prpplague

Here's your bill language.

http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d110:s.01348:

btw, this is not the new "Grand Bargain" bill. the url points to place holder bill which appears to be identical to the CIR from last year. it was introduced by Senator Reid as a stop gap measure to bring the issues up for debate.

Your wife's case is different. As you said, it was no fault of her own. I was referring to those people intentionally breaking the law by crossing the border illegally.

I feel for your wife. She is a victim, not the offender.

problem is that right now, people who make a mistake are grouped in with those who intentionally break the law. legally, the only way to filter those who are trying to do the right thing from those who intentionally break the law, you need a series of penalties and methods for addressing them, in ever more increasing amount of punishment. For example:

1. A. first visa overstay - fine with quick processing

B. second visa overstay - fine with slow processing

C. third visa overstay - ban with possibility of a waiver+fine

2. A. First Entry Without Inspection - waiver+fine

B. Second EWI - ban without possibility of waiver

3. A. First Deportation - waiver+fine

B. Second Deportation - ban with possibility of waiver+fine

C. Third Deportation - ban without possibility of waiver

where "waiver" is not like the current I-601 or I-212, the waiver would be a form that would describe the reasons behind the offense, more or less a "plead your case" with evidence.

Illegals are illegals! Why give them any consideration??

It would be unfair for those people that waited for several years to enter the U.S. legally. If these illegals are given amnesty, then maybe most of us would have wished that our relatives just crossed the borders illegally.

so, in my specific situation where my wife was given an incorrectly marked I-94, no fault of her own, incurred a violation in the law. technically she was in the US illegally for 190 days. doesn't she deserve _some_ consideration?

should she be treated equally with people who come to the US without inspection, without a visa, and work without paying taxes?

And family unity? Sorry, I don't think that just because a person gets to come over here that they should be able to bring everyone else along with them. They make a choice to come here... if they want their family unity then they can stay home.

I'm sorry. As a naturalized American, I think my possible interest in brining my aging parents to live closer to me (not that my parents would actually move over here and leave the rest of the family behind) should be more important to this government than the interest of the scores of criminals und unlawfully present foreign nationals that are about to be the beneficiaries of this sweeping amnesty.

agreed! but it all this seems to be about rewarding illegals rather than making it easier to do things legally.

i guess george w, forgot his old man's push on family values.

yep, Senator Hutchison and Senator Cornyn seem to have forgotten all the "family values" stuff they were spouting during elections.

thanks

Dave Anders

It's not over yet. Everyone needs to hop on the phone and start calling the sell-out politicians.

And family unity? Sorry, I don't think that just because a person gets to come over here that they should be able to bring everyone else along with them. They make a choice to come here... if they want their family unity then they can stay home.

i think "family unity" is being used to mean different things to different people. there are those who are LPR's or naturalized citizens that want to bring their parents or sister/brother to the US. others want to be able to keep an illegal relative in the US if their spouse or children are in the US legally. yet others like myself, want our foreign born spouses to be able to come to the US while their paperwork is being processed. the "family unity" phrase is getting thrown around alot with people misunderstanding what people are refering to.

for me "Family Unity" is placing importance on the LEGAL process of bringing a CLOSE relative, for example spouse and children, to the US.

anyone know when the actual text of the bill will be posted/introduced?

Sorry - I do not know the exact person she spoke with - I only know it was at the CSC.

odd, both senators office staff are telling me that CSC usually take 30-90 days to respond to a request. wonder how you senator's staff was able to speak directly with CSC.

i have been able to confirm that many of the paper files sent to Texas Service Center and California Service Center for background checks per the adam walsh act requirement, have been sent to the National Record Center for storage rather than back to the consulate where they were filed.

my senator merely called CSC. sad to say our reps dont know a lot about what goes on in different departments. perhaps you sent a email or snail mail?

chi

no, i've been speaking directly with both senators' office staff. sadly, both are very anti-immigration and basically just want to give the appearance of helping without actually doing anything. fortunetly the consulate staff has recreated all of our paperfile and we are just a few weeks from completion.

HORAY!!!!!!!!

just got a letter in the mail saying the I-601 was approved!!!! My wife goes into the consulate next week to finish up!!!!!

What was the waiver for if you don't mind me asking?

Congrats by the way!

unlawful presence over 180 days but less than one year

a full detail of the issue involved - http://www.visajourney.com/forums/lofivers...php/t40093.html

and a complete breakdown of the process including the I-601 hardship letter:

http://www.immigrate2us.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=15150

HORAY!!!!!!!!

just got a letter in the mail saying the I-601 was approved!!!! My wife goes into the consulate next week to finish up!!!!!

just a note, i did attend the march in dallas. i attended solely to try to get someone in the media to listen to me. i spoke to around 6 reporters, who were initially interested in me as i was one of the few caucasians there. I explaining that i was not a supporter of amensty for illegals, and that i wanted reforms in the process to make it easier for families of US citizens to be together. i was not surprised by the fact that 4 of the 6 reporters were totally uninterested in my story after i told them we were trying to go through the process legally. the other 2 seemed interested, but never aired anything about the legal immigration reform in their stories. the media has continued to ignore the fact that the immigration process is broken in favor of pushing ####### about illegals getting amnesty.

well we received word early this morning that our I-601 had been completed in Santo Domingo and sent back to barbados via diplomatic mail. unfortunately we have no clue at this point if it was aproved or denied, so its going to be a long weekend waiting for the results. we also receive word that our original paper file has been sent to the Nation Record Center for storage and that many of the other DCF applications were sent there as well. the barbados consulate has been great and treated it as a lost file and allowed us to recreate the file with the original documents, so everything is set and waiting on the I-601 results!

Sorry - I do not know the exact person she spoke with - I only know it was at the CSC.

odd, both senators office staff are telling me that CSC usually take 30-90 days to respond to a request. wonder how you senator's staff was able to speak directly with CSC.

i have been able to confirm that many of the paper files sent to Texas Service Center and California Service Center for background checks per the adam walsh act requirement, have been sent to the National Record Center for storage rather than back to the consulate where they were filed.

Some of you know my situation - so I am not going to cover it again - my question is has anyone else had the experience of a lost petition at a service center after it has been approved???

Our K3 was denied, so our Senator was trying to get our CR1 pushed though on an expedited situation - there was an approval notice sent to our lawyer and so the lawyer's office thought the CR1 petiton was at the NVC by now. The problem is that the USCIS and the NVC both have no idea where our petition is - what another joke in the process of how the immigration system works!!

So now our petition is in investigation mode to find where it is! Are there any other experiences in this situation??

our paper file including all the documents we submitted with the I-130 were sent to the california service center to do the background check for the Adam Walsh Act around the first of feb. the background was noted in the computer file as complete on april 2nd. the problem is that the consulate has been requesting the paper file be returned from the CA service center since then. basically the consulate is treating it as a lost file and we had to re-submit all the original documents along with new I-130 and ds-230. i've called my senators and both have gotten no response from CA service center. according to the senator's liasons, you are lucky if you get a response in 90 days.

I am so sorry for what you are also going through! Luckily on our end the Senator has gotten response and she is not very nice about it - the post before your post has her stated message to me after she found out what they did with our file - I can not believe they actually sent it to the storage unit!!!

any idea who your senator contacted to find out about your file being sent for storage?

Some of you know my situation - so I am not going to cover it again - my question is has anyone else had the experience of a lost petition at a service center after it has been approved???

Our K3 was denied, so our Senator was trying to get our CR1 pushed though on an expedited situation - there was an approval notice sent to our lawyer and so the lawyer's office thought the CR1 petiton was at the NVC by now. The problem is that the USCIS and the NVC both have no idea where our petition is - what another joke in the process of how the immigration system works!!

So now our petition is in investigation mode to find where it is! Are there any other experiences in this situation??

our paper file including all the documents we submitted with the I-130 were sent to the california service center to do the background check for the Adam Walsh Act around the first of feb. the background was noted in the computer file as complete on april 2nd. the problem is that the consulate has been requesting the paper file be returned from the CA service center since then. basically the consulate is treating it as a lost file and we had to re-submit all the original documents along with new I-130 and ds-230. i've called my senators and both have gotten no response from CA service center. according to the senator's liasons, you are lucky if you get a response in 90 days.

this aspect of tourist visa problems and harrasment at the borders has cost the US tremendously with technical conferences. alot of the techincal conferences both in bio and tech industries have suffered greatly due to the fact that many people will no long come to the US to either speak at the conference or attend them. alot of the conferences that used to be held in new york and boston have slowly moved to ottawa and toronto where its much easier for many people to attend. many of the conferences that used to be held in seattle have now moved across the border to vancouver.

there is a March for Immigration Reform on May 1st in Dallas, anyone planning to attend?

????????

there is a March for Immigration Reform on May 1st in Dallas, anyone planning to attend?

Hmmmm, after all they were and are breaking the law entering this country illegally. They should be subject to fines or deportation. Maybe by them paying fines we, (the USA), will get back some of our tax money that we have been spending supporting them while they have been here illegaly.

i agree with you whole heartedly with the illegals that are in the US, they should be fined heavily. my point was that this fine applies also to those who would need a waiver as in my wife's case for a 190 day overstay, which was the mistake of USCIS(they even admitted it was their mistake).

they should be subject to fines AND deportation .. illegal entry should ban them from ever entering the country again in my opinion ..

as far as an overstay, regardless who was at fault .. without knowing all of the details I will go out on a limb and say that I believe it was illegal (otherwise why the need for a waiver) and that person should either

a.) pay the fine willingly and leave the country for good

b.) pay the fine willingly, receive the waiver and leave the country until the process of a legal immigrant visa is completed and then return legally

c.) refuse to do either a or b and be banned from ever entering the U.S. again ..

no case is anymore special than the next .. I really dislike the thought of my tax dollars supporting illegals, regardless the length of stay.

Just my opinion

CB

i agree with you with the aspect of illegals that intentionally break the law. where i disagree is the fact that the people who have been the subject of USCIS mistakes and/or unintentially broken the law. just like the tax law, the immigration law is so complex, so broken , and so filled with exceptions, exclusions, and hidden rules, that it is not hard to unintentionally break some aspect of the law. am i saying this is ok? NO! what i am saying is that when the USCIS makes a mistake, the petitioner and his spouse should not be treated as criminals. even in the situation where the law was broken unintentionally, which does by default make you a cirminal, there needs to be methods for correcting the mistake in a resonable manner.

and just a couple of notes, my wife entered the US legally on a visa. my wife's I-94 was marked with the D/S allowing her to stay until she finished her business in the US, however it was entered in the compter as a 6month stay by the USCIS. we didn't even know about the overstay untill we applied for her a IR-1/CR-1. now we are stuck with USCIS mistake. do you really think that we should have to pay for USCIS mistake? how do you think i should tell our two US Citizen children that their mother isn't allowing in the US because some idiot at the airport made a typo? should we have to pay $10,000 fine for a USCIS officers mistake at the POE?

another note, we have lived overseas for almost 3 years. we moved just 6 months after we got married. we have paid taxes every year since we got married! don't you think we are pissed that the US government takes taxes from my salary AND my wifes salary, but doesn't want her to live in the US because of THEIR beaurcratic mistake?

many of the flame wars that get started here are simply because people are talking about different aspects of the immigration issue. in my opinion it boils down to this:

A. proper enforement of existing laws ( i.e. deportation of illegals when detained)

yes we want illegals to be punished, those who intentionally break the law and come to the US without inspection or under false pretense

B. accountability for USCIS procedures (i.e. the adam walsh act nightmare)

we want USCIS to be responsible for lost paperwork, extrordinary delays in processing times, and other mistakes. i think everyone can agree that making USCIS more accoutable for delays and mistakes is not an endorsement for illegals.

C. reasonable methods for correcting mistakes (i.e. our story as well many others posted here)

if you write down your spouses birth day incorrectly on the forms and are then told that you are denied because of misrepresntation, do you really belive that you now need a hardship waiver and pay a $10,000 fine? does correcting a birth date on a form double as an endorsement for illegals? i don't thinks so.

many counties have a policy where if you get pulled over for expired tags or inspection sticker, you can go and get the tags or sticker done within 10 days and take it to the courthouse. for a small fee, usually $10 you get the ticket dismissed. however if you don't get it taken care of you have to pay the full amount of the ticket and possibly other items such as warrants. i'm not trying to trivialize the nature of immigration and the priviliage it is to come to the US, but the methodology does have something to it.

A. it enforces the law for both those who intentionally broke the law and those who unintentionally broke the law

B. it provides people who unitentionally broke the law(i.e. you forgot) to correct the mistake and pay a resonable cost for that "forgiveness"

C. those who intentionally refuse to comply with the law with are punished in proportion to their crime

people who are trying to do the right thing, should be given every opportunity to do the right thing in a fair and reasonable manner.

When filing an I-601 waiver for an overstay would it be safe to say that it MAY be easier to get approved than if you had a criminal conviction or is it the other way around?

i've asked the same question to several consulate and uscis staff. all off the record responses to me indicate that the USCIS has the attitude that if you were convicted of a crime, served your punishment, and haven't commited any additional crimes , then you have paid your debt to society and are reformed. however for overstays, uscis seems to consider the 3 or 10 year bar the punishment for the crime of overstaying your visa. therefore, when asking for a waiver of the 3 or 10 year bar due to an overstay, you are basically asking for a parole from your punishment.

boils down to this:

convictions: you are asking for the privilage of coming to the US even though you were convicted of a crime and served your punishment

overstays: you are asking for the privilage of coming to the US AND for them to shorten the length of your punishment

Which is your preference, and why?

linux, it pays my bills! i've been M$ free since july of 1997!

the whitehouse has new immigration plan:

http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/03/30/imm...n.ap/index.html

seems the $2,000 fine has been changed to $10,000

Hmmmm, after all they were and are breaking the law entering this country illegally. They should be subject to fines or deportation. Maybe by them paying fines we, (the USA), will get back some of our tax money that we have been spending supporting them while they have been here illegaly.

reach449

i agree with you whole heartedly with the illegals that are in the US, they should be fined heavily. my point was that this fine applies also to those who would need a waiver as in my wife's case for a 190 day overstay, which was the mistake of USCIS(they even admitted it was their mistake).

the whitehouse has new immigration plan:

http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/03/30/imm...n.ap/index.html

seems the $2,000 fine has been changed to $10,000

thats great news!!! last time i checked, which was last friday, our paperwork was still at the CA service center with no word on the status. i'll have to give the consulate a call to find out the status!

i got word yesterday that the background check was completed at CA service center, however our paper file is still there and is awaiting transfer back to barbados.

It will not take any more processing time.

You information will be run against a local database that pulls from Dept of Human Services.

if you have been flaged by Dept Human Service as owing child support you will not receive immigration benifits.

The problem is how and why your name, SS#, etc ended up in the Dept of Human Services database in the first place.

just like doing the background check for the Adam Walsh Act hasn't added any processing time?

as of today, my wife and i have been waiting for 60 days with no end in site.........