacuation orders as possible flooding was raised in some areas.

Niles Canyon Road, a section of SR-84 connecting Fremont and Sunnol, was found to be closed to traffic indefinitely following a mudslide on the 30th of last month and a storm this week. In addition, road closures due to flooding continued across the Bay, including in San Francisco, Pleasanton, Morgan Hill and Petaluma, and in St. Helena, Napa County, a 275-year-old oak tree was uprooted from strong winds and winds.

According to PG&E, as of 8:30 am on the 10th, 93,742 households in the Bay Area, including 52,911 households in the South Bay, 19,053 households in the Peninsula, 8,221 households in the East Bay, and 6,143 households in San Francisco, were affected by wind gusts exceeding 70 mph and lightning strikes. 4,100 employees are working to restore power.

In San Luis Obispo County, a 5-year-old boy went missing after being swept away by rapidly rising waters on the 9th. Around 8 am on this day, near Paso Robles, the truck the child and the mother were riding in was submerged in water due to road flooding. The fire department said it was highly likely that the child had fallen into the river, and after a 7-hour search, only the child’s shoes were found, and the search was stopped as the water level rose. Meanwhile, on the 9th, a tree fell, and two more people died, and on the 10th in the San Joaquin Valley, Central California, a tree fell on a pick-up truck, killing the driver and another driver who hit the tree, killing 12 deaths from this winter storm. increased from 16 to 16.

According to meteorologist Jen Nell, 12.37 inches of rain fell in San Francisco from the 26th of last month to the 9th of January, the third most rain in 15 days on record. The worst flooding occurred in 1862, with 19.77 inches of rain falling in just 15 days.

Meanwhile, Gavin Newsom, the governor of Gavin, declared a statewide state of emergency to respond to winter storms from the 4th, and President Biden approved federal disaster assistance, starting on the 8th, support for emergency response to storms in California.

Governor-elect Jash Green and Honolulu Mayor Rick Blangiad pledged to work together to provide housing on Oahu.

It pointed out the illegal short-term rental business and announced that it would open the water for housing to Oahu residents instead of tourists.

Greene and Mayor Blangiad held a meeting on November 22 and promised $2.5 million in grants to Family Promises of Hawaii (FPH), a non-profit organization that helps homeless families with children.

FPH Director Ryan Catalina said half of the grant will be used to set up temporary shelters and support families staying in shelters.

The FPH subsidy will be paid from Amazon founder Jeff Bezos’ ‘2018 Bezos Day 1 Families Fund’. This is the highest amount of FPH subsidy ever.

According to the FPH, the percentage of households that are currently at high risk of becoming homeless is said to be increasing.

It is analyzed that the number of landlords participating in the state’s eviction mediation program has decreased since Proposition 57, which requires tenant eviction mediation, expired last August.

Proposition 57 was issued for a year to protect residents at high risk of eviction after Governor David Ige’s eviction ban, which lasted from April 2020 to August 6, 2021, ended.

According to Star Advertiser’s report, from August 7, 2021, to September 4, 2022, the Pacific Arbitration Center participated in a total of 3,047 eviction arbitrations.

However, in August, when Decree 57 expired, the number of arbitration cases fell by one-third compared to when the Decree went into effect.

The number of arbitration cases in August, September, and October of this year was 127, 115, and 128, respectively.

President-elect Greene and Mayor Blangiad agreed that there is a causal relationship between the homeless, low-income rental housing, and the illegal short-term rental business.

Blangiad pointed out that between 10,000 and 14,000 illegal short-term rental properties are operating across Oahu, which is causing parking shortages and overtourism.

Greene and Mayor Blangiad agreed that illegal short-term rental properties could be converted into rental housing and would help prevent over-tourism.

Mayor Blangiad announced on November 22 that Oahu’s Affordable Housing Strategic Project has hired Craig Hirai, State Director of Budget and Finance.

Green announced that he had hired Nani Medeiros, director of the nonprofit organization Hui Home Aid Hawaii, to serve as housing director for the governor’s office.

During Greene’s tenure as Lieutenant Governor, Medeiros built Hawaii’s first 100-square-foot home, Kauhale, in Kalalaeloa, helping to provide permanent housing for homeless and vulnerable residents.

New York has recently been ranked as the most expensive cities to live with the highest cost of living recorded.
According to the “2022 Worldwide Cost of Living” report released on the 1st by the British economic analysis agency The Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), New York tied with Singapore as the city with the highest cost of living this year among 172 cities surveyed.
EIU ranks the cost of living in cities according to the World Cost of Living Index (WCOL index), which reflects the prices of over 160 goods and services, including food, clothing, housing, transportation, and tuition, based on New York prices (100 points). Singapore both scored the highest score of 100.
In addition to New York, a total of three American cities, Los Angeles, and San Francisco, made it into the top 10.

The US coffee company, Starbucks refuses to bargain with unions.
The federal Labor Relations Board (NLRB) decided on the 30th of last month that Starbucks’ refusal to bargain with store union members violated labor laws.

The NLRB ruled that Starbucks’ refusal to negotiate was a labor law violation by a unanimous decision of three members that day and ordered Starbucks subsidiary Siren Retail to negotiate with the union of the high-end store Seattle Reserve Roastery.

On the 17th of last month, which was “Red Cup Day,” the Starbucks union held a strike at about 100 stores in the United States demanding better treatment, including a pay rise.

The Everett Police Department is holding an event to exchange unused firearms for gift certificates at the South Police Box on December 17th.

First, the police department will hold a gun return gift certificate exchange event for Everett residents for two hours from 10:00 am to 12:00 noon. Then, for two hours from 12:00 noon, an exchange event will be held for all residents of Snohomish City.

The Everett Police Department said, “This gun gift exchange event is similar to the Kirkland Police Department’s three events this year.”

A police official said, “This event will help residents voluntarily return unsafe firearms that can cause accidental injury and death, suicide, and gun theft due to unwanted gun accidents.”

Police plan to offer gift certificates ranging from $25 to $250 depending on the type of firearm returned by residents.

Kirkland police conducted a gun gift certificate exchange event three times in June, July, and October, and collected a total of 150 rounds, and delivered gift certificates worth $18,000 through them.

The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported on the 23rd that the US government is pushing to strengthen regulations on non-bank finance such as virtual currency exchanges and hedge funds, which are one step away from the strict supervision system applied to general banks.

Sources familiar with the matter told the WSJ that the U.S. Financial Stability Oversight Commission (FSOC) is reviewing a plan to reinforce regulations on non-banking financial companies by reversing the policy of the Donald Trump administration, which eased regulations on these companies.

As the risk of insolvency of non-bank financial companies such as cryptocurrency exchanges, hedge funds, asset management companies, insurance companies, and mortgage loan companies has recently increased, these measures are designed to make it easier to designate these companies as ‘systematically important financial institutions’ (SIFI). It is known that the focus is on

However, the FSOC’s work for this is still in its infancy, so the public opinion will be possible in a few months, the sources explained.

The SIFI designation was introduced because of a growing consensus on the need to strengthen supervision of non-banking financial companies while responding to the insolvency problems of AIG and Lehman Brothers during the 2008 global financial crisis.

The financial authorities have strengthened regulations on companies that are so large that they can damage the stability of the financial system if allowed to fail.

FSOC designated four companies as SIFIs during the Barack Obama administration: GE Capital, Prudential, AIG, and MetLife.

However, these companies were all released from the SIFI designation during the Trump administration. The Trump administration also revised the rules of the FSOC in 2019, making the requirements for SIFI designation more stringent.

By comparison, officials appointed by the Biden administration have already taken steps to tighten mutual fund regulation, and about half of the current FSOC members have spoken in recent weeks suggesting a willingness to revise the regulations created under the new Trump administration.

US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chairman Gary Gensler, who is pushing for new regulations on fund securitization this month, said that total assets of hedge funds and private equity funds have soared in recent years to reach $21 trillion (approximately 2.8 trillion won). The background was explained that the gap with the general banking sector was less than $ 2 trillion.

Crab-catching season, which is popular as a representative winter sport in the Seattle area, has begun in earnest. Relatively accessible beaches in Seattle and Tacoma also opened this week.

The Washington State Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) has announced that crabbing will be allowed in the Seattle/Bremerton area (Marine Area 10) and Tacoma/Bassion Island (Marine Area 11) starting on the 15th.

Recreational crabbing has been allowed in most parts of the Puget Sound since October 1st. Bonilla-Tatousi Line, Sekiu, East Juan de Fuca Strait, San Wan Island, Deception Pass, Hope Island, Skagit Bay, Port Susan, Port Gardner, Admiralty Inlet, parts of Hood Canal north of Ayoke Point, etc. to be.

However, the canal south of Ayoke Point and South Puget Sound will remain closed this season due to water conservation concerns, WDFW added. In all regions, crabbing is allowed until the end of the year.

A license is required for crabbing in the Puget Sound area.

If you want to catch Dungeness crab, you must fill out a catch record card. The number of fish that can be caught per day is also limited. Dungeness crabs are limited to five males 6.4 inches or larger per day, and red rock crabs, regardless of gender, are limited to six 5 inches or larger. Regardless of gender, you can catch up to 6 red snow crabs that are 4.5 inches or larger.

Licenses and catch record cards are available from license vendors throughout the state. WDFW said, “Denjinis crabs caught at a late time like these days must be recorded,” and “winter crab catch record cards must be submitted by February 1 of the following year.” Violation will result in a $10 fine.

According to WDFW, 1.5 million tonnes of Dungeness crab are caught by non-fishers who simply enjoy crabbing for sport.