The Irish Lobby for Immigration Reform (ILIR) and the Irish Consul General of New York Niall Burgess will host a community meeting in Yonkers, on Tuesday, October 21 to discuss the new J visas and the issue of the undocumented.

Kelly Fincham, executive director of ILIR, told theIrish Voice that a meeting was necessary to facilitate the masses of calls the ILIR office has received since the Irish and U.S. governments announced the 20,000 new one-year J visas for Irish students or recent graduates.

"There has been a massive amount of interest since the announcement of the new visas. We have received so many calls and there have been a lot of posts onto the blog. I've been busier the past two weeks than I have for the past four answering questions," said Fincham.

Fincham said the meeting, which will take place at 7:30 p.m. in the Heritage Bar at 960 McLean Avenue in Yonkers, is "an ideal opportunity" to inform people in detail about the new visa program and "to reemphasize ILIR's main focus," which she described as the continuation to finding a solution for the people who are undocumented in the U.S.

"The meeting will give people an opportunity to ask whatever questions they have and ILIR will hopefully answer them," Fincham said.

Representation from the Irish government will also be present in the form of Burgess, who will be on hand to discuss the new visas and answer whatever questions people may have.

"It's really just an update on where we stand at the moment and how we plan to move forward," said Fincham.