Endless Wait

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I don’t even know where to start on this one. Let’t just say that hundreds, may be even thousands, are affected by the 17-month delay on the part of USCIS to approve I-140 (Immigrant Petition for alient worker. what’s an i-140?). I am one of them, and the USCIS does not seem to care the least about us.

I hear time and again from several sources that the USCIS does try really hard to meet its goals and I know what a challenging task they have in hand with trying to stay within budget, deal with buerocracy and governmental approval for every little thing, and yet, meet the expectactions of millions of immigrants that have their hopes pinned on the efficiecy of the USCIS. I understand, but still, none of that does anything for me of the thousands of others that are frustrated because their freedom is lost. We can’t change our employers or plan for the future. Waiting over 7 years for the elusive “green card” is no fun thing. The EB3 I-140 processing delay was bad enough that it prompted us to set up this website for that one reason alone.

Over the next few minutes, you will read more about this problem and have a chance to voice your opinion on it in the poll. I ask that you take the time to read the post and exercise your vote.

Here are some statistics on USCIS’s track record with I-140 processing for EB3 cases:

From the USCIS bulletin - Cases completed Progress (thanks to fentanev for putting this statistic together)

Bulletin    EB3-i140 Processed     Progress  Backlog

09/15/07                        11/15/06
10/15/07                        11/14/06                                 +1 day           12 months
11/15/07                        01/01/07                                 +47 days        10 months
12/15/07                        04/06/07                                 +96 days        8 months
01/15/08                        04/23/07                                 +17 days        8 months

01/15/08 later                01/22/07                                 -90 days         12 months
02/15/08                        01/22/07                                  0 days           13 months
03/15/08                        02/28/07                                 +36 days        13 months
04/15/08                        03/10/07                                 +10 days        13 months
05/15/08                        03/10/07                                  0 days           14 months
06/15/08                        03/22/07                                  +12 days       15 months
07/15/08                        03/22/07                                  0 days           16 months

08/15/08                        03/30/07                                  +8 days         17 months

The USCIS has moved forward only 22 days in the last 5 months. So what’s the big deal about this? Everyone knows that the green card can take years to arrive, so why are we making a big fuss about this one thing? For those of us that still don’t get it, here’ the reasons:

1. I-140 approval is necessary for anyone wanting to switch jobs while waiting for the “green card” processing. No I-140 approval means that for 17 months, the thousands that have been waiting cannot switch to a better opportunity even if they want to desperately stop working for their current employer for whatever reason (unfair employer, personal reasons, harrassment, Etc.) or get an offer from their dream company. They simply have to stay in the job or risk getting their I-140 rejected and their green card, for which they’ve waited years in the line already.

2. Many employers know that this is the case, and could potentially work their employee’s inability to leave the job to their advantage.

3. USCIS does not provide an “Estimated Processing Time” for I-140’s. We have no way to know whether it will take another 10 days or 10 years for the I-140 to get approved.

4. We can’t plan for the future. Anyone working a job and supporting a family knows that it’s hard enough to survive during economic slowdown without such restrictions.

5. The country as a whole takes a hit too. Immigrant workers are a hard-working ambitious bunch. We are ethical tax-payers and want to contribute to society here. If we can’t, we start looking elsewhere, back in our home countries, Europe, Australia or whereever there is an open mind and appreciation for our work. The US has long been the best place for immigrants, which is why it’s such a great country. Restrictions such as this create doubt in the minds of immigrants. I already know at least a few people that went back because of this issue and more that are considering it. Several others back in India, China and other places are now thinking hard before deciding to come to the US. Economies in those countries are doing great. To continue to lure the cream of the crop to the US, the USCIS needs to make their transition as smooth as possible.

Is that reason enough?

That’s speaking for everyone. Personally, I want to move to self employment. I think I have a good idea and it’s similar to what I do at my current workplace. If you are an entrepreneur, you will understand how suffocating it is to have a great idea and have all the resources for it, but not be able to pursue it.

To add to the trouble, USCIS cancelled premium processing on I-140’s in June 2007. This means that everyone has to wait in the same line. That is another move that makes sense to nobody except the USCIS. If they have an explanation, they need to come out in the open with it. At $1000 a pop (I don’t know the exact cost, I am just guessing), the USCIS can make a few million overnight if they make the premium processing available again. They made it available for a very small portion of people earlier in 2008, but only a handful of people (literally) qualify to use the service. Why would the USCIS want to say no to free money?

I am no lawyer. But immigration attorneys all over the country are well aware of this issue and have the same opinion. The Oh Law Firm wrote on their Breaking News section on August 30, 2008:

As for the last cause of backlog - suspension of the premium processing services for I-140 petitions, the USCIS resumed the services only in a hair-thin types of cases, handling only a handful number of cases at this time. This leads to our conclusion that unless the USCIS expands the premium processing services soon, it will continously be trapped in a huge backlog in I-140 petitions. Look at the processing times of I-140 petitions in NSC and TSC. The processing times as of August 15, 2008 at the TSC is July 2007 accross the board. The situation at the NSC is not any better than TSC as far as the I-140 processing times are concerned. The twelve-month processing time is by any count too long, particularly from the perspectives of AC 21 benefits which should be available to these foreign workers by the mandates of the statute. We realize that the USCIS is under a tremendous pressure from the workload for the FY 2008 last quarter EB-485 applications and probably USCIS annual audit for the fiscal year and it may be unrealistic to suggest the agency to reinstate the I-140 processing services right now. We just hope that the agency considers reinstatement of PPS in the first quarter of FY 2009 that starts on October 1, 2008, by when the FY 2008 EB-485 workload could have been substantially removed hopefully making some additional resouces available for the I-140 production line. We will just cross our ten fingers until that time.

Note that they did not even refer to the EB3 category that is facing a 17 month delay. The above is only an excerpt of their note, they have some great statistics regarding this problem in their Breaking News section and I urge everyone to read it. They are attorneys and go by numbers no by emotion (like me) so their opinions and ideas are certainly more credible.

Another source for information on I-140 approvals is the Trackitt I-140 Immigration tracker. I follow it on a daily basis and I’ve noticed that there have been almost NO EB3 I-140 approvals in the past few months, especially at the Nebraska Service Center. The 2-3 approvals that I’ve seen have been random, following no specific pattern. It appears that they might be approving cases that have the earliest labor certification priority dates, but to my knowledge, labor certification dates are supposed to have no impact on I-140 approval priority.

PLEASE COMMENT AND SHARE YOUR THOUGHTS AND EXPERIENCES. I hope that this gets read by the powers to  be at the USCIS…

Related Posts:

• May 19, 2009 -- EB2 India retrogresses back to January 1 2000 in June 2009 bulletin
• April 17, 2009 -- Prisoners to the Processing Dates Paradox - EB3 Retrogresses in May 2009
• March 6, 2009 -- CNBC airs debate - lay off H1Bs first?
• January 24, 2009 -- Top 10 Issues Faced By Legal Immigrants in the United States
• November 13, 2008 -- Sex, Lies, Videotape and Immigration
• October 5, 2009 -- Quick poll - what do you think about the new USCIS website?
• September 23, 2009 -- 59,404 Indians are waiting ahead of me under the EB3 category!
• June 8, 2009 -- Reuniting Familes Act introduced again in House
• April 29, 2009 -- Does I140 Approved candidates have any hope??
• April 25, 2009 -- Aytes shows compassion - but no real solutions