Employment based immigration backlog petition

Version 2.0

To Citizenship and Immigration Ombudsman
BCIS

Subject: Employment based Immigration backlog

Dear Mr. Prakash Khatri,
We are pleased to congratulate you on your appointment as the Citizenship and Immigration Ombudsman at Department of Homeland security. We, the immigrant community, appreciate the potential of more effective communication with Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services (BCIS).

We are writing this letter to request you to devise proper measures to reduce the processing time for employment based immigration applications and to convey the hardships caused to the applicants and the United States due to the perpetual delay in processing these applications.

Benefits of Employment based immigration
Immigration has been an integral part of America since its inception. Immigrants stimulate the United States economy in general, enrich American culture and enhance the United States influence in the world. Contrary to the popular myth that immigrants may take American's jobs, they have created employment opportunities for millions of Americans by developing new products and establishing business ventures. The continued success of the United States largely rests upon its successful pro-immigration policy.

Factors influenced backlogs of Employment based immigration applications
The radical change in the United States immigration policy has adversely affected the employment based immigration application processing. The process was further delayed due to
1. Temporary freeze of all immigration application processing for auditing and the enforcement of FBI security check in late 2002;
2. Incorporation of legacy INS into the newly created the Homeland Security Department as Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Service (BCIS);
3. Shifting priority, by some service centers, to expedite processing of religious worker's immigration applications and to meet deadlines related to Temporary Protected Status (TPS) programs.

Problems of Employment based immigration applicants
The processing delay has caused immense hardships for the employment based immigration applicants. Some of the problems encountered by the immigration applicants due to the processing delay are
1. Difficult to obtain the case specific information after termination of customer service at all service centers and establishment of the National Customer Service Center (NCSC);
2. Additional expenditure to renew the Employment Authorization Document (EAD) and the Advanced Parole for travel every year;
3. Innumerable obstacles to renew the driver license;
4. Career advancement is hampered since the applicant has to maintain same or similar job as mentioned in the underlying labor certification;
5. Employers discriminate their employees due to their ambiguous legal status.

Solutions to reduce backlogs of Employment based immigration applications
Recently, Mr. Eduardo Aguirre, director of the Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services explained the reason for backlog of immigration applications. We are glad that he would give priority to reach the goal set by the President of the United states of America, Mr. George W. Bush to reduce wait times on immigration benefit applications to no more than 6 months by the end of 2006. However, we would welcome some imminent and intermediate actions to reduce the backlog of employment based immigration applications.
We would like to suggest few measures that would advocate backlog reduction of employment based immigration applications at BCIS.
1. We request BCIS to consider employment based immigration applications affected by the interminable delays as high priority and expedite their processing;
2. BCIS should consider the adversity of the employment based immigration applicants due to the perpetual delay in processing their immigration applications and it should recommend the interim Permanent residence for them
or
BCIS should consider issuing the Employment Authorization Document (EAD) and the Advanced Parole for travel with multiple year validity to stimulate the backlog reduction of immigration applications at BCIS;
3. Also, cost saving measures like
3.1 extending validity period of Finger printing report;
3.2 enhancing the online case status by providing the detailed information about the present status of the applications; and
3.3 accelerating the security check process.
will contribute towards the backlog reduction of immigration applications.

Immigrants have been crucial to America's dominance and dynamism in the global economy. Immigration policy must focus on the admission of individuals with high skills that will benefit American society. Legal immigration process has to be reformed and steps implemented to reduce massive backlog of employment based immigration applications, so that we could continue America's tradition of welcoming immigrants in to the United states while also providing proper comfort and security for all American citizens.

Sincerely,
Immigration applicants and their well wishers
 
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Version 2.0

To All,
The draft Version 1.0 posted yesterday was modified based on the suggestions from various members. If you feel that your suggestion was ignored please repost your suggestion since I would have just overlooked some suggestion and it was not intentional.
The proposed solutions paragraph was not modified as suggested since I feel request format is more appropraite than commanding format (use recommend interim permanent residence rather than introduce interim permanent residence).

Please review draft version 2.0 and post your comments.

Later, I'll repost the petition after implementing the suggestion for this version.

Thanks.
 
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I think what we have now is good enough(grammar chk. could be done). As dengdeng rightly pointed out this letter must be read sooner rather than later by Prakash to act on it, before being caught with other things.
Since Rajiv has offered to review it, we should be okay.

-sai
 
Let's synthasize version 2.0 (by Edison) and version 3.0 (by Topaz). We can go with the Bold font for paragraph headers, as shown in v2.0. But i did not like benefits of immigration appearing in the beginning (as in v2.0). I think we are almost approaching a consensus atleast on the structure. I am very flexible on modifying my draft. One of the main draw backs of my draft is that it did not have solutions(suggestions) in the main letter. This defect is corrected by Topaz. I really liked Topaz's draft (v 3.0) because he picked the best points from all the drafts.
Here are some of my comments :
1. Can we ask BCIS to make EAD valid for 2 years ? I feel that BCIS can't do that. I think congress has to pass law.
2. Can we ask for interim GC after 1 year ? I think BCIS can't do that. Again congress has to pass a law.
3. Can we ask them to increase staff working on EB I485 ? I think
it's difficult. Congress has to allott the budget and without that BCIS can't do much.

So what can BCIS really do to improve the speed ?
1. Automate it's processes. Regarding Security checks, goback to the old principle of 'no news is good news'. That means if there is no response from FBI / CIA, then they should go agead and approve the case. If there is a negative report, they can always call the candidate and question him. If they find anything bad about the candidate, they can initiate deportation procedures at that time
2. Give priority to EB I485 compared to citizenship and other categries because people who applied for citizenship are not losing much as compared to us. They only gain voting rights and a few other minor benefits where as for us , it is a matter of freedom from the employment bondage and ability to live our lives without all the restrictive conditions.
3. If the application could not be approved within 1 year, then no questions should be asked to furnish curent employment details etc. This will considerably reduce the burden of constantly maintaining the status (playing to the tunes of the employer)
4. Increase the validity of finger printing results .

What do you all say ?
 
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Re: Version 2.0

Problems of Employment based immigration applicants
The processing delay has caused immense hardships for the employment based immigration applicants. Some of the problems encountered by the immigration applicants due to the processing delay are
1. Difficult to obtain the case specific information after termination of customer service at all service centers and establishment of the National Customer Service Center (NCSC);
2. Additional expenditure to renew the Employment Authorization Document (EAD) and the Advanced Parole for travel every year;
3. Innumerable obstacles to renew the driver license;
4. Career advancement is hampered since the applicant has to maintain same or similar job as mentioned in the underlying labor certification;
5. Employers discriminate their employees due to their ambiguous legal status.
Click to expand...

Hi all,
I think we need to change the order of above points. Strong points should appear first. The first 3 points appear very weak reasons for a strong case. We should have points 4 and 5 in the beginning and let's add 2 or 3 strong points.
 
Suggestion

I think we should use the phrase TAXPAYER in the petition. Emphasize that we are paying tax and justice, highest-priority-processing is our right. Compared to TPS and all other priority processing going on at BCIS are mostly for charity.
 
Appendices

Originally posted by Edison
cinta,
I'll concentrate on main letter, you please handle the consolidation of appendix.
As you said other issues can be decided later.
Click to expand...

Appendix A: Draft version. Problems caused by Processing delays.

1: Hardships in our daily lives. As the EAD mostly serves our companies to a certain extent, we find ourselves with almost no legal status in the U.S. This is reflected in a lot of every day needs. A lot of states make it impossible to apply for a Driver license or even permit. Mortgage companies make it difficult or take advantage of the lack of the "green card". Investment companies require proof of citizenship or permanent residency for us to invest. All of these make us feel insecure, unable to plan or predict for ourselves and our families

2: Hardships in our working environment. The American workplace is structured in such a way that does not really recognize the EAD as a proof of residency. This is evident from the various companies Legal departments regarding the definition of a U.S. permanent resident. We are excluded from this definition. In many instances, the TPS is included. This often creates discrimination in the work place. As we have no legal representation our civil or labor rights may be violated and we have no choice.

3: Career hardships. The American economy is distinguished by its dynamic mobility and change under different economic and social periods, like recession and growth. The employee is supposed to adjust accordingly. Due to these delays we are not able to make any adjustments. The lack of the permanent residency makes it difficult for us to change jobs in the same company or another company, get promoted or simply decide to get a leave of absence for any personal or family reason. AC-21 regulations are only in a Memo statement subject again to the individual adjudicator interpretation.

4: Problems with Incompatibility with Government regulations. The workplace is governed by a lot of regulations from the Government often incompatible with our status. These again are "classified", "export control", "technology sensitive" and a lot of others coming from the various departments like State, Defense, Commerce, Labor and DHS. These often present a lot of obstacles and fear of violation. The only way to make us free of these regulations and restrictions is the approval of our application. There is no middle status as far as all these are concerned. One is either a permanent citizen or not.

5: Impact on Immigration process and Citizenship. Our process is probably the longest of Immigration with the Labor Certificate (LC), the I-140 application and the I-485 all of which are experiencing unfair delays. The whole process of Immigration with Employment becomes so difficult to apply. Companies maybe unable to "sponsor" somebody for a permanent job position after four or five years. From our point of view, our Citizenship eligibility gets postponed into the dark future.

Appendix B: Draft version. Our role and contribution.

1: We all work in a diverse array of jobs, sustaining on our part the ailing American economy. This is the basis of the Employment based Immigration.

2: We all pay federal, state, city, social security and unemployment taxes. In this way we contribute to all these funds supporting fellow American employees out of work or searching. It should be also noted that we do not claim unemployment benefits. Homeowners pay property and school taxes, thus supporting our communities and cities we live in.

3: Members of our group contribute towards the Homeland and National security, through their jobs in many different ways. It is unfair to be treated worse than criminals in many instances.

Appendix C: Draft version. Causes for Processing Delays.

1: Reorganization of INS into the BCIS under DHS. The priorities changed with DHS heavily weighted toward immigration policies that may make sense from an isolated enforcement prospective, but which show little understanding of how America's immigration policy relates to the U.S. economy or society, or to America's place in the world.

2: Availability of Resources. Allocated funds to the BCIS do not seem to be adequate, in view of the Backlogs. The number of adjudicators is not enough also, as they are most often assigned to higher priority immigration groups.

3: The number of experienced adjudicators is questionable especially after the reorganization. This results in a non-uniform adjudication process, unfair to the applicants.

4: The EB I-485 applications are the lowest priority right now. This really is meaningless, unfair and suspicious. We as a group deserve at least the same priority as the TPS and religious workers. Actually we should be at the top, as we contribute to the Government coffins in the form of TAXES and Unemployment taxes. Our contributions help all Americans including the TPS. We DO NOT RECEIVE UNEMPLOYMENT or any other benefits, but only pay towards these.

5: The current political climate, especially post September 11 along with a weak economy has created an anti-immigration sentiment in sections of the society and the Government. A look at current Congressional bills reveals this. We as a group, we are being ignored again. In this society and Government there are only two classes of people, the citizens (including permanent residents) and the non-citizens. We are in no man's land.

6: Security checks from a host of agencies (FBI, CIA, Customs, etc), separate watch lists from about half a dozen agencies, incompatibility of systems and databases all contribute to the current delays. Criminals in a lot of states are eligible for Driver licenses. We are not. It is also not clear how often these security checks are performed and by whom. It has become an infinite security process, which really treats us unfairly again.

7: ZERO TOLERANCE. The legacy of the previous BCIS director, has created such a fear among the adjudicators and has resulted in the current delays and other venues such as the transfers (transfer of responsibility), the more frequent RFEs, most of them unfounded and more denials, most of them unfair. This climate should change.
 
dsatish/ ayansgp,
appreciate your reviews, I'll rework when we have more comments/suggestions.
 
I suggest BCIS approve a case without name check and second FP, don't wait on it. And update case status as "your case is pending name check"
"your case is pending second FP". After name check and second FP results arrive, then approve it. This way no backlogs no delays and we know our cases are almost approved, so even if job lost, still safe. Local office act like this, why can't
VSC
 
Re: Version 2.0

Dear Mr. Prakash Khatri,
We are pleased to congratulate you on your appointment as the Citizenship and Immigration Ombudsman at Department of Homeland security. We, the immigrant community, appreciate the potential of more effective communication with Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services (BCIS).

We are writing this letter to request you to devise proper measures to reduce the processing time for employment based immigration applications and to convey the hardships caused to the applicants and the United States due to the perpetual delay in processing these applications.
Click to expand...

Every one is welcome to do a thorough scrutiny of each and every sentence of the 2 final drafts we have (v2.0 and v3.0). The final draft should not have meaningless or purposeless sentenses. A person will not know his own mistakes. So i accept that my draft might have lot of draw backs and i request people to point out those draw backs and correct them. Hopefully, we can have a final letter by end of today or tomorrow. We may not need any week-end chat. As dengdeng wished yesterday, i think we will be able to send our letter for Rajiv's review by tomorrow.

Some more comments on draft 2.0 ( Hi Edison, i don't want to disappoint 1amShantanuB :p ).

1. Let's not say "we are pleased to congratulate" because we are not doing him any good.
2. Let's not use the word "appreciate" because we are not superiors.
3. please correct the sentense that says "hardships caused to the applicants and the United States".

I would like others to point out similar mistakes in both the drafts.
It would be nice if some people find time to do more synthesis by eliminating negative points in both drafts and comining the strong points of both points.
 
cinta,
good work. let me know if we need to include anything in the main petition from appendix.
lets have brief description in the main letter and detailed explanation in the appendix.
 
Hi Cinta,
Excellent job. With your job, half the petition is ready. Please review it for spelling checks and grammer. I will also try to do it (based on time). I think that your appendix will be almost final (my opinion only).
 
If everyone accept I'll change the first para as it was earlier:

"We would like to congratulate you on your appointment as the Citizenship and Immigration Ombudsman at Department of Homeland security. We, the immigrant community, have long awaited for someone with deep experience and liaisons with the industry to be appointed so that we could communicate effectively with Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services"

Also,
"hardships caused to the applicants and the United States"
will be changed to

"hardships caused to the applicants"
 
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dengdeng/cinta,
most of the comments by other members were addressed. It's time for you to review it.
 
How about change "We, the immigrant community..." to "The immigrant community has long awaited for someone with deep experience and liaisons with the industry like you to be appointed by Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services so that we could effectively communicate with the orgnization."
 
dengdeng,
let us have it as "we, the immigrant community" itself so that we express who we are.
 
Cinta

Here are my suggestions:

Para1:

* As the EAD mostly serves our companies to a certain extent
-> mostly and to a certain extent are contradicting each other.

I've rephrased para 1.

We find ourselves with almost no legal status in the U.S. inspite of having an EAD which allows us to work. This is reflected in our every day needs. Many States in USA make it impossible to apply for a Driver license or even permit using EAD. Some Mortgage companies do not recognize EAD and deny loans. Investment companies require proof of citizenship or permanent residency for us to invest. Inspite of paying taxes, all of these make us feel insecure, unable to plan for ourselves and our families.

Para4:

Do you mean permanent resident when you say "One is either a permanent citizen or not."?
 
Re: Version 2.0

dsatish,

I don't quite agree on your remarks.

1. "we are pleased to congratulate" sound fine to me. So is Edision original version "we would like to congratulate ..."

2. We don't need to be superior to say "appreciate". You can appreciate President Bush, your manangers, your supervisors and anything to your favor. The synonyms are "be grateful for", "be thankful for", etc.

3. You are right on this point. We may not be able to provide solid evidences of hardship caused to the US except for ourselves ¨C the applicants.

Anyway, the final version should be proof read by some professional. I think Edison's version 2.0 plus Cinta's appendices comprise a good final version of the petition.

Originally posted by dsatish

........................

1. Let's not say "we are pleased to congratulate" because we are not doing him any good.
2. Let's not use the word "appreciate" because we are not superiors.
3. please correct the sentense that says "hardships caused to the applicants and the United States".

.......
Click to expand...
 
dengdeng,
you are right. It will be changed per your suggestion.

"We, the immigrant community has long awaited for someone with deep experience and liaisons with the industry like you to be appointed by Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services(BCIS) so that we could effectively communicate with BCIS."
 
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