Settlement Memorandum Sent

Originally posted by gambler
Another hardship I found out yesterday.
Most of the insurance companies will not underwrite a life insurance if you do not have a G.C. I was shopping around yesterday on selectquote.com and quotesmith.com and most of the offers had this condition :
"U.S. citizenship is not required for this rate class. If not a U.S. citizen, a permanent visa/green card is required as well as U.S. residency for the last 3 years. "
Now I cannot buy life insurance because INS is taking so much time to decide our cases ???:mad: :mad:
Yes i had the same experience. Every Body can understand the risk of Head of the Family not being insured. Judge might show some mercy on that fact.
 
I take back my suggestion.
Guess there is no room for a differnt view point. Hope Cinta is happy now as I guess he thinks that is what the majority wants. Well, if that is the premise count me out as I am firm believer in listening to divergent views and then taking a consolidated and well thought out approach.
Congrats Cinta, you win.
 
NPR Coverage - Attn. Rajiv

In the NPR coverage this morning it is important to note that CIS is claiming that AOS backlog is caused due to the additional security checks needed to scan AOS applicants...

From the CIS spokesman " we scan the applicants once their applications are received and again before they are finally processed"

Even this guy indicated that the agency will not compromise on security checks regardless of the size of the resulting backlog.

The lawsuit may generate the same response from CIS. We will need to comeup with a strong response to counter this claim. I mean, how can additional security checks cause such a massive backlog (according to NPR the current backlog is 6 million AOS applications - forget about 6 month processing target by 2006!!). CIS did perform checks in the past. And most of these checks are done through computerized database searches anyway. It is not like IIOs are running around places to conduct checks on applicants. But, CIS will have a valid reason for keeping their procedures confidential and use that as the cause for all this delay.

The INA does not specify a timeframe for processing AOS applications. Therefore, the main question here is what is a reasonable timeframe for processing AOS applications, and how do we convince the Court on this point. Typically, the overwhelming majority (> 90%) of immigrants are in the family based categories and the acceptable timeframe for their adjustment has been in terms of years (for whatever reason). That was not the case for EB AOS applicants 3 years back. If the general public views AOS in the typical terms, 4 years of wait for AOS may not appear as being that different/crucial.

We really need to focus on separating EB AOS from FB AOS and what could be viewed as an acceptable timeframe for EB AOS applicants given the constraints of economy, job situation, costs for EAD/AP renewal, progress on job, etc. With Lou Dobbs screaming everyday about BPO, the public support (and the Court view) may overshadow the real reason for delay and paint this issue with the same color as this administration has been doing to every other issue!!

How do we show the Court that additional security checks can't possibly explain such huge delays in processing AOS applications? Keep in mind, we will never get a chance to examine the details of what security procedures CIS adopts to process AOS applicants for reasons of confidentiality.

And finally to everybody, do your bit to seek a change come November.
 
USCIS think it is “OK” to let people suffer (Washington Post) ....

With all due respect to your individual ideas I think we should be very focused, determined, relentless, resolute, and demanding in getting what we set out for i.e. backlog reduction. There are too many things at stake that I do not have to write all down. We are not picking up the fight; we are merely trying to reduce the harm being done to us. Rajiv has been magnanimous in granting time to USCIS till so far and we must not stop till verifiable backlog reduction results are in.

Guys, look at what USCIS has to say. They are not apologetic about the backlog (see para starting “We obviously aren't happy……) in this Washington Post report.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/w...ode=&contentId=A30333-2004Feb10&notFound=true

They think it is “OK” to let people suffer due to their inefficient security check processes. The above article by Mary Beth Sheridan of Washington Post, written last month, tries to encompass every type of green card petition and I believe speaks for EB petitions as well. I think we should thank her as well for her efforts and probably writing something about the pending class action lawsuit.
 
Originally posted by Singhflying
I take back my suggestion.
Guess there is no room for a differnt view point. Hope Cinta is happy now as I guess he thinks that is what the majority wants. Well, if that is the premise count me out as I am firm believer in listening to divergent views and then taking a consolidated and well thought out approach.
Congrats Cinta, you win.

You expressed your suggestion and your view was read by all. I just DID the same. I am not the Executive power here. keep your congats for yourself. This is not a game with winners and losers. What else do you want? Give us the references where your view is based! Maybe you are right and we are wrong and you can convince the lawyer as to what the direction should be!
 
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I follow this thread regularly, though I am not into I 140 or i 485 stage, i follow the thread regualrly because it gives confidence that we can fight for our rights, my congrats for the core team and other members of the forum who has taken up this cause.
However sometimes discussion get too personal in nature , let us not move in that direction
all the best to u guys, let us hope for the best

thanks
 
New Media - the way to go!

After listening to the NPR radio new this morning, I immediately send links and article of this forum to Jennifer Ludden, http://www.npr.org/about/people/bios/jludden.html as she reported the story this morning! Jennifer we appreciate your effort.

I guess when the news media get more mails and know the truth; at least someone will definitely take up our cause.

I have written on several occasions to Time of India (NRI News) but they have still not brought out an article to this effect. I guess we should all try and send out emails with links and one day we will find someone who will unquestionably help us in our struggle.

RC
 
update status

Is the suit filed?... what are the next steps??...could anybody give a one year future look into this suit?
 
Let's face the truth

Ok let's face the truth.

The truth is that many USCIS guys hate immigrants. They don't give a damn to immigrants. That's enough to think they want to reduce the backlog but they have problem.

After September 11, 2001 they put every thing on hold intentionally wishing for individuals to lose their jobs one by one. Because after you lose your job you have to let them know immediately and then you would be surprised how fast they could send you the RFE. If you cannot show that you found another job in almost 3 months then you would be even more surprised how really fast they could deny your application and ask you to leave the country. Yes they could be really fast when they want.

Only a fool can believe that the security check is the blame for the delay. I am a computer engineer and I know that the security check is done by fast computers. The result of any search even in a huge database should not take more than at most couple minutes. Now no matter how many times USCIS wants to search the database it does not take even two months.

USCIS does NOT like to explain exactly what stages or what processes they do on each case because they know as soon as they explain the stages, everyone sees that it should not take that long.

According to the USCIS itself, only 7% of applicants get a hit during the security check (93% are clear). It means in 15 days they know the security result of 93% of six million applicants (5 minutes CPU time for each person).

Now ask yourself, what processes are left: checking ordinary paperwork like (your medical, school degree and so on.)

There has been a tremendous amount of suggestion to USCIS for improving their delay like: distributing the load between offices in each city, utilizing smart software for processing forms (electronically), eliminating the need for renewing EAD, advance Parole and others (for people who are already in the country!!!), saving this time for interviewing people whom they want to interview anyway, and .....

But USCIS did not listen to any of them. Because not only they don't want to speedup but also they are making money out of each applicant. Nothing is better than that for them, not giving green card and collecting money for immigrants!!!

Meanwhile they just overuse the fancy and vague word of security check for people who don't know any thing about database processing. When they talk about security check they give this impression as if they eye-balling names among a long database. No, everything is done by computer.

The only reason they don't like the law suit is that they have to explain the process in front of the judge and soon everybody knows that it does not take that long no matter what USCIS wants to do.

Now you know the truth.
 
afshin63130, you hit the nail on the head. Also consider the fact that most of the GC applicants are family based. The percentage of 'hits' among EB catagory should be much, much lower than 7%, since all the applicants have already been screened before.
 
Although its impossible to get statsistics officially, it would be really interesting to analyze approval rates/times based on regional distribution of applicants, like Europe, Africa, Latin america, Eastern Europe (Incl Russia), South Asia, East Asia, Middle-East etc, sub-divided into EB and FB.
If anyone of you has worked with people of various nationalities, like me, from China to Ireland, you'll know what I mean, from anecdotal evidence.
 
Re: Let's face the truth

I guess I have to explain how I calculate 15 days.

I assumed that each service center has roughly 1000,000 applicants 5 min each becomes 5000,000.

and 200 employee per service center. it takes 15 days of each USCIS employee (considering parallel processing with parallel disks that these days is really common thing).

But even if you consider 10 times more (150 days) for security check, you see that USCIS has spent much more time for processing a few applicants.
 
afshin63130: u said it...

bravo! mostly agree with everything you said.

(or giving them the benefit of doubt)...

the only other explanation could be they are just lazy and they just don't care. as jodie foster is asked in the movie "contact", "how much guilty would you feel if you destroyed some ant colony in the middle of nowhere in africa?"

i certainly would feel guilty enuff, but these officers (whoever is responsible) seem to be able to get a good night's sleep even after throwing peoples lifes awry (especially the case of that lady that lost her husband). i only hope GOD takes care of us. GOD BLESS!!!
 
re: Let's face the truth

_____________________________
Ok let's face the truth.

The truth is that many USCIS guys hate immigrants. They don't give a damn to immigrants. That's enough to think they want to reduce the backlog but they have problem.

_____________________________

Very well said.

Not only USCIS guys but visa officers at entry posts have similar attitude.
Couple of years ago friend of mine was insulted while entering US for having a job while lot of people were being laid of. The officer asserted that all H1s should be sent packing. Imagine these remarks in front of 30-40 people and from person occupying a position that you simply cannot challenge.
Another incidence happened with my friend's wife. She was interrogated for reasons like why she has not received her green card yet. As if we, 485 applicants are constantly begging USCIS for not issuing green cards.
This is simply ridiculous. Is there really any hope for us ????
 
When an US corporation can process a credit card application or a cell phone activation or any such thing which involves verification of your credit history , employment verification and address verification in couple of minutes why can't UCIS do the same thing. I just don't get it.

All UCIS need is to verify your employment history which should not take more than 2 minutes (just go to IRS database search by your SSN)
Your legal status which of course is in their database . which should not take more than 30 seconds unless they use excel spread sheet to store information and some one manually going through these spread sheet. If they need help in optimizing their search queries we guys could volunteer for that.

And security checks which should not take more than 2 minutes.

And more ever all these three things could be done in batch processing over night. OR if they accept applications online it could be done in real time.

If the system are not inplace then they could build the systems in not more than six months by hiring us ( I don't charge overtime ) .
 
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Re: Re: Let's face the truth

Originally posted by afshin63130
I guess I have to explain how I calculate 15 days.

I assumed that each service center has roughly 1000,000 applicants 5 min each becomes 5000,000.

and 200 employee per service center. it takes 15 days of each USCIS employee (considering parallel processing with parallel disks that these days is really common thing).

But even if you consider 10 times more (150 days) for security check, you see that USCIS has spent much more time for processing a few applicants.

CIS is obviously slowing down the immigration process on purpose due to the political and public pressure (If you watch CNN news you will find surprisingly that major medias are attacking immigrants from 360 different angles). Officially the CIS can not say "Sorry guys we have to delay your processing because of the high unemployment rate". So, they have to come up with some other excuses.

That is what is happening now. It will be very hard to see any light before the economy is turning better and jobs are comming back. But it is crutially important to fight for our right at this time. We shall thank Rajiv for his tremendous efforts and fabulous work!
 
Let's face the truth

Hey Mangelo

I had a similar experience 2 years back while entering US. I was newly married at the time and was bringing my wife to US for the first time. The border post officer told me that I should be careful since there were a lot of H1 applicants that were being sacked. Unfortunately I did not note down the details of the officer... After about a month I sent a letter to the office of the President reporting this incident and to my surprise they called me. They wanted to know all the details so they could investigate the matter. However I did not hear from them regarding what actions they took. I would advise you guys to send letters to the White House (address is on http://www.whitehouse.gov/contact/) reporting such incidents and include any specific information regarding the names etc of the officers who have this attitude problem.

GCFreak
 
Hello,

I'm new to this forum and I'm impressed by the amount of information and support someone can get by joining.

I need everyone's advice here, I filed for I485 on employment basis in October 2001 and my wife filed her I485 based on my application in February 2002. I'm almost one year late from the date they promised to respond by. My wife also is at least 6 months late.

My question is that kind of delay normal and does it happene to everyone here? if not what do I need to do apart from sending inquiries to the vermont service center?

Also please advise if I can change jobs at my stage? I have heard from many people that if i'm past the 180 days that they assigned to the case at the application time, that I can go out change jobs with no problem.

Thank you,
 
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