gail_loves

Once they get their licenses, they should also pay income taxes. Most do pay taxes but the issue is they claim 10 dependents so very little is actually taken out. However, if the IRS changed its rules to state a person should have social security numbers for each dependent, the money the government would bring in from these illegals would probably pay off our national debt.......LOL. I live in North Carolina and they have started arresting these illegals and deporting them when they show up for driver's license. They are actually getting 30-40 a day. But the bigger issue that is coming down the line is we pay for them to be deported, we house them until they are deported, and they get deported only to swim across again and the entire episode begins again. In order to keep them out, we need stronger border control with Mexico and without that we are really wasting our own money and making the "coyotes" (those who cross these illegals) richer. One option to correct the problem, give them amensty provided they have no criminal record, can prove they met the minimum standards here (insurance, salary, taxes, etc) and then give them a hefty fine say $5,000 for coming into the country illegally -- after all if we did something illegally they fine us. Take the $5,000 from each applicant and reinforce our borders so that other illegals could not come in. This would create a win-win situation.

I've actually done some research on Kerry and like his immigration views. His wife immigranted from South Africa and he believes that the current immigration wait time are horrendous and wants to change this. So far he is the only one that has come out and stated his immigration views.

Here's another suggestion for what it is worth. Write the Committee on Government Reform. They do not have direct control over Department of State but they can get answers or find out what the problems are. We know that the problems are within Department of State and the Embassies -- not with the FBI, who they directly oversee. But the FBI is getting the slack from Department of State and the Embassies. My presumption is based on common sense -- if the FBI is getting a bum rap then so is this committee who oversees the FBI. Maybe if enough of us write explaining what the problems are that we know of, how inconsiderate the Department of State is, how imcompetent they are, and how they just give these standard answers, which end up costing taxpayers money -- e.g. more phone calls, more emails, more letters, = more employee time wasted versus if they took 10 minutes to help us out then we would not be calling, writing letters, faxing, and emailing. Additionally, it is in the best interest of the Committee to show the errors on someone else's committee not theirs. Committee on Government Reform 2154 Rayburn House Office Building (202) 225-5074 (202) 225-3974 Fax Chairman Tom Davis Another idea I had a while back and didn't have time to follow-up on it is for everyone to get the names of everyone they speak with. When they tell us these standard answers or things we know for a fact are incorrect, fax a letter to the Human Resources Division of Department of State. I did find out that their salary increases are dependent to some degree on customer service as well as work performance. Now the key to this is saving those standard emails. For example, I have 3 emails from Kathry Cabral, responding on behalf of Harty that states the namecheck was pending with Washington agencies. But then I have one treasured letter from Namecheck Division stating it was never requested. The treasured letter is one where someone took time to look up the case. We all have the proof to get this process turned around -- we have the letters, emails, and faxes. We just need to get all this to the right people. I am a firm believer in our government should work for us and not against us -- that is the foundation this country was built on and passing the buck just doesn't cut it with me.

Print out the Fed Ex confirmation page showing that the package is being held up and where. Fax all the documents and FedEx confirmation sheet to the Embassy and your fiance. On the documents put this statement at bottom: "I certify that this is a true and accourate copy of the original document that was sent by Federal Express, Shipping Number #######, which was sent on (date)." Then sign and date. This should suffice for approval.

Owen, Actually it was the letter to the Committee on Government Reform that was copied to Mr. Robert Garrity. Mr. Garrity had his division check my fiance's name and found out the embassy had submitted it incorrectly. A note to you all -- it is not the FBI that is screwing the process up -- it is the State Department and the Embassies. I just helped another person in a very similar situation, same embassy also, and we found out that his security clearance was done back in January 2003 -- approval sent to Embassy. However, for whatever reason the embassy decided to do a resubmit and all resubmits are ignored by the system -- so in essence they were waiting on an approval that was already given and would not be given again until next year.

I don't agree with OF, however, he does give us all perspectives that we will face in life -- regardless of where your fiance is from. Every board has these and to ban them is useless as they come back with new ids trying to prove a point. I think PJ is right -- let him rattle. We have choices as to what we read and our reaction. I personally ignored his posts because I know he evidently has a minimal education, if any, and has no real "people" skills. So why waste my time trying to educate him in the ways of life? Within your life you will be insulted by many people for various reasons. The one true thing to remember -- you alone know if the person is right or not about what they are saying. If you truly know it in your heart and mind, then why should you have to defend yourself or feel insulted. People are going to think and do what they want -- we can't control that. But we can control what we think, what we say, and how we react. Looking at the positive side, it is people like OF that toughen us up to deal with the same issues he presents here on the board -- but in our everyday life when our fiances come. By then we have been exposed for so long, it doesn't even matter to us. We have the ability at that point to laugh at their ignorance.

I wanted to write a quick thank you to all of you. The State Department called me this afternoon to let me know that my fiance's clearance was approved. It was due to the numerous information on this site that he received it. I started a letter campaign very similar to the one here. I also sent a letter to the Committee on Government Reform and Mr. Robert Garrity. Then this morning I received a call from the FBI Namecheck Division. According to her, they had never received the request. After talking to everyone from the top down on the State Department Telephone Directory, I finally talked with someone who seemed reluctant to get involved. However, she did and then asked why my fiance was being put thru Visa Condor when he was from India. I explained I didn't have any answers other than Abu Dhabi puts everyone thru the Visa Condor. She took my phone number and said she would return my call. I didn't hold much hope. Then I received a phone call at 2pm and she informed me that they found the clearance and it was processed. She was cabling the Embassy to issue the visa as soon as possible. According to her he should have the visa in his hand by Wednesday (the Embassy there works Saturday - Wednesday). It was because of everyone here, their help and their suggestions that I was so persistent in obtaining his clearance. Without these tips, I would have given up. Thank you all!

She can download yahoo (china version) from this link: http://cn.messenger.yahoo.com/ I use Yahoo and MSN because sometimes Yahoo has troubles and sometimes MSN has trouble.

This is response to my inquiries to Maura Harty. Doesn't offer much hope: Dear Ms. Mercer: Assistant Secretary Maura Harty has asked us to respond to your e-mails of July 17, 18, and 19 requesting information about the fiance visa application of Hari Kumar Prabhakaran Nair. Your fiance's case is currently pending completion of required security-related vetting through an interagency clearance process. Since the clearances are done by other agencies, we are not able to estimate when any individual clearance will be completed. When your fiance's clearance process has concluded, the Embassy will notify him. I hope this information is helpful. Sincerely, Kathryn Cabral Chief Public Inquiries Division Visa Services

Well I thought mine was going under Visa Condor. However, according to Senator Dole's letter, he is undergoing the same security clearance as someone in China -- which is really news to me.

I just received a letter from my Senator (Elizabeth Dole) and she states..... "Unfortunately, there are several reasons why a security check can be delayed. Visa applications for citizens of predominantly Muslim nations, along with China, can take longer to clear than application for citizens from other countries. There are approximately 15 FBI regional offices in the United States and EACH OFFICE must sign off on the name clearance for your fiance'. Normal processing times for security clearances can take anywhere from 30 to 60 days" ............we wished.

For those of you interested.............this report is given before the Committee for Government Reform. The meeting is open to the public as well - however there are no meetings scheduled for August. If Mr. Garrity speaks in September, and my fiance is still waiting, then I am definitely going.

First, congratulations to R2D2....... This is a draft of the letter I am sending out. Please give me your comments and feedback. Thanks. Dear My fiance was approved for his K1 visa on April 15, 2003. His interview was conducted in Abu Dhabi, UAE on June 2, 2003 (he is a citizen of India but works in the UAE). At that time we were told that it would take 4-6 weeks to conduct the security clearance. To date, we are still waiting. I admire and respect the new security enhancements. However, I think that one must balance the security enhancements with one's rights to have their fiances and spouses given visas in a timely fashion. I have read so many updates stating that the “name check” security clearance only takes 30 days (I refer to Mr. Garrett's report in which he states that 97% of the Visa Condors were processed within 30 days, please see attached). However, I have found in reality this is not the case. Some of my major concerns are as follows. 1. The lack of accurate knowledge by the State Department when we call to see if the security clearance has been cleared. I call the State Department Visa number every other day to see if my fiance's security clearance is cleared. I have been told, all on separate occassions, that his clearance was requested in February, April and June. I was told that it takes 30 days, 90 days and whenever they get around to it. I presume that the Secretary of State would not appreciate it if you answered them "Whenever our department gets around to it". 2. Why are these checks and fingerprinting not performed at the inception of filing the K1 visa petition? The waiting was long enough before (6 months), however, now with these checks it is unbearable and is causing undue hardship on the fiance and the US citizen. Yes, some of the petitions and forms may have to change but I am quite sure than any US citizen and their fiance would much prefer submission at the beginning of the process instead of at the end. This would ensure that the security checks are processed concurrently with the petitions themselves. Then, hopefully, by the time the petition was approved and sent to NVC the clearance would be completed or at least closer than just beginning. Additionally, why should the applicant even be interviewed if he is not allowed a visa due a negative security clearance. 3. The U.S. citizen and the fiance should be given accurate time periods for these clearances to be completed. The Bureau of Consular Affairs and the State Department should be able to give an accurate time period for these to be completed. One embassy says 4-6 weeks, another states 6-8 weeks and another says 4-6 months. There are considerable differences in these time estimations. Is the Bureau of Consular Affairs not one Department/Division? Do they work differently from alien to alien? Even BCIS gives us only 90 days to get married once our fiance arrives. This is hard to say the least. We cannot plan our wedding in advance because we don't know when they will get their visas. Most states require 4-6 weeks to file the marriage license. So in reality we have a total of about one week to get our wedding underway and start another process. We don't complain -- we do it because we want our fiance, our future spouses, with us. 4. If the security measures are to protect U.S. citizens then why are they not implemented across the board? Why is it targetted to certain countries? I'm sure that all countries have terrorists or some form of terrorists group within them. By performing the complete clearance on all individuals we are only ensuring that no one gets in with terrorists objectives. This will also prevent terrorists from finding the loop holes in our system. I am not alone in my quest for faster processing of the security clearances. I am a member of at least 5 discussion boards where these security clearances are major issues. The delays are numerous. Instead of protecting us, these new clearances are putting the US citizens' life on hold. Instead of preventing entry to terrorists, they are preventing entry of fiancés, spouses, and children of U.S. citizens. Is this how we handle threats now? I distinctly remember President Bush saying we should resume our normal lives – not be terrified to the point that we could not conduct our normal business. Yet, our lives are hold. While these security clearances are pending we are lonely, trying to make each day pass just a little faster because at the end of the night we convince ourselves that we are one day closer to being together. While you are enjoying dinners with your spouse and children, enjoying a movie, or going to the lake enjoying the hot summer days, we crying because we don’t have our partner with us to enjoy these simple pleasures. The only thing we want in life, is what you already have. We want our fiance/spouses here so we can share our life with them. We can come home to our fiance/spouse, we can go to a movie with them, have someone we love share our meals, go swimming together, just sit and hold hands. Is that too much to ask? One of the persons I spoke with at the State Department literally laughed at me saying I had not waited "that long". I ask you now, if you had to live without your spouse and children for 4 weeks, would you miss them? Would that be long for you? What if it was 6, 8, 24, 36, or 52 weeks? Would you miss them? Would each day seem long and tedious without the love and support of your spouse? Answer those questions honestly and then tell me I haven't waited long enough. Sincerely, Attachment: House Committee on Small Business "The Visa Approval Backlog and its Impact on American Small Business" June 4, 2003 Prepared Remarks of Mr. Robert J. Garrity, Jr., Assistant Director (Acting), Federal Bureau of Investigation “The FBI’s goal is to have all requests completed within 120 days. Attachment C illustrates the current status of Visa Condor names checks, and Attachment D illustrates the same for Visa Mantis name checks. This status was taken on May 29, 2003. For example, for Visas Condor, the FBI has received 5,146 requests during the last 30 days. The FBI has resolved all but 143 of these requests, for a 97% resolution rate (See Attachment C). For Visas Mantis, the FBI has received 1,240 requests within the last 30 days and has resolved 1,054, or 85%, of them (See Attachment D). Most name check requests that are over 90 days old are the result of the time required to retrieve and review field office record information. Some delay has occurred at substantive analysts= desks, but this is to be expected. These analysts are assigned to the investigative divisions and are primarily assigned to the analysis of intelligence reports from around the world in order to support on-going investigations, or to support the flow of intelligence to the policy makers. As is well known, the FBI does not have as many intelligence analysts as we need, and they are significantly over-assigned in their primary responsibilities. These are the best professionals, however, to review information in our records and to then make an informed decision on whether a requester of a visa represents a threat to our homeland, or is interested in illegally acquiring our targeted technology. Nevertheless, the FBI=s resolves 99% of all types of visa requests within 120 days. The FBI believes these numbers are the best manner to appropriately determine whether there are substantial delays, both in time and in numbers, attributable to the FBI name check process of visa requests.”

Dear My fiance was approved for his K1 visa on April 15, 2003. His interview was conducted in Abu Dhabi, UAE on June 2, 2003 (he is a citizen of India but works in the UAE). At that time we were told that it would take 4-6 weeks to conduct the security clearance. To date, we are still waiting. I admire and respect the new security enhancements. However, I think that one must balance the security enhancements with one's rights to have their fiances and spouses given visas in a timely fashion. I have read so many updates stating that the “name check” security clearance only takes 30 days (I refer to Mr. Garrett's report in which he states that 97% of the Visa Condors were processed within 30 days, please see attached). However, I have found in reality this is not the case. Some of my major concerns are as follows. 1. The lack of accurate knowledge by the State Department when we call to see if the security clearance has been cleared. I call the State Department Visa number every other day to see if my fiance's security clearance is cleared. I have been told, all on separate occassions, that his clearance was requested in February, April and June. I was told that it takes 30 days, 90 days and whenever they get around to it. I presume that the Secretary of State would not appreciate it if you answered them "Whenever our department gets around to it". 2. Why are these checks and fingerprinting not performed at the inception of filing the K1 visa petition? The waiting was long enough before (6 months), however, now with these checks it is unbearable and is causing undue hardship on the fiance and the US citizen. Yes, some of the petitions and forms may have to change but I am quite sure than any US citizen and their fiance would much prefer submission at the beginning of the process instead of at the end. This would ensure that the security checks are processed concurrently with the petitions themselves. Then, hopefully, by the time the petition was approved and sent to NVC the clearance would be completed or at least closer than just beginning. Additionally, why should the applicant even be interviewed if he is not allowed a visa due a negative security clearance. 3. The U.S. citizen and the fiance should be given accurate time periods for these clearances to be completed. The Bureau of Consular Affairs and the State Department should be able to give an accurate time period for these to be completed. One embassy says 4-6 weeks, another states 6-8 weeks and another says 4-6 months. There are considerable differences in these time estimations. Is the Bureau of Consular Affairs not one Department/Division? Do they work differently from alien to alien? Even BCIS gives us only 90 days to get married once our fiance arrives. This is hard to say the least. We cannot plan our wedding in advance because we don't know when they will get their visas. Most states require 4-6 weeks to file the marriage license. So in reality we have a total of about one week to get our wedding underway and start another process. We don't complain -- we do it because we want our fiance, our future spouses, with us. 4. If the security measures are to protect U.S. citizens then why are they not implemented across the board? Why is it targetted to certain countries? I'm sure that all countries have terrorists or some form of terrorists group within them. By performing the complete clearance on all individuals we are only ensuring that no one gets in with terrorists objectives. This will also prevent terrorists from finding the loop holes in our system. I am not alone in my quest for faster processing of the security clearances. I am a member of at least 5 discussion boards where these security clearances are major issues. The delays are numerous. Instead of protecting us, these new clearances are putting the US citizens' life on hold. Instead of preventing entry to terrorists, they are preventing entry of fiancés, spouses, and children of U.S. citizens. Is this how we handle threats now? I distinctly remember President Bush saying we should resume our normal lives – not be terrified to the point that we could not conduct our normal business. Yet, our lives are hold. While these security clearances are pending we are lonely, trying to make each day pass just a little faster because at the end of the night we convince ourselves that we are one day closer to being together. While you are enjoying dinners with your spouse and children, enjoying a movie, or going to the lake enjoying the hot summer days, we crying because we don’t have our partner with us to enjoy these simple pleasures. The only thing we want in life, is what you already have. We want our fiance/spouses here so we can share our life with them. We can come home to our fiance/spouse, we can go to a movie with them, have someone we love share our meals, go swimming together, just sit and hold hands. Is that too much to ask? One of the persons I spoke with at the State Department literally laughed at me saying I had not waited "that long". I ask you now, if you had to live without your spouse and children for 4 weeks, would you miss them? Would that be long for you? What if it was 6, 8, 24, 36, or 52 weeks? Would you miss them? Would each day seem long and tedious without the love and support of your spouse? Answer those questions honestly and then tell me I haven't waited long enough. Sincerely, Attachment: House Committee on Small Business "The Visa Approval Backlog and its Impact on American Small Business" June 4, 2003 Prepared Remarks of Mr. Robert J. Garrity, Jr., Assistant Director (Acting), Federal Bureau of Investigation “The FBI’s goal is to have all requests completed within 120 days. Attachment C illustrates the current status of Visa Condor names checks, and Attachment D illustrates the same for Visa Mantis name checks. This status was taken on May 29, 2003. For example, for Visas Condor, the FBI has received 5,146 requests during the last 30 days. The FBI has resolved all but 143 of these requests, for a 97% resolution rate (See Attachment C). For Visas Mantis, the FBI has received 1,240 requests within the last 30 days and has resolved 1,054, or 85%, of them (See Attachment D). Most name check requests that are over 90 days old are the result of the time required to retrieve and review field office record information. Some delay has occurred at substantive analysts= desks, but this is to be expected. These analysts are assigned to the investigative divisions and are primarily assigned to the analysis of intelligence reports from around the world in order to support on-going investigations, or to support the flow of intelligence to the policy makers. As is well known, the FBI does not have as many intelligence analysts as we need, and they are significantly over-assigned in their primary responsibilities. These are the best professionals, however, to review information in our records and to then make an informed decision on whether a requester of a visa represents a threat to our homeland, or is interested in illegally acquiring our targeted technology. Nevertheless, the FBI=s resolves 99% of all types of visa requests within 120 days. The FBI believes these numbers are the best manner to appropriately determine whether there are substantial delays, both in time and in numbers, attributable to the FBI name check process of visa requests.”

Thank you for your information. I will be posting the letter (draft on Saturday and final on Sunday). I expect people to read the letter, give feedback and decide whether they want their name on it. As for the email, I don't mind leaving that one up. However people do need to put Name check in the subject..........otherwise their mail may be deleted. That account is used for special projects I am working on and the rest is automatically deleted. Thanks again for your information and comments. At least working on this gives me something to be busy with.........LOL.