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Folks,
Please help me in refining the message: I plan to send to some major media.
*****************************
Dear Sir/Madam,

We are an association of highly skilled immigrants, waiting for our permanent residency status. There are approximately one million such people in this situation.
Before we proceed to make our point, we would like you to consider the following facts regarding ourselves:
• Average age: 30-35 years
• Average years of stay in the USA (all legally): 7 years
• Average legal status in the USA: Final stage of the green card (called I-485 stage) and posses employment authorization document (EAD), renewable every year, indefinitely till one gets his green card.
• Average Salary: $75K+
• Average net worth: 100K-400K (mostly liquid)
• Average occupations: Information technology, Doctors and Financial Analysts
• Average education level: At least undergraduate
• Average credit history: Excellent

Note: If needed, we can cite the source of the information, which is from the government itself.

As mentioned earlier, we are in the final stage of our green card process and at this stage there are very few rejections (<1%). It means that we would eventually get our green cards but it may take several years. Please note that the final stage (called I-485 stage) is the stage, where the applicant has already been found eligible for immigrant visas (aka green cards). Since government can issue only limited number of such visas in a year, the wait becomes long. Please also note that after applying for I-485, people can get their EAD enabling them to work for any employer. The EAD has to be renewed every year and most of us have their EADs

Even though the chances of the rejection is very low but most people, out of fear, have been postponing any major investment decisions, like buying a house or a new car, in other words, living conservatively. In addition, due to the turmoil in the market, several of us, in spite of our excellent credit history, income and high liquid net worth may not qualify for loans as EAD is valid for only one year.

Our organization has been urging the government to fix the green card process or at the very least relax the hassles of the yearly renewal ordeal for EADs. Either of these things will bring certainty in our life and prompt some of us to take some big decisions.

We are writing to you with a hope that our situation will be highlighted and our intellectual and financial potential contribution to this country is appreciated. Please let know if you are interested discussing the matter further and how we can help each other.

We are conducting a small poll on one of the websites used for organizing ourselves. Almost 60% of the respondents are postponing the decision because of the situation they are in. The poll can be found at http://immigrationvoice.org/forum/showthread.php?t=17660

Yours truly,

In the current economic environment, removing country quota seems like the only argument that can fly, since it does not increase actual visas.

In the current economic envireonment where H1Bs are being blamed in media do you think anything can fly. There is so much anti-India sentiment in the softare industry due to consulting companies. Do you think they will want more Indians as greencard holders? Think about it?

I think the first step should be to do a media campaign and clear all negative publicity H1Bs are getting. Second, all of us working for consulting companies and feel they are exploited need to come out and file lawsuits against employers and clean the system. If there is no exploitation and it is only a misinformation campaign by anti-immigrants then we need to clear that wrong too so that foriegn workers get their due recognition for helping this economy grow.

I think the salary mentioned in H1B petition could be different the one in LC. Employer is bound to pay the salary mentioned in the H1B while employee is on H1B, the salary mentioned in LC only needs to be honored after obtaining GC.

And how about the job title mentioned in the both petitions, could it be different?

For most of the people GC processing might start after 3 years working on H1B, and this might allow the changes.
Please correct me if I am wrong.
It is my understanding that when applying for a GC, until you have your LC approved (and possibly I-140), you cannot change your title or salary, beyond what was submitted in the LC application. Technically, the DOL is verifying a 'job' (and the salary related to that job), so in theory, that can't change, not because the employer doesn't want to, but because the law doesn't allow it.

Now, an employer may unofficially get around this (by increasing your bonus payout, or giving you stock, or changing the internal level of your job), but these are 'handouts' that you may get if your employer is fair.

With the backlogs that are in effect for pre-PERM LC approvals, employees can go from 1-3 years without a salary or promotion/job title change, and that is the law! Go figure.

Easy boys and girls. We will need to stay united to win this. Cool it and enjoy the holiday season. :)

chantu..people like you are the cause of all the problems in the world. go take your brainwashed rss branded version of hinduism and get out of here...our faith, our belief and our core values are way too strong for losers like yourself whose "picture" will always be on the toilet seat even if its not there. forget on the toilet seat.. its in the toilet bowl

If people were not busy preparing for Sept 18th DC rally, this thread would have been 20 pages plus, but if you REALLY want to discuss some thing then here it is........

Employment Based (EB) Green Card (GC) Laws
� The yearly GC quota is 140K. This includes GC for spouse and children. On an average, GCs are given to ~60K families.
� Each country is allotted 7% (of 140K) GCs (equally distributed among EB-1, EB-2 and EB-3) plus any unused visa from other countries. For India, average numbers of EB GCs issued in last seven years were 32K (~12K families).
� As per USCIS Ombudsman report
o Between 2001-07, USCIS was not able process all applications and hence ~155K GCs went waste as unused GCs in a year can not be reused in following years. This was most likely due to resource constraints.
o The report estimates the submission of 500K-750K (yes 500K+) AOS applications between June 1 and August 17 2007.
o FBI security checks may be the single biggest obstacle to the timely and efficient delivery of immigration benefits.
� There were ~200K pending EB Adjustment of Status (AOS) or I-1485 applications as of June 1st.
� So far EAD renewal has been taking around 3 months. Due to the volume of applications, EAD renewal may take 3-9 months. Thus, you may have to apply for renewal more frequently.
� FBI security check backlog is likely to get worse, because the August USCIS fee increase has prompted a 50 percent rise in new naturalization applications so far this year.
� EB Immigration reform does not have enough support in Congress (failure of SKILL, STEM ..). As a matter of fact, it does not even get enough support to make it debatable, let alone final voting.
� The laws need to be changed and the process improved to fix the situation.
What does it mean?
� There will be around 1Million AOS/I-485) applications by Aug 17 which will take 1M/140K = 7+ years to clear the backlog. Thus, late priority dates will remain retrogressed for several years.
� Some, who could not file AOS by 08/17, may have to wait for several years (5+ years).
� Longer EAD/AP renewals cycle and 1 year validity may have the following affects.
o You will have to stop working, if your EAD is not renewed in time.
o Several employers (and rightly so) may view EAD as a temporary permit and may be reluctant to hire you.
� You have to be in the same position with same job responsibilities for an indefinite time period, otherwise your GC application will be rejected.
� If you were unmarried at the time of filing and planning to bring spouse to the USA upon marriage, you will need to continue on current status (e.g. H-1B) or wait till your PD become current.
Immigration Voice (IV) Executive and Legislative Efforts
� Lobbying is an efficient tool to influence law and rule making.
� IV was very active in lobbying for CIR 2006, which was passed in Senate but failed in House.
� IV grass-root effort (flower campaign + San Jose Rally) was an important reason for retraction of July Visa Bulletin.
� Due to upcoming presidential elections, next congress session in October�07 may be our only window of opportunity for several years to influence the lawmakers.
Your options:
a) Struggle for several years.
b) Leave USA
c) Help yourself by joining IV.

Mine is so similar to yours !! Jan 27 instead of Jan 29 and July 2 instead of Jul 13. VA instead of OH. Hope mine will get cleared soon. But God only knows when. :)

Mine is similar to you case, PD- Jan 23 2004, RD July 23 2007, ND Aug 24 2008

Do feel they go by processing times striclty?

Your lawyers are not adding the employment letter because they are working in the ineterst of your HR department and not in your interest. Your HR thinks that after 180 days you will leave the job. So in order to retain you, they are filing incomplete application to invoke an RFE or rejection and keep things iin their control. Hope you are smart enough to see the games people are playing with your greencard application.
Yes, I have this feeling already. Now, what happens if someone switches jobs using AC-21 and then this RFE is received? You have to submit the NEW employment / offer letter right? So how does this help the current employer to stop you from switching jobs?

I think you don't understand. USCIS has no control over the Visa bulletin. The reason India EB3 is doomed because of the percountry limitations set by DOS.
Congress need to change that rule not USCIS.

Know your facts before suggesting something that doesn't work!!!

I still don't believe that USCIS has no say in spill over - think again :)

Hi,

I called USCIS today, i was asked to take infopass to get a status update on my case, as it was pending in local office. I am not sure why.

My PD is 2001 March, from Dallas BEC - LC cleared on June 2007. Filed 140+485 on July 2. In my company atleast 400 - 500 number of EB2 cases came thru in June 2007, there were a few hundred lcs from BEC for EB3 too..from 2000-2001 time frame, based on some of the threads I have seen. We are one of the largest networking company in San Jose, here. I am sure there are other companoies that have good number of folks, also depends on how many stuck on..
Filed my 10 th year H1 extension,
PD March 2001
EB2 - Category - Adv Degree
Country - India
Degree - Research IIT/IISc Bangalore.

Following advice of 'Googler' i skimmed through the USCIS OMbud's report. So USCIS is not able to accurately 'count' the cases because old cases at local offices are not accounted in system (?) . Otherwise it would have been a quick data base query to obtain whatever statistics.

And i was interested in knowing how many India EB2 pending till Oct.2002 ;-)

I sent an email to her now.

Thanks Murali - we must stay on top of this

First off, you are looking for a bodyshop. A consulting shop. You would be the consultant if you are hired they would be the consulting firm.

There is a website called http://www.desicrunch.com/ (Desi Crunch) that as reviews of most of Indian Consulting shops. Reviews are posted by individuals themselves so they would be reliable.

Other than that you can look on Immigrationportal.com and search the name of the firm you are planning to join to check if there are any bad reviews.

You have to be prepared to handle your job as a consultant and your job in handling your employer. There would be struggle every step of the way. Basics like giving paperwork tied to Immigration like H1, 140, labor is a big task. Mostly they dont want to share even xerox copies so that it becomes almost impossible for you to either switch jobs or retain priority dates. Expect to work at a much lower rate than what you would get as a permenant employee directly working for an American company. Expect to move across the country every few months from project to project, unless you are really really in demand and can get projects in city for longer times. Do not expect moving expenses. You are on your own. Whenever you quit, expect to miss your last 1 or 2 paychecks. They will come up with some excuse not to pay you. If you quit and if there is any bad blood between you and your employer, do not expect any letter of experience that you can use for future EB2 or EB3 Greencard petitions. They wont give you that. If they hire the Immigration lawyer, you will most likely never talk to the lawyer directly. It will be thru your employer only. And information will be presented to you in a way that makes you feel in bad shape and more dependent on the employer. "Your labor is in trouble". "there is an inquiry on your H1, 140". "Lawyer needs another 5,000 to respond to your inquiry or RFE which we would be more than happy to deduct from your paycheck".

If you want to go thru all this, then yes, desi consulting firms would work for you.

Granted that most desi companies follow the business practices described above. However there are some who are really professional, incorporate good business practices and ethics. However not every job or company is perfect. For example consider the following:

1. Large US American Consulting companies (the so called direct vendors) treat you well, have less project travel, pay you on time, provide good benefits and have good business processes. However when the market goes south and you end up with no project for a prolonged period of time then a layoff is imminent. You loose the time invested in GC processing with the company and have to start from scratch. On the contrary a desi company is aware of the immigration dependencies and limitations of H1 holders and firing or layoff of an employee is the last item on their last.

2. US Direct employer is pretty much the same as the direct vendors.

The best option would be to check with friends and networking contacts about a particular desi company before joining. Another suggestion would be to research sites like www.desicrunch.com for additional information.

I can't say for certain but from recent USCIS actions and the latest FAQ released, I see them issuing an RFE instead of outright rejecting the application. If they will accept applications without medical, they should be able to do the same for an employment letter. Ofcourse, this is just my humble opinion.

Total BS!

How can you even suggest that the immigration related raids to be the same as ethnic cleansing.

Admins, please close this thread!

I would like to bring to the notice of your readers, editorial committee and leaders of
the Indian community of a systematic way that (legally) the US Government is practicing
legal ethnic cleansing of Indians and Chinese and other H-1B visa holders.
...............
............
..............God Bless America....God Save America from 'some' of its own people.

Thanks.

Many of them during the letters campaign, and most are ready to buy a home within a year of getting their green cards!

On ther other hand I personally know a very highly educated guy (IITBombay, MS then PhD in Electrical Eng- with a specialization in wireless tech) who got his EB GC 2-3 years too late... by that time the tech boom was over but the housing boom had already begun... so he decided to wait a few more years. Now he feels bad about the whole thing, and wonders if he should have bought a home when he was on H1B-- even if it would be frought with risk! That way, he would have been a millionaire today-- just like his friends who got their GCs and bought homes well in time.

8 years later, the history is repeating itself.
500,000+ people are patiently waiting in the EB GC queue... and chances are they will helplessly watch as home prices hit the bottom, and then rebound a few years later.

Some of them might decide to take the plunge and buy a home to take advantage of the low prices. However, many of them may be simply denied this chance becasuse their future is tied to a plastic card that has to be renewed every year!

Singhsa, sorry cannot help you right now with the media... maybe you can try getting help from the IV-media team?
personally I know many friends who did not buy house and are happy that they didnt (as it gave them flexibility). one of them is IITian who chose not to apply for a green card and he went back (and is at a higher post in mumbai).also I know many friends who bought house and are repenting because they brought it at height of bubble - they feel they should have waited for a longer time as they could have brought house in a better location (now they are staying 50 miles away from airport and 25 miles away from job in tough commute) - so personal experiences dont mean much.
BTW --housing is not the best way to become rich (unless you were successfully buying and selling houses (flipping) during the golden boom days - i.e 2003 - 2007) ..those days are gone and probably we wont see that again in our lifetime.
there are many articles nowadays which give you an example of the above ..also prices maybe lower ..but it will go down more ..and those who buy should think of their house as a place to stay(and if they really need the large space) ..not necessarily an investment.

Here is the issue: If you are thinking of doing MBA to get a management job in a US company and are an Indian, please forget it. You might get a low level management position paying at most 80K. MBA is not for everyone - you have to have it in you to get something out of an MBA. It's not about landing that good job. You hear about the 1 crore offers that IIM students get from top American companies? Well, they are kicked out of the job in 1 year and then join Infosys or Wipro. Not because they are not brilliant but because their conversational skills are terrible and so is their language. Unless you are planning to settle in India OR REALLY THINKING OF PUTTING A LOT OF EFFORT in mastering the English language and your outlook, an MBA is not going to serve you in the US.
Like, someone said, an MBA is more than just a degree. You can get a better, much higher paying job (300K+) without an MBA but with excellent logic, hard work, conversational skills and outgoing personality. No GC required :)

At the risk of giving someone the idea of starting a new thread on dottiness (all sorts of stuff are popping up these days :)) - you can see your DI (dot index) by clicking "User Profile" at the top right of this page (assuming you are logged on to IV), and then clicking "User Control Panel", which opens the list of your dots w/o comments (I am yet to figure out the point system that comes with it). This does not tell you though who gave what, unless they announce themselves.

And I thank you for your vote of confidence on the relevance issue :)

Count me in for contribution up to $500 towards lobbying.

I am not against any category ..... just wanna be reasonable.
Couple of years back some organizations pushed / lobbied an idea that software engineers (typically fall into EB2) are more valuable then Programmer Analysts (typically fall into EB3).
In those hay days who knows that they would come up with this unjustifiable idea...That may be true these days.

We can do something to start with call. later admin adds funding drive or some senior member will add funding drive. Why people asking for IV core is If I or other member will start some thread/campaign it will divert to other discussion or no more support. But I have notice that if IV core starts it people become active and call or write email.

Even being a organization some one may be prez of IV org can call Zoe and find out what will be deal with HR 5882 in lame duck session. They will not reply to me or other members but atleast can reply to some IV rep.

hows that ? I am not favoring rajuram or not against chandu.. just expressing what I am thinking and what others may do..

You are also a very active poster and can definitely help IV in all possible ways. Thanks for all the help.

Letter for Intl Student Associations

Dear International Student Friend:

You have put yourself through a lot over the past few years: traveled to a new country, put yourself through school, worked long hours in the lab, took on multiple on-campus jobs and loans, so that
you could make a better life for yourself. Now, you are getting ready to graduate and join other high-skilled people like you who make this country one of the leaders when it comes to innovation and technological breakthroughs. We are proud of your accomplishments
and look forward to welcoming you in the real world as your friends and
colleagues.

However, we wanted to make you aware of a grim reality that you will surely
face in the coming months. Immigration visas (commonly referred to as �Green Cards�) are currently severely backlogged across multiple categories and countries. You might be vaguely aware of this and may have
heard rumors, but the truth of the matter is that most likely you will have to
face years of waiting for an immigrant visa to be approved. This in turn will
restrict your growth within an organization and at the same time prevent you
from reaching your true potential. Even if you are finishing up your course of study from the topmost university in your field, it is more than likely that you will be impacted by the current immigration backlog. We write this letter because thousands of our members are in exactly the same place. We write this because we are in process
of developing one of the most comprehensive grassroots organizations dedicated
to helping skilled immigrants achieve their American dream and at the same time help in keeping this country competitive in the global markets.

Our organization cuts across nationalities, job categories and pay scales. Even
if you are finishing up your MBA from Harvard, it is likely that you will be
impacted by the current immigration backlog. We are completely committed to
securing a more transparent, predictable and fair immigration system. We ask you
to visit our website at http://www.immigrationvoice.org and attend a rally on September 18th at Washington DC. We are running buses from your city to DC. All you need to do is visit the Immigration Voice website and sign up for where you are coming from.


Regards,

Your friends at
Immigration Voice

Great letter! Have we sent it yet??? The only thing I would change is "Immigration" visas to "Immigrant" visas

All , this subject has been raised very often and every time new members join in they start a thread and start questioning it.

- IV has indepth explored and studied this option and have found that this change is not possible administratively.
- we have not just met a lawyer. we have met few lawyers. we also have communicated with USCIS in the past.
- In the past some administrative changes have been done by USCIS, but this change cannot be done by them. All, we already had this idea long long ago and we also thought that why dont we do it if it so simple and then we dont have to go through all the legislative hurdles. But NO it cannot be done by USCIS.
- Faxing USCIS will not work. USCIS does not take policy decisions. We need to approach policy makers to get it done and that is what we are doing. By coming up with ideas, endlessly discussing despite explaination by IV and not working with IV action items we will all go in divergent directions and lose focus on the main action items we want each every member should focus. If you really feel for some idea and want to help, instead of asking IV to give explanation to every question on the forum, contact any of the active IV core members on the forum and bounce ideas. We need people with ideas and also same people willing to work on them too.
- If it was possible to get it done administratively, then in the current Skil bill push we would have/ and lawmakers would also have just asked USCIS to implement it.

Hope this explains this topic. Thanks


Thanks Pappu for explaination. Look like this door is already close. Well let me know if I can do anything to help.