Philadelphia Backlog Elimination Center Tracking

Lets fight

I just sent an email to Elaine Chao. Don't know if the email is valid or not. So far, I haven't received the undeliverable mail notice yet. So it might be good. It's: secretaryelainechao@dol.gov
I suggest to send the letters to congrassman, senate and media, too. Chao might simply ignore the whole thing and cover it up. However, others might have different views as an outsider, who are not satisfied with DOL work. They might be glad to pick up those threads to edge with DOL. You know what we should do: we should find out which congrassman or senate surport immigrations and flood him. And we should also flood some major channels or newpaper.
We've been bearing the pain for too long and it's time for us to stand up. Lets fight together.

Any suggestions regarding the flood thing?
 
wlj_wzz said:
I just sent an email to Elaine Chao. Don't know if the email is valid or not. So far, I haven't received the undeliverable mail notice yet. So it might be good. It's: secretaryelainechao@dol.gov
I suggest to send the letters to congrassman, senate and media, too. Chao might simply ignore the whole thing and cover it up. However, others might have different views as an outsider, who are not satisfied with DOL work. They might be glad to pick up those threads to edge with DOL. You know what we should do: we should find out which congrassman or senate surport immigrations and flood him. And we should also flood some major channels or newpaper.
We've been bearing the pain for too long and it's time for us to stand up. Lets fight together.

Any suggestions regarding the flood thing?
Click to expand...

On Feb 10th 2005, I had mailed letters to Senators Arlen Spector and Rick Santorium from PA.
A couple of weeks later I received a letter from Senator Arlen Spector's office telling me that they will invstigate the matter but that these things typically take some time to get a response for. The lawyer who had recommended I do this had told me give it 2 months, you'll hear something.

It's been 2 months, I will wait until the end of this month before calling up the Senators office to follow up. I suggest you all send letters to the Senators office as well. It'll get someone going.

-spidey
 
How about a "sticky" thread under "labor certification" forum. We will have Wboyi letter (edited) and addresses of all politicians, lawyers or organization.
Wboyi letter is good enough, right ? We only need to come up with the list of contact person. If we have "sticky" thread it won't be buried under all personal posts like "my father slapped me, now what ?".
If its good idea, I can send message to moderator, even though I strongly believe that lawyers like backlog.
 
wlj_wzz said:
I just sent an email to Elaine Chao. Don't know if the email is valid or not. So far, I haven't received the undeliverable mail notice yet. So it might be good. It's: secretaryelainechao@dol.gov
I suggest to send the letters to congrassman, senate and media, too. Chao might simply ignore the whole thing and cover it up. However, others might have different views as an outsider, who are not satisfied with DOL work. They might be glad to pick up those threads to edge with DOL. You know what we should do: we should find out which congrassman or senate surport immigrations and flood him. And we should also flood some major channels or newpaper.
We've been bearing the pain for too long and it's time for us to stand up. Lets fight together.

Any suggestions regarding the flood thing?
Click to expand...

to organize support we need some medium and regular forum thread is not perfect medium. We need "sticky" thread which stays always on top of "labor certification" forum. There we will have sample letter and contact list as first post. People then update that thread if they come up with other contacts or if they got any response.
 
USCISisMockery said:
How about a "sticky" thread under "labor certification" forum. We will have Wboyi letter (edited) and addresses of all politicians, lawyers or organization.
Wboyi letter is good enough, right ? We only need to come up with the list of contact person. If we have "sticky" thread it won't be buried under all personal posts like "my father slapped me, now what ?".
If its good idea, I can send message to moderator, even though I strongly believe that lawyers like backlog.
Click to expand...

Yes I like the idea and I am sure it will soon get diverted to someone's personal issue or someone might start discussing about 140/485 issues in that thread. I am not sure if you can have rights to moderate that thread? But I think "sticky" thread is good idea.
 
I like the "sticky" idea. Wboyi's letter is quite good, however, a little outdated. It must've been written before PERM. I made some modifications to reflect the recent events. My English is poor. Gurus, please refine it and make it a sample for others. Then we can put it in the sticky thread.

Dear Secretary Chao,

First at all, thank you very much to read this letter.

I am writing to you because I am looking for your help to pay attention to my situation. That is my Alien Employment Certification which is pending to
the DOL/BEC since 2xxx.

If without the new BECs, although Atlanta regional office worked very slow, I should've already had my Labor certificate by now. However, unlucky me, the new system starts and my case was sent to Backlog Elimination Center to get backloged. Now I'm looking forward to waiting for another 2 or 3 years. I know this whole BEC thing is supposed to eliminate backlogs. However 6 months passed, it made me disappointed again. Backlog Elimination Center didn’t speed up the processing at all and create more backlogs. How many cases they processed so far: Zero or nearly Zero.

To my understanding, two more unnecessary procedures were created and cause new delay in BEC:
(1) Take several months to input case data manually from regional office
It is said what Backlog Elimination Center are doing now. And this procedure is taking much longer time than everyone can ever imagine. At first, it's said to be finished some time around March. Then the date is postponed to summer. Now the newest update is Sept. Seems no one really knows when this whole data entry thing can be done. However, we're wondering if this is something necessary. All those cases are already entered in regional offices' computer systems. Why don't hire a couple of IT guys and import data from existing databases? We're in 2005, not 2005 B.C. Why not let the computers do those lengthy time-consuming work? Do we really need to put 200 certify officers to do the data entry work?
(2) Take another several months to send and receive so-called 45-day letter to verify whether the applicant want to continue their application or not
It is said that only no more than 0.75% case was withdrawn so far, therefore this procedure may be eliminated. It may save both time and money for all parties. On the other hand, if the case was handled timely, this procedure is absolutely not necessary at all.

Furthermore, I have another big concern. DOL's started a new program, PREM (Permanent Labor certification Program), to process Alien
Employment Certification and it is supposed to make a decision within 60 days once the application is received. This is a supreme irony for
us, already waiting Alien Employment Certification for several years. Should we give up current application and turn to PREM? Even we want to make the conversion, DOL is making it very difficult and risky for this kind of conversion. DOL won't keep the 60-day-processing-time promise to conversion cases. That means, if we convert from RIR to PERM, our PERM application might put on pile and wait for another indefinite time. I don't think it is a fair for us who have waited for years: 60 days vs several years!

What I request here are:
(1) Please turn your administration's attention to implementing to make a clear definition about current application and PREM, we should have the same treatment as PREM. Finish current federal labor cases before moving to PERM or move the backlogged cases to PREM
(2) Please turn your administration's attention to implementing Backlog Elimination start process case immediately
(3) Please turn your administration's attention to implementing Backlog Elimination to make a clear process timetable and set up a track system to
let every applicant know the case status

There are hundreds of thousands of applicants like me are undergoing the same pain, the pain of waiting continuously day after day, week after week, month after
month, year after year. Some of us have been waiting 4-5 years. We're a group being neglected and the victims of the new regulations. No one tell us how long we have to wait. Our lifes are put on pending. We need your help.

Thank you again for your time and patience.
 
spidey said:
On Feb 10th 2005, I had mailed letters to Senators Arlen Spector and Rick Santorium from PA.
A couple of weeks later I received a letter from Senator Arlen Spector's office telling me that they will invstigate the matter but that these things typically take some time to get a response for. The lawyer who had recommended I do this had told me give it 2 months, you'll hear something.

It's been 2 months, I will wait until the end of this month before calling up the Senators office to follow up. I suggest you all send letters to the Senators office as well. It'll get someone going.

-spidey
Click to expand...

Spidey, you mailed the letter to senators in PA because you live there or because BRC/DOL is located there? I live in NJ I was just wonderging whom I send the letter to, senators in NJ or someone in PA?
 
GC_Lover said:
Spidey, you mailed the letter to senators in PA because you live there or because BRC/DOL is located there? I live in NJ I was just wonderging whom I send the letter to, senators in NJ or someone in PA?
Click to expand...

I live here. I would send it to NJ Senators since you live there.
 
just a suggestion....
should it be mentioned that people who have filed after you (specially cases from 2004) are being certified whereas people prior to 2004 have no clue about their cases....what kind of process is this...???
also all the cases certified under PERM or even those certified by BEC would directly go to I140/I485 stage and backlog that stage...when cases prior to 2004 will be certified they will have to wait again (after waiting for 3-5 yrs in Labor stage) in next stage as it will be backlogged by all the newer cases....thats not fair either....

hope you guys can understand what i am trying to address here....
 
I sent this letter to moderator. I guess, we might not have to storm support to create "sticky" thread also :)

"Thanks for your service and for providing this medium to raise our concern. We are organizing awareness about recent labor certification backlog at BEC. Can you please guide me how I can create a "sticky" thread under "labor certification" category ? Here is the letter that we are planning to send to DOL head:

http://www.immigrationportal.com/showpost.php?p=1117628&postcount=1021

Waiting in anticipation.

USCISismockery"
 
Framing proper sentences....

Please correct the english in this letter ! For instance "First at all, thank you very much to read this letter. "

Does that sound right? Atleast say Thank you very much for taking the time to read this letter... The "First of all" is an offernsive beginning...Remember no matter how mad you are .. please write a well formatted letter..

Sometimes these things matter.. You want the letter to be taken seriously.. write it well... If you write an offensive letter, chances are they will not see your point.

But hey, that's just what I think..
 
LC Florida said:
just a suggestion....
should it be mentioned that people who have filed after you (specially cases from 2004) are being certified whereas people prior to 2004 have no clue about their cases....what kind of process is this...???
also all the cases certified under PERM or even those certified by BEC would directly go to I140/I485 stage and backlog that stage...when cases prior to 2004 will be certified they will have to wait again (after waiting for 3-5 yrs in Labor stage) in next stage as it will be backlogged by all the newer cases....thats not fair either....

hope you guys can understand what i am trying to address here....
Click to expand...

I know what you mean. If you ask me I would say we should concentrate more on improving things at BPC rather then criticizing about other processes like PERM. Thats what I think I don't know about others.
 
I just sent the following email to Secretary Chou. I got a delivery confirmation receipt from secretaryelainechao@dol.gov.

The Honorable Elaine L. Chao
Secretary of U.S. Department of Labor
200 Constitution Ave., NW
Washington, DC 20210


Dear Secretary Chao,

I am writing to you to bring to your attention the unprecedented backlogs created by the Backlog Processing Centers. My permanent labor certification was applied at the Virginia SWA in July 2002. After a period of almost 2 1/2 years, my application was sent to the Regional Philadelphia DOL in April 2004. It has been 12 months since then and I have been unable to track my application. Presumably, my application is residing in one of the two Backlog Processing Centers and it may take another 24 - 30 months to receive a final verdict on my application. It means that by the time I receive a final verdict, it would be around 4 - 5 years since the initial filing of the application at Virginia SWA.

This long delay in processing of my application has had an adverse affect on not only my career but on the careers of thousands of other applicant who entered this country legally. Our lives have been on a hold since the filing of the application and our careers and careers of our spouses are also on a hold in the hope of a decision in our favor by the DOL.

Kindly look into this very severe situation for 'aspiring to be permanent residents' to this great country. Ironically, we left our homelands with the dreams of living in a highly efficient and productive society.

Sincerely,
Click to expand...

Good luck to all!
 
ItsTough, that's why I asked for help to refind the letter. Go ahead and make any changes you think appropriate. Your work will benefit everyone who wants to be part of this action. Thanks.
 
ItsTough said:
Please correct the english in this letter ! For instance "First at all, thank you very much to read this letter. "

Does that sound right? Atleast say Thank you very much for taking the time to read this letter... The "First of all" is an offernsive beginning...Remember no matter how mad you are .. please write a well formatted letter..

Sometimes these things matter.. You want the letter to be taken seriously.. write it well... If you write an offensive letter, chances are they will not see your point.

But hey, that's just what I think..
Click to expand...

I read the letter and would have to agree with ItsTough. I would be happy to revise the letter but I won't have time until this evening.

In the meantime I would suggest people stop sending the letter, it really does need some work. I don't want to offend anybody, your efforts are appreciated.

I would also like to make a few comments about the content of the letter:

Electronic conversion - This issue is "water under the bridge". It's done. Regional cases have been entered for the most part. Even if they could do conversion they would still need to reconcile the paper with the electronic records.

45-day letters - Letters serve three purposes, 1) Acknowledgement of receipt 2)Continuation and 3)Preemptive RFE. While #2 may be proving to be useless I think there is value to #1 and #3.

I do agree with the fact that there is some merit to PERM conversion.

One thing that is missing from this letter that needs to be taken into account is that the "customer" of the DOL is not the employee but the employer.

Finally, to put things in perspective I doubt even among ourselves we could agree on how BRC should proceed.

What's the right order for BRC to proceed?

a) By PD split by TR / RIR - regardless of whether it was transferred from Regional or SWA
b) By PD split by TR / RIR - Regional first, then SWA
c) One Queue regardless of everything
d) Data enter all cases and issue ALL 45-day letters and then process
e) As they data enter, send letter and process, thus extending the time it will take to send ALL 45-day letters out(If you are a 2004 case, how would you like to NOT know you case made it to BRC until 2007).

Please comment, I will be happy to revise the letter regardless of whether the letter agrees with me or not.

JustWatching
 
agreed

JustWatching said:
I read the letter and would have to agree with ItsTough. I would be happy to revise the letter but I won't have time until this evening.

In the meantime I would suggest people stop sending the letter, it really does need some work. I don't want to offend anybody, your efforts are appreciated.

I would also like to make a few comments about the content of the letter:

Electronic conversion - This issue is "water under the bridge". It's done. Regional cases have been entered for the most part. Even if they could do conversion they would still need to reconcile the paper with the electronic records.

45-day letters - Letters serve three purposes, 1) Acknowledgement of receipt 2)Continuation and 3)Preemptive RFE. While #2 may be proving to be useless I think there is value to #1 and #3.

I do agree with the fact that there is some merit to PERM conversion.

One thing that is missing from this letter that needs to be taken into account is that the "customer" of the DOL is not the employee but the employer.

Finally, to put things in perspective I doubt even among ourselves we could agree on how BRC should proceed.

What's the right order for BRC to proceed?

a) By PD split by TR / RIR - regardless of whether it was transferred from Regional or SWA
b) By PD split by TR / RIR - Regional first, then SWA
c) One Queue regardless of everything
d) Data enter all cases and issue ALL 45-day letters and then process
e) As they data enter, send letter and process, thus extending the time it will take to send ALL 45-day letters out(If you are a 2004 case, how would you like to NOT know you case made it to BRC until 2007).

Please comment, I will be happy to revise the letter regardless of whether the letter agrees with me or not.

JustWatching
Click to expand...


I was about to mail the letter, I will hold off till a final version of letter is published. Thanks again Just_Watching
 
Awareness!

Somebody, please publish these 'letter writing /email' effort in Dallas Backlog tracking too.

Thanks
 
I agree with you JustWatching. However I do not think we should be advising BPC/DOL about queue setup and all that. I think we can just ask them to start approving cases quickly and have a way to check the status of application. What do others think?
 
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