I 140 delays in Vermont

Is I-140 petition more important than I-485 petition?

  • Yes, we should file a petition to improve I-140 processing times

    Votes: 163 98.2%

  • No

    Votes: 3 1.8%
  • Total voters
    166
Hi,
I added my "yes" for this petition if it could generate any interest.
I have been waiting for an answer for more than 18 months and it is not a joy ride. I wonna continue working hard and contribute to this society who has given me a chance to do something with my life unlike the one I come from.
This has been a long struggle and it is not finished yet.
-mzgh
 
compudada

Don't compare apple with oranges. College and High school are not related to each other in the same way as I-140 & I-485 are connected.

I still strongly believe that I-140 petition is no use until USCIS clears I-485 backlog. There are almost 0.5 million pending cases all over the service centers and we have better chance of getting things done in I-485 case then I-140. Even if USCIS tries to clear I-140, you will be standing in I-485 queue rather then in 140.

Unless USCIS allocates resources to cut down the I-485, they are not going to consider improving 140-approval process.

We should focus our effort towards something achievable and improving USCIS I-140 process is definitely not one of them.
 
usnycus

I simply do not understand your point. Do you already have I140? Give me one reason why I485 is more important than I140.

Let's say there are 2 stages in a job interview process

1. Technical Interview

2. Formality interview with VP

Should the candidate focus on stage 1 or stage 2? Simply put both interviews are important but VP will not interview the candidate unless he has cleared the technical interview.

The same holds in Green Card process. I140 is the critical step whereas I485 is simply a formality which could take time.
 
compudada

Let me try to summarize points that make me think I-140 petition should put on hold till we get some progress on I-485.

a) Large # of pending I-485: More waiting people means more support for the cause. Currently over 1 million I-485 are pending at different service centers and all those waiting people add more burden by applying for EAD/AP every year (that number is currently over 0.5 million).
http://uscis.gov/graphics/shared/aboutus/statistics/msrsep03/BENEFIT.HTM

b)AOS time frame
USCIS can be convinced to look into I-485 petition as average wait for AOS is crossing 2 years in most of the service center. People are suffering badly due to issues related with AOS.

c)I-140 - Employer based petition:
USCIS might not agree to deal with individual petitioner or their effort on this point. I saw someone posted that I-140 is “co-ownership”. Morally may be but legally it’s not.

d)Petition can also include section within for people who are not necessarily waiting in EB category to generate awareness in USCIS regarding the problem.

USCIS will be more inclined to response to I-485 petition for above stated reasons and chances of getting attention are more. Even submitting I-485 petition is not going to solve the problem overnight but it’s right place to start as chances of getting results are better compared to I-140 petition.

A lot of delay in I-140 is caused due to high increase in 485/EAD/AP petitions recently. USCIS has tendency of allocating resources away from I-140 into other sections. If you look into petition prepared by “Immigration.com”, they have outlined a lot of areas where there is need for improvement.

Let’s see how I-485 petition goes and based on xperience/result we can submit I-140 petition in future.

To kill your curiosity:
I have both I-485 & I-140 pending at VSC since early 2003. Even if I had I-140 approved, I would not have raised issue regarding “I-140 petition to USCIS” just based on that. I believe we should work as a team on immigration related matter that has better chance of gaining support and eventually getting attention. Submitting I-140 petition has no future in current situation and that might add negative factors on credibility of other petitions.

For you, 485 might be formality but for a lot of people, it is not. I am one of them and I like to see quick improvement in 485 then in 140. Most of the problem associated with I-140 are caused by large number of 485 application. They will keep coming back untill 485 and related are streamlined.

Thanks for participation in the forum and keep in mind that we all have right to disagree, time to time.
 
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Why I-140 is first priority

usnycus,

I can understand the delays getting in I-485 (20+ months) but if you ask people in this thread whose I-140 is not yet cleared, they can't even think of I-485 petition before I-140 approves. The reason for this is I-140 clearance boosts one's confidence in getting GC no matter how much delay I-485 gets. Practically I-485 can not be denied since entire info you submit in this regard is personal info.

You said "Unless USCIS allocates resources to cut down the I-485, they are not going to consider improving 140-approval process."

From the I-140 peoples perspective if resources are allocated to I-485 cases which pending from around 2 years who will care for I-140 cases? In that case I-140 pending people will have very tough time even to maintain their immigration state in this country. Pending I-140 People are already struggling for their job independence and stability. That's why I guess first priority is I-140. Its just my opinion.

Magic
 
Magician

I understand and also can feel the frustration I-140 delay is generating. Anyway, we should not focus currently on short-term goal but look for issues that can improve overall immigration related bottlenecks.

Only reason to go for I-140 petition given by advocates is AC-21 without realizing they are still dependent on employer to continue with their 485. Even when you change job-using AC-21, you still need an employer to back that up. One might be frustrated with their current employer and desperately wants to use AC-21, and that's fine with me.

If you are one of those individual who is not using AC-21, you can easily maintain status using 7th year H1-B extension or AOS. So maintaining status is not the driving factor behind I-140 petition but to use AC-21 in near future. I am not against I-140 petition or using AC-21 but I do feel strongly that we should not try to deviate our attention away from issues that can really improve the overall EB based category GC processing.

And that is I-485 petition.

Let's not submit another petition just for sake of it. Wait for the time when we can get sufficient support from others as well as USCIS and we will also learn from experience/result of I-485 petition.

Anyway, this is my last message on this thread and if you guy’s still wants to go ahead with I-140, you have all my support and wishes.

Good Luck.
 
7th year H1-B extension

usnycus,

You said
"If you are one of those individual who is not using AC-21, you can easily maintain status using 7th year H1-B extension or AOS"

Well what if the project gets over and employer revokes I-140 and as well cancels your H1B ? How many employers in the current economic IT situation you think will be willing for H1B transfer? Maintaining status is not that simple with pending I_140 as it appears. I-140 approval may not be "driving factor" but certainly a "foundation" factor for using AC-21.

Please don't get me wrong, I know this could be a endless debate. I do support both the petitions. But if I have to vote for one of them it will be I-140 first and I know it will be I-485 for you :)....Keep your informative postings flowing
 
usnycus,

You seem to be having a strongly stable job without any worries of layoffs and such, unfortunately there are thousands of us here whose companies are not doing well in this economy and are having layoff every quarter. And with people inching close to their 6 year limit and I-140s not being approved, in case of layoff they have to sell their everything (house, cars) pack two suitcases and go back home in a month's time. Doesn't that scare you? The thought gives me sleepless nights, so please...
 
I think joyd has really hit the target.

We all wanna clear I140 and finish 6 months after filing I485 ASAP to be eligible for AC21.
Bcos, once we are at this stage, employers cannot mess with us anymore due to our immigration status.

Till our I140's are not approved, we are all stuck to our employers and can't do much about it. Luckily I am with a good company, but a lot of the people are with crappy bodyshoppers and want to change jobs to say the least.

Rasmeek
 
This is to bring to your attention extreme delays in processing I-140 applications at Vermont Service Center. VSC is currently processing October 2002 applications and the dates haven't moved in the past three months.

Most I-140 applicants have already spent a long time in getting labor certification. It's frustrating to wait another 13 months for I-140. People have been voting on this issue

http://boards.immigration.com/showt...threadid=105259

Without I-140 approval, AC-21 becomes useless, as the employee is stuck with one company for long long time, first for labor processing and then for I140 processing. Can you please help?

***************************************************

Above is good.

I feel following should also be added:

1. Comparison with processing times at other Service Centers.

2. Something about unpredictability and randomness of processing to help us estimate the time.

3. Specify that making wait time in the range of 18 months make mockery of their own AC-21 rule.

4. I don't know how much weightage it would have but how about adding some cases where people face hardships mental/physical because of this long and unpredictable wait.


Let us all work on it and create a final format which can be submitted before Christmas holidays. So that we can have director thinking about it over the holidays.
 
suggestions

hey guys

how about taking out the following words

"frustration", "mockery"

comparision with other centers is also not advisable.

focus should be on the problems faced by people like us.
 
Interesting to see the emotions that people are generating on this thread.

Having been a part of both the petition process as well as actively campaigning for speedy approval process, I can tell you that just to get a petition signed by even 10,000 people which is 7,000 more than what the 485 petition got, is not going to help the problem.

Put yourselves in the shoes of the Director of VSC, do you think he gives a damn about 10,000 signatures when he is sitting on a backlog of over 1.3 million applications from all over? He will file it in pretty much the same place as he filed the 485 petition, the dustbin!

If you guys are serious about your processing delays and want to do something about it, then you must take action. Once the petition is up and ready, fire it off to all the Congressmen and Senators that you can. Organize representation at all the town meetings and district offices of Congressmen and Senators. File a lawsuit against INS to draw attention to your case. Agitate, because that is the only way to get your voice heard.

Finally, to those of who, who seem to think 485 is a distant dream and not important in your current state of affairs are deluding themselves. If you think AC21 is a panacea for all that ills you in the 140 process, then you are wrong. The wait is just as frustrating and worse because of the LONG delays. And the worst thing is that 140 waiters have to go through both the 140 backlog as well as 485 backlogs.

There is nothing that says you cannot focus on two things at one time. Keep the 140 petition and agitation going, but at the same time support the 485 back log reduction process. Because it is only after both the backlogs are gone will you be at your goal. Tackling just one aspect of the problem, doesn't really solve anything, you still have the other half of the problem to go.
 
I_140_Takes Forever,


>>Interesting to see the emotions that people are generating on this thread.

You speak like Mr. Spoke of Old StarTrek Enterprise :)

>>Having been a part of both the petition process as well as actively campaigning for speedy approval process, I can tell you >>that just to get a petition signed by even 10,000 people which is 7,000 more than what the 485 petition got, is not going >>to help the problem.

Why not? I think its the quality and content of the subject that matters more than the total strength


>>Put yourselves in the shoes of the Director of VSC, do you think he gives a damn about 10,000 signatures when he is sitting >>on a backlog of over 1.3 million applications from all over? He will file it in pretty much the same place as he filed the >>485 petition, the dustbin!

If 1.3 million backlog people don't care about the "backlog" why would INS be? I think 10,000 signatures will definitely make a difference. Remember ISN.org ? They started that loop with just 3 people and managed to get attention of billions now.


>>If you guys are serious about your processing delays and want to do something about it, then you must take action. Once the >>petition is up and ready, fire it off to all the Congressmen and Senators that you can. Organize representation at all the >>town meetings and district offices of Congressmen and Senators. File a lawsuit against INS to draw attention to your case. >>Agitate, because that is the only way to get your voice heard.

Let's start with simple petition first.

>>Finally, to those of who, who seem to think 485 is a distant dream and not important in your current state of affairs are >>deluding themselves. If you think AC21 is a panacea for all that ills you in the 140 process, then you are wrong. The wait >>is just as frustrating and worse because of the LONG delays. And the worst thing is that 140 waiters have to go through >>both the 140 backlog as well as 485 backlogs.

Agreed. But still I-140 first and then I-485. You can not not ask a person to get a college degree/ job when he has not eaten for days!! Without I-140 foundation, I-485 can not be acheived, although both are important.

>>There is nothing that says you cannot focus on two things at one time. Keep the 140 petition and agitation going, but at >>the same time support the 485 back log reduction process. Because it is only after both the backlogs are gone will you be >>at your goal. Tackling just one aspect of the problem, doesn't really solve anything, you still have the other half of the >>problem to go.

I don't think people in this thread don't care for I-485.....It's just the question of what's more important or priority based. The majority answer is I-140

Have you got your I-140 approval ? Keep up your feedback its very useful
 
Why not? I think its the quality and content of the subject that matters more than the total strength

Beg to differ but it has got nothing to do with quality or content of the subject, instead it is available budget and priority structure. Not to mention political pressure.

If 1.3 million backlog people don't care about the "backlog" why would INS be? I think 10,000 signatures will definitely make a difference. Remember ISN.org ? They started that loop with just 3 people and managed to get attention of billions now.

As far as ISN.org is concerned, times were different, it was during the boom and companies were putting pressure on the government and lobbying actively. Can't compare it to this economy. As far as collecting signatures is concerned, I have yet to see the 485 petition do anything other than gather dust.

I am an active campaigner for backlog reductions and have visited a number of town hall meetings with Congressmen/women, actually spoken to them about this situation, and I can tell you, we are the last thing on their mind. So you will have to say a lot more to convince me that a simple petition will do the trick, as compared the long slog of fighting every inch of the way with a hostile Congress, indifferent judiciary and the inept INS.

Let's start with simple petition first.

No harm in starting with a simple petition, but it shouldn't end there. You shouldn't even think of starting this without going the whole hog. Do you SERIOUSLY expect INS to take notice of a few hundred signatures? You have to push those signatures to them via Congressmen/Senators and Judges, or might as well not go through all the effort of getting those signatures!

Agreed. But still I-140 first and then I-485. You can not not ask a person to get a college degree/ job when he has not eaten for days!! Without I-140 foundation, I-485 can not be acheived, although both are important.

There you go again, I don't understand why things have to be mutually exclusive. Is it that difficult to present a common front, get the message to Congress about INS backlogs instead of 140 and 485 splits which means our strength is divided between two camps?

I don't think people in this thread don't care for I-485.....It's just the question of what's more important or priority based. The majority answer is I-140

The problem is the rude awakening that people will get when they find out that they have to go through the same rigmatole all over again if nothing is done about the backlogs.

My point is very simple, concentrate on both, nothing is more important than the other, both are equally important to you. It is just a matter of time before you transend from this list to the 485 list, and you will then have to convince all the 140 applicants of the validity of fighting the fair fight, so this is definitely going to be a chicken and egg for you! :)

Have you got your I-140 approval ? Keep up your feedback its very useful

Yes I have received my 140 approval.
 
I-140_takes_4_Ever,

Good reply..... I would have convinced with your reply if your I-140 was pending. Its like now I kind of started coming out of LC approval trauma since it got approved.Try to get some I-140 pending case supporters if you can to support I-485 petition. I am sure you will get major support from I-140 approved people.

I request other members of this thread to express their views on this important topic.

Thanks
Magician
 
Guys

I guess we are kind of getting off track from the main TOPIC. The main topic is gathering enough signatures for sending it to VSC. I guess there will be no limits to the discussion of 485, 140, 765 etc etc.

It is a true that guys who are waiting for 140 approval would like to go for 140 petition, guys who wait for 485 approval would like to show interest in 485 petition. we can link the whole process like this. there is no ending to the discussion. i do see that there are very good postings in this thread.

what i will suggest is that, lets give all support for 140 petition and also lets all give support for 485 petition. there should be no two groups, let one group fight for 140 and 485 together. guys whose 140 are pending will support 140 and 485 petition and guys whose 140 is approved will support both 140 and 485.

thanks

vicky
 
I also vote. Its taking too much time. Here is deal happen in NSC. One of my friend applied Mid Sep 2003. Guess what he got I140, AP, EAD approved. Here we are waiting for long time. I think immigration officer dont want any body get GC. Let the employer exploit the employee. I dont think so, USA is free country currently look like we are qualified labor.
 
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My 0.02 cents

Agree with Vicky.

Our problem is DELAYS AT VSC. After all I140 delays and I485 delays are 2 sides of the same coin. The bottleneck is the same.

Have a suggestion:
How about uniting our efforts and make one petition titled Processing Delays at Vermont Processing Center. After all we want both 140 and 485 delays to be fixed. Surely, we don't want one to improve at the expense of the other.
If this is acceptable, we can take the 485 petition and add 140 related stuff to it to prepare a new petition.
Also we can get maximum signatures on such a petition.

What are your views ?

Rasmeek
 
Fighting jointly!

This is exactly what I have been saying all along, the backlogs are NOT mutually exclusive, they are definitely inclusive! Backlogs MUST be reduced. You shouldn't have to wait for either your 485 or 140 beyond a certain amount of time.

But once again to reitierate another of my points, JUST SIGNING THE PETITION IS NOT ENOUGH! We must shove it down INS's throat and make them do something about it!

We must agitate, and bring our plight to the notice of all those who count. If we don't do that, then might as well not go through the trouble of writing a petition. All INS will do is smile and say thank you very much for the petition, we will get back to you in 999 days. Then we are back to square one.

first posted by Magician
I would have convinced with your reply if your I-140 was pending. Its like now I kind of started coming out of LC approval trauma since it got approved.Try to get some I-140 pending case supporters if you can to support I-485 petition. I am sure you will get major support from I-140 approved people.
Click to expand...
I don't think I am in the business of trying to get supporters. I think if people are not concerned or motivated enough to do something about the backlogs, they are worse to work with, than not having people at all. We have a good core of enthusiastic volunteers whom we don't have to beg to attend Town hall meetings with Congressmen, who fax petitions regularly, and are very vocal about their grouse with INS. Other like minded people are welcome to help, as far as the rest are concerned, you don't bother me.

As far as my 140 being approved. I have definitely gone through a lot in my INS experience, and suffered every step of the way, so I don't have to convince anyone. What I stating are facts as perceived by me. If you agree with the logic, then great, else we can always agree to disagree. I have tried to be as honest about my opinions as I can be, what you do next is up to you. I am already out of this 140 queue, but am willing to support anything you guys plan to do to reduce the backlog, because I have been through this before. And I can't forget my misery. But if you guys are not enthusiastic enough to fight it out with Congressmen and Senators, then I am wasting my time, because I know nothing is going to move with just a petition, this is just a starting block in the long road to backlog reduction!

Good luck to everyone here!
 
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