Philadelphia Backlog Elimination Center Tracking

Letters to Senators & Elaine Chao

sick_of_waiting said:
I just sent the following email to Secretary Chou. I got a delivery confirmation receipt from secretaryelainechao@dol.gov.
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That's a good letter. Politicians get thousands of letters, so most are read by the staff and usually only summary statistics are reported to the politician they serve. So the exact language is not terribly important as long as your main point is clear. I think the best people to write in this case are Elaine Chao and the senators/representatives of your home state/district. You can look up senators and representatives here:
http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm
http://www.house.gov/ (Enter your zip code to search)

It's also important to write letters to editors of newspapers and magazines, and if you can somehow get an article written about your plight that's even better.

Also, given that you cannot vote (yet!), all of the above is better when done by a US citizen, such as your employer.
 
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Count me in!

GCCovet said:
I was about to mail the letter, I will hold off till a final version of letter is published. Thanks again Just_Watching
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great idea! count me in!

i know at least 10 people here at my company stuck in bec center that will be happy to mail/email the letter.

i will wait for the final revised version and give it to everyone here.

thanks in advance for everything you do Just_Watching!!
 
That's great idea. Can somebody put the list of email ids to send so that we can cc them apart from Secretary Chao.
 
I have already mailed the letter to my state senator. I believe its hard to come up with a final version accetpable to all. Its better for us to take some action than wait. I will also email the letter to Seceratory Chao if we have her email id.
 
Question regarding 6 year H1 period

folks,

While I am waiting for the Phlly BRC to act, my wife's H1 is expiring (6 yrs) May 2006. Can someone please tell me what is the LATEST time I can transfer her to H4 w/o her having to leave the country or somthing stupid like that?

Thanks in advance.
 
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
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gcmail said:
folks,

While I am waiting for the Phlly BRC to act, my wife's H1 is expiring (6 yrs) May 2006. Can someone please tell me what is the LATEST time I can transfer her to H4 w/o her having to leave the country or somthing stupid like that?

Thanks in advance.
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If she hasn't filed for LC / 140 etc pending for a year or more, than as an individual she would have to leave the country BUT because of your LC pending for more than 1 year she maybe able to get extensions, however you need to consult your attorney about this.

Your's is probably one of those unique cases - of course I am not a lawyer.
 
spidey said:
If she hasn't filed for LC / 140 etc pending for a year or more, than as an individual she would have to leave the country BUT because of your LC pending for more than 1 year she maybe able to get extensions, however you need to consult your attorney about this.

Your's is probably one of those unique cases - of course I am not a lawyer.
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From what I have heard so far is that she can get as many H4 extensions as husband gets H1, but she will not be able to work on H1 unless her GC is pending for more than 365 days.
This is just my opinion, consult an attorney I am sure most of them knows what to do in such scenario.
 
thanks guys.

I was sure that I will get atleast my EAD by Dec 05. But these BRC's really have messed things up. My application reached Philly Fed in July'04 and since then its been getting worst.

And now my wife has to go on a H4 because off all this...amazing
 
GCCovet said:
Xipe,
u r the biggest Jerk! Right?
...
Lousy people like you ...
Stay away if you dont agree... keep your unsolicited advice to yourself...
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jeez, buddy
I do hope you are aware of more appropriate ways to address strangers -- otherwise I'm afraid your letters will produce a really revolutionizing effect ;)

I really doubt (and, pal, mind you -- this is a public forum) that writing to DOL will just make some guy's permanent job to sort those letters and shred them. Which accidentally may include shredding some poor fellow's 45-days reply.

What does make sense, really, is attracting media attention. I, for one, is quite sick of those "poor-illigal-immigrant-aint-wanna-go-home" stories we see on TV once in a while and would love to participate in attracting publicity to problems of the legal immigration.
 
Media attention ain't gonna be there without effort

Xipe Totec said:
jeez, buddy
I do hope you are aware of more appropriate ways to address strangers -- otherwise I'm afraid your letters will produce a really revolutionizing effect ;)

I really doubt (and, pal, mind you -- this is a public forum) that writing to DOL will just make some guy's permanent job to sort those letters and shred them. Which accidentally may include shredding some poor fellow's 45-days reply.

What does make sense, really, is attracting media attention. I, for one, is quite sick of those "poor-illigal-immigrant-aint-wanna-go-home" stories we see on TV once in a while and would love to participate in attracting publicity to problems of the legal immigration.
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Xipe,
You should have thought twice before your sarcastic comment. :rolleyes:
NOw u sure know what is needed! huh! Media attention ain't gonna be there without efforts, writting a letter is first step for that. Write to Media too. One-two letter will not make a difference but thousands of them will. Someday it will make a difference.
 
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gcmail said:
folks,

While I am waiting for the Phlly BRC to act, my wife's H1 is expiring (6 yrs) May 2006. Can someone please tell me what is the LATEST time I can transfer her to H4 w/o her having to leave the country or somthing stupid like that?

Thanks in advance.
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Apply for H4 for her 1 day before her H1 expiry. & also hope for getting EAD ASAP.
 
I don't think the wife can stay on H4 visa either. The total count of 6 years includes all types of H visas and doesn't differentiate between H1 or H4. I think the only way to stay in the country is on F1. I still recommend on getting professional help.
 
If she converted to H4, which is H1's dependent. She'll be able to entend with your H1 beyond 6 year limit, as long as H1 qualifies for the extension.

sb41 said:
I don't think the wife can stay on H4 visa either. The total count of 6 years includes all types of H visas and doesn't differentiate between H1 or H4. I think the only way to stay in the country is on F1. I still recommend on getting professional help.
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I don't think anybody out there wants to hear from any of us how to run BRC or any other government agency. All we can address is that the current system is unfair to most applicants. It will be a great help from BRC/DOL if they post regular updates on cases processed and kind of stuff.....
 
Letter to Secretary Chao...

I mailed it to Secretary Chao few minutes ago. If you really want to send a letter/mail, don't wait for any final draft. Write your own letter. I am sure that the language that we are using in the letter is not going to hurt any one.

Hi,

I want to bring to your attention the pain of thousands of immigrants who are waiting for Labor Certification. I read a report (dated March 22, 2005) submitted by USCIS about the progress made in eliminating the Backlog. It only underlines the quantity but not quality. I appreciate and welcome the plan by DOL to eliminate Backlog in Labor Certifications by starting two Backlog Elimination Centers. We were very happy when they started working in October 2004 hoping that we would get our Labor Certifications soon. But soon we realized that they are going to be another nightmare. DOL has no plans and guidelines on how to process the applications. Initially the plan was to work on all cases which are at regional level and then to move on to remaining cases. But after few months DOL changed that plan. The shocking news is that all the 300,000 cases are entered manually into the new system. Being in 21st century, I can’t believe that a responsible body in a well developed country is doing that at the cost of time (one year). Any one would have automated the task of transferring all theses case to new system. It is estimated that the data entry is supposed to be done my October 2005 and DOL has no plans to allocate resources to adjudicate cases. It doesn’t make sense to wait until all the cases are into the system. DOL can allocate some resources to adjudicate cases which are at the regional level and already in the new system. Another important thing is that nobody knows what is going on in BEC. It is good to have monthly updates on what is happening. I filed my case two and half years ago in California. As per the estimate I will have to wait another one and half year to get my Labor Certification. I am not sure I will be able to apply I140/I485 after that as there is a shortage of visa numbers. So I will have to wait another couple of years to get Green Card. There are thousands of people who are suffering like me. Legal immigration system is completely broke in United States and no body is willing to take the initiative to fix the problem with legal immigration. Of course there is lot going on giving free entry to illegal immigrants. So we request you to take immediate steps so that BEC (Backlog Elimination Centers) will start adjudicating cases immediately.



Thanks,
 
GCCovet said:
Xipe,
Huh! As if they are currenlty doing real great job!!!! You know that u r the biggest Jerk! Right?

I bet, you will be the happiest person when these letter writing actually works and speeds up process we achieve our goals. You will be benefited out of it and you know what, you dont have to waste your time doing anything, not even spend 37 cents. Lousy people like you stall the revolutionization process that few people are willing to start/participate.
Stay away if you dont agree. and keep your unsolicited advice to yourself.
Take a break!
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Dude..
This is a public forum & Every one has right of their opinion. Only because someone does not get agree to you does not make him / her self Jerk. So lets not call Names..

PS : I also don't believe sending out letters / emails gonna help any of us !.. But hey its your choice !!!
 
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