Ramba
05-01 11:42 AM
Thats exactly my plan. It will be accompanied by covering letter, a spreadsheet and a recommendation.
I will be sending mainly to DOS , DHS and USCIS
First USCIS has no control or rights in visa allocation. It is 100% DOS job. I am not pesimistic, but it may not helpful. DOS under obligations, sets the cutoff dates in various catagories as per INA, its regulations and their SOP. Recommending some procedure is a major change for them. They have to verify whatever you recommend does not violate INA, and the regulations. Even ombudusman has not achived to modify the visa allocation procedure at DOS. Only thing you can do is, if you have any evidence that DOS is not following the INA or the regulation, you can bring to their notice. Thats all you can do.
I will be sending mainly to DOS , DHS and USCIS
First USCIS has no control or rights in visa allocation. It is 100% DOS job. I am not pesimistic, but it may not helpful. DOS under obligations, sets the cutoff dates in various catagories as per INA, its regulations and their SOP. Recommending some procedure is a major change for them. They have to verify whatever you recommend does not violate INA, and the regulations. Even ombudusman has not achived to modify the visa allocation procedure at DOS. Only thing you can do is, if you have any evidence that DOS is not following the INA or the regulation, you can bring to their notice. Thats all you can do.
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lkapildev
07-12 05:27 PM
Take one by one and try to answer properly.
1. What is CIS is returning visa #'s to DOS.?
There are some unused and unallocated visa numbers reported by various means. Few# got reported by consulate abroad and few reported by USCIS.
2. How USCIS and Consulate can report unused Visa #'s?
You might be reading the I-485 rejection cases by CIS and Consulate
You might be hearing about USCIS is unable to process the applications received
You might be hearing people could not able to file whose cased were current in June.
All these Visa #'s are reported back
3. To me around 20000 such numbers are available for this years quota
4. Can my applications sneak into this #?
Answer is uncertain.
If your have an old priority dates then probability is high
If you have recent 05/06/07 priority date then there could be issues in issuing an EAD. People whose PD are old will take legal action against USCIS of they do not consider their case and approve yours.
5. What would August VB have?
If they do not approve any July2 filling then here is what they will do
a) Retain petition with old PD and adjust them in Aug
b) Reject all I-485 application for candidates recent PD
They are making a decision fast, that the reason Aug VB is not yet published
6. Will USCIS reverse the new decision?
Answer is NO. Why? There is no such pattern in USCIS behavior and July time is running out.
7. How about Law suite?
:) Do not worry there is a slick chance. All appropriate autherities are informed about the circulars
I have no hope from this process. It's just building a fake hope.
8. People are still filling the application.
Candidates are filling because of advice of their attorney. When you deal with the attorney directly they will encourage you to apply because they will get the money now.
There is no guarantee that you will process your application from XYZ law firm in Oct.
If you file now through them, you are bonded with him until you hear some good news from CIS.
There is a say in India.. Always try to out of trouble and Attorney. They will tell everything is possible.
Another thing after July 16th, I am not sure if they can charge money to you directly. They will rush you to pay before just 16th.
Declaimer: I am not an attorney or do not have any background of law. This is my conclusion from reading IV and many other forums. My PD is 2007 EB2.
1. What is CIS is returning visa #'s to DOS.?
There are some unused and unallocated visa numbers reported by various means. Few# got reported by consulate abroad and few reported by USCIS.
2. How USCIS and Consulate can report unused Visa #'s?
You might be reading the I-485 rejection cases by CIS and Consulate
You might be hearing about USCIS is unable to process the applications received
You might be hearing people could not able to file whose cased were current in June.
All these Visa #'s are reported back
3. To me around 20000 such numbers are available for this years quota
4. Can my applications sneak into this #?
Answer is uncertain.
If your have an old priority dates then probability is high
If you have recent 05/06/07 priority date then there could be issues in issuing an EAD. People whose PD are old will take legal action against USCIS of they do not consider their case and approve yours.
5. What would August VB have?
If they do not approve any July2 filling then here is what they will do
a) Retain petition with old PD and adjust them in Aug
b) Reject all I-485 application for candidates recent PD
They are making a decision fast, that the reason Aug VB is not yet published
6. Will USCIS reverse the new decision?
Answer is NO. Why? There is no such pattern in USCIS behavior and July time is running out.
7. How about Law suite?
:) Do not worry there is a slick chance. All appropriate autherities are informed about the circulars
I have no hope from this process. It's just building a fake hope.
8. People are still filling the application.
Candidates are filling because of advice of their attorney. When you deal with the attorney directly they will encourage you to apply because they will get the money now.
There is no guarantee that you will process your application from XYZ law firm in Oct.
If you file now through them, you are bonded with him until you hear some good news from CIS.
There is a say in India.. Always try to out of trouble and Attorney. They will tell everything is possible.
Another thing after July 16th, I am not sure if they can charge money to you directly. They will rush you to pay before just 16th.
Declaimer: I am not an attorney or do not have any background of law. This is my conclusion from reading IV and many other forums. My PD is 2007 EB2.
ivuser9
12-02 12:01 PM
What are the docs requested by the VO? Plz update us. I think once you submit all requested docs,your processing will resume
Good luck
Good luck
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bkam
01-31 03:15 AM
Dear "colleagues in faith" :-), there is only one way to change the things with this immigration trap - we have to win the public opinion!
Currently 350,000 highly qualified professionals working for this country are in a legal limbo which continues for years. Our current legal status is that of slaves. Yes, slaves! Nowadays it takes anywhere between 5 - 10 years from applying to receiving of a GC. We cannot change our employers within this period, the members of our families cannot work (at least legally) and our spouses lose their professional carrier; if our kids get in college they are treated as "aliens" (full tuition, no student loans, no scholarship); the loans we get are with higher interest rate (for "protection"); at the borders we are treated as "intruders" etc.
The average Americans are honest hardworking people. If they are aware of the immigration problems faced by 350,000 hardworking professionals in this country, they will raise their voice and will help for resolving of this issue. They just need to know that. I believe that in addition to talking to senators etc., we have to find ways our issues to reach the media - newspapers, magazines and so on. An article in Times may lead to a lot of positive changes in the immigration system.
Currently 350,000 highly qualified professionals working for this country are in a legal limbo which continues for years. Our current legal status is that of slaves. Yes, slaves! Nowadays it takes anywhere between 5 - 10 years from applying to receiving of a GC. We cannot change our employers within this period, the members of our families cannot work (at least legally) and our spouses lose their professional carrier; if our kids get in college they are treated as "aliens" (full tuition, no student loans, no scholarship); the loans we get are with higher interest rate (for "protection"); at the borders we are treated as "intruders" etc.
The average Americans are honest hardworking people. If they are aware of the immigration problems faced by 350,000 hardworking professionals in this country, they will raise their voice and will help for resolving of this issue. They just need to know that. I believe that in addition to talking to senators etc., we have to find ways our issues to reach the media - newspapers, magazines and so on. An article in Times may lead to a lot of positive changes in the immigration system.
more...
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GCard_Dream
03-06 05:10 PM
I just wanted to make a comment. I don't have anything against color red; in fact I like red :) . It's not the red dot that bothers me; it's the delay in the GC processing. Peace.
I guess there are some anti-immigrants on the forum who is determined to discourage members by giving red dots. I see too many people receiving red dots for no reason now a days.
Solution. just ignore them.
I guess there are some anti-immigrants on the forum who is determined to discourage members by giving red dots. I see too many people receiving red dots for no reason now a days.
Solution. just ignore them.
more...
ita
01-23 08:30 PM
Suggestions.
1 Since the main reason behind the retrogression is the lack of Visa numbers I feel it would be a great idea to process the 485 applications , make a decision on the case and let the applicant know about the decision though the actual card can be mailed when the Visa Numbers become available . This would reduce the anxiety on behalf of the applicants and would also give USCIS ample time to process all the applications.
2. Yearly extension of EAD/AP is getting so expensive especially when one doesn't know how many years we have to keep doing the extensions.
It's a known fact that except for the July 07 bulletin EB3 India PD has hardly touched year 2002 since Dec 2004.
Some of the EB3 I folks with a 2005 PD, that I know have been issued one year extension on their EAD though they applied for the extensions in mid July(2008).
Example of EAD/AP anxiety:
AP document says that it should be used for emergency travel. This rule on AP
was formed at a time when 485 processing would take not more than 6 months.
In the present scenario with 485 processing taking years I think a person using EAD would end up using AP many times . Officers at the POE sometimes remind us the rule that AP should be used only in emergency and some of them give the person hard time if they believe the travel was not for emergency purpose.
I guess we are supposed to have a proof of emergency travel.
Though AC21 lets one change jobs 180 days after filing the 485 application with the I40 approved for more than 180 days when reentering the country some of the officer(s) sometimes ask the person if they are still with the same company that filed their GC.I don't know yet what they would do/say if one had changed their jobs because the people who were asked this question did not change their employer at that time. But the fact that they ask us this question makes us apprehensive about changing jobs.
With so many rules where most of them were formed long back it's making applicant's life increasingly tough as the applicants themselves don't want to do anything that would be construed/fall on the wrong side of the rules.We are forced to watch our steps multiple times even in the case of simple things like job changes,travelout of country etc.
When I repeatedly read about how USICS is inundated with 485 applications due to July 2007 bulletin I keep wondering why USCIS would want to increase it's work load every year with all these EAD/AP renewal applications.
Suggestion
Once upon a time when the 485 processing took like 6 months, EAD/AP had different meaning. In the present scenario when not many of us know how many more yeras it's going to be before (especially EB3 I folks) we get our GreenCard I would think it would be better to use the pending 485 application to change jobs and reenter the country.
This would save money/time for the applicant and lot of time for USICS.
Thank you.
1 Since the main reason behind the retrogression is the lack of Visa numbers I feel it would be a great idea to process the 485 applications , make a decision on the case and let the applicant know about the decision though the actual card can be mailed when the Visa Numbers become available . This would reduce the anxiety on behalf of the applicants and would also give USCIS ample time to process all the applications.
2. Yearly extension of EAD/AP is getting so expensive especially when one doesn't know how many years we have to keep doing the extensions.
It's a known fact that except for the July 07 bulletin EB3 India PD has hardly touched year 2002 since Dec 2004.
Some of the EB3 I folks with a 2005 PD, that I know have been issued one year extension on their EAD though they applied for the extensions in mid July(2008).
Example of EAD/AP anxiety:
AP document says that it should be used for emergency travel. This rule on AP
was formed at a time when 485 processing would take not more than 6 months.
In the present scenario with 485 processing taking years I think a person using EAD would end up using AP many times . Officers at the POE sometimes remind us the rule that AP should be used only in emergency and some of them give the person hard time if they believe the travel was not for emergency purpose.
I guess we are supposed to have a proof of emergency travel.
Though AC21 lets one change jobs 180 days after filing the 485 application with the I40 approved for more than 180 days when reentering the country some of the officer(s) sometimes ask the person if they are still with the same company that filed their GC.I don't know yet what they would do/say if one had changed their jobs because the people who were asked this question did not change their employer at that time. But the fact that they ask us this question makes us apprehensive about changing jobs.
With so many rules where most of them were formed long back it's making applicant's life increasingly tough as the applicants themselves don't want to do anything that would be construed/fall on the wrong side of the rules.We are forced to watch our steps multiple times even in the case of simple things like job changes,travelout of country etc.
When I repeatedly read about how USICS is inundated with 485 applications due to July 2007 bulletin I keep wondering why USCIS would want to increase it's work load every year with all these EAD/AP renewal applications.
Suggestion
Once upon a time when the 485 processing took like 6 months, EAD/AP had different meaning. In the present scenario when not many of us know how many more yeras it's going to be before (especially EB3 I folks) we get our GreenCard I would think it would be better to use the pending 485 application to change jobs and reenter the country.
This would save money/time for the applicant and lot of time for USICS.
Thank you.
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desireuben
09-19 12:53 PM
really sorry for your experience. I hope everything will come out ok and you will get your passport back with visa stamp.
I am also appearing at mumbai consulate for my 7th year H1B stamping. is that lady's behavior same with other people appearing for visa ? or just for H1 applicant ?
is it your first time H1 stamping ?
I am also appearing at mumbai consulate for my 7th year H1B stamping. is that lady's behavior same with other people appearing for visa ? or just for H1 applicant ?
is it your first time H1 stamping ?
more...
NolaIndian32
08-31 01:54 PM
At the risk of sounding like a broken record, please read my earlier posts on re-using finger prints through the BSS (Biometrics Storage System) implemented a while back by USCIS. Only a small number of applicants will get a second FP notice. See the below for more information:
http://immigrationvoice.org/forum/forum5-all-other-green-card-issues/23795-2nd-finger-printing-notice-anyone.html#post318744
Thanks for re-posting this. I obviously missed all your previous posts on this topic. It gives me some hope for approval next month; I haven't received a 2nd FP request since 9/28/07. (I have an LUD, I have an LUD yay!)
-Nola
http://immigrationvoice.org/forum/forum5-all-other-green-card-issues/23795-2nd-finger-printing-notice-anyone.html#post318744
Thanks for re-posting this. I obviously missed all your previous posts on this topic. It gives me some hope for approval next month; I haven't received a 2nd FP request since 9/28/07. (I have an LUD, I have an LUD yay!)
-Nola
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s416504
12-04 09:40 AM
Thanks Ashkam & Sledge_hammer for sharing valuable information
more...
leoindiano
01-31 10:35 AM
I had this experience before in Pennsylvania, same single bed room, had a PC, fridge, thats pretty much it...
Apartment management said, check with power company. Power company said the apartment have insulation problems. There are quite a few reasons why this may happen..
1) Location of apartment, corner, ground level
2) Old equipment, like washer/dryer, bad insulation
3) Normally in northern states winter power rates are more almost 2.5 times....
the highest i got was $350 dollars at that time, that was in 2004....
Apartment management said, check with power company. Power company said the apartment have insulation problems. There are quite a few reasons why this may happen..
1) Location of apartment, corner, ground level
2) Old equipment, like washer/dryer, bad insulation
3) Normally in northern states winter power rates are more almost 2.5 times....
the highest i got was $350 dollars at that time, that was in 2004....
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senthil
02-06 05:20 PM
all your points look ok to me. although it may differ for different prople.
in my case - i have an EAD. but cant use it. i had to stay on H1B to make my spouse's stay valid which is H4. i see the following as a comparision. guys pl feel free to throw ur inputs.
EAD
- ability to switch jobs as nessary - you decide
- AP to easy your life when you want to fly out and come back
( no hassle stamping tention etc, but comes with yearly price )
- of couse the important thing is your spouse can work
- need to stick with same designation
H1B:
- no hassles if you are within 6 year period. everything starts when its about to expire and you jump into GC train
[ you have to jump if you decide to stay more than 6 years. no option here, i guess ]
- same as EAD jumping jobs is easy, also can climb up the ladder
- if above 6 year limit and I-140 not approved, you get only yearly exentions
thanks.
in my case - i have an EAD. but cant use it. i had to stay on H1B to make my spouse's stay valid which is H4. i see the following as a comparision. guys pl feel free to throw ur inputs.
EAD
- ability to switch jobs as nessary - you decide
- AP to easy your life when you want to fly out and come back
( no hassle stamping tention etc, but comes with yearly price )
- of couse the important thing is your spouse can work
- need to stick with same designation
H1B:
- no hassles if you are within 6 year period. everything starts when its about to expire and you jump into GC train
[ you have to jump if you decide to stay more than 6 years. no option here, i guess ]
- same as EAD jumping jobs is easy, also can climb up the ladder
- if above 6 year limit and I-140 not approved, you get only yearly exentions
thanks.
more...
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coolpal
03-27 12:45 PM
I feel the same... but I'm not sure if I am ready to go back just yet. I spent beyond my means to get my masters and spent a couple of years just paying it back.
I might have some left in me to try again one more time and hoping that some reforms would happen which would help me then.
But yeah, I am not sure if I'll really go after that h1 if I have to go for stamping now.
pal :)
I might have some left in me to try again one more time and hoping that some reforms would happen which would help me then.
But yeah, I am not sure if I'll really go after that h1 if I have to go for stamping now.
pal :)
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needhelp!
08-30 05:33 PM
As IV grows up, we should have a hall of fame for folks like you who have shown continued support to the cause. I am here now because I am affected, but to be here after its all said and done, is greatness.
more...
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purgan
11-11 10:32 AM
Randell,
Congratulations on getting the attention of the Times, and your tireless efforts in spreading word of the broken legal immigration system.
===
New York Times
Immigration, a Love Story
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/12/fashion/12green.html
WHEN Kenneth Harrell Jr., an Assemblies of God minister in South Carolina, invited Gricelda Molina to join his Spanish ministry in 2000, it didn’t take him long to realize he had found the woman he had been waiting for. On the telephone and during romantic strolls they talked about their goals, their commitment to God and how many children each would like to have. Six months flew by, and he asked her to marry him.
“She’s a beautiful woman with a beautiful spirit, very gentle, very sincere,” Mr. Harrell said. But Ms. Molina, a factory worker, was also an undocumented immigrant from Honduras, who had crossed into the United States twice, having once been deported. Mr. Harrell, the pastor of Airport Assembly of God church in West Columbia, said he was not too concerned. “Whatever came, we would walk through this path together,” he said.
Mr. Harrell and Ms. Molina, both 35, married in 2001, in a large wedding attended by family from both sides and blessed by pastors in English and Spanish. But the Harrells no longer live together, not because of divorce, but because Mrs. Harrell, now the mother of two sons and four months pregnant with their third child, has been deported. She had applied for legal residency, or a green card, with her new husband as her sponsor, Mr. Harrell said, but she was sent back to Honduras 20 months ago because of her illegal entries and told she would have to wait 10 years to try again.
“Illegals are pouring over the border,” said Mr. Harrell, who has visited his family five times. “We meet them, we fall in love with them, we marry them. And then the government tears your family apart, and they take no responsibility for letting them in, in the first place.”
Falling in love and marching toward marriage is not always easy, but a particular brand of heartache and hardship can await when one of the partners is in this country illegally. The uncertainty of such a union has only been heightened by the national debate over illegal immigration. Whether the new Democratic leadership in Congress will help people like the Harrells remains to be seen.
It is hard to quantify how many people find themselves in Mr. Harrell’s situation, but with stepped-up enforcement in recent years, deportations have increased, and so have fears of losing a loved one in that way. (There were 168,310 removals in 2005, compared with 108,000 in 2000, immigration officials said.)
And that is only one byproduct of love between two people with such uneven places in society, immigration lawyers say. Many relationships strain under the financial burden of hiring lawyers for what can turn into years of visiting government offices, producing pictures, tax records and other evidence of a legitimate marriage in the quest for legalization. And while instances of immigrants faking love for a green card are in the minority, according to immigration officials, some couples feel pressure to marry before they are ready, hoping that marriage will prevent a loved one’s deportation.
Raul Godinez, an immigration lawyer in Los Angeles, said: “I ask people, ‘How much do you love this person? Because immigration is going to test your marriage.’ If you don’t feel it’s going to be a strong marriage, I wouldn’t do it.”
Many people may still believe that obtaining legal status through marriage is easy, because of periodic reports of marriage scams. In a three-year investigation called Operation Newlywed Game, immigration and customs enforcement agents caught more than 40 suspects in California for allegedly orchestrating sham marriages between hundreds of Chinese or Vietnamese nationals and United States citizens. But such fraud occurs in only a minority of cases, federal officials said.
In reality, immigration lawyers said, marrying a citizen does not automatically entitle the spouse to a green card and is only the first step in a long bureaucratic journey. The lawyers noted that changes in the law in the last five years have made this legalization path increasingly difficult, one worth choosing only if true love is at stake. (Other routes include sponsorship by immediate family members or an employer.)
The Harrells said they had no idea how difficult it could be and were shocked when Mrs. Harrell’s application for permanent residence was turned down, leaving them only 12 days to prepare for her departure. In that time, Mr. Harrell said, they decided that the children, now 4 and 3, would go with her. So Mr. Harrell obtained passports for them, and the church held a farewell service.
“It was very traumatic,” he said. “Our whole world was crashing around us.”
In Yoro, in north central Honduras, where Mrs. Harrell and the children live with her parents, she said the older boy constantly asks for his father, begging, “Let’s go to my papa’s house.” She has coped with her own dejection, too. “I know how much work he has over there,” she said by telephone. “He needs his wife.”
But even in the best of circumstances, when an immigrant enters the country legally, couples may have to rearrange their lives and defer their dreams.
Paola Emery, a jewelry designer, and her husband, Randall Emery, a computer consultant in Philadelphia, said they delayed having children and buying a house for the nearly four years it took the government to complete a background check for Mrs. Emery, who had entered the country from Colombia with a tourist visa and applied for permanent residency after they married in 2002.
Mrs. Emery, 27, said lawyers advised them it was not wise for her to risk trouble by visiting her close-knit family in Colombia and then trying to re-enter this country. She said she was absent through weddings, illnesses and even the kidnapping and rescue of an uncle.
“I felt like I was in jail,” Mrs. Emery said.
Officials with the Citizenship and Immigration Services in the Homeland Security Department say that delays lasting years are rare, but some immigration lawyers say they see clients who wait three to four years for security clearance. Mrs. Emery and her husband, 34, sued Homeland Security over the delays, and she was finally cleared last May. By then Mr. Emery had helped form American Families United, a group of citizens who have sponsored immediate family members for immigration, and which advocates immigration-law change to keep families together. Immigration Services officials say they are not out to impede love or immigration. Nearly 260,000 spouses of citizens received permanent residency through marriage last year, out of 1.1 million people who became permanent residents, according to the Immigration Services office. “The goal is to give people who are eligible the benefit,” said Marie T. Sebrechts, its spokeswoman in Southern California. She said the agency does not comment on individual cases.
When a legal immigrant is sponsored by an American spouse, she said, the green card can be obtained in as little as six months. But with complications like an illegal entry, laws are not that benevolent, Ms. Sebrechts said. In those cases, the immigrant usually must return to the home country and wait 3 to 10 years to apply for residency, though waivers are sometimes granted.
Such obstacles are far from the minds of couples when they meet. And for some, so is the idea to question whether the beloved feels equally in love with them.
Sharyn T. Sooho, a divorce lawyer and a founder of divorcenet.com, a Web site for divorcing couples, said she has represented American spouses who realized too late that the person they married was more interested in a green card than in living happily ever after. “They feel conflicted, used and abused,” she said. “It’s a quick marriage, and suddenly the person who was so sweet is turning into a nightmare.”
But more often, said Carlina Tapia-Ruano, the president of the American Immigration Lawyers Association, couples marry before they are ready because “there’s fear that if you don’t do this, somebody is going to get deported.”
Krystal Rivera, 18, a college student in Los Angeles, and her boyfriend fall into this group. Ms. Rivera is set on marrying in April 2008, even as she worries that it may put too much pressure on the relationship.
“I never wanted to follow the Hispanic ritual of getting married early,” said Ms. Rivera, a native of Los Angeles whose parents emigrated from Mexico.
She said she fell in love at 13 with a Mexican-born boy who sang in the church choir with her. “He started poking me, and I said ‘Stop it!’ ” she remembered.
Ms. Rivera is still in love with the boy, now 19, who was brought into the country illegally by his mother when he was 12. He goes to college and wants to become a teacher, while she hopes to become a doctor.
But for those plans to work, Ms. Rivera said, she needs to help him legalize his status. She said she has witnessed his frustration as he dealt with employers who didn’t pay what they owed him or struggled to find better jobs than his current one as a line cook. Because of his illegal status, he is unable to get a driver’s license or visit the brothers he left in Mexico. “We want to be normal,” Ms. Rivera said.
The Harrells, too, have decided to take charge. After months of exploring how to reunite the family and spending thousands of dollars on lawyers, Mr. Harrell has decided to leave his small congregation, sell his house and join his wife in Honduras. He will be a missionary for his church for a fraction of the $40,000 a year he makes as a minister.
Congratulations on getting the attention of the Times, and your tireless efforts in spreading word of the broken legal immigration system.
===
New York Times
Immigration, a Love Story
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/12/fashion/12green.html
WHEN Kenneth Harrell Jr., an Assemblies of God minister in South Carolina, invited Gricelda Molina to join his Spanish ministry in 2000, it didn’t take him long to realize he had found the woman he had been waiting for. On the telephone and during romantic strolls they talked about their goals, their commitment to God and how many children each would like to have. Six months flew by, and he asked her to marry him.
“She’s a beautiful woman with a beautiful spirit, very gentle, very sincere,” Mr. Harrell said. But Ms. Molina, a factory worker, was also an undocumented immigrant from Honduras, who had crossed into the United States twice, having once been deported. Mr. Harrell, the pastor of Airport Assembly of God church in West Columbia, said he was not too concerned. “Whatever came, we would walk through this path together,” he said.
Mr. Harrell and Ms. Molina, both 35, married in 2001, in a large wedding attended by family from both sides and blessed by pastors in English and Spanish. But the Harrells no longer live together, not because of divorce, but because Mrs. Harrell, now the mother of two sons and four months pregnant with their third child, has been deported. She had applied for legal residency, or a green card, with her new husband as her sponsor, Mr. Harrell said, but she was sent back to Honduras 20 months ago because of her illegal entries and told she would have to wait 10 years to try again.
“Illegals are pouring over the border,” said Mr. Harrell, who has visited his family five times. “We meet them, we fall in love with them, we marry them. And then the government tears your family apart, and they take no responsibility for letting them in, in the first place.”
Falling in love and marching toward marriage is not always easy, but a particular brand of heartache and hardship can await when one of the partners is in this country illegally. The uncertainty of such a union has only been heightened by the national debate over illegal immigration. Whether the new Democratic leadership in Congress will help people like the Harrells remains to be seen.
It is hard to quantify how many people find themselves in Mr. Harrell’s situation, but with stepped-up enforcement in recent years, deportations have increased, and so have fears of losing a loved one in that way. (There were 168,310 removals in 2005, compared with 108,000 in 2000, immigration officials said.)
And that is only one byproduct of love between two people with such uneven places in society, immigration lawyers say. Many relationships strain under the financial burden of hiring lawyers for what can turn into years of visiting government offices, producing pictures, tax records and other evidence of a legitimate marriage in the quest for legalization. And while instances of immigrants faking love for a green card are in the minority, according to immigration officials, some couples feel pressure to marry before they are ready, hoping that marriage will prevent a loved one’s deportation.
Raul Godinez, an immigration lawyer in Los Angeles, said: “I ask people, ‘How much do you love this person? Because immigration is going to test your marriage.’ If you don’t feel it’s going to be a strong marriage, I wouldn’t do it.”
Many people may still believe that obtaining legal status through marriage is easy, because of periodic reports of marriage scams. In a three-year investigation called Operation Newlywed Game, immigration and customs enforcement agents caught more than 40 suspects in California for allegedly orchestrating sham marriages between hundreds of Chinese or Vietnamese nationals and United States citizens. But such fraud occurs in only a minority of cases, federal officials said.
In reality, immigration lawyers said, marrying a citizen does not automatically entitle the spouse to a green card and is only the first step in a long bureaucratic journey. The lawyers noted that changes in the law in the last five years have made this legalization path increasingly difficult, one worth choosing only if true love is at stake. (Other routes include sponsorship by immediate family members or an employer.)
The Harrells said they had no idea how difficult it could be and were shocked when Mrs. Harrell’s application for permanent residence was turned down, leaving them only 12 days to prepare for her departure. In that time, Mr. Harrell said, they decided that the children, now 4 and 3, would go with her. So Mr. Harrell obtained passports for them, and the church held a farewell service.
“It was very traumatic,” he said. “Our whole world was crashing around us.”
In Yoro, in north central Honduras, where Mrs. Harrell and the children live with her parents, she said the older boy constantly asks for his father, begging, “Let’s go to my papa’s house.” She has coped with her own dejection, too. “I know how much work he has over there,” she said by telephone. “He needs his wife.”
But even in the best of circumstances, when an immigrant enters the country legally, couples may have to rearrange their lives and defer their dreams.
Paola Emery, a jewelry designer, and her husband, Randall Emery, a computer consultant in Philadelphia, said they delayed having children and buying a house for the nearly four years it took the government to complete a background check for Mrs. Emery, who had entered the country from Colombia with a tourist visa and applied for permanent residency after they married in 2002.
Mrs. Emery, 27, said lawyers advised them it was not wise for her to risk trouble by visiting her close-knit family in Colombia and then trying to re-enter this country. She said she was absent through weddings, illnesses and even the kidnapping and rescue of an uncle.
“I felt like I was in jail,” Mrs. Emery said.
Officials with the Citizenship and Immigration Services in the Homeland Security Department say that delays lasting years are rare, but some immigration lawyers say they see clients who wait three to four years for security clearance. Mrs. Emery and her husband, 34, sued Homeland Security over the delays, and she was finally cleared last May. By then Mr. Emery had helped form American Families United, a group of citizens who have sponsored immediate family members for immigration, and which advocates immigration-law change to keep families together. Immigration Services officials say they are not out to impede love or immigration. Nearly 260,000 spouses of citizens received permanent residency through marriage last year, out of 1.1 million people who became permanent residents, according to the Immigration Services office. “The goal is to give people who are eligible the benefit,” said Marie T. Sebrechts, its spokeswoman in Southern California. She said the agency does not comment on individual cases.
When a legal immigrant is sponsored by an American spouse, she said, the green card can be obtained in as little as six months. But with complications like an illegal entry, laws are not that benevolent, Ms. Sebrechts said. In those cases, the immigrant usually must return to the home country and wait 3 to 10 years to apply for residency, though waivers are sometimes granted.
Such obstacles are far from the minds of couples when they meet. And for some, so is the idea to question whether the beloved feels equally in love with them.
Sharyn T. Sooho, a divorce lawyer and a founder of divorcenet.com, a Web site for divorcing couples, said she has represented American spouses who realized too late that the person they married was more interested in a green card than in living happily ever after. “They feel conflicted, used and abused,” she said. “It’s a quick marriage, and suddenly the person who was so sweet is turning into a nightmare.”
But more often, said Carlina Tapia-Ruano, the president of the American Immigration Lawyers Association, couples marry before they are ready because “there’s fear that if you don’t do this, somebody is going to get deported.”
Krystal Rivera, 18, a college student in Los Angeles, and her boyfriend fall into this group. Ms. Rivera is set on marrying in April 2008, even as she worries that it may put too much pressure on the relationship.
“I never wanted to follow the Hispanic ritual of getting married early,” said Ms. Rivera, a native of Los Angeles whose parents emigrated from Mexico.
She said she fell in love at 13 with a Mexican-born boy who sang in the church choir with her. “He started poking me, and I said ‘Stop it!’ ” she remembered.
Ms. Rivera is still in love with the boy, now 19, who was brought into the country illegally by his mother when he was 12. He goes to college and wants to become a teacher, while she hopes to become a doctor.
But for those plans to work, Ms. Rivera said, she needs to help him legalize his status. She said she has witnessed his frustration as he dealt with employers who didn’t pay what they owed him or struggled to find better jobs than his current one as a line cook. Because of his illegal status, he is unable to get a driver’s license or visit the brothers he left in Mexico. “We want to be normal,” Ms. Rivera said.
The Harrells, too, have decided to take charge. After months of exploring how to reunite the family and spending thousands of dollars on lawyers, Mr. Harrell has decided to leave his small congregation, sell his house and join his wife in Honduras. He will be a missionary for his church for a fraction of the $40,000 a year he makes as a minister.
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Munna Bhai
12-17 09:51 AM
Hi
If i-485 gets denied then what should i be doing?
Should i call the USCIS to find the reason for denial or Should i visit a lawyer?
Is their any way that i can get my I-485 reopen?
In how many days should i get my I-485 reopened?
Please help i am in need!
No one will deny the case. You will get NOID notice to deny and if you don't respond then it is denied. So you still have lot of time to respond.
Don't worry much, keep looking into your case history and if you suspect any RFE be prepared for it.
If i-485 gets denied then what should i be doing?
Should i call the USCIS to find the reason for denial or Should i visit a lawyer?
Is their any way that i can get my I-485 reopen?
In how many days should i get my I-485 reopened?
Please help i am in need!
No one will deny the case. You will get NOID notice to deny and if you don't respond then it is denied. So you still have lot of time to respond.
Don't worry much, keep looking into your case history and if you suspect any RFE be prepared for it.
more...
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sagar_nyc
01-30 11:11 AM
I am hearing lot of cases about H1 extension denial. My advise to people is that if you have option to work on EAD please do so. I think because of current economic condition extention is becoming difficult
Hello Sac-r-ten,
Thanx a lot for your compliment. I had been following this forum online since 2007 july fiasco & this forum had given me lot of knowledge & helped me out to make the right decission whenever I was underguided or misguided by lawyers (very unfortunate though that we spend a lot on fee to give such professional people). I will always try to do my best if my knowledge can help any person like me who falls as a pray in the hands of immigration people.
Anyways, if you don't mind, can you pls. explain the reason on what basis did they deny your I-140 application. You did mention on education basis, but can you pls. elaborate the reason. I am really tensed about it at my I-140 is pending since more then 2.5 years now. I also received an RFE on it & havn't heard about it since then.
Your input might help me. Thank you in advance
Hello Sac-r-ten,
Thanx a lot for your compliment. I had been following this forum online since 2007 july fiasco & this forum had given me lot of knowledge & helped me out to make the right decission whenever I was underguided or misguided by lawyers (very unfortunate though that we spend a lot on fee to give such professional people). I will always try to do my best if my knowledge can help any person like me who falls as a pray in the hands of immigration people.
Anyways, if you don't mind, can you pls. explain the reason on what basis did they deny your I-140 application. You did mention on education basis, but can you pls. elaborate the reason. I am really tensed about it at my I-140 is pending since more then 2.5 years now. I also received an RFE on it & havn't heard about it since then.
Your input might help me. Thank you in advance
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man-woman-and-gc
03-10 10:48 AM
. I had the same. you should be getting an Interview at the local office soon(in one or two months time). They want to verify something regarding your case. In my case it was the missing vaccination document
Thankks for responding. Atleast now I know that my application is alive at USCIS.
Thankks for responding. Atleast now I know that my application is alive at USCIS.
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abracadabra102
08-24 08:34 PM
Nothing new here. It was denied as per existing law. If original I-140 is un-approavable, ac21 can not help.
kaisersose
08-29 09:22 PM
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lsuk
07-21 10:24 PM
GCKarma,
You can extend your H-1B up to three years, but if you use your EAD card at some point, your H-1B is void. However, you can always recaputure your H-1B time later if needed (and if counted within the last 6 years unless left the U.S. for one year) and will be eligible for your extensions later.
You can extend your H-1B up to three years, but if you use your EAD card at some point, your H-1B is void. However, you can always recaputure your H-1B time later if needed (and if counted within the last 6 years unless left the U.S. for one year) and will be eligible for your extensions later.
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