In One Week, 2,500 People Sign Petition for Faster Adjudications in Immigration
www.ImmigrationPortal.com, A community of over 67,000 immigrants, and immigration benefits applicants have demanded to speed up the "excruciatingly slow" processing of the final stages of Green Card through an increase in its budget and enhanced use of technology for security checks. The petition was submitted to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services(CIS) officials and all 535 members of U.S. Congress(House of Representatives and Senators).
Washington DC (PRWEB) October 13 2003-- www.ImmigrationPortal.com, A community of over 67,000 immigrants, and immigration benefits applicants have demanded to speed up the "excruciatingly slow" processing of the final stages of Green Card through an increase in its budget and enhanced use of technology for security checks.
The online petition is available at http://www.immigration.com/common/rsk/petition_I485.html and it was submitted to Prakash Khatri, the recently appointed Ombudsman for U.S. Citizenship and Immigration services (CIS) at DHS, Tom Ridge, Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary and Eduardo Aguirre Jr. , U.S. CIS Director. The petition was also submitted to all 535 members of United States Congress (House of Representatives and Senators), President of United States George W. Bush and Vice President of United States Richard Cheney.
In one week the petition has been placed online, nearly 2,500 signatories have sought to increase the priority and resources given to process employment-based I-485 applications.
United States Citizenship and Immigration Services(CIS) is responsible for the administration of immigration and naturalization adjudication functions and establishing immigration services policies and priorities.
Automation of name check and security check procedures, increased validation of finger printing from the current 15 months, elimination of intermediate procedures like the annual renewal of employment authorization are among the suggestions submitted to CIS.
According to recent CIS statistics the total pending I-485 applications reached about 1.2 million , a 27 percent increase when compared to pending cases a year ago. The petition also seeks the Homeland Security to appoint some adjudicators to exclusively work on old cases especially those that have receipt date prior to the current processing month, but not yet adjudicated. "This would help alleviate disparity in the processing periods. People who have applied in 2002 have been accorded their I-485 approvals, whereas persons who applied in 2000 or 2001 are still awaiting for CIS's response," the petition pointed out.
"On an average each of us has been living in this country for more than six years. We have been working hard, paying our share of taxes and making other positive contributions to the system. We feel that CIS is, despite all evidence to the contrary, treating us as irrelevant or less important immigrant group," the petitioners said.
Until 2002, the Immigration and Naturalization Services - that was rechristened as CIS in March this year - used to take less than a year to decide on employment-based I-485 applications. But with the introduction of additional security checks, the I-485 application processing time has now increased to more than 19 months at all the service centers, with Texas taking more than two years. "What is alarming is, the processing time delays are worsening each month," the petition pointed out. In its suggestions to clear the backlog, the petitioners said the CIS should prepare an action plan with defined, effective and transparent milestones. "CIS should dedicate one or two months in the near future, for employment based I485 cases. This is especially required because CIS has never given priority to our cases in the recent past," suggested the petition.
"This severe processing delay is affecting our lives enormously. We cannot be sure of our future. We cannot take vital decisions in our lives including marriage, home ownership, children's education - to name just a few. Our career advancement is hampered because the applicant has to remain with the same employer or similar job in order to benefit from this adjustment of status. The frustration and uncertainty affects every aspect of our lives," the petitioners said.
Immigration benefits applicants said, Though " The American Competitiveness in the Twenty-first Century Act (AC21)" tried to address the job portability concerns, it failed to remove all the restrictions on job portability. The applicants requests Congress to remove all the restrictions on job portability after 6 months from the date of filing the I-485 application. The current restrictions require that an applicant can change the job provided the new job is a similar job with similar job duties. This leaves a wide scope for interpretation by CIS.
Renowned scientists, computer programmers, innovators, physicians, teachers and other professionals are said to be behind this petition. " We are playing an important role in making the American corporations establish and maintain their leadership in US and global markets. We are now an integral part of almost every major American corporation. Our continued presence is critically important for the growth of American business and the American economy," the petitioners said about themselves.
The Immigration benefits applicants seeks Congress to amend Naturalization requirements for them as reparation for perpetual processing delays of adjustment of status applications(I-485). The petitioners requests Congress to amend INA Sec. 316. [8 U.S.C. 1427] for people who had obtained the Permanent Residency through Employment, the five year lawful residency requirement should start from the day adjustment of status application (I-485) was filed with CIS. Alternatively, The immigration benefits applicants suggest that the naturalization eligibility for people who had obtained the Permanent Residency through Employment should be changed, so that it requires the applicant must be a permanent resident and must have resided in USA for 8 years with valid legal status to work.
"They already have the Green Card for all practical purposes. We want the government to speed up the process of formalizing a foregone conclusion," Rajiv S. Khanna, a Washington DC-based immigration lawyer, who is guiding and hosting the petition on his firm's Web site www.immigration.com, said.
"The community at www.immigrationportal.com (not really I or our office - we are just helping) is the only grassroots group asking for more resources and higher priority to the Green Card processing," he said.
Meanwhile, the National Immigration Law Center (NILC), a national support center for low-income immigrants, is working through the American Immigration Lawyers Association in Washington, D.C., to promote a direct appropriation from Congress to CIS in order to address the "horrible backlog situation."
On the discussion boards of www.immigration.com, an ongoing discussion of efforts and enthusiasm of the community can be found at: http://boards.immigration.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=94080
The discussion consists of over 31 pages of community comments on this issue alone.
Naysayers are of the opinion that these type of efforts are unlikely to bring any change. Rajiv S. Khanna remains optimistic that the effort will, if not anything else, open future doors of activism for quickening the Green Card process for clearly deserving applicants. “We are establishing a grassroots platform for systematic advocacy for community of all immigrants globally” notes Khanna. www.ImmigrationPortal.com is currently the largest community for immigration related matters hosting over 67,000 registered members and over 300,000 unregistered viewers.
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www.ImmigrationPortal.com, A community of over 67,000 immigrants, and immigration benefits applicants have demanded to speed up the "excruciatingly slow" processing of the final stages of Green Card through an increase in its budget and enhanced use of technology for security checks. The petition was submitted to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services(CIS) officials and all 535 members of U.S. Congress(House of Representatives and Senators).
Washington DC (PRWEB) October 13 2003-- www.ImmigrationPortal.com, A community of over 67,000 immigrants, and immigration benefits applicants have demanded to speed up the "excruciatingly slow" processing of the final stages of Green Card through an increase in its budget and enhanced use of technology for security checks.
The online petition is available at http://www.immigration.com/common/rsk/petition_I485.html and it was submitted to Prakash Khatri, the recently appointed Ombudsman for U.S. Citizenship and Immigration services (CIS) at DHS, Tom Ridge, Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary and Eduardo Aguirre Jr. , U.S. CIS Director. The petition was also submitted to all 535 members of United States Congress (House of Representatives and Senators), President of United States George W. Bush and Vice President of United States Richard Cheney.
In one week the petition has been placed online, nearly 2,500 signatories have sought to increase the priority and resources given to process employment-based I-485 applications.
United States Citizenship and Immigration Services(CIS) is responsible for the administration of immigration and naturalization adjudication functions and establishing immigration services policies and priorities.
Automation of name check and security check procedures, increased validation of finger printing from the current 15 months, elimination of intermediate procedures like the annual renewal of employment authorization are among the suggestions submitted to CIS.
According to recent CIS statistics the total pending I-485 applications reached about 1.2 million , a 27 percent increase when compared to pending cases a year ago. The petition also seeks the Homeland Security to appoint some adjudicators to exclusively work on old cases especially those that have receipt date prior to the current processing month, but not yet adjudicated. "This would help alleviate disparity in the processing periods. People who have applied in 2002 have been accorded their I-485 approvals, whereas persons who applied in 2000 or 2001 are still awaiting for CIS's response," the petition pointed out.
"On an average each of us has been living in this country for more than six years. We have been working hard, paying our share of taxes and making other positive contributions to the system. We feel that CIS is, despite all evidence to the contrary, treating us as irrelevant or less important immigrant group," the petitioners said.
Until 2002, the Immigration and Naturalization Services - that was rechristened as CIS in March this year - used to take less than a year to decide on employment-based I-485 applications. But with the introduction of additional security checks, the I-485 application processing time has now increased to more than 19 months at all the service centers, with Texas taking more than two years. "What is alarming is, the processing time delays are worsening each month," the petition pointed out. In its suggestions to clear the backlog, the petitioners said the CIS should prepare an action plan with defined, effective and transparent milestones. "CIS should dedicate one or two months in the near future, for employment based I485 cases. This is especially required because CIS has never given priority to our cases in the recent past," suggested the petition.
"This severe processing delay is affecting our lives enormously. We cannot be sure of our future. We cannot take vital decisions in our lives including marriage, home ownership, children's education - to name just a few. Our career advancement is hampered because the applicant has to remain with the same employer or similar job in order to benefit from this adjustment of status. The frustration and uncertainty affects every aspect of our lives," the petitioners said.
Immigration benefits applicants said, Though " The American Competitiveness in the Twenty-first Century Act (AC21)" tried to address the job portability concerns, it failed to remove all the restrictions on job portability. The applicants requests Congress to remove all the restrictions on job portability after 6 months from the date of filing the I-485 application. The current restrictions require that an applicant can change the job provided the new job is a similar job with similar job duties. This leaves a wide scope for interpretation by CIS.
Renowned scientists, computer programmers, innovators, physicians, teachers and other professionals are said to be behind this petition. " We are playing an important role in making the American corporations establish and maintain their leadership in US and global markets. We are now an integral part of almost every major American corporation. Our continued presence is critically important for the growth of American business and the American economy," the petitioners said about themselves.
The Immigration benefits applicants seeks Congress to amend Naturalization requirements for them as reparation for perpetual processing delays of adjustment of status applications(I-485). The petitioners requests Congress to amend INA Sec. 316. [8 U.S.C. 1427] for people who had obtained the Permanent Residency through Employment, the five year lawful residency requirement should start from the day adjustment of status application (I-485) was filed with CIS. Alternatively, The immigration benefits applicants suggest that the naturalization eligibility for people who had obtained the Permanent Residency through Employment should be changed, so that it requires the applicant must be a permanent resident and must have resided in USA for 8 years with valid legal status to work.
"They already have the Green Card for all practical purposes. We want the government to speed up the process of formalizing a foregone conclusion," Rajiv S. Khanna, a Washington DC-based immigration lawyer, who is guiding and hosting the petition on his firm's Web site www.immigration.com, said.
"The community at www.immigrationportal.com (not really I or our office - we are just helping) is the only grassroots group asking for more resources and higher priority to the Green Card processing," he said.
Meanwhile, the National Immigration Law Center (NILC), a national support center for low-income immigrants, is working through the American Immigration Lawyers Association in Washington, D.C., to promote a direct appropriation from Congress to CIS in order to address the "horrible backlog situation."
On the discussion boards of www.immigration.com, an ongoing discussion of efforts and enthusiasm of the community can be found at: http://boards.immigration.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=94080
The discussion consists of over 31 pages of community comments on this issue alone.
Naysayers are of the opinion that these type of efforts are unlikely to bring any change. Rajiv S. Khanna remains optimistic that the effort will, if not anything else, open future doors of activism for quickening the Green Card process for clearly deserving applicants. “We are establishing a grassroots platform for systematic advocacy for community of all immigrants globally” notes Khanna. www.ImmigrationPortal.com is currently the largest community for immigration related matters hosting over 67,000 registered members and over 300,000 unregistered viewers.
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