1. New International Students Will Start to Arrive Soon
2. Changes to 2007-2008 University Calendar Announced
3. Your Fall 2007 Student E-Bill is Now Available
4. 2007 International Student Festival Logo Contest Winner Announced
5. Fees for Canadian Temporary Resident (“Tourist”) Visas Increase
6. CINTAX Reminds Users to Make Copies of Their 2006 Income Tax Forms
7. Federal Government Reverses Itself, Allows Employment-Based Permanent Resident Applications to be Filed in July

1. New International Students Will Start to Arrive Soon

Although it is still four weeks until the Monday, August 20 start date of international student orientation, new international students have begun to arrive on campus. If you happen to meet a new student, please be sure to direct them to the office of International Student and Scholar Services. Although ISSS will not be photocopying visa documents until International Student Orientation August 20-22, 2007, the ISSS is recording new student arrivals and distributing their very helpful early arrival information packet. ISSS looks forward to welcoming a record entering class of international students this Fall!

ISSS also thanks the many current international students who have been in contact with new students. Your assistance is greatly appreciated.

2. Changes to 2007-2008 University Calendar Announced

The following announcement first appeared on Dateline, the daily electronic newsletter for BU faculty and staff.

Some changes have been made to the University Calendar for the coming year, including changes that will affect the fall 2007 semester. The updated calendar can be found on the web at http://www.binghamton.edu/home/about/calendar.html. The specific changes are as follows:
· the fall 2007 semester will end one week before it was previously scheduled to end;
· the winter 2008 session will begin on Monday, Jan. 7, and end on Friday, Jan. 25; and
· in the spring 2008 semester, classes will be in session until 1 p.m. on Friday, April 18.
Minor changes have also been made to the 2008-2009 University Calendar, which can be viewed at the same address noted above.

3. Your Fall 2007 Student E-Bill is Now Available
The Office of Student Accounts has issued Fall 2007 student bills in electronic format to all students’ Binghamton.edu email accounts.  Paper bills will no longer be mailed to students. Payment arrangements need to be made by August 15, 2007 to avoid the $30 administrative fee.

If you have questions, contact the Office of Student Accounts at 607-777-2702 (phone), stuaccts@binghamton.edu (email) or http://www.binghamton.edu/studentaccounts/index.htm

If you have never accessed your BU email account, you may do so by going to:
http://busi.binghamton.edu and selecting “View User/Email Ids.”
 
 4. 2007 International Student Festival Logo Contest Winner Announced
The contest to select the new logo for the 7th Annual International Student Festival, September 7 –23, 2007, has now ended.  Fifteen entrants submitted 34 logo designs.

The winning logo was submitted by Ketan Bahulkar.  Ketan is a new student from India who will be studying at the Master’s level in Computer Science beginning in the Fall.  The new logo may be viewed at:
http://isss.binghamton.edu/prog/ISFlogo2007.GIF

5. Fees for Canadian Temporary Resident (“Tourist”) Visas Increase

Last week, the Canadian government announced a new visa fee schedule that takes effect immediately.  The cost of the popular Canadian Temporary Resident Visa (more commonly referred to as the Canadian Tourist Visa) is now $75.00 (US) for a single entry visa, and $150 (US) for a multiple entry visa. 

The Office of International Student and Scholar Services is updating its printed information and web pages to reflect this change.

6. CINTAX Reminds Users to Make Copies of Their 2006 Income Tax Forms

Many BU international students and scholars used CINTAX tax preparation software to prepare their 2006 federal income tax forms.

On August 16, CINTAX will permanently delete all information in your CINTAX record, including any tax returns.  This is done to clear their system in preparation for next year’s tax filing.

If you have not already printed and/or saved a copy of your return and forms, you must do so prior to August 15; if you have a copy of your tax return and forms, you do NOT need to access CINTAX to obtain another one. As of August 16, you will NOT be able to access your 2006 CINTAX record nor print your 2006 tax returns and forms.

It is very important to keep a copy of your tax returns and forms - you MUST keep the copies for four calendar years. This includes form 8843. CINTAX will not keep a copy of your tax return or forms and you may not access the data from them or contact them to retrieve your data after August 16.

7. Federal Government Reverses Itself, Allows Employment-Based Permanent Resident Applications to be Filed in July

Facing at least two lawsuits, including a class-action suit by the American Immigration Lawyers Foundation with 500 plaintiffs, the Department of State and US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced on July 17, 2007 that it will permit eligible employment-based permanent resident applicants who became eligible to file their applications during the month of July to now do so, through August 17, 2007.

This amounts to a reversal of the July 2, 2007 announcement by the Department of State and US Citizenship and Immigration Services, in which the two agencies said that no applications would be accepted since employment-based permanent residency visas were no longer available.  The July 2 announcement reversed the July 2007 Visa Bulletin, published on June 12, 2007, which stated that employment-based permanent residency visas would be available during the month of July.

The lawsuits were based on the fact that the July 2 announcement was in violation of USCIS’s own procedures and practices, violated federal regulation, and abandoned long-standing State Department policy regarding the monthly visa bulletins.

While the actions taken on July 2 that led to the lawsuits were unprecedented, so too is the latest decision by USCIS and the Department of State, which is the closest thing to an admission that they made a mistake.

This decision has little impact on most BU international students. But literally thousands of legally employed foreign nationals in the United States who have been waiting for a year or more for a visa number to become available so that they can become permanent residents based on their U.S. employment will now have a window of opportunity to do so.

To read the USCIS announcement, go to: http://www.uscis.gov/files/pressrelease/VisaBulletinUpdate17Jul07.pdf

ISSS-BU is a listserv owned and managed by the Office of International Student and Scholar Services, Division of Student Affairs, at the State University of New York at Binghamton. It is the publisher of ISSS-BU News . Permission is granted to freely distribute the information posted to this list as long as its contents remain unchanged.