ALL F4's 2

[baly 4]

May be 4 weeks this time I hope so.

[pahib 0]

Guys ! I have a question does 60 days review time counts sunday and holidays too ?? NVC recieved my documents on 2 dec 2014 ....but no email yet .............anyone answer if they know plz......

[phuthinh 2]

1 January 29, 2015 Laura Dawkins Chief of Regulatory Coordination Division USCIS Office of Policy and Strategy 20 Massachusetts Avenue NW Washington D.C. 20529 Re: Modernizing and Streamlining the Legal Immigration System (DHS Docket No. USCIS-2014-0014) Dear Ms. Dawkins: We, the undersigned Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) organizations, have been working with the White House on much-needed administrative reforms to our nation’s immigration laws. We commend the President and his Administration for the executive actions announced on November 20, 2014. We are excited about the Visa Modernization Task Force and thank the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of State for the opportunity to comment on the Notice of Request for Information in the Federal Register (DHS Docket No. USCIS-2014-0014) concerning modernizing and streamlining the legal immigration system. Introduction to AAPIs and Immigration Immigration is a top priority for AAPI communities. Over the last few years, Asians have become the single largest demographic of new immigrants moving to the U.S.1 and make up the fastest growing racial group in the country.2 The majority of Asian Americans are immigrants or the children of immigrants. Our community members come to the U.S. in various ways – as students, family members, workers, or refugees and asylees. Dating back to exclusionary immigration laws of the late 1800s, the AAPI community has been and continues to be uniquely shaped by U.S. immigration laws. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) estimates that 1.3 million Asian Americans are undocumented.3 And nearly 1.8 million of the over 4 million family members waiting in the backlog for family based visas are Asian nationals. 4 We are committed to the successful implementation of President Obama’s executive actions, and we believe there are additional changes that can be made within the President’s executive power 1 Kirk Semple, In a Shift, Biggest Wave of Migrants Is Now Asian, N.Y. Times (Jun. 18, 2012), http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/19/us/asians-surpass-hispanics-as-biggest-immigrant-wave.html?. 2 U.S. Census Bureau, 2010 Census Shows Asians are Fastest-Growing Race Group, Mar. 21, 2012, http://www.census.gov/newsroom/releases/archives/2010_census/cb12-cn22.html. 3 3 Pew Hispanic Center, Unauthorized Immigrant Population: National and State Trends, 2010. http://www.pewhispanic.org/2011/02/01/unauthorized-immigrant-population-brnational-and-state-trends-2010/ 4 U.S. Department of State, Annual Report of Immigrant Visa Applicants in the Family-sponsored and Employmentbased preferences Registered at the National Visa Center as of November 1, 2014, http://travel.state.gov/content/dam/visas/Statistics/Immigrant-Statistics/WaitingListItem.pdf. Four of the five highest countries of origin facing backlogs are Asian countries: Philippines (428,765), India (323,089), Vietnam (259,030), and China (243,440).2 to address current problems in our legal immigration system. These modest changes can begin to address the serious visa backlogs that impose undue burdens on hundreds of thousands of families and countless businesses, large and small, across our country. We all recognize that for years now, the demand for immigrant visas has far outpaced the limited number of visas available. As a consequence, all of the family preference categories are oversubscribed and nationals of some countries face unacceptable wait times of 20 years or more to be reunited with their loved ones in the United States. As described above, Asian countries make up nearly half of the over 4 million close family members waiting for their visas to become available. Similarly, India and China face the longest wait times for certain employment visa preference categories. We propose four specific changes the Administration can make now to address flaws in our legal immigration system: (1) allow for preregistration of permanent residence for all preference categories; (2) count spouses and minor children as part of the same family unit for visas; (3) recapture unused visa numbers; and (4) extend the use of parole for purposes of family unity. Streamlining the Legal Immigration System Response to No. 3 One change that would begin to provide some relief to families and businesses impacted by the substantial visa backlog is through setting a “provisional priority date” and allowing individuals with approved family and employment based petitions to file for permanent residence earlier. The current system of priority dates is arbitrary and needs major reform. Visa applications submitted under a provisional priority date can be held in abeyance by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) and the Department of State (DOS). We recommend this change for all visa preference categories. This has several benefits for applicants: (1) It provides individuals with pending adjustment applications authorization to stay in the U.S. under color of law, and prevents their detention and removal; (2) Adjustment applicants can get work authorization, and travel authorization; (3) It prevents the accruing of unlawful presence for applicants residing in the U.S.; (4) It provides ability to freeze the age of a child to preserve the benefits of the Child Status Protection Act (CSPA); and (5) It allows adjustment portability for employment-based categories. This change would help keep families together, allow family members of U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents to reside in the U.S. without fear of detention and deportation, and employees would be able to fill critical gaps in our workforce. If preregistration of permanent residence applications is too cumbersome, the Administration can, alternatively, allow persons waiting in backlogged family and employment visa categories to work legally in the U.S. while they await adjustment of status. This does not allow as many legal benefits as preregistration, but it would provide work and travel authorization to many individuals who are presently living in the U.S. 3 Ensuring the Use of All Immigrant Visa Numbers Since the family and employment visas allocated by Congress are so limited, it is critical that the Administration take every action to ensure that all available visas are used. First, to ensure available visas are maximized in the future (RFI Question No. 15), we recommend counting dependent family members as part of the same family unit for purposes of the visa cap. Current practice counts both the principal visa beneficiaries and their derivatives (i.e., spouses and minor children) against the visa caps. This method of assigning each and every family member a visa has the effect of creating even greater demand for the already limited number of visas available each year. However, this current practice is not required by statute (see e.g., INA § 203(d), 8 U.S.C. §1153(d)). Prior to the Immigration Act of 1990 (IMMACT90), INA § 201(a) required the current practice of counting principals and derivatives. But IMMACT90 eliminated language that requires counting both principals and derivatives for purposes of the numerical limits. Further, the current version of INA § 203(d), which relates to treatment of family members, contains no language requiring that derivatives be individually counted. This change could apply equally to the employment-based preference categories. Second, to address the problem of visas that went unused in prior years (RFI Question No. 16), we recommend “recapture” of previously unused visas and issuing them to individuals currently in the backlog. It is estimated that there are hundreds of thousands of previously authorized but unused employment-based and family-based green cards. These green cards were unused not because of a temporary lull in demand, but because of administrative and processing issues that occurred during the fiscal years they were made available. For example, in FY 2006, “over 10,000 employment-based visas were lost, even though USCIS had an estimated 100,000 to 150,000 pending applications for employment-based green cards.”5 Similarly, in 2010, an estimated 241,000 family-based visas and 326,000 employment-based visas were available for recapture.6 The government’s inability to efficiently utilize these visas has needlessly added to the backlog delays, while adding personal and economic strain to tens of thousands of families. To help ease the current backlog, we recommend the administration “recapture” unused visas from prior years and issue them to individuals waiting for visas. Using Parole to Promote Family Unity Finally, we urge the Administration to continue using the parole power under Section 212(d)(5) to reunite certain family members of U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents. The Secretary of Homeland Security has the discretion to parole temporarily into the United States, under such conditions as he or she may prescribe, any non-citizen applying for admission. The Secretary may exercise this discretion on a case-by-case basis for “urgent humanitarian reasons” or “significant public benefit.”7 5 USCIS Ombudsman Annual Report (2007), available at http://www.dhs.gov/sites/default/files/publications/2007%20Annual%20Report.pdf. 6 USCIS Ombudsman Annual Report (2010), available at http://www.dhs.gov/xlibrary/assets/cisomb_2010_annual_report_to_congress.pdf. 7 See 8 U.S.C. § 1182(d)(5) (Supp. IV 1980).4 Reuniting families quickly would have significant public benefit for individual families and our community overall. Intact families can provide economic support and stability for each other, including pooling resources to start small businesses or purchase homes or providing childcare so other family members can work, which make the United States more successful overall. Also, citizens and green card holders are less pressured to send remittances or other support abroad because their close family members are with them here. Family members also provide important emotional support as newer Americans establish new lives in our communities. Indeed, the Obama Administration has already used the parole power in four previous situations to promote family unity. There is no reason why the current Administration cannot use the discretionary parole power to assist family members who are waiting on the oversubscribed family preference categories with immigrating to the United States. In the first instance, parole was used to enable Haitian orphans abroad to join their prospective and adoptive parents in the U.S. 8 In the second instance, the Administration extended parole-inplace (PIP) to the spouse, child, or parent of an individual who is currently a member of the U.S. Armed Forces or the Selected Reserve (or who previously served in the U.S. Armed Forces or Selected Reserve).9 More recently and upon the request of the Department of Defense, the Obama Administration also extended the use of parole-in-place to spouses, children and parents of U.S. citizen and lawful permanent residents seeking to enlist in the U.S. Armed Forces.10 Finally, in late 2014, DHS announced the Haitian Family Reunification Parole Program to expedite family reunification for certain eligible Haitian family members of U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents.11 We applaud the Administration’s decision to use its executive power to keep families together and we urge the Administration to use parole for families of other countries with severely impacted backlogs such as Mexico, China, India and the Philippines.12 * * * Thank you for the opportunity to provide these comments to assist the Visa Modernization Task Force. These modest proposals would provide small but important relief for the economy, and immediate and substantial relief for tens of thousands of AAPI and other immigrant families separated by the inadequacy of our current legal immigration system. We strongly urge DHS and DOS to make the proposed administrative changes. The AAPI community stands ready to work with you to ensure the longevity and success of these new 8 2010 WL 1368925 (D.O.J.). 9 See U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, Parole of Spouses, Children and Parents of Active Duty Members of the U.S. Armed Forces, the Selected Reserve of the Ready Reserve, and Former Members of the U.S. Armed Forces or Selected Reserve of the Ready Reserve and the Effect of Parole on Inadmissibility under Immigration and Nationality Act § 2 l 2(a)(6)(A)(i), November 15, 2013, http://www.uscis.gov/sites/default/files/USCIS/Laws/Memoranda/2013/2013-1115_Parole_in_Place_Memo_.pdf. 10 Memorandum of Jeh Johnson, Families of Armed Forces and Enlistees, Department of Homeland Security, Nov. 20, 2014, http://www.dhs.gov/sites/default/files/publications/14_1120_memo_parole_in_place.pdf. 11 91 NO. 41 Interpreter Releases 1925. 12 Department of State, Annual Report of Immigrant Visa Applicants in the Family-sponsored and Employmentbased preferences Registered at the National Visa Center as of November 1, 2014, available at http://travel.state.gov/content/dam/visas/Statistics/Immigrant-Statistics/WaitingListItem.pdf.5 proposals. If you have any questions about these recommendations, please contact Erin Oshiro at eoshiro@advancingjustice-aajc.org or 202-296-2300. Thank you. Sincerely, The Accountability Project All People's Day, Inc. American Citizens for Justice APIAVote-Michigan Asian American Advisory Board Asian American Civic Association Asian American Federation Asian American Federation of Florida Asian American Senior Coalition Asian Americans Advancing Justice | AAJC Asian Americans Advancing Justice | Asian Law Caucus Asian Americans Advancing Justice | Atlanta Asian Americans Advancing Justice | Chicago Asian Americans Advancing Justice | Los Angeles Asian Chamber of Commerce of Arizona Asian Law Alliance Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance-LA Asian Services In Action, Inc. Asian American Community Service Council BPSOS-Houston Chinese Community Center - Houston Chinese for Affirmative Action EMBARC Faith in Florida Filipino American Service Group Inc. (FASGI) Florida Chinese Federation Florida State Asa Philip Randolph Institute Ilocano American Association of Nevada Indian Horizon of Florida Institute for Justice & Democracy in Haiti Japanese American Citizens League, Arizona Chapter Junior Chamber International Miami (JCI) Lao Mutual Assistance Association NANAY CEDC National Alliance to Nurture the Aged and Youth (NANAY) OCA South Florida Chapter OCA Tucson SAAVI South Asian Helpline & Referral Agency (SAHARA) Thai Community Development Center Thai Health And Information Services6 UDiON Foundation United Chinese Association of Florida Wisconsin United Coalition of Mutual Assistance Association, Inc.

[shivam 1]

awesome proposals........ we will have to wait till 20th March 2015 for some official announcements, whether these proposals are implemented or not............

if incase these proposals are implemented as soon as till March-April-May 2015, then the movement would be mindblowing for our category......atleast 4-6 weeks movement every month............and that would reduce the backlog of our category hopefully..............

But these implementations (if implemented) won't last forever.........it would be a part of administrative actions by the president, and the president is having his last two years of his term.......as soon as a new president comes in 2016, all these administrative actions will be taken back within a second.................

But something is better than nothing......atleast 1-1.5 years these administrative actions stays, it would bring a positive impact for our category...........

But don't forget, they always do something good for illegals..................never for legals like us who are waiting since a decade......so very less chances of implementing these awesome proposals for legals like us............lets see, time will answer our questions...................

GOD bless all of us

1 January 29, 2015 Laura Dawkins Chief of Regulatory Coordination Division USCIS Office of Policy and Strategy 20 Massachusetts Avenue NW Washington D.C. 20529 Re: Modernizing and Streamlining the Legal Immigration System (DHS Docket No. USCIS-2014-0014) Dear Ms. Dawkins: We, the undersigned Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) organizations, have been working with the White House on much-needed administrative reforms to our nation’s immigration laws. We commend the President and his Administration for the executive actions announced on November 20, 2014. We are excited about the Visa Modernization Task Force and thank the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of State for the opportunity to comment on the Notice of Request for Information in the Federal Register (DHS Docket No. USCIS-2014-0014) concerning modernizing and streamlining the legal immigration system. Introduction to AAPIs and Immigration Immigration is a top priority for AAPI communities. Over the last few years, Asians have become the single largest demographic of new immigrants moving to the U.S.1 and make up the fastest growing racial group in the country.2 The majority of Asian Americans are immigrants or the children of immigrants. Our community members come to the U.S. in various ways – as students, family members, workers, or refugees and asylees. Dating back to exclusionary immigration laws of the late 1800s, the AAPI community has been and continues to be uniquely shaped by U.S. immigration laws. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) estimates that 1.3 million Asian Americans are undocumented.3 And nearly 1.8 million of the over 4 million family members waiting in the backlog for family based visas are Asian nationals. 4 We are committed to the successful implementation of President Obama’s executive actions, and we believe there are additional changes that can be made within the President’s executive power 1 Kirk Semple, In a Shift, Biggest Wave of Migrants Is Now Asian, N.Y. Times (Jun. 18, 2012), http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/19/us/asians-surpass-hispanics-as-biggest-immigrant-wave.html?. 2 U.S. Census Bureau, 2010 Census Shows Asians are Fastest-Growing Race Group, Mar. 21, 2012, http://www.census.gov/newsroom/releases/archives/2010_census/cb12-cn22.html. 3 3 Pew Hispanic Center, Unauthorized Immigrant Population: National and State Trends, 2010. http://www.pewhispanic.org/2011/02/01/unauthorized-immigrant-population-brnational-and-state-trends-2010/ 4 U.S. Department of State, Annual Report of Immigrant Visa Applicants in the Family-sponsored and Employmentbased preferences Registered at the National Visa Center as of November 1, 2014, http://travel.state.gov/content/dam/visas/Statistics/Immigrant-Statistics/WaitingListItem.pdf. Four of the five highest countries of origin facing backlogs are Asian countries: Philippines (428,765), India (323,089), Vietnam (259,030), and China (243,440).2 to address current problems in our legal immigration system. These modest changes can begin to address the serious visa backlogs that impose undue burdens on hundreds of thousands of families and countless businesses, large and small, across our country. We all recognize that for years now, the demand for immigrant visas has far outpaced the limited number of visas available. As a consequence, all of the family preference categories are oversubscribed and nationals of some countries face unacceptable wait times of 20 years or more to be reunited with their loved ones in the United States. As described above, Asian countries make up nearly half of the over 4 million close family members waiting for their visas to become available. Similarly, India and China face the longest wait times for certain employment visa preference categories. We propose four specific changes the Administration can make now to address flaws in our legal immigration system: (1) allow for preregistration of permanent residence for all preference categories; (2) count spouses and minor children as part of the same family unit for visas; (3) recapture unused visa numbers; and (4) extend the use of parole for purposes of family unity. Streamlining the Legal Immigration System Response to No. 3 One change that would begin to provide some relief to families and businesses impacted by the substantial visa backlog is through setting a “provisional priority date” and allowing individuals with approved family and employment based petitions to file for permanent residence earlier. The current system of priority dates is arbitrary and needs major reform. Visa applications submitted under a provisional priority date can be held in abeyance by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) and the Department of State (DOS). We recommend this change for all visa preference categories. This has several benefits for applicants: (1) It provides individuals with pending adjustment applications authorization to stay in the U.S. under color of law, and prevents their detention and removal; (2) Adjustment applicants can get work authorization, and travel authorization; (3) It prevents the accruing of unlawful presence for applicants residing in the U.S.; (4) It provides ability to freeze the age of a child to preserve the benefits of the Child Status Protection Act (CSPA); and (5) It allows adjustment portability for employment-based categories. This change would help keep families together, allow family members of U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents to reside in the U.S. without fear of detention and deportation, and employees would be able to fill critical gaps in our workforce. If preregistration of permanent residence applications is too cumbersome, the Administration can, alternatively, allow persons waiting in backlogged family and employment visa categories to work legally in the U.S. while they await adjustment of status. This does not allow as many legal benefits as preregistration, but it would provide work and travel authorization to many individuals who are presently living in the U.S. 3 Ensuring the Use of All Immigrant Visa Numbers Since the family and employment visas allocated by Congress are so limited, it is critical that the Administration take every action to ensure that all available visas are used. First, to ensure available visas are maximized in the future (RFI Question No. 15), we recommend counting dependent family members as part of the same family unit for purposes of the visa cap. Current practice counts both the principal visa beneficiaries and their derivatives (i.e., spouses and minor children) against the visa caps. This method of assigning each and every family member a visa has the effect of creating even greater demand for the already limited number of visas available each year. However, this current practice is not required by statute (see e.g., INA § 203(d), 8 U.S.C. §1153(d)). Prior to the Immigration Act of 1990 (IMMACT90), INA § 201(a) required the current practice of counting principals and derivatives. But IMMACT90 eliminated language that requires counting both principals and derivatives for purposes of the numerical limits. Further, the current version of INA § 203(d), which relates to treatment of family members, contains no language requiring that derivatives be individually counted. This change could apply equally to the employment-based preference categories. Second, to address the problem of visas that went unused in prior years (RFI Question No. 16), we recommend “recapture” of previously unused visas and issuing them to individuals currently in the backlog. It is estimated that there are hundreds of thousands of previously authorized but unused employment-based and family-based green cards. These green cards were unused not because of a temporary lull in demand, but because of administrative and processing issues that occurred during the fiscal years they were made available. For example, in FY 2006, “over 10,000 employment-based visas were lost, even though USCIS had an estimated 100,000 to 150,000 pending applications for employment-based green cards.”5 Similarly, in 2010, an estimated 241,000 family-based visas and 326,000 employment-based visas were available for recapture.6 The government’s inability to efficiently utilize these visas has needlessly added to the backlog delays, while adding personal and economic strain to tens of thousands of families. To help ease the current backlog, we recommend the administration “recapture” unused visas from prior years and issue them to individuals waiting for visas. Using Parole to Promote Family Unity Finally, we urge the Administration to continue using the parole power under Section 212(d)(5) to reunite certain family members of U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents. The Secretary of Homeland Security has the discretion to parole temporarily into the United States, under such conditions as he or she may prescribe, any non-citizen applying for admission. The Secretary may exercise this discretion on a case-by-case basis for “urgent humanitarian reasons” or “significant public benefit.”7 5 USCIS Ombudsman Annual Report (2007), available at http://www.dhs.gov/sites/default/files/publications/2007%20Annual%20Report.pdf. 6 USCIS Ombudsman Annual Report (2010), available at http://www.dhs.gov/xlibrary/assets/cisomb_2010_annual_report_to_congress.pdf. 7 See 8 U.S.C. § 1182(d)(5) (Supp. IV 1980).4 Reuniting families quickly would have significant public benefit for individual families and our community overall. Intact families can provide economic support and stability for each other, including pooling resources to start small businesses or purchase homes or providing childcare so other family members can work, which make the United States more successful overall. Also, citizens and green card holders are less pressured to send remittances or other support abroad because their close family members are with them here. Family members also provide important emotional support as newer Americans establish new lives in our communities. Indeed, the Obama Administration has already used the parole power in four previous situations to promote family unity. There is no reason why the current Administration cannot use the discretionary parole power to assist family members who are waiting on the oversubscribed family preference categories with immigrating to the United States. In the first instance, parole was used to enable Haitian orphans abroad to join their prospective and adoptive parents in the U.S. 8 In the second instance, the Administration extended parole-inplace (PIP) to the spouse, child, or parent of an individual who is currently a member of the U.S. Armed Forces or the Selected Reserve (or who previously served in the U.S. Armed Forces or Selected Reserve).9 More recently and upon the request of the Department of Defense, the Obama Administration also extended the use of parole-in-place to spouses, children and parents of U.S. citizen and lawful permanent residents seeking to enlist in the U.S. Armed Forces.10 Finally, in late 2014, DHS announced the Haitian Family Reunification Parole Program to expedite family reunification for certain eligible Haitian family members of U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents.11 We applaud the Administration’s decision to use its executive power to keep families together and we urge the Administration to use parole for families of other countries with severely impacted backlogs such as Mexico, China, India and the Philippines.12 * * * Thank you for the opportunity to provide these comments to assist the Visa Modernization Task Force. These modest proposals would provide small but important relief for the economy, and immediate and substantial relief for tens of thousands of AAPI and other immigrant families separated by the inadequacy of our current legal immigration system. We strongly urge DHS and DOS to make the proposed administrative changes. The AAPI community stands ready to work with you to ensure the longevity and success of these new 8 2010 WL 1368925 (D.O.J.). 9 See U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, Parole of Spouses, Children and Parents of Active Duty Members of the U.S. Armed Forces, the Selected Reserve of the Ready Reserve, and Former Members of the U.S. Armed Forces or Selected Reserve of the Ready Reserve and the Effect of Parole on Inadmissibility under Immigration and Nationality Act § 2 l 2(a)(6)(A)(i), November 15, 2013, http://www.uscis.gov/sites/default/files/USCIS/Laws/Memoranda/2013/2013-1115_Parole_in_Place_Memo_.pdf. 10 Memorandum of Jeh Johnson, Families of Armed Forces and Enlistees, Department of Homeland Security, Nov. 20, 2014, http://www.dhs.gov/sites/default/files/publications/14_1120_memo_parole_in_place.pdf. 11 91 NO. 41 Interpreter Releases 1925. 12 Department of State, Annual Report of Immigrant Visa Applicants in the Family-sponsored and Employmentbased preferences Registered at the National Visa Center as of November 1, 2014, available at http://travel.state.gov/content/dam/visas/Statistics/Immigrant-Statistics/WaitingListItem.pdf.5 proposals. If you have any questions about these recommendations, please contact Erin Oshiro at eoshiro@advancingjustice-aajc.org or 202-296-2300. Thank you. Sincerely, The Accountability Project All People's Day, Inc. American Citizens for Justice APIAVote-Michigan Asian American Advisory Board Asian American Civic Association Asian American Federation Asian American Federation of Florida Asian American Senior Coalition Asian Americans Advancing Justice | AAJC Asian Americans Advancing Justice | Asian Law Caucus Asian Americans Advancing Justice | Atlanta Asian Americans Advancing Justice | Chicago Asian Americans Advancing Justice | Los Angeles Asian Chamber of Commerce of Arizona Asian Law Alliance Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance-LA Asian Services In Action, Inc. Asian American Community Service Council BPSOS-Houston Chinese Community Center - Houston Chinese for Affirmative Action EMBARC Faith in Florida Filipino American Service Group Inc. (FASGI) Florida Chinese Federation Florida State Asa Philip Randolph Institute Ilocano American Association of Nevada Indian Horizon of Florida Institute for Justice & Democracy in Haiti Japanese American Citizens League, Arizona Chapter Junior Chamber International Miami (JCI) Lao Mutual Assistance Association NANAY CEDC National Alliance to Nurture the Aged and Youth (NANAY) OCA South Florida Chapter OCA Tucson SAAVI South Asian Helpline & Referral Agency (SAHARA) Thai Community Development Center Thai Health And Information Services6 UDiON Foundation United Chinese Association of Florida Wisconsin United Coalition of Mutual Assistance Association, Inc.

Edited January 31, 2015 by shivam

[Ahmed bajwa 5]

Any chance of good news for f4 ??

[sammi608612 1]

hi everyone, i have a question.

i am us citizen, and want to apply for my brother and his family immigrant to usa.

my brother has two children.

when i file the petition to him. what kinds of documents i have to prepare for him and his family(? including his wife and his children.

thank you.

[Ahmed bajwa 5]

Ask lawyer

[puru444 44]

1 January 29, 2015 Laura Dawkins Chief of Regulatory Coordination Division USCIS Office of Policy and Strategy 20 Massachusetts Avenue NW Washington D.C. 20529 Re: Modernizing and Streamlining the Legal Immigration System (DHS Docket No. USCIS-2014-0014) Dear Ms. Dawkins: We, the undersigned Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) organizations, have been working with the White House on much-needed administrative reforms to our nation’s immigration laws. We commend the President and his Administration for the executive actions announced on November 20, 2014. We are excited about the Visa Modernization Task Force and thank the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of State for the opportunity to comment on the Notice of Request for Information in the Federal Register (DHS Docket No. USCIS-2014-0014) concerning modernizing and streamlining the legal immigration system. Introduction to AAPIs and Immigration Immigration is a top priority for AAPI communities. Over the last few years, Asians have become the single largest demographic of new immigrants moving to the U.S.1 and make up the fastest growing racial group in the country.2 The majority of Asian Americans are immigrants or the children of immigrants. Our community members come to the U.S. in various ways – as students, family members, workers, or refugees and asylees. Dating back to exclusionary immigration laws of the late 1800s, the AAPI community has been and continues to be uniquely shaped by U.S. immigration laws. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) estimates that 1.3 million Asian Americans are undocumented.3 And nearly 1.8 million of the over 4 million family members waiting in the backlog for family based visas are Asian nationals. 4 We are committed to the successful implementation of President Obama’s executive actions, and we believe there are additional changes that can be made within the President’s executive power 1 Kirk Semple, In a Shift, Biggest Wave of Migrants Is Now Asian, N.Y. Times (Jun. 18, 2012), http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/19/us/asians-surpass-hispanics-as-biggest-immigrant-wave.html?. 2 U.S. Census Bureau, 2010 Census Shows Asians are Fastest-Growing Race Group, Mar. 21, 2012, http://www.census.gov/newsroom/releases/archives/2010_census/cb12-cn22.html. 3 3 Pew Hispanic Center, Unauthorized Immigrant Population: National and State Trends, 2010. http://www.pewhispanic.org/2011/02/01/unauthorized-immigrant-population-brnational-and-state-trends-2010/ 4 U.S. Department of State, Annual Report of Immigrant Visa Applicants in the Family-sponsored and Employmentbased preferences Registered at the National Visa Center as of November 1, 2014, http://travel.state.gov/content/dam/visas/Statistics/Immigrant-Statistics/WaitingListItem.pdf. Four of the five highest countries of origin facing backlogs are Asian countries: Philippines (428,765), India (323,089), Vietnam (259,030), and China (243,440).2 to address current problems in our legal immigration system. These modest changes can begin to address the serious visa backlogs that impose undue burdens on hundreds of thousands of families and countless businesses, large and small, across our country. We all recognize that for years now, the demand for immigrant visas has far outpaced the limited number of visas available. As a consequence, all of the family preference categories are oversubscribed and nationals of some countries face unacceptable wait times of 20 years or more to be reunited with their loved ones in the United States. As described above, Asian countries make up nearly half of the over 4 million close family members waiting for their visas to become available. Similarly, India and China face the longest wait times for certain employment visa preference categories. We propose four specific changes the Administration can make now to address flaws in our legal immigration system: (1) allow for preregistration of permanent residence for all preference categories; (2) count spouses and minor children as part of the same family unit for visas; (3) recapture unused visa numbers; and (4) extend the use of parole for purposes of family unity. Streamlining the Legal Immigration System Response to No. 3 One change that would begin to provide some relief to families and businesses impacted by the substantial visa backlog is through setting a “provisional priority date” and allowing individuals with approved family and employment based petitions to file for permanent residence earlier. The current system of priority dates is arbitrary and needs major reform. Visa applications submitted under a provisional priority date can be held in abeyance by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) and the Department of State (DOS). We recommend this change for all visa preference categories. This has several benefits for applicants: (1) It provides individuals with pending adjustment applications authorization to stay in the U.S. under color of law, and prevents their detention and removal; (2) Adjustment applicants can get work authorization, and travel authorization; (3) It prevents the accruing of unlawful presence for applicants residing in the U.S.; (4) It provides ability to freeze the age of a child to preserve the benefits of the Child Status Protection Act (CSPA); and (5) It allows adjustment portability for employment-based categories. This change would help keep families together, allow family members of U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents to reside in the U.S. without fear of detention and deportation, and employees would be able to fill critical gaps in our workforce. If preregistration of permanent residence applications is too cumbersome, the Administration can, alternatively, allow persons waiting in backlogged family and employment visa categories to work legally in the U.S. while they await adjustment of status. This does not allow as many legal benefits as preregistration, but it would provide work and travel authorization to many individuals who are presently living in the U.S. 3 Ensuring the Use of All Immigrant Visa Numbers Since the family and employment visas allocated by Congress are so limited, it is critical that the Administration take every action to ensure that all available visas are used. First, to ensure available visas are maximized in the future (RFI Question No. 15), we recommend counting dependent family members as part of the same family unit for purposes of the visa cap. Current practice counts both the principal visa beneficiaries and their derivatives (i.e., spouses and minor children) against the visa caps. This method of assigning each and every family member a visa has the effect of creating even greater demand for the already limited number of visas available each year. However, this current practice is not required by statute (see e.g., INA § 203(d), 8 U.S.C. §1153(d)). Prior to the Immigration Act of 1990 (IMMACT90), INA § 201(a) required the current practice of counting principals and derivatives. But IMMACT90 eliminated language that requires counting both principals and derivatives for purposes of the numerical limits. Further, the current version of INA § 203(d), which relates to treatment of family members, contains no language requiring that derivatives be individually counted. This change could apply equally to the employment-based preference categories. Second, to address the problem of visas that went unused in prior years (RFI Question No. 16), we recommend “recapture” of previously unused visas and issuing them to individuals currently in the backlog. It is estimated that there are hundreds of thousands of previously authorized but unused employment-based and family-based green cards. These green cards were unused not because of a temporary lull in demand, but because of administrative and processing issues that occurred during the fiscal years they were made available. For example, in FY 2006, “over 10,000 employment-based visas were lost, even though USCIS had an estimated 100,000 to 150,000 pending applications for employment-based green cards.”5 Similarly, in 2010, an estimated 241,000 family-based visas and 326,000 employment-based visas were available for recapture.6 The government’s inability to efficiently utilize these visas has needlessly added to the backlog delays, while adding personal and economic strain to tens of thousands of families. To help ease the current backlog, we recommend the administration “recapture” unused visas from prior years and issue them to individuals waiting for visas. Using Parole to Promote Family Unity Finally, we urge the Administration to continue using the parole power under Section 212(d)(5) to reunite certain family members of U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents. The Secretary of Homeland Security has the discretion to parole temporarily into the United States, under such conditions as he or she may prescribe, any non-citizen applying for admission. The Secretary may exercise this discretion on a case-by-case basis for “urgent humanitarian reasons” or “significant public benefit.”7 5 USCIS Ombudsman Annual Report (2007), available at http://www.dhs.gov/sites/default/files/publications/2007%20Annual%20Report.pdf. 6 USCIS Ombudsman Annual Report (2010), available at http://www.dhs.gov/xlibrary/assets/cisomb_2010_annual_report_to_congress.pdf. 7 See 8 U.S.C. § 1182(d)(5) (Supp. IV 1980).4 Reuniting families quickly would have significant public benefit for individual families and our community overall. Intact families can provide economic support and stability for each other, including pooling resources to start small businesses or purchase homes or providing childcare so other family members can work, which make the United States more successful overall. Also, citizens and green card holders are less pressured to send remittances or other support abroad because their close family members are with them here. Family members also provide important emotional support as newer Americans establish new lives in our communities. Indeed, the Obama Administration has already used the parole power in four previous situations to promote family unity. There is no reason why the current Administration cannot use the discretionary parole power to assist family members who are waiting on the oversubscribed family preference categories with immigrating to the United States. In the first instance, parole was used to enable Haitian orphans abroad to join their prospective and adoptive parents in the U.S. 8 In the second instance, the Administration extended parole-inplace (PIP) to the spouse, child, or parent of an individual who is currently a member of the U.S. Armed Forces or the Selected Reserve (or who previously served in the U.S. Armed Forces or Selected Reserve).9 More recently and upon the request of the Department of Defense, the Obama Administration also extended the use of parole-in-place to spouses, children and parents of U.S. citizen and lawful permanent residents seeking to enlist in the U.S. Armed Forces.10 Finally, in late 2014, DHS announced the Haitian Family Reunification Parole Program to expedite family reunification for certain eligible Haitian family members of U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents.11 We applaud the Administration’s decision to use its executive power to keep families together and we urge the Administration to use parole for families of other countries with severely impacted backlogs such as Mexico, China, India and the Philippines.12 * * * Thank you for the opportunity to provide these comments to assist the Visa Modernization Task Force. These modest proposals would provide small but important relief for the economy, and immediate and substantial relief for tens of thousands of AAPI and other immigrant families separated by the inadequacy of our current legal immigration system. We strongly urge DHS and DOS to make the proposed administrative changes. The AAPI community stands ready to work with you to ensure the longevity and success of these new 8 2010 WL 1368925 (D.O.J.). 9 See U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, Parole of Spouses, Children and Parents of Active Duty Members of the U.S. Armed Forces, the Selected Reserve of the Ready Reserve, and Former Members of the U.S. Armed Forces or Selected Reserve of the Ready Reserve and the Effect of Parole on Inadmissibility under Immigration and Nationality Act § 2 l 2(a)(6)(A)(i), November 15, 2013, http://www.uscis.gov/sites/default/files/USCIS/Laws/Memoranda/2013/2013-1115_Parole_in_Place_Memo_.pdf. 10 Memorandum of Jeh Johnson, Families of Armed Forces and Enlistees, Department of Homeland Security, Nov. 20, 2014, http://www.dhs.gov/sites/default/files/publications/14_1120_memo_parole_in_place.pdf. 11 91 NO. 41 Interpreter Releases 1925. 12 Department of State, Annual Report of Immigrant Visa Applicants in the Family-sponsored and Employmentbased preferences Registered at the National Visa Center as of November 1, 2014, available at http://travel.state.gov/content/dam/visas/Statistics/Immigrant-Statistics/WaitingListItem.pdf.5 proposals. If you have any questions about these recommendations, please contact Erin Oshiro at eoshiro@advancingjustice-aajc.org or 202-296-2300. Thank you. Sincerely, The Accountability Project All People's Day, Inc. American Citizens for Justice APIAVote-Michigan Asian American Advisory Board Asian American Civic Association Asian American Federation Asian American Federation of Florida Asian American Senior Coalition Asian Americans Advancing Justice | AAJC Asian Americans Advancing Justice | Asian Law Caucus Asian Americans Advancing Justice | Atlanta Asian Americans Advancing Justice | Chicago Asian Americans Advancing Justice | Los Angeles Asian Chamber of Commerce of Arizona Asian Law Alliance Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance-LA Asian Services In Action, Inc. Asian American Community Service Council BPSOS-Houston Chinese Community Center - Houston Chinese for Affirmative Action EMBARC Faith in Florida Filipino American Service Group Inc. (FASGI) Florida Chinese Federation Florida State Asa Philip Randolph Institute Ilocano American Association of Nevada Indian Horizon of Florida Institute for Justice & Democracy in Haiti Japanese American Citizens League, Arizona Chapter Junior Chamber International Miami (JCI) Lao Mutual Assistance Association NANAY CEDC National Alliance to Nurture the Aged and Youth (NANAY) OCA South Florida Chapter OCA Tucson SAAVI South Asian Helpline & Referral Agency (SAHARA) Thai Community Development Center Thai Health And Information Services6 UDiON Foundation United Chinese Association of Florida Wisconsin United Coalition of Mutual Assistance Association, Inc.

Alright, I could sound too harsh but I am not seeing any positive side of all these terms and conditions mentioned over here.

We need to understand first that why we are so obsessed to move to US. There are multiple reason such as:

1. Over populated world we are belong to.

2. Corrupted countries we are living in.

3. Living conditions are miserable.

4. An average men need to work really hard to survive to earn bread and butter.

If all these conditions given above will gonna make happen and implemented in near future then I am seeing an over populated America. Hence, US become another over populated country like ours. Throat cut competition will be seeing in near future for survival, which gonna result in corruption eventually.

Today, USA is the most richest and prosperous country in the world bcoz of its Discipline which they truly implies in their law and their govt. and business policies.

We all are waiting desperately but try to analyse the other side of this spectrum. If all the people around the world will jump into that country at once then what will we gonna enjoy?? .... I think nothing instead of competing with each other like we are doing right now in third world countries. Especially, here in India, where there is no value of education we have experiencing it right now, I have seen many engineers and MBA's in every third house and nobody's earning well enough as equivalent to high school pass out american citizen.

Whosoever people are sitting out there in Washington DC are more capable and intelligent than us. They know better about that country and understand its problems better than us. I thin we should leave this complicated matter to those intellectual people to decide our faith. Because, in the end we all have to go there but try to think being more reasonable rather than emotional.

Best of luck to you all for your future progress. Cheers and enjoy this game of waiting, these hard times will pay off well. Remember, success doesn't come easily.

Edited January 31, 2015 by puru444

[Visa Grant 78]

Let's hope for the best for March VB. I think there's 70% chance of moving 3 weeks, 25% of moving 2 weeks, and 5% of moving 4 weeks.

i think there is 50% chance of moving 2 weeks, 30% of moving 3 weeks and 20% of moving 4 weeks...

i hope its a big jump this time again.........

#FingersCrossed

After March...More than a big jump...i am looking for a "Free Fall" of 5 years stretch..

Good Luck

[Visa Grant 78]

hi everyone, i have a question.

i am us citizen, and want to apply for my brother and his family immigrant to usa.

my brother has two children.

when i file the petition to him. what kinds of documents i have to prepare for him and his family(? including his wife and his children.

thank you.

Just Apply I-130 for your brother with an attached birth certificate with a common parent listed...You can list your brother's wife and children as derivatives in this form..

Good Luck

Edited February 1, 2015 by Visa Grant

[Visa Grant 78]

Alright, I could sound too harsh but I am not seeing any positive side of all these terms and conditions mentioned over here.

We need to understand first that why we are so obsessed to move to US. There are multiple reason such as:

1. Over populated world we are belong to.

2. Corrupted countries we are living in.

3. Living conditions are miserable.

4. An average men need to work really hard to survive to earn bread and butter.

If all these conditions given above will gonna make happen and implemented in near future then I am seeing an over populated America. Hence, US become another over populated country like ours. Throat cut competition will be seeing in near future for survival, which gonna result in corruption eventually.

Today, USA is the most richest and prosperous country in the world bcoz of its Discipline which they truly implies in their law and their govt. and business policies.

We all are waiting desperately but try to analyse the other side of this spectrum. If all the people around the world will jump into that country at once then what will we gonna enjoy?? .... I think nothing instead of competing with each other like we are doing right now in third world countries. Especially, here in India, where there is no value of education we have experiencing it right now, I have seen many engineers and MBA's in every third house and nobody's earning well enough as equivalent to high school pass out american citizen.

Whosoever people are sitting out there in Washington DC are more capable and intelligent than us. They know better about that country and understand its problems better than us. I thin we should leave this complicated matter to those intellectual people to decide our faith. Because, in the end we all have to go there but try to think being more reasonable rather than emotional.

Best of luck to you all for your future progress. Cheers and enjoy this game of waiting, these hard times will pay off well. Remember, success doesn't come easily.

Nice Motivational Thought... ...It is always the Human endeavour to strive for a better life and don't loose your life moments while waiting for the Visa Journey..

Good Luck

[Visa Grant 78]

Guys ! I have a question does 60 days review time counts sunday and holidays too ?? NVC recieved my documents on 2 dec 2014 ....but no email yet .............anyone answer if they know plz......

No..Do keep calling NVC for your review...

Good Luck

[krunal 2]

How to write application to NVC from registered mail id???

When i recently wrote they replied me with words didnt match.. Kind of...

[phuthinh 2]

How to write application to NVC from registered mail id???

When i recently wrote they replied me with words didnt match.. Kind of...

http://travel.state.gov/content/visas/english/contact/ask-nvc.html

[sammi608612 1]

Just Apply I-130 for your brother with an attached birth certificate with a common parent listed...You can list your brother's wife and children as derivatives in this form..

Good Luck