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Businesswoman Rena Avendula charged with 5 counts visa fraud
By Cristina DC Pastor The United States has filed five counts of visa fraud against businesswoman Rena Beduya Avendula, 50, for allegedly creating “fake job positions” using the H-1B work visa program. Avendula is the owner and managing executive of Professional Placement & Recruitment, Incorporated (PPRI), with offices in Woodside, Queens. PRRI was described in […]
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Save the ethnic media: Immigration, digitalization seen as challenges
By Cristina DC Pastor Community journalists and advertising agencies gathered in New York’s Chinatown district to examine challenges and trends and how they can work to make media organizations more sustainable. The roundtable, held at the Museum of Chinese in America, was organized by the Asian American Advertising Federation (3AF), a national trade organization comprising […]
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NYC nannies, caregivers are mostly women of color; number of Asians growing
“Lifting up Paid Care Work: Year One of New York City’s Paid Care Division” was issued this month by the New York City Department of Consumer Affairs. The report examines the conditions of the city’s more than 202,000 domestic workers — home care aides, house cleaners, and nannies – also known as ‘paid care workers.’ […]
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Licelle Cobrador opts for law practice in NYC over raucous Philippine politics
By Cristina DC Pastor In 2009, Licelle Cobrador found herself at a crossroads: Should she return to New York to pursue a legal career or should she stay in the Philippines to become mayor of Dao, Capiz and challenge the entrenched dynasty? Nine years seemed so far removed, but Licelle likes to look back at […]
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NYC is nearly 40% foreign-born highest in over a century: MOIA report
NYC’s Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs (MOIA) issued its first-ever annual report, and states that for the first time in over a century “nearly 40 percent of our residents are foreign born.” “New York City is proud to be the ultimate city of immigrants,” said Acting Commissioner Bitta Mostofi in the 37-page report. The report […]
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NYC Council Speaker Corey Johnson gives assurance of continued protection of immigrants
City Council Speaker Corey Johnson, in his first formal press briefing with members of the community and ethnic media in the city, cited “daunting” statistics about homelessness and poverty and noted that four in 10 New Yorkers are living at or near the poverty line. In a city that is “superficially doing so well,” with […]
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GABRIELA NY activists detained in Cotabato, later released
Social worker Jamy Drapeza and photographer Julie Jamora were part of a five-person delegation that was detained on February 22 on suspicion of being terrorists, and later released. Drapeza and Jamora – secretary-general and chairperson of GABRIELA NY, respectively — together with Dinah Anderson, Adam Shaw, and Tawanda Chandiwana, were reportedly accused by Philippine law […]
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Rod Pangesban’s months-long journey to a fiancé visa
By Cristina DC Pastor Rodrigo Pangesban and Alex Esteban met in Baguio in February of 2016, fell in love amid a sea of blooming flowers, and wed in New York the following year. If you think that was fast, wait till you hear how their application for a fiancé visa went by as if in […]
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333K Filipinos languishing in family petition wait list, NaFFAA calls for compassion
By Cristina DC Pastor The Philippines ranks behind Mexico for having the biggest number of family-based petitions, at 333,564 Filipinos waiting to join their families in the U.S. There are more than 1.25 million Mexicans in the immigration wait list. According to the latest figures from the National Visa Center’s November 2017 report to the […]