SEP bulletin and SARAS

[neocor]

Well whatever be the reasons that USCIS has for holding up the dates in Apr 2001, they only know.
But the biggest problem is the menace of Labor Substitution. I had posted so many times about the implications of Labor Sub.
All this chaos may not be after all becuase of the impending wait for the 245i filers.

I still get mails from so many bhadwaas who are ready to sell LC's with PD in 1999 - 2000. It is so tempting to consider them, but I know most of them have already been used or been already given multiple times to others.

I am still of strong opinion that the problem is because of the LS rather than 245i. I know no one will agree with me right now. But I have been saying this for the last year, and this will become apparant in a few more years.

neo

 

[saras76]

Labor Sub

Well whatever be the reasons that USCIS has for holding up the dates in Apr 2001, they only know.
But the biggest problem is the menace of Labor Substitution. I had posted so many times about the implications of Labor Sub.
All this chaos may not be after all becuase of the impending wait for the 245i filers.

I still get mails from so many bhadwaas who are ready to sell LC's with PD in 1999 - 2000. It is so tempting to consider them, but I know most of them have already been used or been already given multiple times to others.

I am still of strong opinion that the problem is because of the LS rather than 245i. I know no one will agree with me right now. But I have been saying this for the last year, and this will become apparant in a few more years.

neo

neo,

I agree that labor sub is a huge problem. It is a loop hole that a large number of people are exploiting. There is nothing we can do about that. Our options at this point are to either sit tight, use AC-21 and change jobs, look into the possibility of filing EB2 labor and porting the EB3 PD or giving up on this process.

regards,

saras

 

[HaraKad]

My aplogies to those India EB3 with PD 2001. I always thought before April30 2001 there are not many Indians EB3 left. Now I see there may be such cases before April 30 and also many in 2001 rest of the year.

Now what this 2800 number specifies? Will every year India EB3 green card can go to that number only? Does this mean when in 2000-2004 when so
many thousands of Indians got visas they were less than 2800 each year? How is it possible?

I beleive they go beyond 2800 limit and that is the reason still not Indian EB3 did not became unavialable (that is my hope!!)

If you confirm that 2800 is the ultimate number for Indian Eb3 each year (unless there is a new bill), we all are royally screwed.

I know we are screwed earlire as I thought that somehow for India Eb3 the number of visa number is higher than 2800. But now really there is no hope for me (PDapr2002) as there are thousands of Indians Eb3 in 2001 looks like.

U dont have to apologize....initially even I thought that mine was the only case which is pending since 2001 until the retrogression took effect and the 98, 99 PDs(original labor) started getting approval.

Yes! this whole system is messed up. I hope we will be done with this GC process soon and move on with our lives

 

[guldukan]

I am not sure why every one is behind labor sub. I know itz a loop hole also I know few friends who used them and are enjoying the GC, for myself I never thought about it as I was not that desperate for GC. (now I am ), but I really don't think labor sub is a major issue

bigger issue is DOS and 245i cases, reading the PriceWaterCooper report (http://www.doleta.gov/sga/rfp/PwCFinalReport.cfm) which clearly mentions the major hurdle in processing labor is due to 245i cases, since the priority date is set by DOS many predicated that for India will be stuck in April 2001 for long time

by not having exact numbers on how many 245i cases are from India and how many pending EB3 labor from India it is very difficult predict future bullitins, however, my instinct tells me there is someting goofy going on in DOS, I remember reading somewhere some Chief of DOS is a member of anit-immigration group, can someone verify this.

do we have legitimate info on how many pending cases are in BEC from India from all catagorries (EB3, 245i, EB2 etc).

 

[santa4u]

Pre-Adjudication & Transparency

USCIS should enforce these...

1) Pre-adjudication: USCIS should let applicants know clearly that they have been approved and waiting for visa number....than keeping everybody under mystery and only approving once visa number is available...
(That way - they should let them change jobs/etc and treat them like GC holders...)

2) USCIS should share visa demand information....by demographics by PD/Country...so that everybody can easily get insight into visa number demand....rather...than sudenly waking up one day...to realize that all the numbers vanished...as in EB2 - Aug - Unavailable....

 

[saras76]

Number of pending cases ...

I am not sure why every one is behind labor sub. I know itz a loop hole also I know few friends who used them and are enjoying the GC, for myself I never thought about it as I was not that desperate for GC. (now I am ), but I really don't think labor sub is a major issue

bigger issue is DOS and 245i cases, reading the PriceWaterCooper report (http://www.doleta.gov/sga/rfp/PwCFinalReport.cfm) which clearly mentions the major hurdle in processing labor is due to 245i cases, since the priority date is set by DOS many predicated that for India will be stuck in April 2001 for long time

by not having exact numbers on how many 245i cases are from India and how many pending EB3 labor from India it is very difficult predict future bullitins, however, my instinct tells me there is someting goofy going on in DOS, I remember reading somewhere some Chief of DOS is a member of anit-immigration group, can someone verify this.

do we have legitimate info on how many pending cases are in BEC from India from all catagorries (EB3, 245i, EB2 etc).

guldukan,

The Ombudsman report released earlier this year clearly states that the DOS has no way to find out exact figures because DOL does not maintain any database of labor cases that are filed. The DOL has an idea of the total number of pending cases but they have no clue about how many are 245i, EB2 or EB3, what year the labors belong to and what countries the filers belong to. The DOS is basing all its dates on the total number of pending cases that the DOL is sharing with them. The total number is obviously huge and hence the grave retro. Other than a legistalive solution, there really is no solution in site ..

regards,

saras

 

[guldukan]

sarars, yes I saw that ombudsmen report and I know what you are talking about, but if you read the report it says DOS issues its complex formula to determine the visa date,

my question if they don't have a database about how many cases are pending from India,china or mexico how are they setting date for each country, I think they are contradicting themselves, right?

from all the reports pwc/ombudsman, they are roughly about 300K applications pending, for me this is not a huge number comparing US immigration standards

 

[saras76]

Yes ....

sarars, yes I saw that ombudsmen report and I know what you are talking about, but if you read the report it says DOS issues its complex formula to determine the visa date,

my question if they don't have a database about how many cases are pending from India,china or mexico how are they setting date for each country, I think they are contradicting themselves, right?

from all the reports pwc/ombudsman, they are roughly about 300K applications pending, for me this is not a huge number comparing US immigration standards

guldukan,

I am sure there is some complex formula that the DOS uses but that calculation is based on the total number of pending cases that the DOL provides to them. The DOL in turn does not have any database. Hence it is safe to assume that the complex calculation is not accurate. It is based on historical demand and total number of pending labors. There is no way that it can be accurate. This is my assumption. This is not to say that the demand within India EB3 is low. It might be high but then the 1900 (assuming 50% to be dependents) visa numbers for '06 should have been long gone. However visas for EB3 India continue to be available. It does not add up at all. Not in my head anyway.

regards,

saras

 

[knowDOL]

I think the problem surfaced for EB3 and EB2 India since 2005 fiscal year is because of rest of the world's demand for more visa numbers in these categories. In years prior to that this demand was less by rest of the owrld, and Eb2 and EB3 India and China got these numbers so we did not see the problem. Suddenly the Dam gates are closed now, so obviously we are going to dry out until the flow becomes more(change in the law to increase numbers) or rest of the world demand receeds, which is not going to happen because from 2001-2004 the H-1B visa numbers increased three times.

The only solution for us is SKIL bill as CIR is in darks. We should work hard and lobby for SKIL bill passage with immigratioin benefits not just with H-1b quota increase. It is almost certain that business community will lobby and get approval for H-1B quota increase and we should not lose that golden chance to include our immigration numbers numbers raise. At least one or two years down the line we will see some light. Otherwise, we will be in a closed pipe not knowing whether to head forward or backward for long long time.

 

[neocor]

I think the problem surfaced for EB3 and EB2 India since 2005 fiscal year is because of rest of the world's demand for more visa numbers in these categories. In years prior to that this demand was less by rest of the owrld, and Eb2 and EB3 India and China got these numbers so we did not see the problem. Suddenly the Dam gates are closed now, so obviously we are going to dry out until the flow becomes more(change in the law to increase numbers) or rest of the world demand receeds, which is not going to happen because from 2001-2004 the H-1B visa numbers increased three times.

The only solution for us is SKIL bill as CIR is in darks. We should work hard and lobby for SKIL bill passage with immigratioin benefits not just with H-1b quota increase. It is almost certain that business community will lobby and get approval for H-1B quota increase and we should not lose that golden chance to include our immigration numbers numbers raise. At least one or two years down the line we will see some light. Otherwise, we will be in a closed pipe not knowing whether to head forward or backward for long long time.

Are you kidding!!

You dint see what happened after all those debates related to immigration bills last december and this year /March/April/May.
Nothing comes out of these. These bills remain on paper and later gets comletely shelved and nobody even talk about them.
But in any case none of the bills are useful to EB3 India specifically.

Unleess any of these bill does something about the Labor Substituion they are completely useless. I am not saying to remove the whole damn rule, I am only asking to make the ammendment that the priority date for the substituted labor will be the date it was substituted, and not the original date when it was filed.

Believe me its good for all of us here. Plus it will safeguard everyone from the evil bhadwaas.

neo

 

[santa4u]

Immigration Reform Bills may not pass this year

Even Shusterman is saying the same thing...

He very much doubts if any of these bills will get passed this year...in his this month's bulletin...

 

[neocor]

Even Shusterman is saying the same thing...

He very much doubts if any of these bills will get passed this year...in his this month's bulletin...

Well I doubt these will ever get passed.
And with the impending recession looking, the priority of the lawmakers will be elsewhere for atleat 2 years to come.

neo

 

[GHEBAUER]

guldukan,

I am sure there is some complex formula that the DOS uses but that calculation is based on the total number of pending cases that the DOL provides to them. The DOL in turn does not have any database. Hence it is safe to assume that the complex calculation is not accurate. It is based on historical demand and total number of pending labors. There is no way that it can be accurate. This is my assumption. This is not to say that the demand within India EB3 is low. It might be high but then the 1900 (assuming 50% to be dependents) visa numbers for '06 should have been long gone. However visas for EB3 India continue to be available. It does not add up at all. Not in my head anyway.

regards,

saras

Hi saras ,

My friend just got aproved yesterday , and he received the notice yesterday and the card by next day !!! I'm sure that they are working better now on EB3 cases , because those cases were left behind again since the last backlog !!! So , they stoped the EB2 cases for India , and if something left , will pass to EB3 cases !!! We'll see the difference in the next Bulletin for sure , maibe not a huge one , but will be a little advance on EB3s !!! They try to catch from behind now with these cases !!! Even my lawyer told me that they received a lot of aprovals in the last period !!! So continue to keep hope !!! I think that we'll hear from them this year !!! I hope so , for all of us !!!


Regards,

ghebauer

 

[tammy2]

my question if they don't have a database about how many cases are pending from India,china or mexico how are they setting date for each country, I think they are contradicting themselves, right?

The priority date fixation does not go by the pending cases. It goes by the approved Labors during the month. This was easier calculation prior the concurrent filing Because number of approved I-140s used as base to calculate the Priority dates.

DOL does have the database. But many of these approved Labors are not used immediately. It is very hard to calculate.

 

[santa4u]

The PD fixation happens at the last step of 485 adjudication
- all the adjudicated 485's are sent to Visa Office for Visa number
- The visa office controls issuing Visa Numbers by PD/Country of birth..

 

[neocor]

They are not looking at the number of approved labors, they are looking at the numbres of labors pending to be approved in the DOL, which in my opinion is wrong.

In doing so they are allowing even the Visa Numbers to go unused this year. The policy now is to give GC's to people in FIFO irrespective of weather the Visa Numbers are wasted.
There is however a big loophole still there. The Labor Substitution. There is no way to get around that.

neo

 

[neocor]

How do you know that the visas are going unused?

Well that my take on whats happening unless someone prooves me wrong.

How do you know if they are getting used.

neo

 

[sfmars]

How do you know that the visas are going unused?

Everybody will realize that when sometime in May 2007 US congress votes to give unused EB visas (from 2006) to Schedule A nurses. The same happened in 2005 when they gave them 50K unused EB visas.

I absolutely agree with neocor that they are looking only at the numbres of labors pending to be approved in the DOL which causes a lot of unused visas.

 

[saras76]

No point in arguing ..

Everybody will realize that when sometime in May 2007 US congress votes to give unused EB visas (from 2006) to Schedule A nurses. The same happened in 2005 when they gave them 50K unused EB visas.

I absolutely agree with neocor that they are looking only at the numbres of labors pending to be approved in the DOL which causes a lot of unused visas.

sfmars and neocor,

There is no point in getting into an arguement with people about the "real" reasons of this retro. Everyone has his/her own opinion and none of us can change that. When the USCIS releases the visa stats in January of '07 things will become clear. We are all kidding ourselves if we truly believe that "ANYONE" really knows what is going on or what may happen in the future. Its all speculation and its pointless to debate the validity of speculations ...

regards,

saras

 

[mhsoor]

You said is very correctly Saras. There is no point speculating about the uncertain events and things that you can't control. My PD is Nov 2001. The way things are going, I don't see any relief in the coming months and have left everything on USCIS. Hopefully I won't run out of my patience before my final approval.

sfmars and neocor,

There is no point in getting into an arguement with people about the "real" reasons of this retro. Everyone has his/her own opinion and none of us can change that. When the USCIS releases the visa stats in January of '07 things will become clear. We are all kidding ourselves if we truly believe that "ANYONE" really knows what is going on or what may happen in the future. Its all speculation and its pointless to debate the validity of speculations ...

regards,

saras