Endless Wait

Thank you for visiting Endlesswait.com. Your support and participation can help us in our fight for rights and fair laws for legal immigrants to the US.

Thanks to Sravan, Azeez, Mayur and Adrian for taking us up on our August free consultation offers. I am happy that endlesswait is able to bring such a service to the table and will continue with it as long as we can..

The 3 spots for September are now open. Go to endlesswait.com/free-consultation if you want to enter.

This stuff is taking so much time and I’ve got so much else going on, there’s hardly time to catch up to immigration news or post about it here. I invite you guys to post your thoughts and latest immigration news that you become aware of to endlesswait. Just register with the link on the top right (or under invitation tab) and start writing. Your opinions will be heard by the thousands of visitors that endlesswait.com sees every month.

Having had numerous contacts from recruiters and employers based in the USA in recent months a somewhat unfortunate byproduct i believe of the 5 year period i spent with my family there in the last decade,when i would constantly update my profile on Internet job sites in an attempt to stay ahead of the ‘employment game in North America’. My initial reaction was i really do not want the hassle of even replying to the constant spam emails stating i was perfect for the position etc etc. The scars of employment based Green Card applications just do not heal!

What has this to do with the I-485 you may ask !

Firstly it has taken almost a calender year for USCIS to contact me with regards a “second” biometric appointment having been part of the now famous “hoodwink” or hotter than July 07 AOS debacle, only fuels  belief that a delaying and bureaucratic maze has been created by the US government. As a matter of fact i have not had a gender reassignment or facial plastic surgery in the 9 months since i had my first appointment and to justify additional biometric investigation seems on the surface a delaying tactic?

Secondly the immediate response for me was to withdraw my I-485 and send a semi humorous and somewhat cutting email to my attorney to kindly ask USCIS to place the sacred Green Card in such a place  that it would change color to Brown. Not funny really as the pain and immeasurable damage caused by USCIS to my family and myself will never be forgotten least of all forgiven.

Finally all of my family have had now the dreaded “Decision” email ………….Denial. Apparently the process is designed to make you feel you have not meet the requirements. the 5 year running battle with USCIS is now  offically over for us we have now retreated back to the place where we again enjoy basic human rights.  

When you add up all the countless heartache and apathy caused by USCIS you soon realize that the fundamental simple process of immigration has now been so twisted and corrupted that it is way beyond repair. Only the Attorneys really make money from this sad broken system. i for one am extremely upset about the I-485 brick wall that i hit, i cannot get my money back or indeed the paperwork. Ask yourself would you want your personal health records sitting in a box who knows what happens to the data? if only the individual could be heard.

the I-485 is indeed ……by design …….class action proof

Mark Burns

British Citizen

This internal USCIS memo leaked a few days ago and got everyone talking. The memo clearly shows USCIS taking dramatic measures to ease immigration waiting lines and policies WITHOUT CIR - or legislative change. They are trying to do things that they can, internally, that are within their power, to effect positive change. This is commendable!! Something USCIS should have done years ago. Whoever’s behind this is SO doing the right thing.

Check out the very positive items it has for H4 visa holders. The memo points to the possibility of them getting work permits. It also talks about re-using prior visa numbers and several other reforms, including better use of the EB-5 category for investment based green cards.

According to the National Review Online, USCIS responded promptly to the leak by issuing a statement:

Internal draft memos do not and should not be equated with official action or policy of the Department. We will not comment on notional, pre-decisional memos. As a matter of good government, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) will discuss just about every issue that comes within the purview of the immigration system. We continue to maintain that comprehensive bipartisan legislation, coupled with smart, effective enforcement, is the only solution to our nation’s immigration challenges.

Internal memoranda help us do the thinking that leads to important changes; some of them are adopted and others are rejected. Our goal is to implement policies wisely and well to strengthen all aspects of our mission. The choices we have made so far have strengthened both the enforcement and services sides of USCIS — nobody should mistake deliberation and exchange of ideas for final decisions. To be clear, DHS will not grant deferred action or humanitarian parole to the nation’s entire illegal immigrant population.

Only three spots this month. First one goes to Shravan. If you’d like one,  please read the terms and post a comment on this page - FREE 15-MINUTE IMMIGRATION CONSULTATION

I could have used one with my little issue last week in the previous post…

As EB-2 dates are moving along much faster for Indian and Chinese nationals, there appears to be a rush among immigrants (just like 2007, to a smaller extent) for EB-3 candidates (like me) and even others hold H1-B visas in their second three year renewal stage, to file a fresh EB-2 petition. Nothing wrong with that! We have every right to consider our options.

Murthy.com has a good article on this - http://www.murthy.com/news/n_eb3to2.html

But there are several road blocks to get past:

1. The same employer can’t sponsor you for 2 green card petitions for the same role. The roles will have to be at least 50% different.

2. You can’t use experience and time in your current job toward meeting the EB-2 qualification of Bachelors + 5 years progressive experience or Masters + 2 years relevant experience.

I know what you are thinking - SO WHERE’S THE PROBLEM??

But those are just the beginning…there can be a lot more complications based on your situation..

For instance, I’ve moved jobs on AC21. So who’e my green card sponsor? Because if it’s my current employer, then they can’t file a fresh EB-2 for the same job that they already sponsor me for. I beleive my original filing employer would be my sponsor but that’s what I am trying to confirm.

My doubt comes from the fact that when I moved to the new job, I sent USCIS an AC21 letter suggesting that the new job is SAME OR SIMILAR. Now when I make an EB-2 petition suggesting that the job actually requires EB-2 level qualifications, does that contradict the AC-21 claim?

Please reply with comments if you have any information/thoughts/experience in this matter, I’d appreciate it!

This blog is about LEGAL immigrants and the challenges they face. But our close cousins - illegal immigrants have challenges, that many believe are even harder. But the debate about immigration reform is almost entirely about them, and it’s heating up. I don’t carry very many opinions on illegal immigration, because, honestly, I am not one and I don’t know enough to make judgement calls. I do see both sides of the debate though - and this email that I received today picqued my interest. What do you think? Is Jose Illegal really LUCKY or is the author of this email missing something important?

JOE LEGAL VS. JOSE ILLEGAL
You have two families: “Joe Legal” and “Jose Illegal”. Both families
have two parents, two children, and live in California .
Joe Legal works in construction, has a Social Security Number and makes
$25.00 per hour with taxes deducted.
Jose Illegal also works in construction, has NO Social Security Number,
and gets paid $15.00 cash “under the table”.
Ready? Now pay attention…
Joe Legal: $25.00 per hour x 40 hours = $1000.00 per week, or
$52,000.00 per year. Now take 30% away for state and federal tax; Joe
Legal now has $31,231.00.
Jose Illegal: $15.00 per hour x 40 hours = $600 per week, or
$31,200 per year. Jose Illegal pays no taxes. Jose Illegal now has
$31,200.
Joe Legal pays medical and dental insurance with limited coverage for his
family at $600 per month, or $7,200 per year. Joe Legal now has $24,031.
Jose Illegal has full medical and dental coverage through the state and
local clinics at a cost of $0.00 per year. Jose Illegal still has $31,200.
Joe Legal makes too much money and is not eligible for food stamps or
welfare. Joe Legal pays $500 per month for food, or $6,000 per year. Joe Legal
now has $18,031.
Jose Illegal has no documented income and is eligible for food stamps and
welfare. Jose Illegal still has $31,200.
Joe Legal pays rent of $1,200 per month, or $14,400 per year.
Joe Legal now has $9,631.
Jose Illegal receives a $500 per month federal rent subsidy. Jose
Illegal pays out that $500 per month, or $6,000 per year. Jose
Illegal still has $ 31,200.
Joe Legal pays $200 per month, or $2,400 per year for auto insurance
Joe Legal now has $7,231.00.
Jose Illegal says, “We don’t need no stinkin’ insurance!” and he still
has $31,200.
Joe Legal has to make his $7,231 stretch to pay utilities, gasoline, etc.
Jose Illegal has to make his $31,200 stretch to pay utilities,
gasoline, and what he sends out of the country every month.
Joe Legal now works overtime on Saturdays or gets a part time job after
work.
Jose Illegal has nights and weekends off to enjoy with his family.
Joe Legal’s and Jose Illegal’s children both attend the same school.
Joe Legal pays for his children’s lunches while Jose Illegal’s children
get a government sponsored lunch. Jose Illegal’s children also have an
after school ESL program.
Joe Legal and Jose Illegal both enjoy the same police and fire
services, but Joe paid for them and Jose did not pay.

Do you get it, now?

I wrote a post a couple of days ago about Free 15-minute consultations with top immigration attorneys. At that point, I wasn’t if such a service would be useful. I thought it would, but then who knew, right?

Well, thanks for all that took us up on the offer. Three spots for July are already taken. Ema, Madhu and Karthik have been contacted and their consultations are being scheduled. Ema, Madhu, Karthik - please leave us a note on how it went.

In the meantime, I did not want to wait any further to introduce this as a regular feature of Endlesswait.com so I added this new page today - FREE IMMIGRATION ATTORNEY PHONE CONSULTATION. This page has more details.

One more spot for July is still left. Please reply with a comment on this page to use this opportunity.

I am honestly SUPER excited to be able to offer a useful service to you guys. Please share this with your friends that might be able to use it. It’s totally free and really, the blog or the attorneys don’t make any money from it. This blog is about immigrants helping each other and some kind attorneys have agreed to help us out as well.

Thanks to Alpa for reporting this interesting news to us from reputed immigration law site shusterman.com. We’ll see whether their prediction turns out to be true or if this was just a rumor. If this is true, EB-2 India cutoff date will extend into 2006! That’s quite an advance and was unexpected to happen until October 2010 at least.

Go to http://www.shusterman.com/ and look at the news ticker in the middle of the page. Make sure you have java enabled in your  browser as this news ticker uses java to render.

This is a piecemeal act that includes all of the stuff that CIR would have for skilled legal immigrants. This includes provisions to reduce the visa backlog, H1-B reform and F1 student visa reform.

SKILL ACT of 2010

I’ve stopped getting too excited about just introductions of new bills. It all depends on how it’s received and whether it gathers any momentum. I’ll be watching for that and will update here as soon as I have more information. Please comment if you know more…

As part of writing on endlesswait.com, and during my own immigration journey, I’ve become connected with some really good immigration attorneys. And recently, it occurred to me that I could set something up to benefit you guys from this connection.

Two attorneys that I can personal attest to, since I’ve followed both for a while now, have agreed to do two FREE 15-minute consultations for you guys - Endlesswait.com users. I am starting with one - Shah Peerally at http://peerallylaw.com. He is based out of California and will do 2 consultations for us.

It’s absolutely free for you and neither the attorney or me get any monetary compensation for doing this. But it’s only 15 minutes so go really prepared with a specific question. If you need more time, they’ll let you know and will usually set up another subsequent consultation.

Over the years, I’ve had immigration-related questions and wouldn’t be sure if I wanted to spend $100 for a consultation yet. This kind of service would’ve helped me and that’s what I am hoping it can do for you. If you are interested, just leave a comment below and let me know what times work best for you. We’ll continue the conversation via email and I’ll set something up with the attorney. It will be on a FIRST-COME-FIRST-SERVED basis.

This is the first time, so I am not sure how the response will be. If this works well, I certainly hope to bring more attorneys into the loop which should be easy since I know a few personally. If you have any feedback about this, I’d appreciate that as well.

Disclaimer: Needless to say, but please be respectful of the attorney’s time, just because this is free doesn’t mean the attorney’s time is not valuable and I really do want it to be 15 minutes only. Also, this does not include any free email follow ups or such. Everything beyond the 15 minute consultation is between you and the attorney. Endlesswait.com or I don’t take any responsibility for consultation that is provided to you during the 15 minutes. Also, the attorneys have specifically asked me to include that the consultation will not constitute legal advice since the duration is limited. Use it as additional information and guidance on your specific situation.

****** UPDATE: ONE SPOT IS TAKEN. Congratulations Ema!

****** UPDATE: SECOND SPOT IS TAKEN. Congratulations Madhu!

Attorney Matthew Oh agreed to do 2 consultations as well!

****** UPDATE: THIRD SPOT IS TAKEN. Congratulations Karthik!

****** UPDATE: FOURTH (AND LAST) SPOT IS TAKEN. Congratulations Ankur!

I am working on getting more attorneys lined up. Please check back for update and continue to post comments if you’d like to be considered, since it’s on a first come first served basis. I cannot guarantee any more spots at this time though, but it’s likely I’ll get something going in the short term..