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So it's the day before the flowers will be delivered and let's make the most out of this story. Here are the links to the press release to use


PDF version (http://www.touchdownusa.org/pdf/USCISFlowerCampaign.pdf) that can be sent as an attachment.
HTML version (http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=ap9x7pmvk6s_32c3khvg) that can be copy-pasted as text of the email.This (http://www.touchdownusa.org/pdf/Response.pdf) is our updated press release in response to the message on the USCIS website.

Most news organizations have dedicated reporters to cover immigration issues; so our first contact should be with them, since they'd be most interested in this story. Contact the writers of any immigration related stories that you've read recently - contact either by phone, or by email. If you are contacting by email here are a few helpful tips

Make sure that title/information of that person's most recent article is used in the subject line. Something like, 'Follow up to Green Card Woes in WSJ'
Refer to the article in the body of your email. For example
You recently wrote about the frustrations of green card applicants due to a reversal by the USCIS (Wall Street Journal - July 5, 2007 - 'Reversal Frustrates Green Card Applicants'). I am one of those skilled, legal applicants and we are planning to protest against this decision the USCIS in a unique and peaceful manner - by sending hundreds, if not thousands of flower bouquets to the director of USCIS, Mr. Gonzalez on July 10th.
After this, you can say that please refer to the attached press release for more information
Wrap up your email with something like, "This is probably the first time when skilled, legal professionals are participating in an event like this at this scale and it goes to show the level of anxiety in the community right now. Would you be willing to write about this event as a follow-up to your previous article?"
There is no harm in giving your contact number to let the reporter know that you can be contacted for any follow-up questions.
Other things that we can do to create a buzz around it is to talk about it in blogs, various forums etc., specially if you are a blogger. Already, if you search USCIS+Flowers in Technorati, there are a good number of hits - we should try and increase them.

Call up your local public radio station and tell them about this event (http://www.npr.org/stations/)

Any other ideas regarding increasing the visibility of this campaign should be posted on this thread.






I would try to contact FM 104.9 and AM 700 in Dallas both radio stations are delivering programs in Hindi and Urdu and to the extent very popular in SOuth Assian community. I would update here about my efforts.

I had taken an infopass appointment after filing an SR. All the IO said was I should call NSC. I don't think the IO's at the local USCIS office can issue FP notices.

Shall try again sometime this week or next and update the same here. I am a NSC->CSC->NSC transferee.


Hi

What did the infopass appointment tell you? Were the officers knew what they were talking about?

Thanks.

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Message to Emilio

Thank you for giving us Hope for few hours on July 1st and taking it away. We enjoyed the ride and the pain. Wish you all the best for future Visa Bulletins.

-- let the campaign begin..



I will support you guys in this. Imagine Emilio's face when he recieves 50 (could be more)bouquets in a day

Make that 1700

Payment To Immigration Voice Completed ... -$25.00 USD

Eom

I think more than anything we need organization. We need group of volunteers that focused on different tasks. for example a group of people call congress and follow up and post updates.

group of people lead the flower campaign and anther group wrk on informing the media

there should be a group organize the rally and contact people to sponser.
Again avoid the 21 of july because the media would cover HP book instead of the protest.

here is gazalion post of the same subject.. we need organization

Guys I am looking at this thread for the first time today and want to put some comments:

1) 3 people were making hunger strike at SJSU over the last weekend for DREAM act and we come to know about it thru 1510 AM, KLIVE in Bay Area.

2) Immigration Voice members are planning to make a rally in SJ and we need to read it in the forum of (only) their website.

3) We are hungry about media coverage and want utmost attention of the congressmen about our issues.

BUT, you know what we are missing?:

1) No postings on the windows of those Bharat Bajars and Cash N Carrys and Kumuds. Can't the i-phone designers and router gurus make Ashas and Abhijeets invisible with some eye catching posters?

2) No postings on those other popular websites like murthy.com, immigration-law.com, bata.org etc. Did they say no for this?

3) No usage of the library notice boards.

4) No usage of SMS. Isn't it much cheaper than making contributions to the IV repeatedly?

I hope to see all these channels being utilized fully for July 14/21 march in Bay Area before we talk about CNNs and WPs.

Once the streets of SJ are hit with 1000+ people, those NBCs and CNNs and SJMs will come to us rather than we going to them.

As for myself, I am in whenever the event takes place and will try to bring at least 5 of my friends to the march.

P.S.: This is not an effort to criticize anyone here but just an attempt to help the organizers in whatever way I can.

Did anyone receive card mailed e-mail/status update? I saw one member receive that.

I am not sure if the card mailed email is the guaranteed way of figuring out if your card is on it's way...Some people have received their cards after receiving CPO email only...

I am still waiting for my cards. Let's keep the hope alive:)

so were u able to do landing? if yes, then how u did?

I took my car.Once you get landed immigrant status in canada, everything needs to be transferred with you. They asked me either transfer my car or take it back to USA right away.As I have my family with me, So I argued for a while but no success. So i went to the customs and let them fill up the paper work to get the car transferred.Also they dont let your personal car to list in the things to follow paperwork, if you are driving the same car.I came back to USA after two weeks. But the transfer procedure still require you to get clearance from the USA for which you have to give the 72 hour notice to some agency and then take the car.Also you need Manufacturing clearance recall letter(which can be done both in USA & Canada).
I did not pay canadian customs a fee which is 209 + tax, as I want to bring the car back to usa. You have 45 days to get all this things done , other wise You have to export the car back to USA. They told me to send the payment or they will send a reminder notice after 10 days, which to date i have not received yet.You have to buy insurance and change the odometer into Km and also headlights should remain on when you start your car. I dont know what gonna happen, but I will sell the car if I have to, and send them the sale receipt.By the way i entered from detriot, and everything went smoothly.

Thanks Zooom, for starting this thread. I've mentioned about IV Core's selfless service in our 'Thanks' thread couple of days ago but didn't know about the magnitude. $64k is helluva money and its just not right coming from one pocket to favor thousands of others. Aman and other core, day by day you raise above and beyond our imaginations as a leader and guide. We assure you that you will not pay another single dime from your pocket.

I pledge $100 to Reimburse the core team now and more later.

Although the thread title says "Reimburse the core team" and I know that the core team will not take any money (and do not expect the memebrs to reimburse them) from the fund that we are planning on creating here...Stilll by contributing to this fund we can make sure that core does not have to bear any out of pocket personal expense in future while working on "our" goal.
Lets see how many of us are actually inetested in contributing. Once we have the number we can set a realistic goal and divide amongst ourselves.
For that I suggest we give this thread good two days to develop and check other members responses...
So here is a chance for everyone to contribute to our own goal. Lets keep this going. Who ever is interested pls reply. I will do a final count after 2 days as suggested and take it from there....
Guys: Its good to see response...Pls reply with the text "In" and the amount.

Members,
I am sure most of us have already gone through this article but those who have not pls do so. This elablarately tells about the sacrifices our core team(especially Aman) had to make inorder to be where we are today...I am sure this will encourage you....
http://www.businessweek.com/bwdaily/...eek+exclusives

========================
Message from Pappu:

Aman has made more financial sacrifices and time sacrifices than anyone else. Not a single penny has been reimbursed to him for his trips to DC, food and stay in DC or car rental in DC. He even risked his job and went to DC on unpaid leave at critical times because lobbying was important for getting our work done. We in the core team know this and when we see the kind of contributions we get from members, we feel disappointed that our efforts are not valued. When we started the $20 contributions people felt $20 was too high and wanted $10 per month or less. The kind of work and effort that is needed to push a single provision is phenomenal and needs lot of capital. The more the better. Sometimes reading posts that say IV core is selfish also disappoints us. People do not know the effort that goes in getting anything done. This website is simply a tool for us to communicate to everyone. The big effort is the lobbying work. We hope the Buisnessweek article helps people realize our hard work and people value it by contributing to it and helping us in all action items.

"Members please pledge the amount. Do NOT pay right now. Since these funds are to be directed towards reimbursing the administrative costs of the core team , we are not going to be adding it to the IV funds. We are working on a strategy to get this amount across to the IV core team members. We will instruct you on how to make the payment, once we formulate a strategy"

My Application delivered at 11:34 by USPS & signed by B GERKENSMEYER.
So far No LUD..No Receipts..Any one else signed by B GERKENSMEYER.

Done. It was on the original press release but I went ahead and removed it anyway.

Case was filed on July 6th (485, 131 and 765). Not sure when it reached NSC.
I-140 approved from TSC in 2006.
No receipts and no checks cashed yet.:(

I am starting this new thread to discuss about EB visas spillover usage based on oldest priority date irrespective of category/country. Currently the spillover happens vertically(a top down approach) from EB1 -> EB2 -> EB3...etc. Instead it should be first used on cases with oldest priority date. This will not only give a good move to clear the backlog but will also be a fair rule for those who are patiently waiting in queue for a long time. I wrote my concern about this to my local congressman. I also request each one of you, who is impacted by this, or who is interested to help us out, to kindly contact your local congressman/woman to express your concern. In turn they can contact USCIS to implement this fair rule to help us all out.


I can't understand why Sanhari's suggestion would rile up EB2 folks. All he suggested was to use the EB spillover visas for oldest cases irrespective of EB category and country.

Sanhari - Are you sure that this is a USCIS decision? Can USCIS change the way the do the spillover without legislation change?

Folks, There is a another thread on here that says IV is neither against EB3 nor for EB2. If that's really the case why would Sanhari's suggestion not find favor? If IV seriously want to do something for the backlog, Sanhari's suggestion should be taken up.

I anticipate and welcome reds, greens, blues for this post :)

I was told by IO at info pass that my case was with an officer on Aug 05 , got CPO on 25

i had a SLUD on AUG 21 ,


Thanks

In most cases the next action after CPO mail was within 5-7 business days. So keep your fingers crossed for the welcome mail. Follow the postman for your card arrival.

For me it happend within a span 11 regular days from CPO mail. 5th day after CPO mail, I got welcome notice in the mail and then 6th day from there I got my cards in the mail.

By the way, the online status still stays and it is in post decision activity. That is 12 days after I received my physical cards.

-with correction
We all morons and still wont learn, we will still start predicting for next visa bulletin hoping that a reincarnation of god will come and deliver us visa numbers.
Unless we all make a collective effort no one is going to listen to us. I know the fate of my post, we all will get busy to get our post noted or express our opinion which will definitely solve our problem or proving our point the that "i am right you are wrong" or get busy with "my ideas are better than yours" or "who wins the quote slamming contest".
We have simply lost our fous of our main problem . I think we deserve this perhaps I think if we continue like this we dont even deserve GCs.[/QUOTE]

There is nothing change in the next bulletin. What you saw from the last couple of bulletins "Unavailable". That should be happened with in few months. This is my opinion. I am not blaming any body. This is the real situation going on from the last couple of years bulletins.

http://www.uscis.gov/portal/site/uscis/menuitem.5af9bb95919f35e66f614176543f6d1a/?vgnextoid=f4b3076eb0f93110VgnVCM1000004718190aRCR D&vgnextchannel=1958b0aaa86fa010VgnVCM10000045f3d6a1 RCRD



Message from USCIS Director Emilio Gonzalez

I understand that individuals are planning to send flowers to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) beginning on Tuesday, July 10. USCIS has made arrangements to forward those flowers to our injured service members recuperating at Walter Reed Army Medical Center and at Bethesda Naval Hospital.

+++++++++++++

I dont believe in flower/food/sos campaigns to resolve this problem...just because it worked once before doesnt mean it is going to work again..have we pursued a class action lawsuit against Department of State/Labor/USCIS for unlawful discrimination based on the country of birth in Employment Based Visas. Any idea if IV core ever took up this path? Can we attempt to do this? What are the costs involved and can we get some good lawyer representation to this goal?

You can only go in court if some agency is not following law disigned by congress. You cannot challenge congress in Court to change law.

Please contribute / Join State chapter / join evey campaign by IV . We have plan to fight for counrty cap along with recapture and some other stuff.

So Please join and ask your friends to join.

done and spread the word

my dear friend come back in reality..... to put it least harshly... �khayali pulav banana band karo� (stop day dreaming)
IV core needs to focus on real issues and obstructions which anti throw our way

I believe that you dismissed my suggestion even before considering or reading it. Mere bhai mai yaha khayali pulav nahi paka raha (Brother Iam not day dreaming). However if you don't like my suggestion / idea I respect your opinion, peace !

First and foremost you do not need approval from anti's just some of their achievements are a) Neufiled h1B memo b) higher H1B fees c) Unnecessary RFE's on H1B extensions (Client Letter etc).

Now coming to the other group Illegal�s they will never support us "Legal�s" thank god the dream act is defeated and I hope CIR with illegal amnesty never sees the light of day. Iam sure you know why EB3-I is languished in 2001 for the last 5 years it was 245I.

To cut it short anti's and illegal�s will neither ever help or support our causes.

Coming to IV efforts they are indeed applaudable, however looks like some in the group like to oppose everything.

1) Allowing everybody to file for 485 if i140 is approved, we have a few who oppose this look at the poll results. Requires change of law.

2) Recapture won't fly with the agencies they won't accept wasted visas thing that easily. Requires change of law.

3) Country cap elimination, folks from ROW will be bitterly opposed to it in the name of diversity but the reality is that it is utterly unfair, in fact EB3 ROW is cruising comfortably but they complain about spillover, some of our friends from EB3-I also talk about the spillover rule but they don't realize the fact that all spillover goes to EB3 Row and it will not be current literally even in the next 5 or maybe 10 years because EB3 ROW has steady demand unlike EB2 ROW.

4) What�s left is excluding dependents from the EB cap, nobody except for illegals and anti's will oppose it. Anyway there seems to be no Cap for Illegal�s and Anti's but one thing is for sure that they are always united.

Friends once again I wish to say that this is the only unifying idea for the legal immigrant community and this is the way everybody can see green in the next 2 years. No other idea gives green to everybody in a 2 Yr timeframe. I agree it won't fly and requires a change of law but probably its the way to go. I would give all the credit to maverick979 and deepimpact for suggesting this on another blog if I remember correctly.

A plain reading of the INA supports this contention. But then the USCIS always works in mysterious ways.

You wouldn't have felt that way if you were EB-3 India sittinig for last 8 years, reading Visa Bulletins every months, just to find it still in Oct'2001...And if you ask USCIS what's going on they ask you 5K.

I don't think you can tell if I had felt that way, the same way I cannot tell how you feel, but I understand your pain to some extent - I have been waiting for 2 years and probably have to wait a few more. All I am saying is that the country cap policy is not a form of discrimination.:)