Vatives galleries

Regarding the 1st point, we, or at least I, am already trying to recruit as many people as I can, also posted IV posters in a few places.
Does anyone know how the illegals got word out about their rally across the country, or specifically press coverage about it? If so, we can try to use the same source, not for a rally, but to get IV's name out and talk about our major issues reduced to 2-3 points, so it is not confusing for the public.

Regarding, 2nd point, I think we can all contribute small amounts, say $50-100, but unfortunately most of us are stuck in low paying jobs. If we can get employers involved, that could be a better source of funds. Seriously, I dont expect many employers to contribute, but maybe academic employers who are losing funding because their H1-b employees are not authorized to get it, might be more willing to contribute.

Also, is anyone aware of any Indian American politicans, perhaps local Congressmen, that we can contact? I think I read recently of one in Texas.

Here is a story on a senator from Delaware who seems to be suportive of Indian Americans, although the story is on how he made a blunder talking about them:

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/07/07/politics/main1785303.shtml

Also, though you are probably aware of these organizations, maybe we can apporach them to help publicize our cause where it matters:
1) Indian American Republican Council:
http://www.iarcnational.org/
2) Indian American Center for Political Awareness
http://www.iacfpa.org/
I agree with rheoretro, the first thing that any member feeling helpless here should do is to get more publicity for IV. Talk to people in the same situation
who are suffering because of backlog or cannot file because of retrogression.
Please urge all your friends, influence them to contribute to IV.
Lets continue doing that on a daily basis and then if you feel you can do more, start writing to your local representatives, senators, house members.
I have written atleast 2-3 times to my senator on numerous occasions.
I feel, your words, combined with your thoughts about how this affects you helps a lot in conveying and putting the message across.

I just got sending a email message to my senator here, I am going to follow it up with a letter.
Email message reads like this:


Dear Senator Boxer
I have been a legal resident in state of " " for close to 5+/X years and I have been a legal resident in the USA for a total of X years.
I am a legal immigrant, whose application for permanent residency has been pending for the last 3 years.

The U.S. government makes only a certain number of immigrant visas (green cards) available each year and these are allocated among the various immigrant visa categories and countries from which applicants seek to emigrate.

Retrogression: For the past few years, the number of immigrants approved for employment-based immigrant visas has been lower than the number of visas available, resulting in no backlog in visa numbers. Recently, the DOS has seen far more immigrants approved for employment-based immigrant visas and has run out of visa numbers in certain categories, causing a temporary backlog or "retrogression" of visa numbers.

EB-3: This visa category includes employment-based immigrant visas for:

1) professionals with a bachelor's degree
2) skilled workers in positions requiring two or more years of experience or training
3) unskilled workers

Chargeability: Immigrant visa numbers are further apportioned among the various countries from which applicants seek to emigrate. Each country has a limit and each approved applicant is "charged" against his or her country's limit.

Also to complicate the matters, there are those folks that came here illegally that were allowed to change status based on 245(i). Every year in Oct (start of new fiscal year for the govt) 140,000 visas are made avaible for EB3s. These 140,000 visas are divided amongst the different nationalities. Some visas are now going to be eaten up by the surge of 245(i)s from 2001. Irrespective of the the nationality of the 245(i) applicants, they are impacting every category witihn EB3. That is the main reason that almost all EB3 categories have retrogressed and will remain so for a while. Its a grim picture but thats the reality.

We need some intervention from Congress, otherwise people like me will have to wait for years - possibly half a decade or more

I support your opinion that there cannot be any amnesty for illegal immigrants, but there should be emergency relief for legal immigrants stuck in the logjam for years. We ought to make it a little fair for legal, honest and law-abiding legal immigrants.

Please support any bill that gives a temporary relief to legal immigrants (especially Employment based applicants). A temporary increase in the number of Visas allocated to the Employment based categories can substantially alievate some hardship.

Thanks for your understanding
Future Citizen, proud resident of state of California

Thanks

chaanakya i fully agree with your assessment!

Yes, that is right, I said �plight of EB2-India�.

I am a passive observer of these forums. But some of the ridiculous notions floating around here have motivated me to vent. First and foremost, the law as written is highly favorable to people in EB3 categories, even from India. Here is how...

Take my example (and there are thousands like myself)....came to the US 8 years ago, spent 5 years working day and night to earn a PhD on a low (barely sustainable) stipend, got FIRST job saw decent money for the first time 6 years after I came.

Now, compare this to a person working an EB3-job for the last 8 years. Not only does this person do a real job that hopefully provides a respectable income but this person also has the option of moving to EB2 after 5 years of experience. So, at the end of the day in 2008; this person comes out ahead of me in terms of money, in terms of priority date (if ported) and most likely in terms of GC.

There are complaints all over the forum which have the stink of pretentiousness such as �oh..i am a poor EB3 waiting for n number of years� etc etc. What you guys seem to forget is that YOU are NOT an EB3, it is your JOB that is EB3. You have all the opportunities that were/are available to a person who sweated it out in the university system here to gain more qualifications and get an EB2 job. You CHOSE not to. The general discussion seems to center around cribbing about the US immigration system (Immigration by the way is a privilege defined by laws, not a birthright) and then blaming the EB2 crowd when they finally see the system implement the law as intended in the first place (horizontal spillover rules).

All these posts that refer to �my career is over because my gc is delayed� are nothing but a pathetic excuse. Law of supply and demand....if you have a skillset that is valuable, you will be fine with or without GC anywhere in the world. It takes a bunch of documents to remain here legally, all you need is a passport to go back if the system here seems so bad.

For all the attacks that are bound to happen, here is the fodder.....this is probably my first and last post, I haven�t contributed a dime to IV, will work here as long as I like it and if not, India is a great country and provides enough opportunities for any skillset !!

7+ years in US

Changed Employer in late 2004 and filed for GC. So my priority date is early 2005. Old Employer did not file GC so forced to leave him.

Now in retrogesstion. Employer takes lot of his share in the billing rate. If we need to go for a good billing rate, vendors think I'm new to US as I don't have GC. Lot many Dependents after getting GC started working and so supply for software professionals are more. Demand meets the supply and so the billing rate is down. Most of the vendors prefers only locals. Forced to take job whatever comes first.

Have a grown up child and she has to start his school. Well educated wife not able to work and wasting time and energy. Not able to decide other than being in US. Keep reading the forums and whenever some bill comes up hope rises, but all now in vain. From now will not expect or believe anything from US congress/senate until President signs it.

I agree with you. Only court can decide whether this memo has incorrect interpretation of INA laws or not. Until then, this memo is valid.


__________________
Not a legal advice.

desi - from your posts - you always seem to look at things from all sides and your perspectives and views tend to look like "perfect law in perfect world"

Not sure if you are a lawyer or you have a lot of insight into things, but in real world, even lawmaking is unique and vague. Courts and judges go by how best the case is presented and how and in what angle it can be viewed from and how similar things were dealt with in past.

Litigation experts also look at the psychological aspect of stuff. what I want to say is, the entire process of litigation is a huge animal and we can never judge or assess that.

One of my cousin sister is a criminal lawyer in India and when we get to hear the inside scoop of how stuff is handled in courts you will be surprised that your common knowledge about the law is just not good enough.

There are a lot of factors that go into the so caled legal world and mere book knowledge may not be sufficient.

Your views are good, but they definitely are "bookish" in nature.

1. gctest putting EB3 down, calling them a level above illegals
Dost.. tum to bade hi budhu ho.... dawa karao apne dimag ki.... ya ho sakta hai ki tum EB3 ho.
Needless to say.. u are not very intelligent.
I will see how you react when the entire 12 million illegals get chance to file in EB3 and your Eb3 bulletin dates goes to 1968.

2. gctest calling others stupid
You were obviously born stupid.
I am not really a great fan of your attitude towards people from India

3. gctest using lot of bad language
but you are too stupid anyway
so go home now..... and please don'y forget to pickup meds for your gonorrhea form csv pharmac

4. gctest calling EB3 third class individuals
You speak like a third class individual, must have travelled in third class compartment all your life, and now you are in third preference category..... Honestly i don't envy you.

5. gctest name calling again
You know what .. i don't think you are eb3.. all eb3 brothers i know are smart and know how to fight for their rights.
you must be eb8 or eb9 ... you attitude shows that ... a born victim.. who not...

6. gctest bad language again :D
We are all getting dry humped day in day out and we just keeping taking it.

7. latest flame against EB3
you will keep seeing while all these EB3 "bodyshopped consultants" will continue to slowly port their PDs and get approved ahead of you.Honestly, these consultants don't even have an H1B worthy job: its not a permanent job offer. They don't get paid fulltime. Let alone their eligibility for a GC ....what a scam!

done

Is anyone make PDF about this rally? So, that we can circulate this by mail.

USCIS should produce a rule saying that if they are x number of employees, then all the employees should have a company email id as mandatory, In that case they will be no issue at all, every thing will be clear and accurate to one and all in the company with any issue.

How do we know we're stuck in the namecheck process?

Does the on-line status state that the application is in the namecheck 'phase' or something to that effect?

Thanks,

NO..online status wont chnage.

U can either call the 1-800 # or make an infopass appointment 4-6 Months after your first FP. If u plan to call, make sure u call 3-4 times because you might get conflicting info

In my opinion USCIS will not give inaccurate information, in writing, to a Senator. The letter clearly mentions 'Application Pending for India'...
"EB Applications pending from India" is very vague, and most probably is not what we are looking for.

USCIS has indicated earlier that they don't know chargeability country until application is ready for approval, which may be true although we didn't want to believe this. Most likely until 485 application is approved birth country is not written anywhere other than the paper application. In most 485 application cases (family, EB and others), chargeability country is a just a matter of recording at approval time. At final approval time, when birth country is found to be retrogressed, application goes back to pending (or cold storage), but ready to approve. This also explains why cutoff dates have to rely purely on guess work, and move back and forth.

For proper handling of cases for retrogressed countries, USCIS/DOS really have no workable method in place.

You probably didn't get my point.

I am trying to distinguish between 'offering to cover' vs 'actually have covered'. There could be a lot of difference.

I get your point. I have not used it so far. I figured if need arises and the insurance company refuses to pay then there are legal avenues to claim money from them.

Do you belong to a state chapter?
if you don't can you please join a state chapter?
I sent a request to Kansas City Chapter to join. No response yet.
If a state chapter does not exist in your area can you form one?
I am trying to start a chapter here. I have already enlisted the help of few friends.
Can you recruit new members to be part of state chapters?
I have been doing that for quite some time. I dont know the success rate yet. My wife is part of a group which organizes Potlucks every other week. I take that opportunity to educate people about IV and the need to join it.
Can you motivate newbies to be active?
I can try.
Can you meet your Local Lawmakers and talk about your issues?
I have already met with NE Senator on a couple of occasions including for the admin fixes campaign.
Can you make a contribution to IV?
I have
Can you motivate other IV'ans to contribute?
I will
Please put ome thoughts on the above and come up with Ideas?. If you need help please PM any of us and we will be happy to help you.


Regarding conributions, I know it is probably going to meet with some resistance from other members, but we can organize a membership drive week. Any current member signing up most members during that week can be rewarded in some way. The reward need not me monetary, because people are not here for money. So, the reward can be some sort of memento.

As far as contributions are concerned, there are many ways to raise money in this country like Raffles, Fund raising by selling some products. (See how Boys and Girls Scouts sells cookies.) and so on.

None of these is impossible. Remember, there is no such thing called IMPOSSIBLE, because the word itself says, I'MPOSSIBLE.
Thanks

Jazz,

As far as the fund drive is concerned I disagree that without the VB we would have not reached our goal We over 22.5K in 6 days. The VB provided a push but I am sure we could have collected the remaining 7.5K in 24 days.

Do you think the drive would have reached its original goal yesterday/early today without the January visa bulletin retrogressing us even further...?

I have my doubts about that... :)

And how far in the past would we need to retrogress to get another funding drive done...?

jazz

Hi SSA,
Please update us on your I-94 # after you receive your H1B Approval Notice.

I agree that whenever you apply for Transfer/Extension USCIS issues,
the H1B Approval (I-797 Notice) with I-94 # same as the I-94 # you have
submitted along with your H1B Petition.


I haven't received the physical H1B approval notice from my attorney yet so I don't know what's the I-94 # on that one although I doubt it will be the same. AFAIK each I-94 number is unique and different. Anyway, I don't think I-94 number itself matters any, just the fact that you have valid, not expired I-94 is sufficient.

I did not fill the forms for the transfer myself (the attorney did) so I don't know for a fact what he entered in "last manner of entry" but I'm 99.99% sure they must have said "Paroled" as they asked for my I-94 that had "paroled" stamp on it to attach with the petition.

Finally, I did not get any RFE.

Petition signed.

I will pledge and once decided about how this is going to be done I will pay.

Thanks Husker !

We are getting started out as a new thread towards this administrative costs.

I highly doubt that the White called Mr. Bradman abou this name check. white house has other things to worry about that then simply getting ones name check cleared. White has nothing to do with name checks. If it did, my mothers case would have been cleard a long time ago. She is stuck for the past 3 years. She is over 60. i contacted the white house last year. Not even a Thanks for writing form them.

So if it is true, then Bradman congrats, but if you are just pulling our leg, then not a good thing.

This bill seems to be completely anti-Legal Immigrants (H1B/EB).This is so depressing ..prominent media like CNN,ABC,FOX are not even discussing the effect of this on legal immigrants.We seem to be most-hated here :confused: WHY?????

And the day these employees get their green cards, they will open they companies and will do the same thing to the new immigrants; and the circus will go on.

IMHO the entire IT industry is a bunch of frauds. Look at the thirsty CEOs who bankrupt companies and move on, look at the outsourcers who identify countries where labor is cheap and dump.

Sometime back, in India - IPC (Indian Penal Code) did not have any provision for cyber crime - so many people would justify - cyber crime is not wrong. Until laws came into picture - but it still goes on.

Unless system is cleansed and people are made to understand laws better and interpret them in the right way, things are not going to change at all

It is a very complicated case, I don't think any one on this forum is qualified to answer your questions, but the incident is indeed a tragic one.

I don't think your GC will be affected though as it is a civil and not a criminal case.

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.

Update : OUR Enemies are actively supporting LOU Dobbs (http://www.alipac.us/ftopic-91255-0-days0-orderasc-.html). While EB Immigrants are sleeping!