dsatish,
Please see if you incorporate the appendices in the letter. See if you can entertain my comments as well as others. For an interesting article in its presentation and language, please reference,
"www.ilaf.org/ipc/ipf0402.asp"
For your convenience, here is the list again. Cheers
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.
COMMENTS:
1): who we are: we need to state clearly that we are the Employment based I-485 applicants and briefly mention the process of LC, I-140 and I-485. We can collect a cross array of our job fields and include them. For example, Sciences, Research, Internet, Medical, Engineering, Computers, Bio, Chemistry. This instantly creates a memory image and shows that we are not picking their rotten apples and oranges on demand, nor we jumped any fences to come here.
2): our contribution. We need to expand our contribution to the American economy and its place in the global workplace. We need to state clearly the TAXES we pay and that we are proudly applicants of no unemployment or welfare. We are on the contrary the contributors to these coffers. This way we can show the unfairness and injustice done.
Additional comments: Let us anticipate the simple answer. BCIS is doing all it can and besides you guys have EAD to keep working. In this case, we need to show that the EAD does not solve our problems (see appendices) but actually perpetuates them forever. It does even allow us to reach our full potential and give this nation innumerable more benefits.
Finally, we are doing this as a group. Each member is valuable and can have a contribution to the Petition letter. Based on this, let us add somewhere in the contributions section/paragraph that not only we contribute to the Economy but also to the Homeland and National Security. I can claim this for myself and I believe there may be others with a similar claim. If not, even my presence alone qualifies the statement. In this way we provide them with something unknown and uncover the hypocricy. This is also important as the BCIS is under DHS and this is the pre-occupation of the Nation, not to mention that all the policies start from there.
Thanks and keep up the good work. We have very few friends around!
CORRECTION: The website is "www.ailf.org"
Please see if you incorporate the appendices in the letter. See if you can entertain my comments as well as others. For an interesting article in its presentation and language, please reference,
"www.ilaf.org/ipc/ipf0402.asp"
For your convenience, here is the list again. Cheers
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.
COMMENTS:
1): who we are: we need to state clearly that we are the Employment based I-485 applicants and briefly mention the process of LC, I-140 and I-485. We can collect a cross array of our job fields and include them. For example, Sciences, Research, Internet, Medical, Engineering, Computers, Bio, Chemistry. This instantly creates a memory image and shows that we are not picking their rotten apples and oranges on demand, nor we jumped any fences to come here.
2): our contribution. We need to expand our contribution to the American economy and its place in the global workplace. We need to state clearly the TAXES we pay and that we are proudly applicants of no unemployment or welfare. We are on the contrary the contributors to these coffers. This way we can show the unfairness and injustice done.
Additional comments: Let us anticipate the simple answer. BCIS is doing all it can and besides you guys have EAD to keep working. In this case, we need to show that the EAD does not solve our problems (see appendices) but actually perpetuates them forever. It does even allow us to reach our full potential and give this nation innumerable more benefits.
Finally, we are doing this as a group. Each member is valuable and can have a contribution to the Petition letter. Based on this, let us add somewhere in the contributions section/paragraph that not only we contribute to the Economy but also to the Homeland and National Security. I can claim this for myself and I believe there may be others with a similar claim. If not, even my presence alone qualifies the statement. In this way we provide them with something unknown and uncover the hypocricy. This is also important as the BCIS is under DHS and this is the pre-occupation of the Nation, not to mention that all the policies start from there.
Thanks and keep up the good work. We have very few friends around!
CORRECTION: The website is "www.ailf.org"
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