kurtz_wolfgang
09-02 12:47 PM
Does CPO status on USCIS site mean 485 is approved? or is there some hidden processing going on, which can turn the tables??
Just skeptical.
btw, I forgot to mention. I thank the IV members for their invaluable guidance. Will continue being a regular member.
Just skeptical.
btw, I forgot to mention. I thank the IV members for their invaluable guidance. Will continue being a regular member.
wallpaper Stars Background iPad
sanan
05-17 12:36 PM
huh?
7 months and 23 days is the minimum
7 months and 23 days is the minimum
gc4me
04-11 10:13 AM
Lasantha, I do congratulate you from the bottom of my heart. It has been a uphill journey for everyone. I am happy that you have completed your journey successfully.
One last question,
You mentioned your RD is June 29th. Is it the date from your FEDEX tracking #? Or this date is mentioned on your USCIS 485 receipt? Why am I asking this as because, I sent my application on 30th July, USCIS got it on JULY 31st. I sent it to NSC, USCIS transferred to TSC, TSC issued my EAD, AP and a 485 notice on Sep 22 mentioning that they are transferring my case to NSC. That is why it is very important for me to know if they will consider my JULY 31st date or Sep 22nd?
Friends,
I have some happy news. I received the welcome email today. I am so so so happy!!! I haven't received the card ordered email yet but hopefully I will get it soon.
I]
One last question,
You mentioned your RD is June 29th. Is it the date from your FEDEX tracking #? Or this date is mentioned on your USCIS 485 receipt? Why am I asking this as because, I sent my application on 30th July, USCIS got it on JULY 31st. I sent it to NSC, USCIS transferred to TSC, TSC issued my EAD, AP and a 485 notice on Sep 22 mentioning that they are transferring my case to NSC. That is why it is very important for me to know if they will consider my JULY 31st date or Sep 22nd?
Friends,
I have some happy news. I received the welcome email today. I am so so so happy!!! I haven't received the card ordered email yet but hopefully I will get it soon.
I]
2011 wallpaper background of
vdlrao
07-17 11:47 PM
Hi,
Who ever have applied to Atlanta center and waiting for perm labor, can you please join here.
Who ever have applied to Atlanta center and waiting for perm labor, can you please join here.
eager_immi
02-02 08:07 AM
I don't see immigration-law.com post any more. retracted?
It is very much there...
02/01/2007 21/30 p.m.: Senate Passed Immigration Reform Bill Today
The Senate passed today Fair Minimum Wage Act, H.R. 2 today. The House passed this bill, H.R. 2 and the Senate debated the bill for the past several days. In the process, hundreds of amendments had been introduced on the Senate floor. The Senate floor then agreed to a lot of these amendments. One of these amendments which the Senate had agreed to and passed as Division B of the H.R. 2 is the Immigration Reform bill.
The immigration reform bill was introduced by Senator John Kerry and agreed to by the floor unanimously. The immigration reform bill that the Senate passed today covers a lot of the provisions which were part of the Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act of 2006 which the Senate passed last year and failed in the House.
We will analyze the bill and report it step by step for the next several days. Please stay tuned to this website....
It is very much there...
02/01/2007 21/30 p.m.: Senate Passed Immigration Reform Bill Today
The Senate passed today Fair Minimum Wage Act, H.R. 2 today. The House passed this bill, H.R. 2 and the Senate debated the bill for the past several days. In the process, hundreds of amendments had been introduced on the Senate floor. The Senate floor then agreed to a lot of these amendments. One of these amendments which the Senate had agreed to and passed as Division B of the H.R. 2 is the Immigration Reform bill.
The immigration reform bill was introduced by Senator John Kerry and agreed to by the floor unanimously. The immigration reform bill that the Senate passed today covers a lot of the provisions which were part of the Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act of 2006 which the Senate passed last year and failed in the House.
We will analyze the bill and report it step by step for the next several days. Please stay tuned to this website....
learning01
02-01 07:21 PM
Will look into its context and reference. When it was introdued, whether was it introduced, voted etc.
Try the above link by 485Mbe4001. I can get to it.
Try the above link by 485Mbe4001. I can get to it.
wizpal
03-19 08:13 PM
You can request them for a separate fastrack queue for legal high skilled, currently employed, workers who can buy a house with a substantial down payment. This has been making rounds in various news papers except for IV. In this economic climate, it's worthwhile atleast to make a such a proposal.
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willigetgc?
09-09 09:15 AM
When I applied for my son and I, we got it in a month.
When did you apply for it?
When did you apply for it?
maddipati1
04-12 02:39 PM
no they aren't the same. geniuses @ CIS named them pretty close but different.
new one is lower case i-765instr.pdf and the older one is upper case I-765instr.pdf
check the revision date at the bottom, they are different. also check the 'where to file' section on page 8.
You were looking at a older instruction? the link you have posted is the same as what
gcformeornot posted. please clarify, the instruction states its validity so we have to use that accordingly.
It is not advised to double file, perhaps you'll get this back sooner than expected and then send it to the lockbox, dunno why they are complicating things as it is there are enough complications :-(
new one is lower case i-765instr.pdf and the older one is upper case I-765instr.pdf
check the revision date at the bottom, they are different. also check the 'where to file' section on page 8.
You were looking at a older instruction? the link you have posted is the same as what
gcformeornot posted. please clarify, the instruction states its validity so we have to use that accordingly.
It is not advised to double file, perhaps you'll get this back sooner than expected and then send it to the lockbox, dunno why they are complicating things as it is there are enough complications :-(
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dsreedhar
08-16 01:09 PM
Last month (July 17) I e-filed EAD and AP for both me and my wife. My wife's AP got approved couple of days back.
I was looking at the receipt notices and observed that the priority date is missing on the notices. Observed the same issue with my 485 receipt too.
Does anyone else have the same issue? Is that a problem?
I was looking at the receipt notices and observed that the priority date is missing on the notices. Observed the same issue with my 485 receipt too.
Does anyone else have the same issue? Is that a problem?
msp1976
02-01 09:25 PM
All moderators,
Please watch out anything that comes out of Senator Kennedy's office...
Some one in Kennedy's office is hell bent on getting rid of paragraph (5) in there....
paragraph (5) is the one that gave us the 'soft' country limits...
Here is the law text....
http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/8/usc_sec_08_00001152----000-.html
TITLE 8 > CHAPTER 12 > SUBCHAPTER II > Part I > � 1152
(5) Rules for employment-based immigrants
(A) Employment-based immigrants not subject to per country limitation if additional visas available
If the total number of visas available under paragraph (1), (2), (3), (4), or (5) of section 1153 (b) of this title for a calendar quarter exceeds the number of qualified immigrants who may otherwise be issued such visas, the visas made available under that paragraph shall be issued without regard to the numerical limitation under paragraph (2) of this subsection during the remainder of the calendar quarter.
(B) Limiting fall across for certain countries subject to subsection (e) of this section
In the case of a foreign state or dependent area to which subsection (e) of this section applies, if the total number of visas issued under section 1153 (b) of this title exceeds the maximum number of visas that may be made available to immigrants of the state or area under section 1153 (b) of this title consistent with subsection (e) of this section (determined without regard to this paragraph), in applying subsection (e) of this section all visas shall be deemed to have been required for the classes of aliens specified in section 1153 (b) of this title.
If the 'soft quota' is gone...everything else is bullshit....
Every time I see something come out of Senator's office....They always strike para 5...
Please watch out anything that comes out of Senator Kennedy's office...
Some one in Kennedy's office is hell bent on getting rid of paragraph (5) in there....
paragraph (5) is the one that gave us the 'soft' country limits...
Here is the law text....
http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/8/usc_sec_08_00001152----000-.html
TITLE 8 > CHAPTER 12 > SUBCHAPTER II > Part I > � 1152
(5) Rules for employment-based immigrants
(A) Employment-based immigrants not subject to per country limitation if additional visas available
If the total number of visas available under paragraph (1), (2), (3), (4), or (5) of section 1153 (b) of this title for a calendar quarter exceeds the number of qualified immigrants who may otherwise be issued such visas, the visas made available under that paragraph shall be issued without regard to the numerical limitation under paragraph (2) of this subsection during the remainder of the calendar quarter.
(B) Limiting fall across for certain countries subject to subsection (e) of this section
In the case of a foreign state or dependent area to which subsection (e) of this section applies, if the total number of visas issued under section 1153 (b) of this title exceeds the maximum number of visas that may be made available to immigrants of the state or area under section 1153 (b) of this title consistent with subsection (e) of this section (determined without regard to this paragraph), in applying subsection (e) of this section all visas shall be deemed to have been required for the classes of aliens specified in section 1153 (b) of this title.
If the 'soft quota' is gone...everything else is bullshit....
Every time I see something come out of Senator's office....They always strike para 5...
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map_boiler
07-28 02:56 PM
Here's a quick summary before the InfoPass recap:
EAD e-filed: May 27th
Receipt notices received: 1st week of June
FP done: June 19th
Card production ordered LUD: June 28th
Other soft LUDs: July 25th, July 27th
Still waiting...
InfoPass: This morning...07/28/08
Per the guy at the InfoPass counter, the FP report was received on July 24th (which probably explains the July 25th LUD). He said EAD will not be printed or sent out before FP check is complete. In 2007, they did not run FP checks to issue the first EAD after July fiasco.
So could this explain the delay that folks here are seeing? FP Code 2 was done for EAD, so not sure why this should take so long :mad: Maybe I am mistaken, but I thought that only FP Code 3 that's done for I-485 can take a long, long time. Can someone post info on EAD FP checks?
Update: Here's what I have after some quick research on USCIS biometrics:
http://www.immigrationportal.com/archive/index.php/t-191494.html
Code 1 is all 10 FP. This is electronically sent to FBI the same day, they run it to match thru their database to match it with criminals/persons of interest and send the results the same day (or the next) to USCIS. Code 1 is very important as it is part of your security/background check and determines admissibility for GC.
Code 2 (index+photo+sign) is for the generation of cards for immigration benefits e.g. EAD, gc etc. If you filed for EAD, you definitely need code 2 or the card can not be generated.
Code 1 expires after 15 months e.g. FBI needs to check their database again. Code 2 is done everytime we apply for benefits (EAD - once a year).
Code 3 is a combination of both, when USCIS wants to get a security check done on you as well as generate cards (EAD) for you.
something is really funny ..I agree it is not printer (was trying to add some humor :)) ..it is not 2 yr vs 1 yr ..since card production has been approved already ..it could be their systems are slow ?? or worst case - is this their way to say ..be happy with EAD's ..if u guys are more demanding -- u won't EAD's in time either ?
EAD e-filed: May 27th
Receipt notices received: 1st week of June
FP done: June 19th
Card production ordered LUD: June 28th
Other soft LUDs: July 25th, July 27th
Still waiting...
InfoPass: This morning...07/28/08
Per the guy at the InfoPass counter, the FP report was received on July 24th (which probably explains the July 25th LUD). He said EAD will not be printed or sent out before FP check is complete. In 2007, they did not run FP checks to issue the first EAD after July fiasco.
So could this explain the delay that folks here are seeing? FP Code 2 was done for EAD, so not sure why this should take so long :mad: Maybe I am mistaken, but I thought that only FP Code 3 that's done for I-485 can take a long, long time. Can someone post info on EAD FP checks?
Update: Here's what I have after some quick research on USCIS biometrics:
http://www.immigrationportal.com/archive/index.php/t-191494.html
Code 1 is all 10 FP. This is electronically sent to FBI the same day, they run it to match thru their database to match it with criminals/persons of interest and send the results the same day (or the next) to USCIS. Code 1 is very important as it is part of your security/background check and determines admissibility for GC.
Code 2 (index+photo+sign) is for the generation of cards for immigration benefits e.g. EAD, gc etc. If you filed for EAD, you definitely need code 2 or the card can not be generated.
Code 1 expires after 15 months e.g. FBI needs to check their database again. Code 2 is done everytime we apply for benefits (EAD - once a year).
Code 3 is a combination of both, when USCIS wants to get a security check done on you as well as generate cards (EAD) for you.
something is really funny ..I agree it is not printer (was trying to add some humor :)) ..it is not 2 yr vs 1 yr ..since card production has been approved already ..it could be their systems are slow ?? or worst case - is this their way to say ..be happy with EAD's ..if u guys are more demanding -- u won't EAD's in time either ?
house Abstract geometric wallpaper
kalyan65
04-25 07:01 PM
I was on H1B (2003 Quota), worked for that company eight months Oct'03 to May'04. Then switched back to h4, still i am on h4, The h1b was expired Sep'06 Now i want to apply for h1, will i come under this current year cap or just transfer.
any advice/idea?
anybody in similar situation.
any advice/idea?
anybody in similar situation.
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vicks_don
12-16 02:47 PM
mr_dasari, prathapmd
Thanks
Thanks
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yawl
06-29 04:38 PM
yes, it is from AILA, very likely to be true:
(ZZ)
AILA National
Sent: Friday, June 29, 2007 3:31 PM
Subject: Update on July Visa Availability
We are hearing from multiple sources that, on Monday or Tuesday of next week
, State Department plans to issue a revised Visa Bulletin for July 2007.
This revised Bulletin would retrogress some or all of the employment-based
categories, very likely to the point of unavailable. Reports from AILA
members about unusual levels and types of activities by USCIS indicate a
particular push to adjudicate employment-based adjustments currently in the
pipeline so as to exhaust visa numbers for fiscal year 2007.
This follows the actions of USCIS in June, when it began rejecting EB-3 "
Other Worker" adjustment applications even though the Visa Bulletin showed
an October 2001 cut-off date, on the basis that the "Other Worker" numbers
for the year had been exhausted.
For more information on this situation, see InfoNet document #07062770: http://www.aila.org/content/default.aspx?docid=22767
More information to follow as it becomes available.
(ZZ)
AILA National
Sent: Friday, June 29, 2007 3:31 PM
Subject: Update on July Visa Availability
We are hearing from multiple sources that, on Monday or Tuesday of next week
, State Department plans to issue a revised Visa Bulletin for July 2007.
This revised Bulletin would retrogress some or all of the employment-based
categories, very likely to the point of unavailable. Reports from AILA
members about unusual levels and types of activities by USCIS indicate a
particular push to adjudicate employment-based adjustments currently in the
pipeline so as to exhaust visa numbers for fiscal year 2007.
This follows the actions of USCIS in June, when it began rejecting EB-3 "
Other Worker" adjustment applications even though the Visa Bulletin showed
an October 2001 cut-off date, on the basis that the "Other Worker" numbers
for the year had been exhausted.
For more information on this situation, see InfoNet document #07062770: http://www.aila.org/content/default.aspx?docid=22767
More information to follow as it becomes available.
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Kiranmayeevnv
06-16 11:55 AM
Hi,
we sent our passport to Houston CGI in March. We received a mail from Postoffice saying that we missed the Passport and asking us to pick up at the post office. since we were out of station, we missed it in the bulk of mails and by the time we reached, the passport was sent back.
CGI houston replied us asking to confirm if the passport returned to Houston, and on confirmation, we asked them how to proceed to get it back. We got a call the other day to my home where in the person from CGI Houston informed that the passport was sent back as the photos were not clear, and they again got it back.
Now, the passport is with them. Will going in person make the work easy? We are in Dallas, and thinking of this.
we sent our passport to Houston CGI in March. We received a mail from Postoffice saying that we missed the Passport and asking us to pick up at the post office. since we were out of station, we missed it in the bulk of mails and by the time we reached, the passport was sent back.
CGI houston replied us asking to confirm if the passport returned to Houston, and on confirmation, we asked them how to proceed to get it back. We got a call the other day to my home where in the person from CGI Houston informed that the passport was sent back as the photos were not clear, and they again got it back.
Now, the passport is with them. Will going in person make the work easy? We are in Dallas, and thinking of this.
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Saralayar
04-14 04:09 PM
One's life time is too short to determine whether changing citizenship to US citizenship is worth or not. And hence to define it as a "wisdom" or "short sightedness" is also almost impossible. Two school of thoughts can just pop up 1) What would be the gain vis a vis loss changing citizenship 2) why one should get rid of the citizenship where one was born. And both of them are more realted with philosophical and moral issues rather than short term material gain...
Bharatpremi,
I accept what you say. But consider this psychological issue: You lived in a country which is 100% different in every thing for most of the life time and then going back after you think to retire. All your kids are either born or grown up here and they no longer wish to come with you when you want to go to your parent country. Again you will be living alone in another country. Instead, we can get our Citizenship and live atleast near our kids. Further, if you are detached with the wordly things and wish to live alone, it is OK.
One more thing, we have come here wantedly without thinking about the future and at all stages of our life we will be confused. I have seen some people with determined mind. They come at the age of 20 - 25, earn a lot, get married to working women, both of them work here , have kids (US citizens), and they go back to their parent country with good money when the kids become 7 years old and both husband and wife will be in the mid of thier carrier. But it is not the case for majority of the people. Many have come with grown up kids etc., and they can not just like that go back. Necessarily they are bound to be here and atleast for those people, to live without anxiety, I would like to have the citizenship process to happen faster if they live here legally for 10 years.
Bharatpremi,
I accept what you say. But consider this psychological issue: You lived in a country which is 100% different in every thing for most of the life time and then going back after you think to retire. All your kids are either born or grown up here and they no longer wish to come with you when you want to go to your parent country. Again you will be living alone in another country. Instead, we can get our Citizenship and live atleast near our kids. Further, if you are detached with the wordly things and wish to live alone, it is OK.
One more thing, we have come here wantedly without thinking about the future and at all stages of our life we will be confused. I have seen some people with determined mind. They come at the age of 20 - 25, earn a lot, get married to working women, both of them work here , have kids (US citizens), and they go back to their parent country with good money when the kids become 7 years old and both husband and wife will be in the mid of thier carrier. But it is not the case for majority of the people. Many have come with grown up kids etc., and they can not just like that go back. Necessarily they are bound to be here and atleast for those people, to live without anxiety, I would like to have the citizenship process to happen faster if they live here legally for 10 years.
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snathan
05-15 10:40 AM
First because I'm new to IV, allow me to ask, who's Ron? (I joined in 07 but I haven't been active, just an occational browser :))
Like I said I'm willing to contribute if necessary. We have 50+ people here so it should not break anyone's bank...that's if most of us chip in.
Google Ron Gotcher and you will see who is he. He is an immigration attorny.
Like I said I'm willing to contribute if necessary. We have 50+ people here so it should not break anyone's bank...that's if most of us chip in.
Google Ron Gotcher and you will see who is he. He is an immigration attorny.
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apnair2002
06-19 07:36 AM
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/06/19/IMMIG.TMP
When Alfonso Farf�n fell in love with an old family friend in 2002, he set out to bring his sweetheart and her two children home with him.
But nothing has gone as planned. After waiting a year for a fiancee visa for her to move here from El Salvador, he learned the paperwork had been lost.
The new application was delayed two years because U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services kept using an old address for Farf�n, married now to Elizabeth Farf�n, although he had twice updated their records. And when the family's green cards arrived six weeks ago, one was missing.
"I wanted to scream," said Farf�n, a paralegal at an Oakland immigrant assistance center, recalling the day he learned the U.S. CIS had lost the $1,500 application. "But you can't,'' said. "You just have to work harder, save more money and submit a new application."
Legally immigrating to this country can be a gut-wrenching, years-long ordeal. Administrative errors, protracted security checks -- which have lengthened markedly since the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks -- and bad information routinely cause heartache. Immigrants and immigration lawyers say applications sometimes go into a "black hole" from which no case updates emanate.
"What's going on in Congress right now is still an add-on to an essentially outdated and overly complex, throwback system ... written in the 1950s and amended in 1965," said former immigration agency chief Doris Meissner, who is now senior fellow at the Migration Policy Institute, a nonpartisan think tank in Washington, D.C. "The statutes are just hopelessly complicated and convoluted. ... It surely shouldn't have to be such an unpleasant and harrowing experience."
No plan under consideration will fundamentally overhaul the country's cobbled-together immigration law, which lawyers say rivals only the tax code in complexity.
Many legal immigrants have worried that immigration reforms proposed in Congress will allow some of the country's estimated 12 million illegal immigrants to skip this nerve-wracking process. But the bill the Senate passed last month could actually help the 3 million people currently in line for lawful permanent residence documents, or "green cards," to get them more easily. And those familiar with the bill say no illegal immigrant will get to cut into the line for a green card.
In addition to allowing several million undocumented immigrants to apply for temporary work visas and eventually permanent residence, the bill would make more green cards available overall.
But the proposal faces a tough battle in a forthcoming conference committee that will attempt to reconcile it with the immigration bill passed by the House in December. The House bill would criminalize illegal immigration and beef up immigration enforcement but makes no provision for new green cards.
Immigration advocates hope the additional green cards will, if the Senate bill becomes law, ease backlogs. The bill also could help the U.S.CIS improve its services because it will receive the new fines to be paid by undocumented immigrants adjusting to legal status. But it is not likely to address security bottlenecks or the lack of an integrated immigration computer system.
"It would be nice for them to get into the 20th century, let alone the 21st," said Crystal Williams, deputy director of the American Immigration Lawyers Association in Washington, D.C. "Everything is done by paper right now. We have the problem of paper being shifted back and forth around the country. Virtually nothing is done electronically."
The National Foundation for American Policy in Washington, D.C., reported last month that skilled workers must now wait more than five years for a green card and, in spite of recent progress, the backlogs are as long as they always have been for some categories of family-sponsored visas.
Filipino siblings of U.S. citizens still can expect to wait 22 years to immigrate. Adult children of U.S. citizens in Mexico will wait 13 years. And then there are the indignities:
-- Visitors to San Francisco's immigration office must pay nearby deli and copy shop workers $5 to hold their cell phones because they are forbidden in the building.
-- People seeking visas from abroad must pay $18 each time they schedule an appointment or check on their case.
-- People renewing temporary skilled-worker visas must return to their home countries, sometimes at a cost of thousands of dollars in airfare, to obtain the visa stamp in their passports that allows them to travel. "It really is Kafkaesque," said Susan Bowyer, managing attorney at the International Institute of the East Bay. "All the power is in the immigration service's hands, because the burden is on the applicant to show by clear and convincing evidence that they're eligible."
Bowyer recalled the case of a Tongan woman who won the "diversity lottery," a program to admit 50,000 people a year from countries that don't produce many immigrants to the United States. She had to forgo her spot because she couldn't prove to she had completed high school after the small religious institution folded.
A Salvadoran woman who petitioned in 1992 to bring her brother and his family from El Salvador saw the case summarily closed after a 12-year wait, Bowyer said, because a government clerk thought a note on a document saying the man was already here on a visit meant the family no longer wanted to immigrate.
Williams, of the immigration lawyers association, estimated that major errors like this occur in up to 10 percent of cases. Occasionally, the errors affect large numbers of people, she said. U.S.CIS recently rescinded 10,000 fiancee visas after realizing it hadn't asked about the citizen petitioners' criminal histories.
Simple matters, like getting the immigration service to keep track of a changed address, fail more often, said San Francisco attorney Angela Moore, chair of the Northern California chapter of the immigration lawyers group. When mail is returned to the agency, applicants can miss hearings or have their green cards destroyed, which means paying $260 for a replacement.
"I would guess it's at least 20 to 30 percent of the time," said Moore. "It's not infrequent at all."
Strict formulas that limit the number of immigrants from any one country and the order of preference by which relatives can apply for reunification can cause decades-long delays. That and the lack of green cards or even temporary visas for low-skilled immigrants promote illegal migration, said Traci Hong, director of immigration programs, Asian American Justice Center in Washington, D.C.
But the Senate's plan to offer permanent residence to millions of undocumented immigrants strikes a raw nerve with many people who came here legally.
"Part of my frustration is to hear illegal immigrants called immigrants when I'm called an alien. I'm doing things right, but I'm still called an alien," said French-born Florence Ahlouche, who has spent nine years in the United States. "If I lose my job tomorrow, my reward is a ticket back home."
First an au pair, then a student and now working on an H1B visa as a contracts administrator for a Foster City biotech company, Ahlouche longs to put down roots here in the country where she came of age. She began the green card application two years ago and expects to wait two or three more years, but she's concerned that a legalization program would let the undocumented jump ahead of her in line.
Others see a glimmer of hope in offering legal status to illegal immigrants. Kondala Rao Palaka, an Indian citizen who has lived in the United States for 16 years as a student and then an H1B worker, just got his green card last month, after a four-year wait. But his wife is still waiting for hers.
"These are hardworking people, just looking for a better life," said Palaka, a Fremont resident. "And because of their efforts, their demonstrations and lobbying, if Congress decides to allow them into the line, that will help people who are already waiting. It will mean they have to keep the line moving."
Immigration experts say that's precisely what would happen if the Senate bill becomes law. The increase in green cards is expected to eliminate all backlogs within six years, and everyone who has a pending application would be taken care of before any undocumented immigrant gets a green card.
But some immigration observers say making life easier for would-be immigrants should not be the government's first priority. Yeh Ling Ling, director of the Oakland-based Diversity Alliance for a Sustainable America and herself an immigrant from Vietnam, believes the United States lacks the resources to absorb more immigrants. She opposes the Senate bill, both for its expansion of legal immigration and for its offer of legal residence to illegal immigrants.
"If the Senate amnesty bill becomes law, we can expect 12 million illegal aliens to apply and, once naturalized, they can bring in their family members, spouses and children," said Yeh. "You cannot invite people to your house for dinner if some of your kids are starving."
When Alfonso Farf�n fell in love with an old family friend in 2002, he set out to bring his sweetheart and her two children home with him.
But nothing has gone as planned. After waiting a year for a fiancee visa for her to move here from El Salvador, he learned the paperwork had been lost.
The new application was delayed two years because U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services kept using an old address for Farf�n, married now to Elizabeth Farf�n, although he had twice updated their records. And when the family's green cards arrived six weeks ago, one was missing.
"I wanted to scream," said Farf�n, a paralegal at an Oakland immigrant assistance center, recalling the day he learned the U.S. CIS had lost the $1,500 application. "But you can't,'' said. "You just have to work harder, save more money and submit a new application."
Legally immigrating to this country can be a gut-wrenching, years-long ordeal. Administrative errors, protracted security checks -- which have lengthened markedly since the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks -- and bad information routinely cause heartache. Immigrants and immigration lawyers say applications sometimes go into a "black hole" from which no case updates emanate.
"What's going on in Congress right now is still an add-on to an essentially outdated and overly complex, throwback system ... written in the 1950s and amended in 1965," said former immigration agency chief Doris Meissner, who is now senior fellow at the Migration Policy Institute, a nonpartisan think tank in Washington, D.C. "The statutes are just hopelessly complicated and convoluted. ... It surely shouldn't have to be such an unpleasant and harrowing experience."
No plan under consideration will fundamentally overhaul the country's cobbled-together immigration law, which lawyers say rivals only the tax code in complexity.
Many legal immigrants have worried that immigration reforms proposed in Congress will allow some of the country's estimated 12 million illegal immigrants to skip this nerve-wracking process. But the bill the Senate passed last month could actually help the 3 million people currently in line for lawful permanent residence documents, or "green cards," to get them more easily. And those familiar with the bill say no illegal immigrant will get to cut into the line for a green card.
In addition to allowing several million undocumented immigrants to apply for temporary work visas and eventually permanent residence, the bill would make more green cards available overall.
But the proposal faces a tough battle in a forthcoming conference committee that will attempt to reconcile it with the immigration bill passed by the House in December. The House bill would criminalize illegal immigration and beef up immigration enforcement but makes no provision for new green cards.
Immigration advocates hope the additional green cards will, if the Senate bill becomes law, ease backlogs. The bill also could help the U.S.CIS improve its services because it will receive the new fines to be paid by undocumented immigrants adjusting to legal status. But it is not likely to address security bottlenecks or the lack of an integrated immigration computer system.
"It would be nice for them to get into the 20th century, let alone the 21st," said Crystal Williams, deputy director of the American Immigration Lawyers Association in Washington, D.C. "Everything is done by paper right now. We have the problem of paper being shifted back and forth around the country. Virtually nothing is done electronically."
The National Foundation for American Policy in Washington, D.C., reported last month that skilled workers must now wait more than five years for a green card and, in spite of recent progress, the backlogs are as long as they always have been for some categories of family-sponsored visas.
Filipino siblings of U.S. citizens still can expect to wait 22 years to immigrate. Adult children of U.S. citizens in Mexico will wait 13 years. And then there are the indignities:
-- Visitors to San Francisco's immigration office must pay nearby deli and copy shop workers $5 to hold their cell phones because they are forbidden in the building.
-- People seeking visas from abroad must pay $18 each time they schedule an appointment or check on their case.
-- People renewing temporary skilled-worker visas must return to their home countries, sometimes at a cost of thousands of dollars in airfare, to obtain the visa stamp in their passports that allows them to travel. "It really is Kafkaesque," said Susan Bowyer, managing attorney at the International Institute of the East Bay. "All the power is in the immigration service's hands, because the burden is on the applicant to show by clear and convincing evidence that they're eligible."
Bowyer recalled the case of a Tongan woman who won the "diversity lottery," a program to admit 50,000 people a year from countries that don't produce many immigrants to the United States. She had to forgo her spot because she couldn't prove to she had completed high school after the small religious institution folded.
A Salvadoran woman who petitioned in 1992 to bring her brother and his family from El Salvador saw the case summarily closed after a 12-year wait, Bowyer said, because a government clerk thought a note on a document saying the man was already here on a visit meant the family no longer wanted to immigrate.
Williams, of the immigration lawyers association, estimated that major errors like this occur in up to 10 percent of cases. Occasionally, the errors affect large numbers of people, she said. U.S.CIS recently rescinded 10,000 fiancee visas after realizing it hadn't asked about the citizen petitioners' criminal histories.
Simple matters, like getting the immigration service to keep track of a changed address, fail more often, said San Francisco attorney Angela Moore, chair of the Northern California chapter of the immigration lawyers group. When mail is returned to the agency, applicants can miss hearings or have their green cards destroyed, which means paying $260 for a replacement.
"I would guess it's at least 20 to 30 percent of the time," said Moore. "It's not infrequent at all."
Strict formulas that limit the number of immigrants from any one country and the order of preference by which relatives can apply for reunification can cause decades-long delays. That and the lack of green cards or even temporary visas for low-skilled immigrants promote illegal migration, said Traci Hong, director of immigration programs, Asian American Justice Center in Washington, D.C.
But the Senate's plan to offer permanent residence to millions of undocumented immigrants strikes a raw nerve with many people who came here legally.
"Part of my frustration is to hear illegal immigrants called immigrants when I'm called an alien. I'm doing things right, but I'm still called an alien," said French-born Florence Ahlouche, who has spent nine years in the United States. "If I lose my job tomorrow, my reward is a ticket back home."
First an au pair, then a student and now working on an H1B visa as a contracts administrator for a Foster City biotech company, Ahlouche longs to put down roots here in the country where she came of age. She began the green card application two years ago and expects to wait two or three more years, but she's concerned that a legalization program would let the undocumented jump ahead of her in line.
Others see a glimmer of hope in offering legal status to illegal immigrants. Kondala Rao Palaka, an Indian citizen who has lived in the United States for 16 years as a student and then an H1B worker, just got his green card last month, after a four-year wait. But his wife is still waiting for hers.
"These are hardworking people, just looking for a better life," said Palaka, a Fremont resident. "And because of their efforts, their demonstrations and lobbying, if Congress decides to allow them into the line, that will help people who are already waiting. It will mean they have to keep the line moving."
Immigration experts say that's precisely what would happen if the Senate bill becomes law. The increase in green cards is expected to eliminate all backlogs within six years, and everyone who has a pending application would be taken care of before any undocumented immigrant gets a green card.
But some immigration observers say making life easier for would-be immigrants should not be the government's first priority. Yeh Ling Ling, director of the Oakland-based Diversity Alliance for a Sustainable America and herself an immigrant from Vietnam, believes the United States lacks the resources to absorb more immigrants. She opposes the Senate bill, both for its expansion of legal immigration and for its offer of legal residence to illegal immigrants.
"If the Senate amnesty bill becomes law, we can expect 12 million illegal aliens to apply and, once naturalized, they can bring in their family members, spouses and children," said Yeh. "You cannot invite people to your house for dinner if some of your kids are starving."
illusions
04-07 04:00 PM
Your RD cannot be mid September. That must be your Notice Date. I bet your RD (the date CIS received your app) is either July or August.
yes u are right.... snap, so much have been going on since last summer that my brain is fried. As i recall i sent my app early July :), appreciate it Lasantha.
yes u are right.... snap, so much have been going on since last summer that my brain is fried. As i recall i sent my app early July :), appreciate it Lasantha.
chintu25
02-23 04:29 PM
Hello Ivians,
Hope today wasnt too bad for yall in the market...Brace yourselves though since there is more to come......
Anyways Lets have another Chat session this week
Please suggest day / Time
Hope today wasnt too bad for yall in the market...Brace yourselves though since there is more to come......
Anyways Lets have another Chat session this week
Please suggest day / Time