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VOTE

Only American citizen can vote, and we can apply Naturalization 5 years after becoming a permanent resident.
"5 years" is too long.

Howerver, many of us have been already waiting for almost 2 years.
Also, the current processing delay is UNFAIR to long-waiters like us.

If we can apply Naturalization 5 years after filing an AOS application, it is only 3 years later from now.
Many of us will be able to vote in 2008.
It may be another motivation for Senators and Congresspersons.

This is the link to the related thread at the VSC forum:
http://www.immigrationportal.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=96876
 
Re: What Next ? - New Petition to CONGRESS MEN + SENATORS

(Link to my message at VSC forum)
http://www.immigrationportal.com/showthread.php?s=&postid=575857#post575857

For Congresspersons and Senators,
I recommend each one to contact Congressperson in one's district and Senators in one's state rather than the petition.

Actually, I started contacting them a couple of months before.
http://www.immigrationportal.com/showthread.php?s=&postid=563180#post563180
I am raising two issues.
one is individual to me, to request expedition of my case.
Another is general, the current EB I-485 processing delay at the BCIS.

For the first one, we can use their constituent service.
You should get a written reply.
I wonder whether it would succeed or not,
anyway, it works.

For the later one about a general issue, we need the NUMBER.
Only one applicant's request is helpless at all.
Howerver, I think we have a chance to work with Congressperson and Senator if several applicants go to them.
At the CSC, I hope it will start soon...
 
Re: 18 months since 1st FP, still no word

(Link to my message at VSC forum)
http://www.immigrationportal.com/showthread.php?s=&postid=575895#post575895

I am in the same situation (but in CSC).
According to my attorney, the BCIS will never send you 2nd FP notice nor RFE until picking up your case.

Instead of just hoping something might happen in October, we can act right now.
http://www.immigrationportal.com/showthread.php?s=&postid=575857#post575857

Every one should appeal one's case to Congressperson and Senators so that they can think the current EB I-485 backlog seriously.
Then, the Congress should assign a fund to the BCIS, and the BCIS should work for our cases.
Otherwise, nothing would happen even in FY2004.
 
Originally posted by kashmir
According to the above interview with Eduardo Aguirre, Jr, Director of the BCIS, he seems to think IT (information technology) is the only solution to reduce the backlog.
IT may be a long term solution, however IT can not be a short term solution at all.
For EB I-485 backlog, a short term solution is really required right now.
Click to expand...
Again, in his speech on 9/3/2003,
http://www.immigration.gov/graphics/AguirreMPI090303.pdf
he seems to rely on IT for backlog reduction.

However, considering poor IT skill at the BCIS,
for instance, a simple programming bug was incorporated on 9/11/2003,
http://www.immigrationportal.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=97619
there is NO HOPE.

The only solution is to hire and keep officers to adjudicate EB I-485 applications.
However, the goverment has no money.
Nothing would happen even in FY2004 unless we act right now.
 
Unitl Naturalization, we are not American citizens.
Until aprpoval of I-485, we are neither American citizens nor Immigrants.
We are only Non-Immigrants, just temporary residents.
But, we will be paying TAXes and contributing American economy a lot.

In comparison with $2B / week that the U.S. government is wasting in Iraq,
the cost to eliminate backlog is almost nothing.
The Congress definitely should assign a fund to the BCIS to allocate officers at service centers.
 
collaboration with communities of illegal immigrants

http://www.immigrationportal.com/showthread.php?s=&postid=580139#post579811

Originally posted by kashmir
...
For this petition, I think we should collect signatures also from permanent residents and citizens.
Click to expand...
I think we need to cooperate with illegal immigrants, too
because
1) the number of legal workers' is too small, almost nothing
2) for American citizens, it doesn't matter whether an immigrant is legal or illegal, "Immigrant" is just Immigrant for them.
They don't care about the fact we are paying TAX at all.


http://www.immigrationportal.com/showthread.php?s=&postid=580139#post580139

Originally posted by Edison
Kashmir,
I accept that most of the Americans don't differentiate illegal immigrants or legal immigrants, there are some who realize that they don't pay any taxes and also they are aware that those illegals have lot of kids, so they won'y any tax even when they are legalized.
But you see all these politicians are talking about legalizing the illegals but no talk or law for taking care of the interests of Legal Immigrants.
But How can we cooperate with illegal immigrants????? I don't think any of those illegal immigrant visit this forum!!!!!

Could you please elaborate any strategy to cooperate with illegal immigrants?????
Click to expand...
Hi, Edison,
Most of items in our petition are common to both legal and illegal immigrants.
We don't need to emphasize EB nor paying tax.
We may change wording a little bit.

Also, we may not expect illegal immigrants to visit this website to sign the petition,
but their communities have already pushed politicians.

The next step is to go to politician's office to discuss about our petition.
As you mentioned, many politicians have already introduced bills especially for illegal immigrants.
It might be difficult to introduce a new bill for legal workers, but it should be possible to incorporate our items into bills for illegal ones because our requesting items are common to illegal ones.
I think we can get benefits through this process.
 
5 years to Naturalization

Originally posted by kashmir
Unitl Naturalization, we are not American citizens.
Until aprpoval of I-485, we are neither American citizens nor Immigrants.
We are only Non-Immigrants, just temporary residents.
...
Click to expand...
To apply Naturalization, we have to wait another five years from the date of I-485 approval.
However, we have been already waiting for a long time for I-485.
For most of us, it will take two or three years just to get I-485 approvals.
The current processing delay of EB I-485 is significantly UNFAIR to us.

http://www.immigrationportal.com/showthread.php?s=&postid=574645#post574645

6. Amend Immigration and Naturalization Act (INA) :
INA Sec. 316. [8 U.S.C. 1427] states that “ No person, except as otherwise provided in this title, shall be naturalized, unless such applicant, (1) immediately preceding the date of filing his application for naturalization has resided continuously, after being lawfully admitted for permanent residence, within the United States for at least five years”.
The INA should be amended so that , for people who had obtained the Permanent Residency through Employment based adjustment of status, the five year lawful residency requirement should start from the day adjustment of status application (I485) is filed with BCIS. Alternatively, we suggest that the eligibility for citizenship application should be changed so that it requires the applicant to be a permanent resident and should have resided continuosly for 8 years with valid legal status to work
 
Here is an aricle at murthy.com written on 8/15/2003.
I totally agree on the following conclusion.
-kashmir

http://www.murthy.com/UDrelwor.html

Delays Due to Religious Worker Deadline

...

Conclusion

We understand the need to meet the deadline for the religious workers and to resolve the long-standing problems faced by those seeking adjustment of status as asylees. However, the NSC and CSC should have adequate funding allocated to them to process all cases within a reasonable time. With sufficient staff, they could meet deadlines without greatly disrupting the processing of other cases. It is particularly problematic when processing times are already measured in years. For this reason it is important that our readers lobby their Congresspersons for additional funding for immigration services, as well as for greater oversight to ensure funds remitted as immigration filing fees are used exclusively by BCIS for service-related functions, and not diverted for other purposes. This would enable BCIS to provide better service to those who are paying fees with the reasonable expectation of receiving, maintaining, or extending lawful status in the United States in a timely and efficient manner.

© The Law Office of Sheela Murthy, P.C.
 
a useless staff - Re: Congresswoman Anna Eshoo (14th CA) - Town Hall on 9/6/2003

Originally posted by kashmir
I attended the meeting yesterday.
She looked faithful and powerful.
I was able to raise an issue, and she promised to work on it.
Also, I talked with the staff whom I had called several days before.
There are still a lot of things to do.

Anyway, I recommend to raise your issue to your local Congressperson if your case has been pending for more than 180 days.
I think our visibility is very low and that making us visible is the fist step.
Click to expand...
However, one of Anna Eshoo's staffs was totally useless.
 
CSC Liaison Meeting Summary For August 27, 2003

http://www.lewslaw.com/US_Immigration_Updates.htm

CSC Liaison Meeting Summary For August 27, 2003 (09-16-2003)

Adjudication Priorities
The priority for adjudications until September 30, 2003 is that of religious worker cases. It is anticipated that in October 2003, the adjudication of adjustment applications (I-485s) will resume at a faster pace (perhaps double). It is also expected that in October the adjudication of Employment Authorization Applications (I-765) and Advance Parole Applications (I-131) filed concurrently with I-140/I-485s will be faster, so that eventually these applications will be adjudicated within 45 days.. By the end of September 2003, it is hoped that H-1B visa petitions, except for extensions, will be processed within 90 days. H-1B visa extensions should be adjudicated within 4.5 months and eventually by the end of this calendar year - 90 days. However, the processing time for Immigrant Visa Petitions (I-140) will be delayed.

Adjustment Applications (I-485)
These types of cases, as mentioned above, are not a priority at this time. The JIT Report Processing Date will soon reflect a change from November 16, 2001 to December 16, 2001. Although it appeared that I-485s have not been adjudicated, the following statistics were provided as to the number of cases completed:

May 2,943

June 3,178

July 2,472

When normal resources are allocated to the adjudication of these cases, it was indicated that 4500 to 5000 cases are completed on a monthly basis.

Extensions of EADs and APs
The Service Center confirmed that when an Application for Extension of Advance Parole and/or Employment Authorization is adjudicated, the effective date will be the date of adjudication and not the date when the previous document expired or was to expire.
 
Dissatisfaction with NCSC Telephone System

http://www.murthy.com/ukncsc.html

Dissatisfaction with NCSC Telephone System

...

We hope that this letter to Mr. Aguirre is well received. Otherwise, even more people who are seeking immigration benefits will be forced to knock on their Congressional members' doors to seek answers, as it appears Congressional liaisons are the only persons with direct access to the Service Centers at this time.
...

© The Law Office of Sheela Murthy, P.C.

Posted Sep. 19, 2003

(my comments)
More people should ask Congressional members until they complain against the USCIS.
I think it is the only way to change the current useless NCSC Telephone System.

A half years ago, many people went to local BCIS office to get Iterim EAD, so local office complained against the service center, then the CSC is apporving I-765 around 90 days now.
-kashmir
 
Re: CSC Liaison Meeting Summary For August 27, 2003

Originally posted by kashmir
http://www.lewslaw.com/US_Immigration_Updates.htm

CSC Liaison Meeting Summary For August 27, 2003 (09-16-2003)

Adjudication Priorities
The priority for adjudications until September 30, 2003 is that of religious worker cases. It is anticipated that in October 2003, the adjudication of adjustment applications (I-485s) will resume at a faster pace (perhaps double). It is also expected that in October the adjudication of Employment Authorization Applications (I-765) and Advance Parole Applications (I-131) filed concurrently with I-140/I-485s will be faster, so that eventually these applications will be adjudicated within 45 days.. By the end of September 2003, it is hoped that H-1B visa petitions, except for extensions, will be processed within 90 days. H-1B visa extensions should be adjudicated within 4.5 months and eventually by the end of this calendar year - 90 days. However, the processing time for Immigrant Visa Petitions (I-140) will be delayed.

Adjustment Applications (I-485)
These types of cases, as mentioned above, are not a priority at this time. The JIT Report Processing Date will soon reflect a change from November 16, 2001 to December 16, 2001. Although it appeared that I-485s have not been adjudicated, the following statistics were provided as to the number of cases completed:

May 2,943

June 3,178

July 2,472

When normal resources are allocated to the adjudication of these cases, it was indicated that 4500 to 5000 cases are completed on a monthly basis.

Extensions of EADs and APs
The Service Center confirmed that when an Application for Extension of Advance Parole and/or Employment Authorization is adjudicated, the effective date will be the date of adjudication and not the date when the previous document expired or was to expire.
Click to expand...
As posted at:
http://www.immigrationportal.com/showthread.php?s=&postid=583831#post583831
here is the number of approvals found by Project Kashmir.
Code: 
252 ... September 2003 (as of 9/20/2003)
252 ... August 2003
263 ... July 2003
395 ... June 2003
359 ... May 2003
397 ... April 2003
According to ysolong,
the CSC had 600 Religious Worker cases that should be adjudicated by 9/30/2003.
http://www.immigrationportal.com/showthread.php?s=&postid=583383#post583383

Considering the above numbers, the CSC seems to be able to adjudicate 400-500 I485 cases per month, and must be busy for Religious Worker cases now.

However, the above numbers already include Religious Worker I485 cases.
This means the CSC will be able to adjudicate only 400-500 EB I-485 cases even in October, 2003
unless additional resource would be assigned.

It's very doubrful that in October 2003, the adjudication of adjustment applications (I-485s) will resume at a faster pace (perhaps double).

I think that we should not have too much hope for faster adjudication from the next month
and that each applicant should complain about slow processing to Congressional offices now because they are the only persons with direct access to the CSC.
http://www.immigrationportal.com/showthread.php?s=&postid=585084#post585084
 
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Re: Why VSC has been approving more cases recently ...

Originally posted by kashmir
http://www.immigrationportal.com/showthread.php?s=&postid=577658#post577658
Click to expand...
Originally posted by Edison
Reasons for Delays in Service Center Processing Times
http://www.murthy.com/ukreason.html
Click to expand...
In that article posted on 4/18/2003,
Some Good News!
Though much of the situation appears bleak, there may be help with staffing in the near future. The Vermont Service Center has reported that they will have an additional 100 adjudicators onboard in the next few months. These examiners will replace those who have been lost to security functions. Most other Service Centers are also expected to obtain additional examiners to help process petitions and applications.

This must be the reason why we have seen more approvals recently at the VSC than other service centers.
-kashmir

http://www.murthy.com/ukvsc.html
VSC Supervisor Speaks to AILA DC Chapter
...
Resources
The VSC has hired an additional 100 people to adjudicate cases and may get additional office space in the near future to handle one, selected type of case. The type of case that would go to the alternate site has not yet been determined. The 100 new hires are part of the backlog reduction plan. With over 400,000 I-130s pending at the VSC, the best guess is that the majority or all of these new adjudicators will focus on I-130s. More than 100 of the current 425 adjudicators are still reassigned to working on the IBIS security related checks. To date, there are more than 6,000 unresolved cases from the 400,000 hits in IBIS since March 2002. The BCIS is also trying to get all processing fee funds allocated to the BCIS for further improvements.
...
© The Law Office of Sheela Murthy, P.C.
Posted Apr. 04, 2003

(my comment)
VSC processing pace is not satisfactory but much faster than other service centers including CSC.

We should complain directly to Congressional members until they complain against the USCIS,
otherwise, nothing would happen even staring new FY2004 in October, 2003.
-kashmir
 
Re: a useless staff - Re: Congresswoman Anna Eshoo (14th CA) - Town Hall on 9/6/2003

Originally posted by kashmir
However, one of Anna Eshoo's staffs was totally useless.
Click to expand...
I received written letters from Congresswoman Anna Eshoo (14th CA) and Senator Dianne Feinstein (CA) this weekend.
As expected, no good news.
They seem not to intend to work with the USCIS about my case nor general problem, processing delay at CSC.

I will send another letters early this week,
and continue until something will happen.
 
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FAX of Senators of CA

Originally posted by kashmir
http://www.immigrationportal.com/showthread.php?s=&postid=586627#post586627

Rajiv,
I faxed it to:
Congresswoman Anna Eshoo (14th CA)
U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein (CA)
and is trying to:
U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer (CA)
( because a fax line has been busy )
using sai-2367's PDF wih my signature and address,
so you may have a contact from members of Congress of California.
Regards,
-kashmir
Click to expand...
Completed faxing to Barbara Boxer San Francisco office.

For Dianne Feinstein,
her San Francisco office seems to accept a fax 415-393-0710 only during day time
because it failed trying after 7pm twice yesterday and last week.
 
FAX THE PETITION NOW

Originally posted by Edison
I'm planning to contact Congressman and Senators this weekend.
Yes, Everyone should contact the Congressman and Senator. Then only they will understand the seriousness of our problem.
Click to expand...
It takes only 2'45" faxing six pages.
For you, it takes less than 10 minutes even sending to one Congressperson and two Senators.

Even if 100 people would fax to a single Senator, it's only 3 x 100 = 300 minutes = 5 hours.
It does neither prevent their receiving another faxes nor break their fax machine.

(originally posted at VSC forum)
http://www.immigrationportal.com/showthread.php?s=&postid=586941#post586941
 
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