Philadelphia Backlog Elimination Center Tracking

[lex_ind]

That's good idea to let all the people who can influence the BEC process know about it. Since GC is a priveledge not right, I would consider deleting following lines:

"May be it was a big mistake in my life to come to USA after working hard on my engineering college degree and leaving behind a nice job in my home country. Now I have ended up fighting DOL’s Administrative Delays and its stone-age process which seems like a long dark tunnel, with no light in sight."

Nationwide RALLY of mail, fax, email, phone Today & April 24



Please post on this site after you do it, that it will encourage others as well..

Please feel free to customize your letter. Bold the main points.
Keep the full content in all letters (including TO & CC addresses), It could come to 4 pages or so.

Send Postal Mails on April 20
Send Fax and Emails on April 24
Make Phone calls on 24 th and 25 th - Ask about the fax and letters you send.


I’m sure it will work some result if Whitehouse receive say 1000 letters…I guess 200,000+ people and their family is waiting for LCA.

In short, 1 + 12 letters will be going out to,

TO
1. President

CC
2. President’s chief of staff
3. Vice President
4. Vice President’s chief of staff
5. Labor secretary
6. Labor secretary Chief of Staff
7. Labor Deputy Secretary
8. Labor Associate Deputy Secretary
9. Stephen Stefanko - Certification Manager
10. John Barlett - Certification Manager
11. Ms. Condoleezza Rice, Secretary of State
12. Ms. Karen P. Hughes, Under Secretary, Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs


Let your friends also know…Let’s make it a success


Sub: Huge Administrative Delay in Foreign Labor Certification Application approval process at Department Of Labor


Dear Mr. President,

Hope your family and you are doing well.

I would like to bring to your attention the huge administrative delay in LCA approval process at DOL’s two Backlog Elimination Centers (BEC), most notably the Philadelphia BEC. I started my application with DOL 4 years back. Two years have passed since the commencement of two BECs, but till now I have not received the approvals. There is not even an option for status check or an indication when my application will be considered.

My family and I are suffering constantly in numerous ways due to these delays. To list a few, my spouse doesn’t get the work permit, I can’t change the job, due to such insecurity we can’t buy a house or take a meaningful vacation etc. We are considering leaving USA to my home country, winding up the American dream. May be it was a big mistake in my life to come to USA after working hard on my engineering college degree and leaving behind a nice job in my home country. Now I have ended up fighting DOL’s Administrative Delays and its stone-age process which seems like a long dark tunnel, with no light in sight.

I will be highly obliged if you could look into this matter as soon as possible and take necessary measures to speed up the approval process.

Thank You Mr. President.

In appreciation of your leadership and resolve,

Sincerely


Name
City, State, Zip code

To: (Mail/Fax/E-mail)

President

The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20500
Fax: 202-456-2461
president@whitehouse.gov


CC: (Mail/Fax/E-mail)

Vice President
President’s Chief of Staff
Vice President’s Chief of Staff

The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20500
Fax: 202-456-2461

comments@whitehouse.gov,vice_president@whitehouse.gov,

Department of Labor

Ms. Elaine L. Chao, Secretary of Labor (202) 693-6000
Mr. Paul T. Conway, Chief of Staff (202) 693-6007
Mr. Steven J. Law, Deputy Secretary (202) 693-6000
Ms. Laura Genero, Associate Deputy Secretary (202) 693-6000

U.S. Department of Labor
Frances Perkins Building
200 Constitution Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20210
202-693-2768

Stephen Stefanko - Certification Manager
ETA- Philadelphia Backlog Elimination Center
Division of Foreign Labor Certification
1 Belmont Avenue, Suite 220
Bala Cynwyd, PA 19004
FAX: (484) 270-1600

John Barlett - Certification Manager
ETA - Dallas Backlog Elimination Center
Division of Foreign Labor
700 North Pearl St., Suite 400N
Dallas, Texas 75201
FAX: (214) 237-9135


Department of State

Ms. Condoleezza Rice
Secretary of State
Ms. Karen P. Hughes
Under Secretary, Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs

U.S. Department of State
2201 C Street NW
Washington, DC 20520

Senate
John_McCain@McCain.senate.gov, senator@akaka.senate.gov, senator@biden.senate.gov, senator_bingaman@bingaman.senate.gov, senator_byrd@byrd.senate.gov, senator@clinton.senate.gov, senator@conrad.senate.gov, senator@dorgan.senate.gov, russell_feingold@feingold.senate.gov, tom_harkin@harkin.senate.gov, vermont@jeffords.senate.gov, tim@johnson.senate.gov, senator@kennedy.senate.gov, john_kerry@kerry.senate.gov, senator_leahy@leahy.senate.gov, senator@levin.senate.gov, senator@mikulski.senate.gov, senator_murray@murray.senate.gov, senator@billnelson.senate.gov, jack@reed.senate.gov, senator@rockefeller.senate.gov, senator@schumer.senate.gov, senator@stabenow.senate.gov
Media
belluck@nytimes.com, sundays@cbsnews.com, 48hours@cbsnews.com, jonathan.wald@nbc.com, comments@fareedzakaria.com, jabenn@nytimes.com, abc.news.magazines@abc.com, 2020@abc.com, abc.news.magazines@abc.com, thisweek@abc.com, Dateline@NBC.com, WT@nbc.com, MTP@NBC.com, nightly@nbc.com, today@nbc.com, viewerservices@msnbc.com, msnbcinvestigates@msnbc.com, abramsreport@msnbc.com, countdown@msnbc.com, hardball@msnbc.com, Connected@MSNBC.com, Imus@msnbc.com, allenh@washpost.com, allenm@washpost.com, aranam@washpost.com, argetsinger@washpost.com, rajiv@washpost.com, cheaterry@washpost.com, cohnd@washpost.com, coopermana@washpost.com, apcar@nytimes.com, peappl@nytimes.com, randya@nytimes.com, barbanel@nytimes.com, dabarry@nytimes.com, barstow@nytimes.com, goldbehr@nytimes.com, brian_hill@metronetworks.com, sheberer@pbs.org, ftn@cbsnews.com, betsy.fischer@nbc.com, plorris@univision.net, abenitez@univision.net, steve.majors@nbc.com, mcurtis@njn.org, stu.schutzman@abc.com,muriel.pearson@abc.com, dij@cbsnews.com,lisa.hsia@nbc.com, mail@uttm.com, dij@cbsnews.com, pjh@cbsnews.com,browne@foxnews.com,pls@cbsnews.com,gmartin@express-news.net,opinionjournal@wsj.com, mossberg@wsj.com, geoffrey.fowler@wsj.com,clemons@newamerica.net, lakshmipathy@newamerica.net, white@newamerica.net,friedman@newamerica.net, menon@newamerica.net,letters@nypost.com,letters@washpost.com, wsj.ltrs@wsj.com, josephg@phillynews.com, lakerb@phillynews.com, viewerservices@msnbc.com,
msnbcinvestigates@msnbc.com,abramsreport@msnbc.com,countdown@msnbc.com,hardball@msnbc.com,
Connected@MSNBC.com,Imus@msnbc.com,
nschwartz@fortunemail.com, publisher@forbes.com,medinar@phillynews.com

 

[imcdude]

Let me put in my story here....

I came to USA in August of 1997.
Because of job chages, economy et al I was able to apply for my Green Card only in 2002 July.
I'm applying for my 10th year extension of H-1B.
I have been avoiding promotions and salary raises.
Employer knows my dependency on them and hence treats me accordingly.

So why do I hang on here in this country?

About 2 years back, I found that my then 3 year old child has a medical condition ( I do not want to say what it is) that can be best treated here.

If my child did not have this problem I would be out of this country without thinking twice.

I cannot travel to India because of visa stamping issues.
My parents are old and I have not seen them for a couple of years.
I do not even know if I will be able to go back if they have any major issues.
My wife has given up any hopes of working because of my child's condition and visa issues.

I could go on but I will leave it at this.

 

[orangs]

I am not going to comment about many responses on the comedy channel post , but I have the eldest case since 2001 with no progress since then, I hope that close this subject.

My story is very similar to PBEC IS KILLNG MY LIFE, so I can not add new but I would like to add few points, the impact on our life due to this long process:

Work, experience impact:
- There is no flexibility in growing (promotions, raises) during the waiting time.
- There are possibilities of abusing by the sponsor company like unpaid overtime, discrimination between US and none US workers.
- There is no flexibility in changing employer once the first 6 years on the H1B are reached, which is the case for all 300,000 who are waiting.

Financial impact:
- Since spouses can not work, there are no other financial sources for the family.
- There are many restrictions on the loans and mortgages for none US citizens.
- There is no sold equity for most of the H1B families, such as: houses for example, due to the risk of buying.

Social impact:
- Marriage: Marriage in jeopardy, because educated spouse (in my case: MS on computer Sc.) can not work for many years (4 years in my case).
- Travels: Restrictions (almost impossible) to update visas and travel to homeland with out facing too many risk factors.
- Children: over 18 years can get in trouble during the process of obtaining their green card.

Discrimination:
- Driver license has Red line stating the immigration status.
- Banks and mortgage companies asking for status and give different rates and respect.
- (Some) work environments is using this delay to overwork the none US workforce.

I would like to comment on some of points raised by you, I think those are
not valid at least to my knowledge and my experience.
1. I don't know of any restrictions on applying for a mortgage. The rate is
the same for any body who has a decent credit report. I know lot of my friends whose LC is pending in PBEC bought house and they did not have any problems obtaining the loan and they did get competitive rates.
2. Driver's license having the immigration status is not in all states, I got my licence this month and I am in 7 year H1B, my license does not have any
immigration status, In fact I was not even asked for my Immigration docs.
This is true for my wife, she got her lic renewed Nov 2005.
3. Bank asking for status and giving rates is also something none of my
friends experienced.

I n my opinion, if you have to send these to any of the media or anybody,
I think we have to send ONLY FACTS not something that is made up.

 

[saknia]

I would like to comment on some of points raised by you, I think those are
not valid at least to my knowledge and my experience.
1. I don't know of any restrictions on applying for a mortgage. The rate is
the same for any body who has a decent credit report. I know lot of my friends whose LC is pending in PBEC bought house and they did not have any problems obtaining the loan and they did get competitive rates.
2. Driver's license having the immigration status is not in all states, I got my licence this month and I am in 7 year H1B, my license does not have any
immigration status, In fact I was not even asked for my Immigration docs.
This is true for my wife, she got her lic renewed Nov 2005.
3. Bank asking for status and giving rates is also something none of my
friends experienced.

I n my opinion, if you have to send these to any of the media or anybody,
I think we have to send ONLY FACTS not something that is made up.

I would like to answer some questiosnraised by you

Mortgage - Some companies will need your GC for giving 100% Loan. So if you do not have one you have to shell out 20-30% down payament. If you are in CA/ NJ that will be huge amount.( CA/ NJ is where Backlog is severe)

Second even if someone has money for Downpayment how can one Buy House when there is so much uncertainity around GC - Can anyone tell after staying here on 10th Year extension that he will get GC fianlly - The answer is no. If one buys House and GC is rjected he has 10/ 20 days to leave this Country . How can sell at Loss

Third one might say he can rent an Apartment - So after being here and being a good guy he is denied an opprtunity to save or make some profits by owning a House and living in a decent way like other live here.

Many States has Driving Licence issue with your Visa Status- We go by majority and not by a single state where it is easy to renew

These are genuine difficulties faced by many due to GC.Simple told one has no Freeedom to slect the way he should live in this Country due to absence of a GC

I think all these points are relevant and nothing wrong in stating that

I wish they go by Point System like in other Countries and allow people to compete as per Market conditions instead attaching this GC process with the Employers ( who are Shylocks in this Country and who will do anything - mind the word anything- for few cents)

 

[Cric]

I would like to comment on some of points raised by you, I think those are
not valid at least to my knowledge and my experience.
1. I don't know of any restrictions on applying for a mortgage. The rate is
the same for any body who has a decent credit report. I know lot of my friends whose LC is pending in PBEC bought house and they did not have any problems obtaining the loan and they did get competitive rates.
2. Driver's license having the immigration status is not in all states, I got my licence this month and I am in 7 year H1B, my license does not have any
immigration status, In fact I was not even asked for my Immigration docs.
This is true for my wife, she got her lic renewed Nov 2005.
3. Bank asking for status and giving rates is also something none of my
friends experienced.

I n my opinion, if you have to send these to any of the media or anybody,
I think we have to send ONLY FACTS not something that is made up.

When one is buying a house the lender has to be confident that he will get back his money without any issues or problems, after all it is his money he has every right to be on the safer side.

I know a friend who is in his 6th year of H1 and who wanted to buy a townhome. one lender denied his loan application because he was not confident in giving him the loan, what is the guarantee that my friend's H1 extension will be approved ?.. what is the guarantee that his GC will be approved after coming out of these BECS and through the remaining stages?. After being here for close to 5 and half years buying a small townhome or a condo is also difficult.

 

[chinglun]

lost our foucs again !! Do Fax !!

Go FAX , Go Rally ... Go bug yur lawyers ... to try make something happen.

Buy house or not buying a house is your own choice .
Come or not come to this country is your own choice again,


And US government is not reuqired to give anybody greencard or LC .

When one is buying a house the lender has to be confident that he will get back his money without any issues or problems, after all it is his money he has every right to be on the safer side.

I know a friend who is in his 6th year of H1 and who wanted to buy a townhome. one lender denied his loan application because he was not confident in giving him the loan, what is the guarantee that my friend's H1 extension will be approved ?.. what is the guarantee that his GC will be approved after coming out of these BECS and through the remaining stages?. After being here for close to 5 and half years buying a small townhome or a condo is also difficult.

 

[PBECVictim10000]

Sent Webfax the day before.

Sent personal story to all medias today. This is the last paragraph of my letter...
I am so confused and frustrated because I love the U.S. deeply in my heart as I believed this is the place where people can have equal human rights and be treated fairly and equally, but the reality of the unusual delay and endless LC process destroyed my belief. The BECs is a huge black hole where 300,000 high skilled foreign workers (most hold master degrees) are completely stocked for years. I don't understand as the LEGAL IMMIGRANTS, always following the laws, paying taxes, social security, medicare, and diligently working for American companies, why we are punished this way?

I want to bring this to your attention, as the ears, eyes and mouths of the American, you are our last hope.

 

[Bob_Philips]

My letter is like this. What do you think?

Respected Newsperson,

I introduce myself as an Indian origin person, who has been living and working in the United States for the past 6 years. I work as a Software Engineer. My company had applied for my green card about 3 years ago. The green card entitles me to stay here in the United States, without renewing my visa every year. This application has been pending with the Labor department for the past 3 years. This delay in processing my green card labor application has resulted in a lot of hardships for people like me.

Some of the hardships that we face are:

1) When there is a need to go to our home country, we cannot freely do so because once we are at our home country and when we apply for a visa to get back into the USA, the consulate officials ask us all sorts of questions and puts us through all sorts of formalities eventhough we have worked here for many years and paid all the taxes correctly and lived without even a single black mark in our records.
2) There is a lot of money that we need to spend every year for renewing a visa.
3) Some of our employers hold us, almost as slaves, and we do not have independence to choose whom we can work for
4) The worst part is that we don't know how much more time we have to wait. There is no system where we can check as to how long it will take for our cases to be processed. It has been 3 years for me and for a few others, it has been more that that.

While there is so much news in the media about illegal immigrants, people like me, who are here legally are facing a lot of hardships because of the extremely slow and careless nature of the government in dealing with our issues. Please help us by bringing this issue to the attention of the concerned authorities.

Sincerely
- me

 

[StressTestInUSA]

Go FAX , Go Rally ... Go bug yur lawyers ... to try make something happen.

Buy house or not buying a house is your own choice .
Come or not come to this country is your own choice again,


And US government is not reuqired to give anybody greencard or LC .

true..

no losing focus again... Just fax to Mr.President. Bottomline we want BEC to speedup the process, and not utter any sentimental statements:cant buy house, cant go back to home country.

We r stuck in the process since 2001/2 for the 1st stage of GC...

 

[RJ_NJ2002]

blocks 14 and 15 of the ETA-750 is very important to decide case is EB2. Check this link.

http://cyrusmehta.com/News_Cyrus.asp?news_id=231&intPage=76

EB2 vs. EB3 is determinded by the job requirement, not your degree and experience. If the job you are working requires Master or Bachelor + 5 years experience (shown on the hiring AD), it's EB2, otherwise, EB3.

 

[ahalem]

Its funny, every time I post something, it becomes big deal, I will go back to the silent group but before that:
- I was referring to the home equity loan , and I got rejected by 3 lender for the same reason , and finally got accepted by different lender when I mentioned I am resident on USA ( with out saying what is my status ).

- For the Driver license: it’s the case on NJ and NY area, I am not familiar with other states.

- The banks: I got higher rate on my mortgage primary from city group because of my Status.

I would like to comment on some of points raised by you, I think those are
not valid at least to my knowledge and my experience.
1. I don't know of any restrictions on applying for a mortgage. The rate is
the same for any body who has a decent credit report. I know lot of my friends whose LC is pending in PBEC bought house and they did not have any problems obtaining the loan and they did get competitive rates.
2. Driver's license having the immigration status is not in all states, I got my licence this month and I am in 7 year H1B, my license does not have any
immigration status, In fact I was not even asked for my Immigration docs.
This is true for my wife, she got her lic renewed Nov 2005.
3. Bank asking for status and giving rates is also something none of my
friends experienced.

I n my opinion, if you have to send these to any of the media or anybody,
I think we have to send ONLY FACTS not something that is made up.

 

[NEverGreen]

Hi,
I have been on H1B since 2000. I was able to buy a townhouse in 2001, and recently upgraded to an independent house. I never experienced any discrimination in interest rates, though there were lenders who would deal with non-permanent residents and others who would not. But if somebody was willing to deal with me, in my status, I did get the best rate. Also no one asked me to put 20 or 30% down.
The way I see it, the rate is linked to your credit history and your FICO. Status is incidental.

When one is buying a house the lender has to be confident that he will get back his money without any issues or problems, after all it is his money he has every right to be on the safer side.

I know a friend who is in his 6th year of H1 and who wanted to buy a townhome. one lender denied his loan application because he was not confident in giving him the loan, what is the guarantee that my friend's H1 extension will be approved ?.. what is the guarantee that his GC will be approved after coming out of these BECS and through the remaining stages?. After being here for close to 5 and half years buying a small townhome or a condo is also difficult.

 

[yours_sincerely]

Not entirely true

I got a higher rate with a score of 720 and the reason was that I am on H1B. I guess, its like racial discrimination: Some people face it and some don't but it does not mean that it does not exist. Anyways, its not so relevant to this board.

Hi,
I have been on H1B since 2000. I was able to buy a townhouse in 2001, and recently upgraded to an independent house. I never experienced any discrimination in interest rates, though there were lenders who would deal with non-permanent residents and others who would not. But if somebody was willing to deal with me, in my status, I did get the best rate. Also no one asked me to put 20 or 30% down.
The way I see it, the rate is linked to your credit history and your FICO. Status is incidental.

 

[nanba]

Promotion and Labor related question

Hi,

I recently got promoted i.e. moved to a different grade with a subtle change in my designation but the job role and responsibilities remain the same. Also there was a raise in my salary, a marginal increase.

I applied for my labor in Sep 2002. My question is will the promotion and the salary raise create any problem for my labor processing?

Thanks

 

[GCNaseeb]

Very few lenders lend money if you are on H1-B

I got a higher rate with a score of 720 and the reason was that I am on H1B. I guess, its like racial discrimination: Some people face it and some don't but it does not mean that it does not exist. Anyways, its not so relevant to this board.

I have been a home owner since 2003. According to my experience, many don't even consider your loan application if you are not a citizen or permanent resident (Green Card holder). And out of very few lenders, you are limited to their terms and have no scope to negotiate the interest rate. And also if your spouse is on H4 visa, she has to sign a bond and indicate that she does not hold any interest in the property. This is very true especially if you are in California.

 

[PBECVictim10000]

The link is very useful and confirmed what we had discussed. Eb2 vs EB3 is determined by job requirement, not foreign worker's background. Job minimum requirement (item 14 & 15 on ETA750) must be either master or bachelor + 5 years experience. Sigh....the minimum requirement for my job is bachelor + 3, i cannot apply for eb2.

blocks 14 and 15 of the ETA-750 is very important to decide case is EB2. Check this link.

http://cyrusmehta.com/News_Cyrus.asp?news_id=231&intPage=76

 

[rajlion]

Saknia, need your expert advise.

Hi Saknia,

My story might be quite similar to quite a few guys. I was working as a Consultant on the client site and I had my labor (approved March 2001) and I-140 approved (approx around Aug, 2001). The client was after my life to join him as an employee. I joined him as an employee in Sep' 2001 and he applied for my labor in Mar'2002 and since then i have been waiting.

Please advise if I would be able to use my earlier PD (March 2001) from the old employer since I have 140 approved.

And, when is my turn coming for labor approval....

My details :
NY, EB3
Old PD : March 2001
New PD : March 2002
45DL replied : Oct, 2005

 

[PBECVictim10000]

I am not an expert on this but have the same experience. My own lawyer who handled the green card process for me (company allowed me to choose my own lawyer...) and corp lawyer both checked my case and confirmed there would be no problems in 1-140 & 485 when I got promoted with higher pay last year. (my lawyer didn't notify BEC about the promotion, she said it's ok to make the change in 1-140 stage). There is no 100% gurantee though, who knows what's going to happen since DOL and USCIS can explain their laws any way they want. I just figured green card is what I want but not my whole life, if they don't want to give it to me because I am promoted doing the similar job with bigger responsbilities, there is always an option for me - go back to home country.

Hi,

I recently got promoted i.e. moved to a different grade with a subtle change in my designation but the job role and responsibilities remain the same. Also there was a raise in my salary, a marginal increase.

I applied for my labor in Sep 2002. My question is will the promotion and the salary raise create any problem for my labor processing?

Thanks

 

[Bob_Philips]

Answer to Nanba

Nanba,

I have known two of my friends who had a similar situation like you (but they only had a salary hike) and their attorneys said that they were okay if there is only a salary hike. However, I don't know about the slight change in your job designation clause.

Let us hope for the best anyway!

- (unghal nanban) Your friend

 

[venram]

No problem as long as the job role and responsibilities remain the same. Your salary and designation does not affect the LCA processing.

Hi,

I recently got promoted i.e. moved to a different grade with a subtle change in my designation but the job role and responsibilities remain the same. Also there was a raise in my salary, a marginal increase.

I applied for my labor in Sep 2002. My question is will the promotion and the salary raise create any problem for my labor processing?

Thanks