Vatives galleries

Our bill would require every employer to attest that it is not displacing a U.S. worker by hiring an H-1B visa holder and that the employer has taken good-faith steps to recruit U.S. workers for the jobs in which an H-1B visa holder is being sought. Why would anyone oppose this measure? Our bill also gives more oversight and investigative authority to the Department of Labor. Right now the Department may only review labor certification for ``clear indication of fraud and misrepresentation.'' The Secretary of Labor is unable to review applications for anything but what the law calls incompleteness and cannot initiate an investigation unless requested. This means the Labor Department in effect is required to turn a blind eye to information that is suspicious. To remedy this problem, our bill provides the Department of Labor the ability to initiate an investigation on its own and gives the Department of Labor more time to review applications. The Department could also do random audits of any company that uses the program. Aside from these measures, our bill would prohibit employers to only advertise available jobs to H-1B visa holders. It would encourage information sharing between the Department of Labor and the Department of Homeland Security. It would double the penalties for employer noncompliance with the H-1B program requirements. I am happy to report that most of these commonsense solutions were included in the immigration bill. I challenge any of my colleagues to oppose these needed reforms before we talk about increasing the number of H-1B visas or at the very least in conjunction with that process. Today I take the floor to tell my colleagues that I am willing to work on this issue before the end of the year. I know businesses want more visas. I know groups that represent workers and visa holders want reforms. I know the American people want a sensible system in place that gives their children a chance at these highly skilled jobs. Some of my colleagues think the solution is increasing the annual cap on H-1B visas and doing nothing else. Before we agree to import more foreign workers, let's restore integrity in this H-1B program. The system needs a makeover. I am willing to consider an increase in the H-1B visa supply, but only if reforms are included. We must fix the loopholes before we just allow more foreign workers to come in and take jobs that Americans want to do. I would think my colleagues would want this program to work as it was intended by its original authors. My colleagues should want to protect the jobs of our various constituencies and help our businesses find the workers they truly need.

pmb76,
Can you please call on any of the core members before proceeding. And let us know that the outcome was

That is a good idea singhsa, Once we have good number of signatures I will discuss with IV core. So far the response has been very good - 208 signatures and still going. Everyone is indeed frustrated at Lou and it is indeed high time we protested against the garbage he is propagating on his show.

So do you think they are going after AC21 folks as a scapegoat? I spoke to few people on this including lawyers and they say that "denials on 485" when 140 gets revoked is a common thing and usually the officer who issues the denial letter does not check and verify to see other details. Thats why they have to go through the MTR process.

That was the case when uscis would send straight denial and then person would do mtr with ac21.

the OP and the particular case I am talking about; they responded to the notice of intent to deny (NOID specifcally said person may be elgiible for ac21 and to give job letter, etc.); however they denied it after the response was sent. It would be different story if they denied due to job mismatching. However, that was not the case. They denied stating the 140 was revoked. Basically, this is a new type of denial and may be a shift in how uscis is doing things.

I spoke to candidate earlier and he talked to the original 140 company. They told him that their h-1b's aren't getting approved (common issue right now with vermont service center for just about everyone) and that in the clean up they revoked almost 70 I-140's for people who had left. He doesn't know if it was in response to an I-140 query or not (uscis adds up cases frequently in rfe's on the 140). When companies revoke 140 to a RFE; USCIS could be making a determination that the 140's company is now revoking were approved iun error and people are not eligible for ac21. Now; if this was the case; uscis officer should have put this in the denial but they did not.

I'll keep everyone posted of what happens to this case.

As there are now many people who are actively posting in the group. Identify and rotate the maintenance of the membership among these members on a weekly basis.





The ideas are good and in the past we have contemplated having a paid member area on IV site too. However the biggest problem we have is - who will manage it?
We all have full time jobs and already have our hands full. Adding anything extra to the current workload will be too much work for us.

Either we hire someone to do it. And to hire we need money. We find it hard to even raise money for Lobbying every other month. There are other important areas like publicity we can look at too if we get more funds. So we cannot hire anyone to manage this.

Now can someone volunteer for it? Yes but how many people come forward with a commitment in a 25k membership? You can see from the thread
http://immigrationvoice.org/forum/showthread.php?t=15289
So if people are not willing to make a commitment and have their spouses to help us from home for this cause, we cannot take our ideas any further. We can only do what our limited time, funds and manpower allows.

This is a reality and is the reason why we all do not have greencards till now. Solving this greencard issue is not difficult. Its only a matter of gathering enough people and people wanting to make an effort. IV has been around for 2 years now and only 25K people have signed up. We should have had about half million signups by now and millions of dollars to spend on large scale lobbying, media publicity and several initiatives to draw the attention of lawmakers on this issue. That has not yet happened and will not happen until we all indicate how badly we want greencards.

Outsourcing cannot be stopped with these nonsense bills . Outsourcing can only be stopped when the US market relizes that it is highly overpriced for the same job that is doine abroad for a far lesser price and adjusts accordingly . Every work has a value associated to it and the price needs to be paid according to the value of the work and not the place it is done ( India or the US )


Example
*******
Lets take a example of a barber. The barber in India charges about Rs 30 ( 45 Cents ) whereas for the same task a barber in US charges about $ 15 ( Rs750 ) . Now the question is , is the barber in the US more skilled than the barber in India , or the Barber in US doing a job if much more value than the barber in India . The reason that the barber is charging more is simply because of the virtue of the fact that he is in the USA and nothig else .

In the same way the Software Consultants ( Indian or Americans ) who are getting paid more in the USA , pleas remember that the reason for the extra salkary is not because we are more skilled or do better value work . It is simply because of the virtue of being located in the USA and nothing else .

GM Ford and Chrysler
*******************
Now instead of frowing and looking down upon the people who do the same value work for less , we need to be appreciative of their competative spirit . They work hard , so the same work , get paid less and compete with us . Whats not to appreciate of that ? Is this not the way the American dream is made . These senators instead if introducing a price correction in the US to bring down the rate of work in US are trying protectionism tactics to prevent people from selling the same work at alower rate . The result will be what hapenned to GM and Ford and Chrysler .These contractors that these companies negotiated with their staff has resulted in their downfall . GM staff drinks beer outside a closed plant and still the UAW contract entiles them to $94.00 per hour . GM and ford though that American consumers will protect them from Honda and Toyota which had much cheaper workes ( on flexible rates ) and made much better cars . The Durbin Grassley amendment will result in the same fate to other american compoanies that happenned to GM and Ford .

Not true...

In the EB base, only 1 GC is counted for all family members. How can it count more than one if it is a derivative of an employment visa? It might count against the Family base even though primary applicant is EB-based. Not the other way around.

Dear Friends,

Got Green cards and Welcome notices for me and my wife .
Surprisingly no uscis e-mail and online status is still "initial review"

Our journey in short :

How long in US : 10+ years

First Labor in 2002 . Changed job in three years before approval of labor
Second Labor in 2004 . Approved in 2007
Filed I140 and 485 - in July 2007

Since then I was enjoying EAD / AP with no complain .

I donate to IV now and then , but for some reason only once (for few days) got access to IV-Donor Forum . But always had a faith that IV is doing good work .
From non-donor IV forums and other forums I noticed that USCIS are transferring leftover Visas to other EB categories . I waited to see some thing coming to EB3 but ......nothing came .
My Lawyer told me that I can port to EB2 and it is a normal a process.

1. New Perm
a. Filed in Feb and approved in 10 days ( Prep work takes 3 to 4 months before filing )
b. Requirement : 4 years Engineering + 5 years minimum experience

2. EB2 I140 (TSC)
a. Filed in March - Premium Processing
b. My Lawyer sent interfiling letter along with I140 filing
c. Approved in 7 days (A# and Priority Date retained)
d. Same week got Green Cards and Welcome Notices:) - Super-fast Approval
e. No email and no updates on USCIS website

Not sure about the USCIS and Lawyer fees . My company paid for every thing.
Hope every one get the desired freedom asap and don't have to wait like me for 10+ years

Wish you all the best ......to everyone who is waiting for GC.


Thanks,
Jimytomy

Congratulations, your hard work and patience have paid off!

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$GOOD AFTERNOON GC$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

Deadline = April 30th, 2011
Goal = 5000 votes on survey (see I-485 filing w/o current PD thread) and momentum to continue with this campaign.The survey is a platform to gather and push for launching action items. Based on response by 04/30/2011 - IV will decide whether to even proceed with initiative or not.
Actions - 1) Vote on survey.
2)Email ivcoordinator@gmail.com with PD, ph#,email & subject "I485 filing impacted�,
3)Print/Circulate Fliers and spread FB, wiki link (see "support thread")

Dear IV Members,

If you believe that your success depends on your immigration process - whether it's the ability to file I-485 earlier or to get green-card and citizenship sooner or whether it's the ability of your spouse to work - then you have to believe that your success somehow depends on the success of Immigration voice and these 170 volunteers in DC next week.
As you may know, we are just one more week away from hosting Advocacy day in Washington DC where about 170 members of Immigration Voice will conduct nearly 250 meetings with offices of Senators and Congressmen. Such events cost money. If we have enough contributions, we can spend as per our budget of nearly $ 50,000. If not, we will have to cut back on the event spending and reduce the magnitude and size of the event.
If you are not coming to DC next week, please do your part and contribute funds to Immigration Voice. It not only finances the event properly, it instills pride and confidence in the members who will be there in DC that there are thousands of willing supporters behind them who could not be there physically but are 100% with them in their determination and resolve.

For background click here -> Announcement about April 2011 Advocacy Days (http://immigrationvoice.org/forum/forum85-action-items-for-everyone/1901186-action-item-advocacy-days-in-washington-dc-in-april-2011-a.html#post2301599)
Contribute to Advocacy Event on the Capitol Hill (http://immigrationvoice.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=26&Itemid=44#onetimepaypal) (All one-time contributions will go towards organizing the Advocacy Days event)

The only housing market which doesn't show any sign of correction is Mumbai, as the builders have more Dubai, 'Bhai' kind of money. Everywhere else properties have already fallen 20-30%. In gurgaon & NOIDA they are down 40% from previous year...

What IV has done is commendable and unprecedented. I also think that most of us here do not know anything about the expenses incurred by IV team or money collected by IV team. It would be a good idea to be transparent in that aspect so that members can have a better understanding of the functioning of the organization and contribute appropriately. Just a suggestion; what do you guys think?

Slowhand, No Offense...If I were you, I would first contribute and then deal with this later. High time to contribute. If you have already contributed, please urge your friends to do so.

I got a soft LUD on my 485 application on 3/26/2009 [first time since the original LUD.] Soft LUD on the spouse' 485 as well. Will post if there are any updates....

I sent #7001 form in second week of October , i emailed CIS Ombudsman3-4 days back . I received this email today....

Thank you for contacting
the Citizenship and Immigration Services Ombudsman (CISOMB) in the U.S.
Department of Homeland Security (DHS). We received your case problem on
October 21, 2009. Your case is in the process of being assigned to an
Immigration Law Analyst. Please allow us 14 working days to process your case
problem

Any thoughts....does it mean anything? anyone else with this reply?
Thanks

Hi ndialani,

Did you contact ombudsman after this? Is there any progress in your case?

I got similar reply from ombudsman but still there is no progress in my case.

Thanks.

Note: Sen Domenici is one of the original cosponsors of the PACE Act. Consequently, some of the provisions are similar.

http://domenici.senate.gov/news/record.cfm?id=251739

Domenici Unveils U.S. Immigration Reform Bill
from the Office of Senator Pete V. Domenici

Friday, February 17, 2006

WASHINGTON � U.S. Senator Pete Domenici today introduced legislation to reform U.S. immigration laws, recommending a strategy for dealing with millions of illegal workers in the United States and improving guest worker guidelines.

Domenici today offered the Welcoming Immigrants to a Secure Homeland (WISH) Act of 2006. The comprehensive measure is the second major border/immigration bill offered by Domenici, who believes in a two-step reform approach�secure America�s borders and reform immigration issues. In November, he introduced the Border Security and Modernization Act (S.2049) to address border security issues.

�As a border state Senator and the son of immigrants, I have a unique perspective on immigration. I understand the need to provide a secure homeland for my constituents who see the problems caused by illegal entries into our country every day. I also understand the need to welcome immigrants to our country, so that America remains a country where hard-working, entrepreneurial, and intelligent immigrants can prosper,� Domenici said.

The WISH Act would authorize a series of reforms to U.S. immigration laws including:

� Improving immigration law enforcement

� Creating a new guest worker visa

� Establishing a process for illegal immigrants in the U.S. to gain legal guest worker status

� Improving foreign student, highly-skilled worker and visitor regulations

�The time is right to fix our immigration laws, which are not working properly,� Domenici said. �My bill strikes a sensible and realistic balance between cracking down on illegal immigration while encouraging legal immigration. Slamming the door on immigration or unilaterally deporting millions of illegals already in the country is just unrealistic.�

Domenici said he will encourage the Senate Judiciary Committee to carefully consider his WISH Act and S.2049 as it readies comprehensive border security and immigration legislation for consideration in early March.

Domenici�s bill would increase the number of Department of Homeland Security personnel to investigate human smuggling, employment of illegal immigrants, and immigration fraud. The bill would also increases penalties for violations, as well as provides a system for verifying worker employment eligibility.

The bill would create a guest worker visa for up to three 3-year periods (9 years total) for immigrants to gain legal entry into the Unites States, and potentially apply for permanent resident status. The bill would allow 500,000 such visas the first year, with subsequent visas increased based on market need.

The measure establishes a program to allow illegal immigrants now in the United States�estimated at up to 12 million people�to apply for legal guest worker status. This proposal entails paying a fine and obtaining a legal guest worker visa.

The bill would clarify the limitations and restrictions placed on student visas after 9/11 in order to allow high-tech foreign workers and full-time foreign college students to study, work and travel in the United States. It would also establish a means for foreign students who graduate with honors to be allowed to work in the United States.

The following is a summary of the major provisions of the WISH Act:

>>> IMPROVE ENFORCEMENT

? Requires DHS to add new investigators and enforcement agents to curb human smuggling, hiring illegal aliens and immigration fraud, and add more personnel to process student visa applications.

? Increases penalties for aliens working illegally and employers who hire illegal aliens.

? Requires social security cards to be machine-readable and tamper resistant.

? Provides for employer participation in a system to verify the employment eligibility of aliens and to track aliens� employment.

>>> PROVIDE A NEW GUEST WORKER VISA

? Creates a guest worker visa for aliens to legally come to the United States with their immediate family, work, and travel for up to three 3-year periods. The alien must undergo a medical exam and background check to qualify, and must remain employed to stay in the United States. These guest workers would be allowed to begin paperwork for a change of status to permanent resident after they have been in the United States for 6 years under this visa; if they do not apply for a change of status, they must return to their home country upon expiration of the visa for at least 3 years. Failure to depart upon visa expiration would mean that the alien would be ineligible for any immigration benefit except asylum for 10 years. There would be 500,000 visas that could be issued in the first year under this section; this number could be increased in later years based on market need.

>>> ALLOW ILLEGAL WORKERS TO BECOME LEGAL WORKERS

? Creates a program to allow aliens who are illegally in the United States to obtain the above-referenced visa without leaving the United States. The alien would have to pay a fine for being in the United States illegally and go thru the same application process as aliens applying for the visa legally. These aliens would have to apply for this visa within three years of enactment of the WISH Act. If an illegal alien fails to apply for the visa and remains in the United States illegally, he would be removed and not allowed to apply for any immigration benefit except asylum. After being in the United States 5 years under this visa, any alien who had been in the United States for 5 years prior to the date of enactment of the WISH Act would be eligible to apply for a different visa (but not permanent resident status), but such a visa would not be issued until the alien left the country and reentered thru legal channels. If no new visa is acquired for such aliens, and for all undocumented aliens who have been in the United States less that 5 years before enactment of the WISH Act, when the initial visa expires (after up to 9 years, assuming the alien renews the visa and remains employed), the alien would be required to leave the United States for at least 3 years. Failure to depart when the visa expires would make the alien ineligible for any immigration benefit except asylum for 10 years.

>>> CREATE A MORE WELCOMING ENVIRONMENT FOR STUDENTS AND TRAVELERS

? Removes the cap for H-1B visas for college and non-profit professionals and the world-wide numerical limits for visas issued to aliens who have earned an advanced degree in science, technology, engineering, or math in the United States.

? Allows full-time foreign college and graduate students to work part-time while studying in the United States.

? Allows foreign students who graduate from a U.S. college with honors and who have a job offer in the United States to transition from a student visa to a work visa without leaving the country.

? Allows foreign students to travel outside of the United States to attend a seminar that is related to the student�s chosen field of study.

? Allows guests who are in the United States temporarily on a B-1 (business) or B-2 (traveler) visa to travel no less than 100 miles from the international border during their trip.

Thanks guys for the moral support and quick responses.

More details are as follows:

1. This accident occurred in 18 months back in CA
2. We were going on high way and suddenly the car infront of me came to a sudden halt and as I didn't had any reaction time, even though I applied brakes I went and rammed into the van in front of me, which in turn hit the car infront (like a ripple effect) and totally 8 cars were involved in that collision.
3. So at first we thought it is entirely my fault as I was coming at 50s and I rear ended the care which inturn created this ripple effect.
4. But the actual scenario is, the van infront of me came to halt, as it rear ended the car infront of it and due to which the other car hit the one infront.

So already one accident happened and I caused one more and as mine was a 11 seater and coming at 50s the impact was high and involved in 8 cars.
All this happened within in mins or secs, I would say

--> --> --> --> --> --> --> -->
Myself car1 car2 car3 car4 car5 car6 car7

In the above pictorial representation,
a) car 1 hit car2 which in turn hit car3 (1st impact)
b) Myself hit car1 again which ripple effected all the way upto car7 (2nd one)

I was the only person injured and and had to be hospitalized with bi-lateral hip fractures and right knee fractures and was out of work for 4 months.Luickly my insurance covered most of the amount thats been charged(around 300K)

Finally I recovered to a great extent and out of blue gets a lawsuit from the owner of car3 against myself, Car1 and car2.

BTW, insurance determined that my fault is 80% as I caused the greater collision and they paid the property damages for all the cars involved.

As per the lawsuit, seems car3 drivers spouse had herniated disc due to this accident and are expecting $200,000 for future treatment

So they are claiming the following:
3 milliion for : other damages(emotional etc.....)
200,0000 for: future treatment
50,000 for: lost wages

Thats is what the story of my life :(

Hope this gives u more details to provide me with more suggestions.

This lawsuit is ludicrous.
Mostly u won't be liable as you didnot start the chain reaction.
if it happens that u need to pay, and you are unable to comeup with that much of money, u can always file for bankruptcy [chapter 7].

Don't even think of running away, as that will make matters worse.

Law protects you if you are not able to comeup with that much amount of money.

DateDelivered: July 2nd
TimeDelivered: Not Sure
Center: Texas Center

Status: Don't Know
Checks cashed: Don't Know

In my view, it is too good to be true. But we have no way to challenge the numbers either. But it is 50% of the entire EB pending cases. Is this document authentic?? I don't see the logo on the letterhead??

My iPod, named, rPod. (rastaPod).

http://img113.echo.cx/img113/224/rpod2qt.jpg (http://www.imageshack.us)

singed

Paskal, You are right - I do not understand. But mostly I cannot understand because as an organisation - you do not explain. Frankly, all I can do is register my disappointment at both your response and your attitude.While I get it that IV is actively involved in doing things over the years aimed at resolving this issue, I might feel that I could respect and maybe even understand these efforts better if IV kept its website up to date and all members who sign in updated on what's happening.

I have often seen threads on this site that have members complaining that IV is not doing anything - to which invariably the response is that one should join the donor forum. On the other hand we get newsletters from admin that ask up to tighten our belts etc. - and get more involved. Well, that cannot happen unless IV provides more updated information on what IV is actually doing, veiled references to behind the scenes activity and years of hard work are not enough to involve all those who have signed up here to become 'more involved'.

As for this discussion going nowhere I could not agree more - you see to have an open discussion or indeed debate - there must be at least 2 willing participants. And since you have already decided that you do not have time for the Qs of a mere non-paying member of this forum, I do not expect any better.

By the way, the way ahead is not to close doors, but to welcome questions and encourge those on this forum with curiosity to be more active. More often than not, I have seen that those who Q on this forum, are mocked, ignored, and treated as if they are wasting CORE's time. Sad for a forum that hopes to involve a wider audience in this issue.

Thanks!!
Raji

As a new user, I would try to understand what IV stands for, What political forces IV is against and have some political wisdom before I start asking IV to disclose everything in a public forum. There are valid reasons why IV is not revealing everything in a public forum. If you are interested in resolving your own GC issues and that of others on this forum, you should not ask IV to disclose all the strategies and thoughts in a public form.

There are many IV members who are old members of IV who trusts IV core leadership blindly even though we don't know IV strategies or thought process completely. One thing many of us can assure you is that IV core works with best of our interests in mind, they are a bunch of dedicated and smart people who understand how to plan our advocacy effort wisely.

I would suggest you trust IV core leadership with their advice and directions as it is better for our own interests.

I don't think the only reason is "wife's cannot work".. The other reason for most is changing employers, and career growth while I-485 is in process.


You can keep changing employers once your I-140 is approved. You need to restart ur GC process but you can keep ur PD (if not revoked) and get a 3 year extension immediately based on the Approved I-140.

Sure it's not the best case scenario, but atleast you CAN do it. But for most married folk their spouses on H4 CANNOT work without EADs or waiting a year till the H1 quota opens. Even with the quota opening unless your spouse is into business or IT it is VERY tough to get an H1 for the spouse.

We totally believe in the cause, we believe in the hard work all of IV members, core and volunteers do. Ignorant are those who don't see them now and will they ever. Everyone wants quick results, just like fast food. Hats off to all of you who work so selfless and time you guys put in. Keep up the good work.