Why BCIS should process your case within 1 year ?

D

dsatish

Registered Users (C)
Hi all,
Rajiv is thinking of filing a Lawsuit on behalf of us (I485 applicants). What do you think is the basis for the Lawsuit ? Please discuss in this thread so that we can compile valid points / arguments and send them to Rajiv. Let every one bring their logical / creative best out here. How are we going to argue that BCIS must process our applications in 6 months or 1 year ? What are our valid arguments ? People may post their hardships in this thread .
Let me start with mine
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I agree that we do not have any right for speedier processing. The huge workload at BCIS along with security concerns have resulted in these delays. But my question to BCIS is what did they do in response to the increase in number of case and increased security concerns ? Did they increase the man power and did they atleast start approving as many cases as they receive daily ? This is the minimum thing expected of them in order to see that the delays do not increase. But over the last 1 year the processing started going up and it never came down. BCIS has not announced any action plan.

Most of the current immigration laws are archaic and they are causing a lot of problems under the present circumstances . The duration of validity of an EAD,AP, FP etc were kept at 1 year (FP is 1 yr 3 months) assuming that the I485 should be approved within that time. But the current circumstances are forcing us to apply for not only 2nd EAD, 2nd AP but also 3rd EAD, 3rd AP and now 3rd FP. Where is the end to this ? Who caused this situation ? Certainly not the laws. It's the BCIS working style that has resulted in these stupid things which are causing so much problems to us. The law does not state that you need 3 EAD extentions and 3 AP's and 3 FP's to get a greencard. The law does not state that it expects a person to work for the same company for 5+ years without any increase in salary and without any promotion but that is what is happening to all of us because the companies are taking advantage of the delays combined with archaic laws. BCIS can't escape the blame stating that there were no laws stating that every application should be processed in 6 months (There is a law to this effect , but it's going to be effective from 2006 only).
BCIS is responsible for all the hardships that we are facing. It's not the Laws that are bad, it's BCIS working that's bad. They have no action plan and no concern for backlog reduction eventhough congress passed a law to that effect. The 2 yr waiting period (3 yrs for texas) is very orbitrary and creation of BCIS . It only reflects BCIS inefficiancy and insensitivity to the applicants who are its clients. The court must order BCIS to speeden up the process and submit an action plan to it. It can't get away with human rights violation (forcing us to work with the same employer for 5 years).

-dsatish
 
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I-485 applicants will find few judges/juries agreeing with a "right" to speedier processing of I-485’s. Similarly, they are unlikely to find any substantive basis for “human rights violations” as a result of delayed processing of I-485’s. Lawsuits too will serve to aggravate and inflame the anti-immigrant rhetoric in an election year. In some manner of speaking, even the introduction of AC21 demonstrated a genuine attempt to ease unusual hardships.

The “Green Card” process has been exponentially painful for me. I have spent 12 years in the US, 6 while acquiring a PhD degree from a prestigious institution here, - 1 year on PT and the last 5 in pursuit of the GC). My current anxiety levels are pretty high and I too have been stuck for > 22months in the I-485 stage. It has also been 3 months since my second fingerprinting. I am aware that there are applicants in far worse situations than mine. It is unfortunate that the current group of I-485 applicants (myself included) are caught in the midst of a sea-change with respect to immigration laws and regulations as well as sentiments with respect to legal and illegal immigrants. I recommend that people be patient.

If however a lawsuit is filed, I would suggest that the plaintiff/s pursue a different angle. The processing of I-485’s can certainly judged to be arbitrary. I-485 Applications with receipt dates of June 2002 have been processed prior to those with earlier receipt dates. This definitely implies a lack of “due process” and/or a lack of “due diligence”. IMHO, if a lawsuit is filed or additional petitions are sent out to Senators and Congressmen, I think that the crux of the message should be the “unfairness” of it all due to a complete lack of “due process and due diligence”. There is sufficient evidence to substantiate this claim.
 
Q

dsatish,

First make a summary of what was discussed and post it.

Second, why are referring to a year?

Third, in similar threads, a lot of references were posted by myself, Edison and others. I suggest we collect that information.

Fourth: there is a law that started with feinstein (CA), incorporated, etc..See references by Kashmir. The law I think was passed in 2001, prior to 09/11. The DHS ACt, states that the BACKLOGS SHOULD BE REDUCED IN A YEAR, not that somebody should get his/her GC in a year. Furthemore, there is an analytical study/explanation done by the GAO done in May 2001 (posted by myself). Did you read it? So there is no doubt there was a problem from 2001. It only got worse. This is the part that WE NEED TO SHOW with data and statistics...again posted by the group( edison, etc).

Fifth: There is the President's promise and allocation of money, but that money WAS NEVER USED FOR EB-I485. The money was used for Citinzenship and other studies. The bottom line is that the Government knew about it from 2001 and even earlier and so far did nothing about it. This is almost 2004 (federal employees are almost on vacation from Dec. 24-26). Even AILA gave out occasional press releases "Congress and the President to get serious about the backlogs". The USCIS is simply unable to perform its duties. Is this a good reason to sue? You bet it is.

Sixth: There is a new culture "of deny" , which is not serving us or any other potential immigrant. The USCIS is supposed to be serving the immigrants not labelling everybody as a "potential terrorist". What about the discrimination, the non-uniformity of Service Centers, cases, CP vs I-485, the 1-800 -XX infamous line, the ghost named Ombudsman with a budget of 30 million for 2003, and on and on..the religious, the TPS, the assylees, which were treated ALWAYS AHEAD OF US. Why the re-adjudication of cases at every level (I-140, AP, EAD, I-485,), why the RFEs with no basis, why the transfers with no basis.

Seventh: A few days, before they went to god knows, Congress passed the "omnibus" bill between 400-500 billion dollars. You know how much the USCIS got in comparison? Not for the Backlogs but the whole operation? The money allocation between the Enforcement and the Services branches is 400 to 1. A while ago the Iraq bill with 87 billion... So all should understand that there is no political will to solve the problem and our solution is to SUE. This government did not appoint all the judges thankfully.
Once a process is procrastinated in such a way, then it becomes a human and civil right issue also.

Note: "omnibus" may mean "all the suckers together to share the loot"
 
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To elaborate on Cinta's 5th point: more than 90% of USCIS adjudication operation is covered by our application fess. The remaining 10% may be from elsewhere to cover asylum applications etc. for which the applicants do not pay a fee. Therefore, it was our money that was allocated/misused/redirected to some other functions. My point is we paid for the service. We deserve to be served. Using our money to serve others is stealing.
 
You guys are simply great....I sincerely mean it. Look at the meticulousness and creativity.If we have had the same passion for our country, we wouldn't have to be in this 5-7 year long hole. Indians are the most selfish people on the face of the earth for sure. When something hurts them personnally only then you will find them at their best.
 
I have started this debate in other forums (CSC, NSC and TSC forums) also. Here are the links to those threads. You may participate in any of the threads. But please keep SPAM away from this thread because Rajiv Khanna (the host of this website) might be visiting these threads.

Link to California thread :

http://boards.immigrationportal.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=106935

Link to Texas thread :

http://boards.immigrationportal.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=106937

Link to Nebraska thread :

http://boards.immigrationportal.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=106936
 
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Reason

that I know of a few friends who have been refused promotion because the Labor Certification states that he/she is working as a developer/administrator and the new position is for Manager/Project Lead with less tech stuff.
The delay in processing effects our career and if somebody is denied the promotion just because his GC is under process with no fixed date for approval, this itself amounts to discrimination.
 
Originally posted by Pungiwalla
You guys are simply great....I sincerely mean it. Look at the meticulousness and creativity.If we have had the same passion for our country, we wouldn't have to be in this 5-7 year long hole. Indians are the most selfish people on the face of the earth for sure. When something hurts them personnally only then you will find them at their best.
Click to expand...

We had and have such people in India.
What we also have is : People who discourage and pull the legs of such good capable persons. :DThats the problem - I think
 
Financial loss/damage

For consultants, we pay several thousand dollars each year to our so called paper employers a percentage as their "cut". If we had our GC, we could run our own corporations and bill the primary vendors directly. Can this aspect be considered?
 
Re: Financial loss/damage

Originally posted by bunchofquestion
For consultants, we pay several thousand dollars each year to our so called paper employers a percentage as their "cut". If we had our GC, we could run our own corporations and bill the primary vendors directly. Can this aspect be considered?
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The point is taken, but please guys, make your posting look like an argument in the court. You got to make your point look legally justifiable. For example i will put the above point as "The consulting companies that employ most of these I485 applicants, are exploiting them by not increasing the salary for 4 or 5 years because they know the candidate won't leave them till he gets GC. These applicants are facing huge financial loss and stagnation in professional career due to the delays in I485 processing. Most of these consulting companies do nothing but sell the services of their consultants to client companies through other bigger consulting companies and take a big share of the hourly rate the client pays for the services rendered by the consultant. If the GreenCard is not delayed, the candidate would have directly joined ther client company or atleast the bigger consulting company thereby eliminating the unnecessary middle brokers who eat away most of the money earned by the hardworking consultants"
 
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Local office transfers

Local office transfers

Recently lot of cases has been transferred from VSC to local office and it looks like CSC is also following VSC strategy.
Transferring the case to local office is obviously cannot be considered I-485 backlog reduction plan, this is just moving the backlog from Service centers to Local office.
I feel this has to addressed in legal action.
 
I am with my GC sponsoring company which is a small, single person owned firm for more that three and half years. I consider myself a senior person, but because of lack of consulting opportunities I am working on a junior level position. I have been looking for a better job for more than six months now. There are lots of jobs out there but I am not eligible for most of them because most client companies are now asking for their vendor’s W2 employees or most jobs are fulltime with client companies. I can’t accept either because I don’t want to change my employer and further delay my GC decision. In last six months I have let four jobs pass by me because of this reason. I personally not comfortable using AC21, even my lawyer also encourages me not to change job in the middle of I-485. Now I am in a helpless situation I don’t like the job I am doing and at the same time I can’t accept a new one. Unfortunately this wait is so long that it is starting to become unbearable. One can’t wait endlessly to get the GC. I want to move up in the ladder not go down and this GC backlog and delay is making me suffer now.
 
Re: Local office transfers

Originally posted by Edison
Local office transfers

Recently lot of cases has been transferred from VSC to local office and it looks like CSC is also following VSC strategy.
Click to expand...

Did you have any numbers or the cases details for VSC?
 
Originally posted by whats_in_name
I personally not comfortable using AC21, even my lawyer also encourages me not to change job in the middle of I-485.
Click to expand...

Any reason for you and your attorney not comfortable in using AC21? The reason, I'm asking this is, I'm thinking about using AC21.
 
whats_in_name,
you have put our problems in perfect words. This is the typical problem for all the people in the I485 queue. I am sure your points will help Rajiv present our problems in proper words when he files a case.

GC050102 ,
Using AC21 is a personal choice. There is always 10% risk associated with using AC21 because it is not a well defined law and there is always some scope for BCIS to find some loop hole to create some problem for us . That's why many people prefer to play safe and stick with the sponsoring employer (and suffer) till they get GC.

I encourage others to come out with their arguments against the I485 delays. Let's push BCIS to the corner. Rajiv will be filing the Lw Suit.
 
Well the very reason is that AC21 is not a law but just a memo. There are many requirements you have to fulfill before opting for it. For example same job description, my lawyer says same area where my LC was done etc. Because AC21 is not very clear, you may be at the mercy of the officer who is working on your case.

This is my take on AC21, but I have seen people getting approved without any issues. So, please consult with your lawyer.
 
ponts in $$$$

1) Each year Renewal of EAD costs $3000/- for atternoys fee and Application fee.

2) Each year Renewal of AD costs $3000/- for atternoys fee and Application fee.

3) Each year Renewal of Driving Licence costs some $20/- to $30/-

3.a) The Renewal almost takes from 4am to 4pm (12 hours) and we have do it each year. if we quantify its leads to $$$$ spending.

4) The companies Legal department and HR dept. and its personnels has to take and spend some time to prepare the documents for USCIS EAD/AP application and in quantitative terms its around $$$$.

5) We are almost unable to invest our earnings in buying a house that to our applications are rejected b'coz we have no green cards.

6) Even if the mortgage is approved its APR and atternoys cost is double/triple as compared with the GC holder.

8) We are afraid to start any business without the GC.

9) It costs more $$$$ to renew the spouce EAD and AP as the company does not always support the spouce case filling.

10) In some cases the Life Insurance application is getting affected without GC.

11) Even auto licence also have some problem without GC.


12)Even the EAD/AP renewals also getting delayed this leads to denial/suspenson of Driving Licence and so we have spend more in $$$ to get it renewed when the EAD gets approved. This is true for both spouce/dependant and self.

13) The amount time spending for repreparing the renewal application forms and renewal driving licence which is quantitatively costs some $$$$ for the company as well as for us.

14) The Refinger printing also costs our time, quantitatively in $$$.

15) Our investment is getting afected the most and we simply unable to invest it in this country due to this uncertainity.

16) Due to this uncertainity our Blood presure level in increasing day by day which leads to hypertention that also costs in $$$$ for visiting doctors etc.

17)Without GC we are almost losing our Hard Earned Social Security money in $$$$$.

18) Somtimes the employers also tend to exploit this USCIS delay situation which costs us in $$$$ though the employer needs our skills and hardwork.

19) The above point 18 also leads to imm. atternoys exploytation**.

20) Though it may seems to be rediculus but due to this uncertainity we are unable to buy a new Card, a Bed, Sofas even proper utencils.

21) Now the Law suit cost is in $$$$$, if we wing the Govt. will pay the fee for the atternoys but who will pay for all the plentiffs..which took lots of Valuable time for them (may be in $$$$).

Why others/silent members unable to put two sentences of their hardship in terms of $ ?

thanks
Sg
 
If not GC, even getting EAD and AP is also so slow.

EAD for sure takes more than or close to three months. If you make a small mistake or they screw up then the end result is that the applicant is screwed. You need to keep working to get GC, to keep working you need an EAD every year and getting an EAD you never know how long its going to take.

Now AP, I don’t remember now why but my lawyer says don’t apply for an AP until and unless you need it. For me staying in US is as important as going to India whenever required. I don’t know when I am going to need to go to India and I want to be in a position to go whenever I required to. I don’t want INS to decide what is an emergency for me, I hate that, I know what is important for me, if I want to go to India to see my parents and family, that is also important for me. I can’t plan vacations 3-4 months in advance; I have applied for AP for seven weeks now with a reason that I have to travel for my sister’s wedding and there is no news for them yet.

There is no surety of anything when you deal with INS.
 
points

Points

A few more points: lack of allocation of resources/money towards the backlog reduction, in spite of the 5-year Bush plan. Take
a look. Money goes to hospitals treating illegals.............

A Medicare bill, which includes a clause that gives hospitals at least $1 billion to
hospitals for emergency care to uninsured and undocumented immigrants, has won
final congressional approval. Although the legislation calls for the funds to be
distributed on a first-come, first-served basis, funding formulas will give preferences
to states with significant numbers of undocumented immigrants, including Texas,
Arizona and California, where millions of dollars of unpaid medical bills are generated
by undocumented immigrants.
This provision in the bill comes after a study was done on the impact of the federal
Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act on border-state hospitals. The study
found that hospitals in Arizona, California, New Mexico and Texas spent $190 million
in 2000 on emergency medical treatment for undocumented patients.
Hospitals are required by federal law to care for all patients, regardless of insurance
status or citizenship. The $1 billion will help compensate doctors and ambulance
companies that provide immigrant care.

Illegal procedures: The second and third FP are basically illegal and unconstitutional as well as violation of basic human rights.
This extends to other security checks, like name checks, CIA checks, etc. The repetition of these is a joke (35 days). How
about instituting all these for the general population? They are more thread than we are!

Numbers not met: The annual 140,000 quota may not be met for several years.

Transfers: Little dirty trick. If they want to transfer, why not by the reception of the application?

Chain effect: One case of backlogs reverbates to other backlogs. People are waiting to get their "Export Licenses" from the
Departements of Commerce and State for long times, because they have backlogs. No wonder!

Homeland Security Act: Section 458, to reduce backlogs within a year...FAILURE. Section 452: Ombudsman.....FAILURE. news.findlaw.com/hdocs/docs/terrorism/hsa2002.pdf

http://www.twmlaw.com/new/immsecurity.html

Reports to Congress: http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/8/1574.html

I have not seen a report to Congress for YEARS. None from the Attorney general, the DHS, Ombudsman, ANYBODY. No report, no action.
 
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Re: Hardships ??

Originally posted by or1or2
Well, the emotional-stress and financial hardships of the foreigners is hardly justifiable to the rustics. What will they say ? If you lose your job, go back to where you came from because that's what the visa (H-1, O-1, whatever) was granted for. Isn't it ? Quite a few people have been reminded of this by quite a few not-so-nice republican senators offices.

Emotional-stress/trauma resulting from this type of situation is hardly provable. What would you say ? I get very upset and argue with my wife and scream at my kids ? Or, I feel so sorry every time I call home-country and say I can't visit this Winter/Summer because my nth AP is in the process ? Come on!


Please think of some other way such as professional lobbying. Yes, it may cost hundreds of thousands of dollars - but that's the only way out. Begging to CIS will not do for the general cause.

The point to be brought to the lime light is: how disgraceful is it for the world's mightiest technological force (USA) to have the most dilapidated adjudication/immigration system that not only fails to utilize the technology, but also takes years and years for a few simple tasks to be completed. Whereas, somewhat less priviledged countries like Canada, Australia, and Newzealand, among others, complete such adjudication within a few months to within a year.

Besides, that was the DREAM/VISION of the president of the US behind
separating the SERVICE from the Border-Patrol. Wasn't it ?

Professional lobbying is the only way. Am I mistaken ?
Click to expand...

You have some points but you sound very pessimistic. We are not begging the CIS. Wrt the lobbyist, my personal opinion, is that we are not ready yet. First we need to awake the masses and get more participation. The lobbyist will not write individual letters to the Congress and also he/she will not give you any guarantees for anything. One may not be enough, either. Some industries (pharmac.)utilise hundreds....
 
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