Friends, some of you have said my speech like draft is good and some others felt that it is too long to grab attention. I agreed and tried to trim the length of the text and still couldn’t bring it down to one page. I decided to seek help and requested becky, a fellow member whose writing is already popular with some of you, and she kindly obliged. She came up with an excellent one page summary of our core issues. Becky, thanks for the text as well as your willingness to help.
Dear Honorable Senator/Congress(wo)man <XXXX>
I am writing to you to draw your attention to the backlogs in Employment-based I-485 Adjustment to Permanent Residence immigrant benefit processing conducted by the USCIS and its Service Centers. I write as a member of this group who has waited <X> months for my case to be adjudicated. This community spans ethnic, racial and gender boundaries, and comprises people who teach American children, heal your sick, bring new product innovations to fuel America’s economy, and contribute research that keeps the United States at the forefront of scientific progress. According to the CATO Institute, in 1997, my community also contributed approximately $133 billion in direct taxes to federal, state, and local governments.
In return for our contributions, my community is subject to intolerable delays in processing our immigrant benefit applications. I would like to draw your attention to three of the problems that these delays create.
First, from a customer perspective, the USCIS does not seem accountable for its actions. It is virtually impossible to find out when a case will be processed and what little information they provide ranges from inaccurate to vague. A particularly egregious example of their lack of accountability arose when, after admitting that employees at the California Service Center shredded many applications, it was impossible for those potentially affected to determine whether their petitions were gone.
Second, processing delays have significant impact on the lives of those waiting. It is difficult to conduct even basic tasks. For example, it can be impossible to get driver’s license or a home loan. Licenses and loans are basic blocks required for living a normal adult life in the United States of America. My community is discriminated against, treated like illegal aliens, even though we have spent significant amounts of both time and money to immigrate legally.
Third, we face a lack of opportunity to advance and contribute even more. Despite the good intentions of the American Competitiveness Act, we are still required to move among jobs with the same or similar descriptions. Yet, our employers, American companies, would like to promote us, give us more responsibility, because we have done a good job. However, we cannot accept promotion since it would violate the conditions of our employment-based petition. After 2 years, it is frustrating and disappointing to not be able to move upwards in our chosen speciality area.
Delays in immigrant benefit processing impact my community. However, I would argue that they also have a significant negative impact on the American economy. By decreasing our ability to participate fully we do not inject our finances effectively into the American economy through events such as home purchases. When we cannot drive, or accept promotions, our employers cannot make the most of our skills. We ask you, for our sake, and the sake of the tax paying American citizens who want a strong economy, to ask the USCIS to process employment based applications in a timely manner, as the President and Congress suggested with their 6 month processing time for all benefits.
Sincerely,
Your name and address
We plan to start the campaign tomorrow. I will post more details later today.
Best Regards!
Dear Honorable Senator/Congress(wo)man <XXXX>
I am writing to you to draw your attention to the backlogs in Employment-based I-485 Adjustment to Permanent Residence immigrant benefit processing conducted by the USCIS and its Service Centers. I write as a member of this group who has waited <X> months for my case to be adjudicated. This community spans ethnic, racial and gender boundaries, and comprises people who teach American children, heal your sick, bring new product innovations to fuel America’s economy, and contribute research that keeps the United States at the forefront of scientific progress. According to the CATO Institute, in 1997, my community also contributed approximately $133 billion in direct taxes to federal, state, and local governments.
In return for our contributions, my community is subject to intolerable delays in processing our immigrant benefit applications. I would like to draw your attention to three of the problems that these delays create.
First, from a customer perspective, the USCIS does not seem accountable for its actions. It is virtually impossible to find out when a case will be processed and what little information they provide ranges from inaccurate to vague. A particularly egregious example of their lack of accountability arose when, after admitting that employees at the California Service Center shredded many applications, it was impossible for those potentially affected to determine whether their petitions were gone.
Second, processing delays have significant impact on the lives of those waiting. It is difficult to conduct even basic tasks. For example, it can be impossible to get driver’s license or a home loan. Licenses and loans are basic blocks required for living a normal adult life in the United States of America. My community is discriminated against, treated like illegal aliens, even though we have spent significant amounts of both time and money to immigrate legally.
Third, we face a lack of opportunity to advance and contribute even more. Despite the good intentions of the American Competitiveness Act, we are still required to move among jobs with the same or similar descriptions. Yet, our employers, American companies, would like to promote us, give us more responsibility, because we have done a good job. However, we cannot accept promotion since it would violate the conditions of our employment-based petition. After 2 years, it is frustrating and disappointing to not be able to move upwards in our chosen speciality area.
Delays in immigrant benefit processing impact my community. However, I would argue that they also have a significant negative impact on the American economy. By decreasing our ability to participate fully we do not inject our finances effectively into the American economy through events such as home purchases. When we cannot drive, or accept promotions, our employers cannot make the most of our skills. We ask you, for our sake, and the sake of the tax paying American citizens who want a strong economy, to ask the USCIS to process employment based applications in a timely manner, as the President and Congress suggested with their 6 month processing time for all benefits.
Sincerely,
Your name and address
We plan to start the campaign tomorrow. I will post more details later today.
Best Regards!
