The Story Of The Whole Act by Pravinchandra J. Patel
The Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) is the most basic source
material for the practice and administration of immigration law.
Because it constitutes the fundamental congressional mandate and
occupies a place of primary importance in the immigration field, BCIS
and U.S. consular officials, as well as immigration attorneys, refer to
it on a daily basis. Having the INA available in a book that can be
easily used as a quick reference tool is essential to immigration
practitioners and government officials. Up until 1986, however, only
the Government Printing Office (GPO) published such a handy bound book.
Less than 20 years ago, immigration attorneys used a small bound
Immigration and Nationality Act (INA), published by the GPO identified
by its dark brown book cover in the late 1970's and early 1980's. It
had not been updated for a number of years, even though a number of
amendments were made to the INA since its publication. As a result,
attorneys around the country would have a number of paste-up jobs in
the book, with many original pages torn, ragged, and falling apart.
Indeed, pages and paste-up notes would be frequently flying across the
floor as an individual flipped through the bound and unattached pages.
Even more aggravating was the fact that even the additions placed in
its appropriate sections were not up-to-date. There were always some
small parts in any section or in a paragraph of any long section, that
may have been amended that had not yet been added.
I had handled a copy of that brown book many times, and I always
wondered why no updated version existed. Then, in late1986, when IRCA
(the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986) was passed, I decided
to publish an updated version myself, partly out of frustration from
using the same old, non-usable book and partly out of an
entrepreneurial spirit. I realized that what was once merely an
inconvenience that resulted in aggravation and frustration from using
an old version had become a virtual impossibility in post-IRCA times.
The changes made to the INA by IRCA were too many and too complex to
accommodate by inserting loose pages. The birth of the first
perfect-bound updated and complete version of the INA was published in
1987, by my company - Legal Research Bureau.
Publishing the book was a complex process. The GPO published
brown book was entirely scanned, in an era when scanners were not as
advanced and did not produce a perfect image. Two people proofread the
scanned material, word by word. A list and copies were compiled of all
the public laws that contained immigration provisions passed since the
publication of the brown book including IRCA. Then, I began to
methodically update the INA, which took several months to complete. The
IRCA provisions were particularly challenging and the most
time-consuming. I worked on it a page at a time, a few pages per day.
The first batch of bound books was ready just in time for its debut at
the annual AILA convention in 1987.
While we were working on the book, I explained the importance of
the new book to a number of people by saying that attorneys and others
would no longer have to be inconvenienced and suffer any frustration
from having an outdated book with loose amendments, not knowing if the
provision was current. My son suggested that The Whole Act accurately
captured its importance. It contained the INA in its entirety, with all
the changes incorporated in the INA text itself, valid as of January 1,
1987. Thus, instead of what was formerly a highly fragmented version
that was almost impossible to use, the new publication in the market
provided an up-to-date version of the INA, all neatly bound in one
volume. That was 16+ years ago. Now, many other law publishers have
come out with their versions, including most recently AILA.
Indeed, the benefits of an updated book with a topical index and
other useful features are enormous to both the immigration bar and
immigration officers/examiners. Besides being a readily available handy
sourcebook that enables one to find correct and updated INA provisions
at one place, it entirely obviates what was once the source of utter
frustration and aggravation for all. Now one can focus on the practice
of law using correct statutory provisions, without having to worry
about or finding loose pages, or wondering if a specific statutory
provision used or relied upon is up-to-date.
In the last 25 years, immigration practitioners have experienced
oceanic changes both in form and substance, not to mention the basic
nomenclature changes from INS to BCIS and from DOJ to DHS. Today,
immigration practice has begun to embrace the electronic age. Our
company has remained ahead of the curve by including hundreds of
annotations in the 2002 edition of The Whole Act, a feature that is
continued in the current 2003 edition, which contains as many as 560+
annotations. No other book in the market has this particular feature.
Besides, the book has 690+ footnotes and 48 Appendices containing other
immigration-related provisions, which are not made part of the INA
itself. The Whole Act also contains a user-friendly topical Index.We
have also included a separate 7-page Index to 48 Appendices at the end,
just to make it easier for users to find any particular provision in an
Appendix. Thus, the Book (The Whole Act - INA) now stands fully
annotated, indexed, footnoted, and supplemented by Appendices. It has
made the lives of those practicing immigration law much easier. Each
year, I have the privilege of publishing a new edition of The Whole
Act, as well as other useful references that the immigration bar and
BCIS offices around the country use.
Looking back on my life as a man of 70+ years with over 30 years
in the practice of immigration law, I am pleased to know that I had a
small but significant pioneering contribution in updating and
publishing the INA in its entirety and that my small contribution to
the field of immigration law has spawned the proliferation of many
other compiled versions of the INA. Immigration practitioners and
immigration practice, alike, have all come a long way in the last 30
years.
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About The Author
Please visit www.ImmigrationbyPatel.com for detailed information.
TESTIMONIALS
• "There are several available versions of the Immigration and
Nationality Act. I subscribe to most of them. For over 15 years,
however, I have thought that Patel's version, called The Whole Act, was
the best of the bunch. I heartily endorse it. It is easy to read. It is
intelligently annotated and indexed. And in 15 years so far I have
never caught a mistake. Buy it, and use it every day."
-- Bruce Hake, Esq.
If you are a purchaser of this book, the editor and authors would
appreciate your feedback about the book. Please write to info@USImmigrationBooks.com
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