kkimm

True, this tax cut is out-rageous, one restriction I heard over the news is that you have to have an income more than 26,000 last year in order to get a refund for your child...what about those being laid off and have a family to support ?

Clearance completed 5-6-03, here is the timeline of my case: 11-16-02 1st submission 3-13-03 2nd submission ON-HOLD was told 3-18-03 Cleared 5-6-03 Email received same day from GZ! Fax from DOS received last week 5-14-03 notifying cleared! I think in the past months, I made enough noise to be on one of their list...hopefully everything will go well from now on... Good luck to everyone who's been on-hold!

"ON-HOLD" is something that the CA office has to tell you. The DOS info line or your case status seen by GZ or others will only show as "PENDING". FBI is setting up their camp in China, why cannot they allocate one person to take fingerprints for namechecks? I agree with you Owen 100%. But I believe this whole "namecheck" thing should only be treated as business/executive decisions, nothing to do with technical probability or accountability. My view of a democratic gov't of the US's, ironically, has been changed by themselves. I would suggest they add themselves to the Human Rights Whitebook they publish each year

everyone needs a holiday and i think GZ has been really working hard for everyone here. They need a good rest and come back to work again. I really respect them because they are working while GZ is filled of SARS disease I agree with you on this, GZ is not the one to blame in any cases, even if they make mistakes, the roof of all this is because of some executive order on the "namechecks"...i believe they would rather get rid of us asap, too.

LisaP's letter is more symbolic than actual help. I will just make a follow up communication with LP's letter attached.

This is better, I am re-posting this as a list for "Attackee-of-the-week" GZ is at the end of the food chain, we probably should go up the ladder and try: http://www.senate.gov/pagelayout/committee...ittees_home.htm 1. DOS Head Colin Powell 2. Congress - Judiciary Comittee 3. Subcommittee of Judiciary for Immigration 4. Comittee on Foreign Relations (very active) 5. Maura Harty & CA 6. GZ

GZ is at the end of the food chain, we probably should go up the ladder and try: http://www.senate.gov/pagelayout/committee...ittees_home.htm 1. DOS Head Colin Powell 2. Congress - Judiciary Comittee 3. Subcommittee of Judiciary for Immigration 4. Comittee on Foreign Relations (very active)

I have stopped calling them a long time ago...it's a waste of time and money

Can we file a class action suit again the fed gov't if there are enough evidence/difficulty both financially & emotionally

we should keep asking no matter what, here is next schedule, that's today: And please join us for future online discussions as the "Ask the White House" forums continue. Tomorrow, Mark Forman, Administrator for Electronic Government, will be available online.

Here is what I received in the mail today: Dear Mr. XXXX: This is in response to your facsimile of March 31, 2003, to Secretary Powell conveying a copy of your letter to Senator Hatch regarding the time it is taking to process your immigrant visa by the Consulate General in Guangzhou. The immigration and Nationality Act (INA) requires all aliens coming to the US to have a visa appropriate for the purpose of entry into the U.S.. The procedures required to obtain each type of visa, whether non-immigrant or immigrant, are designed to ensure that the applicant is in fact entitled to the visa. In the case of individuals desiring to live in the U.S., they must have an immigrant visa. People coming to live in the U.S. clearly must undergo a more thorough process to determine eligibility than those merely coming, for example, for study (e.g. an F-1 or J-1) or temporary work (e.g. an H1- B ). The application procedures for immigrant visas therefore are more complex, and perforce lengthy, because of the need make certain an applicant meets the eligibility requirements specified in the INA for obtaining legal permanent residency. ... We hope this information is helpful. Sincerely, signed by Lisa Piascik Director Office of Public and Diplomatic Liaison Visa Services ------------------------- Here is the linke to the law I found at INS website: http://www.immigration.gov/lpBin/lpext.dll...ame.htm#slb-act I sent a fax to Senator Hatch (Chairman of Judiciary Committee) and cced the fax to Mr. Powell's office 2 weeks ago. I will make a follow-up tomorrow. Please pin this for a few days so everybody get to know about this INA stuff, first time I've ever heard about that. A quick read points the background check to FBI (Act 105)

They have new menu system, the sequence is: 1 then 0 to speak to an operator.

I will call too

After some thinnking, this is probably something we should do or ask, since KC says they are doing everything they can, and they cannot trace individual cases during that process... 1. what they can do, as a category, for "on-hold" cases? and what they've done? 2. as a standard procedure, they could at least issue a memo requesting infomration from that government agency and they should get a response not matter what. 3. To move up the food chain, we should contact Colin Powell, or the Congress Judiciary committee...

My most recent email to Harty sent yesterday, I will write another one before the end of this week. Dear Ms. Maura Harty, I am writing again with regard to my case that has been put on hold as of most recent email dated XXXXX. I understand that at this point, my case might be in the hands of a government agency that is out of the control of your office. Previously I have request for a meeting (last week) but did not get any answer. Up to now, there has not been much infomation on "cases" that were place on-hold. I am not looking for why my case was put on hold, however, I do eager to find out how much longer this process is going to be or how much impact it is going to have on the processing time. Also, I would like very much to know, that to the best of your knowledge, if there is any "on-hold" cases being cleared in the past few months. This would give me, at the least, some comfort that my case could be just needing some more examination... With best regards,

another interpretation: Yes we know you are on hold and you've been waiting for a long time. No we cannot do anything, don't ask me why and why, okay?

For all academic connections I have, almost everybody will vote for DEM, either east coast or west coast, some of them were really upset because suddeny there is no grad students/researchers on the projects --- they were stuck abroad --- it is a big drag on everybody --- and it is becoming a routine: "where is XXXX recently, haven't seen him this semseter?" "visa problem" "oh..."

I am afraid this is gonna be a new form letter for all the on-hold cases. The way she said about unable to predict when the hold will be lifted, reminds me of that "famous" letter from DOS last August, when they cannot even predict how long it takes for themselves to issue the visa. Since this whole namecheck thing is kinda like something behind a black curtain, somehow, I thought the American gov't was a democratic system We need to find out: 1. If there is any "hold" case that was cleared in the past (At least give us some hope that they are working on it) 2. Is there or is the procedure finalized for the government agency to clear such cases? In China, there used to be a saying that describes each government agency as a temple, each has a budda in it. One has to go through all the temple, one-by-one, kneel down, pay the prayer and pay the tribute to get something done...

Honestly, I am proposing the webmaster to make a special section or read-only thread to list all the mistakes that GZ/CA/DOS can make, either calling it lessons learnt, or crazy stories is fine What other mistakes can they not to make???

Yes, let's keep the pressure on DOS & CA !!!

Thanks guys, I am proposing that if you like, you are welcome to modify and use the letter and send it the Maura Harty for your own case; Or, if you'd like, PM me with your name/case (or if you want to go to the meeting), I could compose it into a group letter and send it out Monday by email, fax, and regular mail. Does anybody know how to contact relevant FBI officers? How they conduct this namechecks? My understanding is that FBI will run your name and relevant identity information through their criminal record database, to see if there is any information matches that in the database. If that happens, does that mean this case will be put "on-hold"?

look at the congress Judiciary committee, I posted a letter from their committee a while ago at: click here

This is a sample quick writing of a letter request for informationa and request for a meeting. To Maura Harty Assistant Secretary Bureau of Consular Affairs Department of State 2201 C Street NW Washington, D.C. 20520 4/4/2003 RE: Immigration Visa "On-Hold"; Request for Meeting Dear Ms Maura Harty I am writing with regard to my immigration application at the Consulate in Guangzhou, PRC (GUZ 2002 XXX XXX). The application is [Category] and reached the Consulate in [Date]. This case has been put on hold by a federal agency. I was told, according to an email dated [Date], "A government agency recently placed a hold on your case. We expect that a significant amount of time may be required before that agency resolves this issue". Though tried many times, I have not been able to find out more information thereafter. I am aware of the changes of the security procedures in the visa issuance process, and the delay caused by this. However, I am getting concerned about this "case on-hold" and questioning the meaning of "significant amount of time". Because this is causing additional delays that I am already experiencing, and with an increasing number of "on-hold" cases, I believe a meeting with a responsible officer from your office, or preferrably from that government agency, would be helpful in clarifying questions and moving these cases forward. It would be appreciated if such a meeting could be arranged. I am willing to make this trip to DC once a date is set up. I wish you would be able to see this message, and I look forward to hearing from you regarding the meeting request. Yours Sincerely, [name]

Yes. It never hurts But I thought the purpose of the letter was to actually get a meeting with FBI. That's why I said it won't work I wouldn't rush to the decision that that Federal agency is FBI, but I do agree if they wouldn't even let us know which agency it is, it is very unlikely for such a meeting. However, it does no harm to request it on the first thought, the least they can do is to pass on the pressure to that "federal agency"... I will see if I could post a sample letter requesting meeting with either CA or that "federal agency"...

I just sent an email to Maura Harty, requesting a meeting in person with "the Agency" that put my case on hold...don't know if it will result in anything, but will keep your guys updated...