S. 1932 Status

[Sandeep_N]

Meeting in Washington D.C. - Jan 14th and 15th

At the outset, I would like to thank the other participants for spending so much of their personal time and money in this effort in making a channelized approach to our lawmakers. The participants - WaldenPond, SunJoshi, StuckLabor, Sandeep_N, LogicLife, GCBronco, BlackLogs, Vingivi- flew in from as far away as FL, GA, NV and KS and the rest made a long drive from PA & NJ to attend this 2 day meeting.

The objective was to meet with a lobbyist used by ISN (Rick Swartz) over the weekend (Jan 14th and 15th) . Mr. Swartz was kind enough to spare a lot of his time to explain to us his insights gained over 30 years of being in this field. We also had the benefit of meeting reputed people in this field like Denyse Sabagh (ex AILA general counsel and chair of legislative advocacy committee), Bo Cooper (ex General Counsel of the INS) and Judy Golub (ex Senior Director of Advocacy and Public Affairs at AILA) during this meeting.

We also had an opportunity to meet a prominent immigration lawyer Mr Rajiv Khanna whose portal - as we all know - is one of the most frequented sites by the immigration community. It was really encouraging to get his support and guidance for immigrationvoice and we are really thankfull for his insights

We had a wealth of information, ideas and insights communicated to us by the people mentioned above. After this process of gathering inputs, we are currently evaluating the options and negotiating so as to arrive at an optimum arrangement representative of our needs and resources. A consistent message that has come across in all these meetings is not doing anything is the worst thing we can do.

Another point which has been consistently highlighted is the lack of resources - almost all of these lobbying efforts would involve a minimum of 25k upfront retainer fees at the minimum followed by an amount close to about 100k at the end of about a month. Hence we ask you to contribute and encourage friends, acquaintances, relatives who are in a similar position or have gone through this traumatic experience to contribute soon. If a thousand people contribute $100 each, we will reach our target. $100 is a lot of money but in the bigger scheme of things, it is twice the average monthly cable bill, and if we win our fight, it will have a lot more positive impact on our lives than cable does.
Please refer to this thread for any questions/suggestions etc

 

[retrogression20]

Hi Guys..
Good work, but wanted to alert with few imp things..

Because it is involved with money and IRS related things.
And it is run by H1 people..All the legal things we have to be careful.
Zazona a top notch anti-immigration organization is already canvassing that this is illegal activity and can not be done by work visa/H1 visa people. Please check one of their monthly recent newsletters.

If it is run by some firms like Immigrationportal.com or some body like that..
It will be good, i guess.

Otherwise i will be cautious. Especially i do not want to screw up the things, when things are not done by noted firms and having atleast 5 years history.
Why do not you talk with immigrationportal.com whether it can be done under Rajeev's organization as he can be sure of all the legal implications.
I just wanted to request the above possibility, so that things will be clear and no legal implications. what do u say..

 

[retrogression20]

Please Do All The Efforts Under ImmigrationPOrtal.Com which is having history of so many years and Rajeev can take care of all the legal things.

Please do not handle these things when you are on H visa.
Zazona is already canvassing that this is illegal activity and can not be done by H1 people.(Please see their monthly newsletters)

Please do all the money related activities/Legal/IRS related activities under immigrationportal.com and under Rajeevs eye sight.

 

[pdakwala]

The organization such as numbersusa.org and FAIR are working agressively with some of the congressman so that no provisions that are in favor of legal immigrants are included in the comprehensive immigration reform bill. They were successful during S1932. If nothing is done by people like you they will be successful again.

If you want to prove that immigrants are nothing but bunch of losers and have no guts to fight then, ya sure, do nothing and hope for the best. The facts presented by GCSTRAT clearly indicates that immigrants coming to US have a major problem. People at IV are working hard to address retrogression problem for all of us. Some of the core people at IV are going extra miles to solve this problem. They are asking for some contribution. That is it, Nothing more. Nothing is free. Even death incure some cost (COST OF LIFE).

Shame on us. What kind of poor attitude legal immigrants have. They are not ready to even contribute money for thier own cause. Don't be surprise if Numbersusa succeeds again. If people don't contribute then yes sure immigrants deserve that defeat.

Everyone, please understand the seriousnes of this matter. Please be agreesive. Please contribute. If you have done your job of contribution don't stop, keep convincing your friends and collegues to do that same.

LET'S JOIN HANDS AND MAKE SURE THAT IV SUCCEED IN ITS MISSION.

 

[Sandeep_N]

Hi Guys..
Good work, but wanted to alert with few imp things..

Because it is involved with money and IRS related things.
And it is run by H1 people..All the legal things we have to be careful.
Zazona a top notch anti-immigration organization is already canvassing that this is illegal activity and can not be done by work visa/H1 visa people. Please check one of their monthly recent newsletters
If it is run by some firms like Immigrationportal.com or some body like that..
It will be good, i guess.

Otherwise i will be cautious. Especially i do not want to screw up the things, when things are not done by noted firms and having atleast 5 years history.
Why do not you talk with immigrationportal.com whether it can be done under Rajeev's organization as he can be sure of all the legal implications
I just wanted to request the above possibility, so that things will be clear and no legal implications. what do u say..

Thanks. I agree that this is a point that many are uneasy about but think about these
Firstly, does it make sense to anyone that we take zazona as our point of legal reference?
Secondly, we would not be wasting time and not to mention money if we had not weighed in these options. Thirdly, this is not the first time that lobbying has been used as a tool for getting EB issues across Check this
Fourthly, we need to understand that we are not making campaign contributions. So there is nothing illegal in this. We have precedents as I mentioned earlier. Also if you read my posting above, I mentioned that we talked to Rajiv.

 

[stucklabor]

Retrogression20, stop shouting

Please Do All The Efforts Under ImmigrationPOrtal.Com which is having history of so many years and Rajeev can take care of all the legal things.

Please do not handle these things when you are on H visa.
Zazona is already canvassing that this is illegal activity and can not be done by H1 people.(Please see their monthly newsletters)

Please do all the money related activities/Legal/IRS related activities under immigrationportal.com and under Rajeevs eye sight.

Retrogression20, please stop shouting.

We met Rajeev. He was very impressed with us, as we were with his idealism and dedication to the community. He offered much advice.

This is not illegal activity. We are not planning to donate to any Congressman's PAC or re-election campaigns. If we hire a lobbyist, it will be to help us prepare presentations and get appointments with Congressional staff so that we can educate them on the retrogression problem and on the stuck labor certifications.

If you feel the need to question immigrationvoice, please do so in a normal manner. Please don't take up a whole page with a post.

 

[appan]

Retrogression20, please stop shouting.

We met Rajeev. He was very impressed with us, as we were with his idealism and dedication to the community. He offered much advice.

This is not illegal activity. We are not planning to donate to any Congressman's PAC or re-election campaigns. If we hire a lobbyist, it will be to help us prepare presentations and get appointments with Congressional staff so that we can educate them on the retrogression problem and on the stuck labor certifications.

If you feel the need to question immigrationvoice, please do so in a normal manner. Please don't take up a whole page with a post.

I paid the contribution through paypal.com..thanks for the great work

 

[bklog_sufferer]

Great Job folks !!

Great effort Sandeep and Others !!!

I personally congratulate you folks on our 1st step to the battle. I wish I could have lend my hand in the effort, but the least I could do now is pinch in a few more $$. I had already contributed some money earlier, I was thinking of driving to DC over the weekend since I couldn't go, it motivates me to contribute at least. I will be donating the money which I could have spent in the travel anyway, which could have been close to 70 bucks...

My message to folks out there, please donate and I am positive that we WILL get a lot more ROI

-Rao

At the outset, I would like to thank the other participants for spending so much of their personal time and money in this effort in making a channelized approach to our lawmakers. The participants - WaldenPond, SunJoshi, StuckLabor, Sandeep_N, LogicLife, GCBronco, BlackLogs, Vingivi- flew in from as far away as FL, GA, NV and KS and the rest made a long drive from PA & NJ to attend this 2 day meeting.

The objective was to meet with a lobbyist used by ISN (Rick Swartz) over the weekend (Jan 14th and 15th) . Mr. Swartz was kind enough to spare a lot of his time to explain to us his insights gained over 30 years of being in this field. We also had the benefit of meeting reputed people in this field like Denyse Sabagh (ex AILA general counsel and chair of legislative advocacy committee), Bo Cooper (ex General Counsel of the INS) and Judy Golub (ex Senior Director of Advocacy and Public Affairs at AILA) during this meeting.

We also had an opportunity to meet a prominent immigration lawyer Mr Rajiv Khanna whose portal - as we all know - is one of the most frequented sites by the immigration community. It was really encouraging to get his support and guidance for immigrationvoice and we are really thankfull for his insights

We had a wealth of information, ideas and insights communicated to us by the people mentioned above. After this process of gathering inputs, we are currently evaluating the options and negotiating so as to arrive at an optimum arrangement representative of our needs and resources. A consistent message that has come across in all these meetings is not doing anything is the worst thing we can do.

Another point which has been consistently highlighted is the lack of resources - almost all of these lobbying efforts would involve a minimum of 25k upfront retainer fees at the minimum followed by an amount close to about 100k at the end of about a month. Hence we ask you to contribute and encourage friends, acquaintances, relatives who are in a similar position or have gone through this traumatic experience to contribute soon. If a thousand people contribute $100 each, we will reach our target. $100 is a lot of money but in the bigger scheme of things, it is twice the average monthly cable bill, and if we win our fight, it will have a lot more positive impact on our lives than cable does.
Please refer to this thread for any questions/suggestions etc

 

[retrogression20]

Even i am saying few good things, it looks like shouting to you.
Anyway here is my suggestion..and
What all i am saying is just to do all the money related things under Rajeevs firm. Is it something you do not like?
Everybody in this forum atleast do not say this as bad idea.
People in this forum are not against it.
Do not you agree if we do it under Rajeevs firm, it will be more helpful to get more members and contributions.

All the work/efforts - you, we and all the members do as usual.
Can you please explain to the membetrs, why you are not seeing "Having Rajeev firm to handle money related things" as a good idea.

Retrogression20, please stop shouting.

We met Rajeev. He was very impressed with us, as we were with his idealism and dedication to the community. He offered much advice.

This is not illegal activity. We are not planning to donate to any Congressman's PAC or re-election campaigns. If we hire a lobbyist, it will be to help us prepare presentations and get appointments with Congressional staff so that we can educate them on the retrogression problem and on the stuck labor certifications.

If you feel the need to question immigrationvoice, please do so in a normal manner. Please don't take up a whole page with a post.

 

[retrogression20]

Why you do not like idea of having Rajeev firm to handle money related things..
After all i am saying only money related things.. not all other efforts like motivating people, getting efforts from members..
Because when money is involved, shd not we do it perfect manner??
What is the problem for you guys to handle money related things under Rajeevs firm?? Is it not better than doing under IV.
Ofcourse please note, i am saying only money related lobbying efforts.
I am not asking you to stop the activities under IV.
Rather i apprciate and encourage all to put more efforts.
But money related things - i am not at all convinced, if it is not done by firm like Rajeevs immigrationportal.com

And if Rajeevs says, that he can not do - then we can think about it.
Do not think it as shouting, but as one opinion.
Ofcourse anybody can comment on this idea.
Atleast i feel this is not bad idea.
Let us do it in best shot and clear manner.
That is not all the members in forum want??

Retrogression20, please stop shouting.

We met Rajeev. He was very impressed with us, as we were with his idealism and dedication to the community. He offered much advice.

This is not illegal activity. We are not planning to donate to any Congressman's PAC or re-election campaigns. If we hire a lobbyist, it will be to help us prepare presentations and get appointments with Congressional staff so that we can educate them on the retrogression problem and on the stuck labor certifications.

If you feel the need to question immigrationvoice, please do so in a normal manner. Please don't take up a whole page with a post.

 

[logiclife]

Why dont you tell your full name and phone

Munnu,

You want names of contributors on IV?
Why dont you declare your name and phone number here. Then ask others to do the same.

Go ahead. Show that you mean it.

If you say what your name and phone number is...here on this public forum, then I assure you everyone will be more than happy to declare their real names and phones.

Also, so far, unlike you, those who went to DC went with OUT-OF-POCKET expenses. We have not spend the collected money on anything. Not even the plane tickets, hotel or other travel related expenses. IV may not be a perfect organization but its definately not dishonest and time will show that. In the meantime you are free to sling mud on who-ever you want including IV or others. You will only be encouraging contributions and membership on IV and not hurting it. I can GUARANTEE YOU THAT MUCH.

Bye bye and have a happy mud-slinging season.

ENJOY!!!!

 

[RAYDHAN]

Immigration Voice

To all the Gurus at ImmigrationVoice,

First all "CONGRATULATIONS FOR THE FIRST STEP" in this battle against retrogression. You guys have done a terrific job so far. I have no doubt that you will be successful in your future endeavors.

Try to ignore the people who present obstacles in your path. You cannot satisfy everyone at all times. I trust that you will take the best steps forward for our benefit.

The difference between a fool and a genius is that a fool talks when he has to say something, and a genius talks when he has something to say. No offence - retrogression20 and munnu77705.

 

[munnu77705]

To all the Gurus at ImmigrationVoice,

First all "CONGRATULATIONS FOR THE FIRST STEP" in this battle against retrogression. You guys have done a terrific job so far. I have no doubt that you will be successful in your future endeavors.

Try to ignore the people who present obstacles in your path. You cannot satisfy everyone at all times. I trust that you will take the best steps forward for our benefit.

The difference between a fool and a genius is that a fool talks when he has to say something, and a genius talks when he has something to say. No offence - retrogression20 and munnu77705.

no prblm raydhan...i know we r in the same boat...still i didnt get my answer..y i was banned from a so called "hard working pro-immigrant site"

 

[retrogression20]

RAYTHAN you did not get what i am trying to say here

RAYTHAN you did not get what i am trying to say here..

Did anywhere i said about the efforts by IV or others.Did i question anybody efforts ? Did i sugegst anything taht is not for good?

If you feel Rajeev firm handling this is not good idea..
Nobody can answer to you..


What all i suggested is - do money related part under Rajeevs firmAnd nothing else.

When i was in techworkers group, Rajeev already suggested the same
under exisitng firm ie Immigrationportal.org
FYI: This is not bad idea and rather good idea for getting more contributions needed for lobbying efforts. And everybody will come forward, if it is done under Rajeev hands.

AFter all you did not get my point.

If somebody says if Rajeev firm handling this is not good idea..
I do not agree..

 

[gc_bronco]

retrogression20, I sent you a private message.

 

[GCard_Dream]

Retrogression20,

If you feel so strongly about contributing to Rajiv's firm, you should do that and I don't think anyone here will stop you. Guys at immigrationvoice.org put in lot of effort and energy during S.1932 and they are doing it again. I am not saying Rajiv is not doing his best to address our issues but I have seen these guys fight and fight hard for a common cause which will benefit us all and they deserve nothing less than great respect and a big thank you.

 

[ychuck]

contribution

I am confident about H1 guys. I just want to know if it ok to contribute as a non citizen/permenent citizen. Lobby money will go as campaign fund, non citizens cannot contribute to it. So, dont know how it will work. Also, I do not know how going through Rajiv. K will make it ok.
I will ask one of my citizen friends to contribute.

 

[kamrans]

Reply from Senator Richard Durbin Illinois

Here is the response from Richard Durbin of Illinois. He doesnt seem helpful to me.

Thank you for your recent correspondance regarding immigrant visa availability.
United States immigration law requires immigrant visas to be granted according to the numerical limitation preference system. Immigrant visa availability for employment based preference categories must be processed in strict chronological order governed by priority dates and visa availability. There is no provision in immigration law that would allow processing of an immigrant visa if no visa number is available., even for humanitarian reasons.
Although we are sympathetic to your current situation, we regret that we cannot be more helpful in this matter. You may wish to visit DOS website for update information.
We hope this information is useful to you. Please do not hesitate to contact my office again if I can be of assistance to you in other matters of federal concern.

Richard Durbin
United States Senator

 

[kamrans]

Response from Senator Barak Obama

I contacted senator and he sent me forms to list the details of my case. I would like him to work on the immigration reforms for all of us not only my case.
I am going to write him again that we need help in the scenarios we already talked about a lot in this forum.

Thanks.

 

[Everready]

Hi all,
Ok i made a contribution and will make one next week. I guess the issue here is that these guys have a plan and we should support them. If there is some one else who wants to try some other way .. let him do so and i for one will support him too, what ever little i can. I am sure we will get there finally.