Liam Schwartz's Consular Corner

I have always enjoyed Liam Schwartz's Consular Corner (available via www.ilw.com). It never fails to provide me with useful information and insights into the mysterious consular world. The latest October 2009 posting is of no exception. Here are some interesting excerpts:

Respect for colleagues and customers is part of formalized State Department policy:

"The treatment of our customers is an important aspect of how we are perceived as an agency. Because people will generally treat each other the way they are treated, good customer service must begin with the way we interact with each other. It is the policy of the Department that our employees must treat each other, as well as our external customers, with proper respect and courtesy at all times."
3 FAM 1332

Coram Nobis

The FAM has previously indicated that the vacating of a conviction on a writ of coram nobis eradicates the conviction for immigration purpose. The FAM now provides a definition of the legal term: "Writ of coram nobis, from Latin 'in our presence' an order by a court of appeal to a court which rendered judgment requiring that trial court to consider facts not on the trial record which might have resulted in a different judgment if known at the time of the trial."
http://www.state.gov/documents/organization/86942.pdf

Crimes involving Moral Turpitude

A revised definition of "Voluntary Manslaughter" is given. Per this definition, voluntary manslaughter involves "an action that was sufficient to incite an "ordinary person" to "sudden and intense passion "such that s/he loses self control." An example provided to consular officers of the kind of situation which could result in voluntary manslaughter is "when a person finds his/her spouse in bed with another person."
http://www.state.gov/documents/organization/86942.pdf