My conversation with USCIS Lawyer

Rajiv Khanna,
Thanks to you. Thousands of 485 applicants would be grateful to you for supporting them eventhough they have not signed the law suit.

Since any number of interim benifits (like EAD, AP, AC21 etc) do not substitute GC approval, by adding interim benifits, USCIS increases workload and backlog continues to grow.

If USCIS cannot adjudicate 485 cases in 6 months, I support the suggestion of issuing of temp GC within 6 months from 485 RD, with no difference in benifits in comparison to a permenant resident. No other organization within the country or outside should find any difference between interim GC and actual GC except USCIS since 485 for the applicant is not completely adjudicated.
 
I am not into labor or 485 situation, but i would like to say , the efforts of Rajeev Khanna commedable, and litigation we are really thank ful to you Rajeev for all your efforts, keep it up.
thanks
 
Magic Stick

Thanks for your time and help Sir. (Rajiv Khanna).

I believe that, the below three points in my point of view would work like a magic stick for one and all. But these may be over-simplistic.

1. Premium Processing (I-140): $1500, 3 months, RFE to be resolved within 15 days (if any).

2. Premium Processing (I-485): $2500, 6 months, RFE to be resolved within 15 days (if any).

3. This should be applicable to new and old cases with immediate effect, and would be the full discretion of the candidate (not company), as the candidate would pay the amount.

JUSTIFICATION:

1. No increase in pay, if not reduction, by the companies, thus loosing good money.

2. No promotions due to the restrictions thus again loosing money and more importantly career development.
 
Re: Thanks for your input folks

I was trying to make a point that we are in a storng position based on the following points (just my opinion):

(1) We have filed this lawsuit after exploring all best options such as sending petition to lawmakers/UCIS requesting to address and resolved our concern.

(2) Government have address all SEPT 2001 victims issues such as providing so many benefits (money, collage tuition free etc.) as well as extended unemployment benefits to unemployed. (FYI…I am not against of these issues). If they bring SEPT 2001 issue such as security checks and patriot act then we can bring the point that why they haven't addressed our issues since we are also a one kind of victim of SEPT 2001?

(3) Government and homeland security is urging every person to go and live their normal life in order for terrorist aim won’t be successful to disturb person’s normal life (as per government). We can question them that how can we live our normal life under these circumstances? (such as paying full collage tuition fee without getting any scholarship or federal/state aid. This is the major issue for every person in U.S. among all other issues).

(4) Before (Mr. Bush has proposed amnesty to illegal person before SEPT 2001) and now after SEPT 2001. Whitehouse, congress (they are so many bills pending) and homeland security department has addressed and addressing illegal persons issues before and after SEPT 2001 (FYI..I am not against these issues) and neglecting legal non-immigrant/immigrant issues.

(5) UCIS is always inefficient even before SEPT 2001 (such as they have issued visa to terrorist who did SEPT 2001, labor process was taking over 3 years, etc.) and they even become more inefficient after SEPT 2001 (we have lot of examples here). They haven't taken any interim steps, such as extending EAD/AP expiry date etc, to reduce our backlog.


Originally posted by operations
The govt. is NOT in a weak position. they have some very strong arguments on their side. We need to present our demands and meet with them. If their attitude is uncompromising, we will take our chances in court. But that could take years.
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485 backlog reduction

Thanks Rajiv for all you support.
As a first step I think they should reduce the backlog of 485 applications and they should continue to process I-485 applications without much delay. If they can process all 485 applications say within an year from the receipt date (even if they increase application fee) we don't have to woory about EAD and AP renewal much.

My 2 cents.
 
Rajeev,

we know that you file the lawsuit for the whole 485 community, but after looking at the recent headlines like "USCIS Proposes to Increase Filing Fees" and "FY 2005 USCIS Budget and 6-Month Processing Time by 09/30/2006" it is clear to me that they specially their lawyers are preparing for the lawsuit. In my opinion If we go to the court and they show the court their plans for the reduction of backlog, we may end up with nothing .......................

So why not to settle the case by giving them the receipt #'s of all community member and get them approved, the # may be in 100,000's but as per them they approve 20,000 gc cases per day so it is not more than 2 weeks of their time -- In this way we may end up with something.... and it will help reducing the backlog too.

Just my Opinion as an observer of the current events............. Because earlier it was always politicians who come up with the reduction of backlog but this time it was uscis ........ something is wrong about that -------------------------------------------------------
 
I have one suggestion. We should be able to clearly track where is our case standing? At what stage it is ? How much more time will it take? After interview at local office it took exactly 1 year for approval. I have experianced intense tesion till it got approved. This much time it took when i followed up with the senator who helped me a lot and visiting local office every quarter.

Here is a link to letter which got from our most respected senator of NC John Edwards.

http://www.immigrationportal.com/showthread.php?s=&postid=686308#post686308


Thanks so much Rajiv S. Khanna
 
Agreed

Hi Mr. Khanna,

Thanks for your time and effort. I am a little bit confuded about the I-485 portability. According to Yates memo regarding the AC-21 section 106, There are two conditions for I-485 portability:
1. I-140 approved.
2. 180 days passed since I-485 was filed.
It does not say anything about 180 days from I-140 approval. It just says the I-140 has been approved. Am I right?

Best regards,
Spartakus
 
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what abt this...

Thank you for supporting us.

Lets say we manage to collect about 1000 signatures for "supporting the lawsuit". Then whether we like it or not, can BCIS approve just those 1000 cases (say in 10 days) and then take the "this case is now moot" approach do you think it will work for them.

if it does, then we need a lot of unity among us. everyone should sign this immediately.


Originally posted by operations
Believe it or not, they might even agree to that. In fact, that was one of the matters discussd. But when I first started this lawsuit, my understanding was, I am acting for the whole community, not just imigrationportal.com. But if you folks want only yourself to be approved, I can let another lawyer handle that. They can take over the case. I perceive the narrower representation to be a conflict of interest. I must represent all or none.
Click to expand...
 
Originally posted by operations
Believe it or not, they might even agree to that. In fact, that was one of the matters discussd. But when I first started this lawsuit, my understanding was, I am acting for the whole community, not just imigrationportal.com. But if you folks want only yourself to be approved, I can let another lawyer handle that. They can take over the case. I perceive the narrower representation to be a conflict of interest. I must represent all or none.
Click to expand...
Mr. Khanna, I know this is just a possibility, but if we do decided to pursue it, would people who filed I-140/I-485 just recently be eligible? - Say, someone filed I-140/I-485 a couple of months ago with all cases pending including I-140, EAD etc. As his case has not been pending that long, would the case be eligible to get adjudicated as other long pending cases? Or would he be eligible to sign the petition for that matter? Please clarify if you can. Thank you!
 
premium processing of 140 and 485

I agree with the idea of 140/485 premium processing. Let them charge 1000$ per app. and they can adjudicate the petition in 3-6 months.

Guess what, this will create jobs for INS centers.

Thanks.
 
140 Issue

In my last post, I forgot to mention another major source of frustration.

With concurrent filing, CIS does a prima facie review of the 140 application before issuing EAD and AP. If there is no evidence missing, the 140 application goes back on the shelf and is not processed for months on end (mine is over 10 months now). BUT, if you're missing information, they issue an RFE, and when the response comes back, they approve it in a short period of time afterwards. So applicants are being penalized for having done things right.

If they insist that there can be no portability until after the 140 is approved, then they must address the delays in processing those cases as well.
 
Don't ask for the moon

Assuming USCIS comes to negotiate :), there is a big list given by all of us, but may be these two will be easier for them to accept;

1. Release long pending AC-21 final guidelines with following -

Allow job change with no restrictions (NO similar job blah blah), when 180 days have passed after approved I-140 or filed I-485 (including concurrent).

2. Don't revoke/cancel I-485 of family, if primary applicant dies, if above condition of 180 days is satisfied.

I am sure every one wants more, but the above takes care of our major concerns giving us sleep less nights. Asking for less (quantity), but MAJOR items may help resolve the issues, else who knows when the suit will be settled and how.
 
Re: Thanks for your input folks

Originally posted by operations
The govt. is NOT in a weak position. they have some very strong arguments on their side. .....
Click to expand...

Mr. Khanna,
What are the strong arguments on the govt. side?
The basis for this complaint was "the unreasonable delays in processing of Employment Based Adjustment of Status (AOS) Applications pending before all...."

If "41. Congress has clearly expressed an opinion that a reasonable time for AOS adjudications is approximately six months" wonder what those strong arguments can be?

Would it be possible for you to list a couple of examples?
 
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Thanks a million Mr. Khanna and the core team for all the help in this fight.

My suggestions:

a) More adjudicating officers for I485 processing. This is the core problem for these delays.
b) Requesting for EAD and AP valid till the I485 is adjudicated. While some might argue that this will give USCIS an excuse to delay I485 processing, but it could also free up resources (from EAD/AP renewals) to adjudicate I485 processing.
c) Rules concerning "Changing jobs while I-485 is being processed (AC21)" needs to be little more flexible.
 
140/485 Premium processing proposal

Like many others, I am also proposing a Premium Processing Channel for 140/485 cases.

This would generate income to cover the resources to process these applications as well as utilize the same model of H1B premium processing channel, which USCIS is already familair with. I have read that USCIS was already considering 140 premium processing last year but decided not to go forward with it.

In my opinion, 140/ 485 adjudication in a timely fashion should be the primary negotiation topic. Other soultions may be only makeshift and provide more excuses for USCIS to further extend the processing times.
 
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Re: Re: Thanks for your input folks

Originally posted by brutus
Mr. Khanna,
What are the strong arguments on the govt. side?
The basis for this complaint was "the unreasonable delays in processing of Employment Based Adjustment of Status (AOS) Applications pending before all...."

If "41. Congress has clearly expressed an opinion that a reasonable time for AOS adjudications is approximately six months" wonder what those strong arguments can be?

Would it be possible for you to list a couple of examples?
Click to expand...


I am not sure I want to list all the arguments for the govt in a public forum. Send me an email and keep the response to yourself if you are interested. Better still, wait till you see govt's response (it is likely to be a motion to dismiss).
 
Please do not forget eligibility of citizenship

I know there are other more important problems to address. But the eligibility of citizenship is 5 years after the PR. So, if the INS takes 3 years to adjudicate the PR v/s the 6 months, they should consider the eligibility for citizenship 5 years and 6 months after the RD of the 485.

Thanks
 
Re: Please do not forget eligibility of citizenship

Originally posted by Awaiting approval
I know there are other more important problems to address. But the eligibility of citizenship is 5 years after the PR. So, if the INS takes 3 years to adjudicate the PR v/s the 6 months, they should consider the eligibility for citizenship 5 years and 6 months after the RD of the 485.

Thanks
Click to expand...


I have this in mind. Thanks.
 
Mr. Khanna,
One more idea: ask them to allow going for AOS and CP at the same time (it was possible several years ago, wasn't it?)
At the same time, reduce the processing time of I-824 from 1 year, to say, one week? I mean, please, how long can it take to send a piece of mail from once office to another?

Thank you,
sotiredofwaiting
 
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