Philadelphia Backlog Elimination Center Tracking

Just incase you thought you did not have enough bad news...

Article from immigration-law.com:

Clogged Foreign Labor Certification System Without Light at End of Tunnel

The reengineering of the nation's foreign labor certification system is facing a serious crisis as both the PERM program and the Backlog Reduction program reveal serious flaws. One doubts whether anyone within the DOL would have anticipated such serious problems when they had worked out this labor certification reengineering process. The nation's labor certification system is practically under seize at this time. Reportedly, the Backlog Processing Centers still have a huge number of boxes of files which have yet to be opened just for data-entry and until the data entry is completed, cases may not be adjudicated except a few oldest cases pending early 2001 or ealier than that. There is no end in sight. Since the Backlog Reduction program was first announced in the federal register, more than eight months have passed by now with no visible results and adjudication of applications. It appears that the serious flaws in planning and operation of the backlog reduction process are related to the concept of "national queue" and "FIFO." First problem existed in the management of this concept. The DOL should have known which states and which regions had the oldest backlog cases. Some small states did not even have any backlogs at all. We thought the leaders in the FLDC were aware of this issue and planned and scheduled shipment of cases from the states and regions in the order of assumedly heaviest backlog locations. As we all know it, San Francisco was picked first for this reason. If this plan worked perfectly, the oldest San Francisco cases should have been gone out of the labor certification processing pipelines while back. The same should be true with other earlier shipment state cases. The current backlog in opening boxes and completing data entries for later shipped cases from the least backlog states should not have halted the adjudication process for the earlier shipped cases. It is horrendous to draw a picture of limited number of analysts and certifying officers in the Backlog Processing Centers beginning to adjudicate over 300,000 cases sometime in the future after completion of the data entries and 45-day letter processing. Supposedly, a large number of these cases are traditional regular applications which will have to go through the time-consuming supervised recruitment process. The announced schedule of 24-30 months removal of all these backlog cases may turn out to be a dream, considering the fact that over eight months have already gone by without completion of preparation phase for processing of the cases. Unless the leaders of DFLC seriously relook at the current plan, operation, and management, they may have to deal with a tough political challenge in the Congress as they will have to hand out begging additional tax-money appropriations. One wonders how the DFLC will be able to persuade the tax payers and the Congressional leaders for the additional money and failures.
The other problem is the flaws in the PERM program. On the surface, there is no noticeable backlog in the new PERM system, but it is a completely false picture for the three reasons. Firstly the flaws in the PERM program have led the employers distancing themselves from filing new applications, particularly refiling cases. Secondly, even though there is no announced statistics, the community has learnt by now that whatever cases the employers filed have faced massive denials. These denials were made by the computer in less than an hour! When the cases are denied so swiftly, there should be no backlog in the pipeline, right? Wrong. It appears that massive denial of the online filing has led or forced employers to file the applications by mail. Unconfirmed sources indicate that there is a heavy backlog of data-entry of these cases by contractors into the online system. This is the third problem which probably the DFLC would not have anticipated in planning the PERM system. The PERM system discourages mail filing but at the same token forces the employers to stay away from the online filing and go for mail filing. It appears that all of the current problems stemmed from the computer software programs that did not properly incorproate various issues which only human beings can adjudicate after considering the totality of circumstances, facts, and evidences. One attorney reports that when the job required a "business" degree and the alien had a "commerce" degree which is another term of the specialty in many countries in the word, including Japan, Korea, India, etc, etc, such application has been instantly denied by the computer. The problem of the PERM system lies with the PERM planners who had overestimated the capability of the computer programs, ignoring the legal process that mandates adjudication of applications based on evidence in totality. Computer "matrix" may work when something can be quantified. The legal adjudication process is not something that can quantify the various evidence which should be considered in many different contexts and circumstances and probably the current PERM program may be seriously violating the rules of the administrative laws. The failure of the computer program to recognize no distinction between the commerce major and the business major is indeed "a tip of iceberg" that the current PERM program has revealed, producing massive denials of applications "instantly." At this point, probably no one has answers to the questions as to how the FDLC will be able to fix these problems. Now, reportedly the two National Processing Centers have recruited the required resources of analysts and certifying officers. This reporter see no other way of fix for the current problems unless the DFLC removes computer matrix decision and has the analysts and certifying officers review the computer results before making a decision. Otherwise, the system not only has a management issue, but also will have to face a serious legal issues in courts
 
mugur said:
What do i do next,except filing I140?
How do i get my SS number?
DO i have to wait to file I140 or is the approval letter sufficient to get the number?
Do i have to apply for the EAD,work permit or it will automatically come in the mail?
You are next :)

Go for concurrent Filing Of I-140 & I-485 (plus EAD & AP for you & your spouse).. It take about 30 to 90 days to get EAD after I-485 filing date.
 
jnathan, sorry buddy you are too late. This article has been posted many times on the thread.

Guys, have patience, we waited 4 years for LC, why not wait 4 more years. Its just years, right, not decades. Longer we wait, we will be rewarded with retrogression, visa no unavailability, 140 backlogged for 3 years, 6 months extension instead of yearly ...
 
well said Juntha

I agree that the frustration is there ................ and very well should be. Short of us organizing and lobbying in some senseless manner. One of the options I see is to lobby hard and very diligently for the Immigration bill Senator MacCain and Kennedy has brought in the senate. Looking ahead, if we dont want to get stuck in another backlog after getting out of one, we should seriously lobby. Think of it as investing time in your future, there are no gaurantees in life but its worth trying. Anyways, its definitely better than gettig frustrated.
Any thoughts?

frog

--"Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly."
 
here s my point

juntha said:
5 cases approved in Dallas, 1 in Philly. And that s within the members of those forums. Someone posted DOZENS of approved case in the Dallas forum. Most of them were for people that were not in the forum. Do you really thing these numbers can give us a statistical trend ? Not at all.

Not all of the 500 000 LC applicants use this forum.

A better way to check on the BEC work is to look at those 45 days letters in the BEC tracker (look in another forum). I d say almost 50 percent of the people in the tracker received it.
We all knew they were still entering data in their computers, we all knew that they are just beginning to go thru the LC approval now starting from the oldest one (thanks god !), we all knew that PERM system isn t working well now.
So why so many post about something we already knew. It not like it s a big revelation ! I never sent an Email to check on my status, never used a Hotline. I prefer to let them work as much as they can. Everyone will benefits if we stop bugging them. Beside the same email is sent to everyone who tried. What do you want, your own copy ?
Then you have some people that tries to give us good news... and read too much into it. Even if that kind of news gives us some hope, some of us go all the way around and got disappointed when it doesn t happen. Look at the Dallas BEC forum where Icarus is refered as 'GOD' (?) ICARUS. This is ridiculous.
Just stay quiet and try to be optimistic. Posting conspiracy theories lead to nothing positive. The truth is that it s a long hard job for those BEC centers. Even attorneys report conflicting news about it.


Finally, i still believe that getting a Green Card is a priviledge, I am confortable with the thouht that it should be hard to get it.

And to be honest when i see people complaining about their LC with a PD in 2004... that just makes me laugh then i am getting angry. I am May 2001 and still waiting quietly !!! :(


this was posted on the dallas forum. ANd i agree totally with it. This is going totally out of hand and we shouldn t listen and agree to any news on the web. Think, people, THINK ;( And look for who wrote those news.

ram_ram
Registered User

Join Date: Dec 2004
Posts: 38
Issues with PERM process
The following is an article from www.immigration-law.com. I just could not agree to the content and as an end user taking the suffering, had to raise my concerns (between **). I do not want to hurt anyone's feelings but these are my views. Please feel free to contradict.
-------------------------------
The other problem is the flaws in the PERM program. On the surface, there is no noticeable backlog in the new PERM system, but it is a completely false picture for the three reasons. Firstly the flaws in the PERM program have led the employers distancing themselves from filing new applications, particularly refiling cases. Secondly, even though there is no announced statistics, the community has learnt by now that whatever cases the employers filed have faced massive denials. These denials were made by the computer in less than an hour!

**Computer program does not need days to follow a fixed algorithm and deny the application. That is the reason for the increasing use of computers in all the fields. The exclamation in the above statement is not needed. It just indicates the ignorance of the writer.**

When the cases are denied so swiftly, there should be no backlog in the pipeline, right? Wrong. It appears that massive denial of the online filing has led or forced employers to file the applications by mail. Unconfirmed sources indicate that there is a heavy backlog of data-entry of these cases by contractors into the online system. This is the third problem which probably the DFLC would not have anticipated in planning the PERM system. The PERM system discourages mail filing but at the same token forces the employers to stay away from the online filing and go for mail filing.

It appears that all of the current problems stemmed from the computer software programs that did not properly incorproate various issues which only human beings can adjudicate after considering the totality of circumstances, facts, and evidences.

**The above statement is completely wrong. The problems stemmed from the fact that the DOL gods who proposed a set of rules to be incorporated in the computer programs missed some rules. There should be more analysis done before framing the rules. They should have tested the system with a particular state or service center as a pilot project to fix these issues, which they did not do. Instead, they launched a system that is not fully tested nationwide.**


One attorney reports that when the job required a "business" degree and the alien had a "commerce" degree which is another term of the specialty in many countries in the word, including Japan, Korea, India, etc, etc, such application has been instantly denied by the computer.

The problem of the PERM system lies with the PERM planners who had overestimated the capability of the computer programs, ignoring the legal process that mandates adjudication of applications based on evidence in totality.Computer "matrix" may work when something can be quantified. The legal adjudication process is not something that can quantify the various evidence which should be considered in many different contexts and circumstances and probably the current PERM program may be seriously violating the rules of the administrative laws.

**The capability of computer programs is NOT over estimated. The computer programs can do most of what an individual can do, but the set of rules framed for the programs should be more adequate. The system should be tested more responsibly. Computer "matrix" may work not only when something can be quantified, it also can decide logical conditions when programmed efficiently. The statement ---Computer "matrix" may work when something can be quantified----is a poor judgment of computer programming.**

The failure of the computer program to recognize no distinction between the commerce major and the business major is indeed "a tip of iceberg" that the current PERM program has revealed, producing massive denials of applications "instantly." At this point, probably no one has answers to the questions as to how the FDLC will be able to fix these problems. Now, reportedly the two National Processing Centers have recruited the required resources of analysts and certifying officers. This reporter see no other way of fix for the current problems unless the DFLC removes computer matrix decision and has the analysts and certifying officers review the computer results before making a decision.

**They need these analysts and certifying officers only for some time, for testing the system and enhance the system (with rules that are missed by DOL gods) for 2-3 months before it can be stabilized. In fact they should have used these analysts for tesing the system before launch.**


Otherwise, the system not only has a management issue, but also will have to face a serious legal issues in courts.


**More important issue, that is been under covers and no one wants to own it or even mention it is the ignorance of computer knowledge of a majority of people (including some attorneys) working at the law offices and Employer worksites (Human resource people), though they are a minor percentage when compared to people at law offices. They are used to this paper work all these years and are reluctant to learn using an online system. I have been dealing with some law offices and they do not even want to accept some help from clients with computer knowledge, because of the ego problems.

Most of the law offices just increased their attorney fee, when it should have been reduced (or at least kept at the same rate as before) because of the simplicity of the PERM system when compared to the old process. The PERM system also takes away the control from the attorneys, since an employer can file it easily after a couple of months of experience. The attorneys obviously, did not like this.

Also DOL should have conducted some training sessions for attorneys, before unveiling the system one fine morning.**
Last edited by ram_ram : 2nd June 2005 at 11:58 AM.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
EB-3 Visa Numbers Unavailable Soon

Applicants for the EB-3 visa category will most likely have to hold on to their applications sometime this summer.

The USCIS is approving approximately 30,000 applications per month, which will likely lead to a temporary freeze of EB-3 approvals.

The EB-3 category is for applicants that are:

Aliens with at least two years of experience as skilled workers;
Professionals with a baccalaureate degree; and
Other workers with less than two years experience, such as an unskilled worker who can perform labor for which qualified workers are not available in the United States.

When the temporary suspension of approvals happens, the USCIS and the State Department won't approve any green card applications until Ocober 1, 2005, with the exception of registered nurses, physical therapists and their families
 
orissa said:
This morning my lawyer replied my email. Phily BEC not yet done with all data entry. They have majore system/software problem. Data entry will take another 6 to 8 month. And we will see some results next year March 2006.

I still do not understand why my lawyer afraid to file Perm. Any time I ask him about perm, he never replied me in positive way. I feel as if DOL instruct him to discourage me from perm. Anyone in this forum ever noticed lawyers discouraging from filing perm?

Prcaticing patience.

Well, if they have a problem with entering data into system, they might as well look at some of the cases already in system and approve some case!

The whole BEC thing is such a joke. Without BEC, we would be out of the woods by now.
 
computer problem... bullshit...

Man..we in 21st cent:... land of most technologies.... you and me know how much of time it takes to fix a computer problem. These people are basically shitting in their computer to make it go wrong. I support and work for 8 countries.. If there is a problem I get calls middle of the night and resolved within min.
So....................... who is the culprit.
God Bless America
 
orissa said:
This morning my lawyer replied my email. Phily BEC not yet done with all data entry. They have majore system/software problem. Data entry will take another 6 to 8 month. And we will see some results next year March 2006.

I still do not understand why my lawyer afraid to file Perm. Any time I ask him about perm, he never replied me in positive way. I feel as if DOL instruct him to discourage me from perm. Anyone in this forum ever noticed lawyers discouraging from filing perm?

Prcaticing patience.

DOl stated before that they will finish data entry by end of summer 2005 so around september. icarus says that they will not finish before march 2006 which is what orissa's lawyer is saying. honestly i don't know what is happening and what is the right answer. any one has any insights?
 
juntha said:
5 cases approved in Dallas, 1 in Philly. And that s within the members of those forums. Someone posted DOZENS of approved case in the Dallas forum. Most of them were for people that were not in the forum. Do you really thing these numbers can give us a statistical trend ? Not at all.
Not all of the 500 000 LC applicants use this forum.

A better way to check on the BEC work is to look at those 45 days letters in the BEC tracker (look in another forum). I d say almost 50 percent of the people in the tracker received it.
We all knew they were still entering data in their computers, we all knew that they are just beginning to go thru the LC approval now starting from the oldest one (thanks god !), we all knew that PERM system isn t working well now.
So why so many post about something we already knew. It not like it s a big revelation ! I never sent an Email to check on my status, never used a Hotline. I prefer to let them work as much as they can. Everyone will benefits if we stop bugging them. Beside the same email is sent to everyone who tried. What do you want, your own copy ?
Then you have some people that tries to give us good news... and read too much into it. Even if that kind of news gives us some hope, some of us go all the way around and got disappointed when it doesn t happen. Look at the Dallas BEC forum where Icarus is refered as 'GOD' (?) ICARUS. This is ridiculous.
Just stay quiet and try to be optimistic. Posting conspiracy theories lead to nothing positive. The truth is that it s a long hard job for those BEC centers. Even attorneys report conflicting news about it.


Finally, i still believe that getting a Green Card is a priviledge, I am confortable with the thouht that it should be hard to get it.

And to be honest when i see people complaining about their LC with a PD in 2004... that just makes me laugh then i am getting angry. I am May 2001 and still waiting quietly !!! :(

Sorry I don't totally agree with you on this. It is nice to always be understanding and to stay calm.

But I think the frustration and impatience expressed by many of the forum members here are well justified.

Yes, Green card is a priviledge and it is ok if it is hard to get for all qualified people. The frustration comes when we abide by law and work so hard to maintain our legal status. And we pay tax, social security, medicare. Our career, family, finance and even our travel plans are impacted by our status. While we see bills being proposed to make fence jumpers ( illegal immigrants who already broke the law just by being in this country) to get greed card
more easily. These fence jumpers are crowding our long long waiting line. And we all know these bills are introduced for political reasons (at least partially).

Our frustration also comes from the lack of any communication from BEC. We don't have any tracking machinism to see where our cases are. And we don't have any report or time line on what BEC is working on and where they are in the process. We don't even know what the process exactly is. Knowledge is power, when you dont' have it, you feel powerless. Our cases have been put in a black box for 3 or 4 years. Frustrated? Of course we are.

We have been quiet and tried to "let them work as much as they can" in the past 4 years and look where we are now? During this long process and after all the experiences with DOL, many of us don't have that much trust in DOL anymore. Thats why people exchange info on this forum and do analysis by themselves. Can we blame them? Also thats why there are initiatives to send letters, emails to bring some attention.

This forum is for you and me and many others to talk about any info, update and even speculations as long as it is related to BEC case tracking. Some people choose to stay quiet, some people choose to express their thoughts, and we should be understanding to both.
 
antonioa77 said:
DOl stated before that they will finish data entry by end of summer 2005 so around september. icarus says that they will not finish before march 2006 which is what orissa's lawyer is saying. honestly i don't know what is happening and what is the right answer. any one has any insights?

not insight, but i got the impresion that most lawyers dislike PERM because it makes things easier and faster for clients, and lost money for lawyers that will no longer be able to chrge for 7th & 8th year H visa, etc..

as of now, the most recent information i have is that most rejected cases in PERM are because of technical reasons. so there is no base ground for the lawyer scarry scenarrio... i guess if your PD is mid 2003 and 2004, you should go for PERM. unless you want to wait 3 more years.. :rolleyes:
 
Slade245 said:
not insight, but i got the impresion that most lawyers dislike PERM because it makes things easier and faster for clients, and lost money for lawyers that will no longer be able to chrge for 7th & 8th year H visa, etc..

as of now, the most recent information i have is that most rejected cases in PERM are because of technical reasons. so there is no base ground for the lawyer scarry scenarrio... i guess if your PD is mid 2003 and 2004, you should go for PERM. unless you want to wait 3 more years.. :rolleyes:

i'm a 2004 filler, but the problem is that PERM is creating lot of denials. i don't know if i should wait for another few months till things improve with PERM then i apply. it is really a dilema. with DOL whatever u do, u will be screwed up.
 
VAhoper said:
Sorry I don't totally agree with you on this. It is nice to always be understanding and to stay calm.

But I think the frustration and impatience expressed by many of the forum members here are well justified.

Yes, Green card is a priviledge and it is ok if it is hard to get for all qualified people. The frustration comes when we abide by law and work so hard to maintain our legal status. And we pay tax, social security, medicare. Our career, family, finance and even our travel plans are impacted by our status. While we see bills being proposed to make fence jumpers ( illegal immigrants who already broke the law just by being in this country) to get greed card
more easily. These fence jumpers are crowding our long long waiting line. And we all know these bills are introduced for political reasons (at least partially).

Our frustration also comes from the lack of any communication from BEC. We don't have any tracking machinism to see where our cases are. And we don't have any report or time line on what BEC is working on and where they are in the process. We don't even know what the process exactly is. Knowledge is power, when you dont' have it, you feel powerless. Our cases have been put in a black box for 3 or 4 years. Frustrated? Of course we are.

We have been quiet and tried to "let them work as much as they can" in the past 4 years and look where we are now? During this long process and after all the experiences with DOL, many of us don't have that much trust in DOL anymore. Thats why people exchange info on this forum and do analysis by themselves. Can we blame them? Also thats why there are initiatives to send letters, emails to bring some attention.

This forum is for you and me and many others to talk about any info, update and even speculations as long as it is related to BEC case tracking. Some people choose to stay quiet, some people choose to express their thoughts, and we should be understanding to both.


Don't get me wrong. I do have a lot of frustration and a lot of things are on hold for me also. But I didn t spent the last 5 years expressing it to everyone who want to hear or read it. We are all in the same situation but we need to get the best of it. We have to decide if the forum is there for moral support or for information purpose.
I didn t complain about the DOL but about the way the forum is used. Conspiracy theories and Over the top optimist posts don t have room in a forum whose purpose is to inform us. We are losing all credibility and the forum isn t as usefull as it could be. Also the forum should be used as a source of information, not as a way to have some questions answered. Everyone should do some work and read previous posts THEN ask a question if it s still needed.
Look at some post already, some members just arrive, dont even bother reading previous posts and ask questions already answered 100 times. Instead of directing to the thread containing the answer, some post very negative and frustated posts that has no value whatsoever beside freaking out those new members who express their own anger using the same forum.
Today s main topic was about a PERM/LC new found on the web that made everyone upset. Instead of analyzing it and looking at where the news came from, we got inundated with useless posts that would frustrate even the more patient guy around.
When i am going to this forum, I am not asking for a blind optimism, i am looking for any news.
Well i am sorry if i offended people with my previous post but i belive more in an active way to use the forum looking for information on my side instead of a passive way wating for some 'god' to answer my questions...
 
antonioa77 said:
i'm a 2004 filler, but the problem is that PERM is creating lot of denials. i don't know if i should wait for another few months till things improve with PERM then i apply. it is really a dilema. with DOL whatever u do, u will be screwed up.
IF I were you, and had all the resource (money, support, ...), I would be preparing for filing PERM. It takes some time to get a case ready. When the system gets mature, you can file right away.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Help: how long to reopen a case

Hi,

Today I just found out my case was closed. My employer received the case closure letter on April 14 and asked my attorney to reopen it by sending a letter to DOL BEC. There is no response from BEC yet. My attorney did not tell me the truth. He kept telling me that my 45 day letter is not received. I am thinking to transfer my case to another attorney.

Question: How difficult and how long it might take to repopen the case?

Please share your experience if you have such experience.

PD: 10/26/01
RD: 05/03/04

Thanks
 
these attorn: are bunch of suckers..

umd97 said:
Hi,

Today I just found out my case was closed. My employer received the case closure letter on April 14 and asked my attorney to reopen it by sending a letter to DOL BEC. There is no response from BEC yet. My attorney did not tell me the truth. He kept telling me that my 45 day letter is not received. I am thinking to transfer my case to another attorney.

Question: How difficult and how long it might take to repopen the case?

Please share your experience if you have such experience.

PD: 10/26/01
RD: 05/03/04

Thanks
 
umd97 said:
Hi,

Today I just found out my case was closed. My employer received the case closure letter on April 14 and asked my attorney to reopen it by sending a letter to DOL BEC. There is no response from BEC yet. My attorney did not tell me the truth. He kept telling me that my 45 day letter is not received. I am thinking to transfer my case to another attorney.

Question: How difficult and how long it might take to repopen the case?

Please share your experience if you have such experience.

PD: 10/26/01
RD: 05/03/04

Thanks

umd97

Please take a look at the following link, this might be helpful

http://boards.immigrationportal.com/showthread.php?t=170686
 
Well, my PD is 2003 but I am still not considering PERM since my H1B status expires in Dec, 2005. If does not get me an approval, I shall be on my way home!! Therefore have no choice but to stick out with Philly BEC. Lets see if aprl2002 gets us an update soon.
 
Why go home?

dcmetro22042 said:
Well, my PD is 2003 but I am still not considering PERM since my H1B status expires in Dec, 2005. If does not get me an approval, I shall be on my way home!! Therefore have no choice but to stick out with Philly BEC. Lets see if aprl2002 gets us an update soon.

Are you not considering 7th year extention?

ashkee
__________________
PD Apr 2001
 
Top