Requests to present to our Senators & Congressmen

[keelec]

Ok, I was doing a bit of brainstorming tonight.

Here are some ideas that we could present to our Senators and Congressmen that would help the process. I can incorporate suggestions and try to clean this up to use when we approach instrumental Senators and Congressmen.

 

 

Requests for Action,

Fiancée and Spouse Family Sponsored Visas

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1) Maximum time for processing K1/K3 applications (and K2/K4 applications with children accompanying parents) – 6 months (start to finish), except for extraordinary cases, or delays secondary to the applicant’s supplying information. The 6 month rule should apply to at least 95% of the cases at every post except those noted in (3). The visa process should be streamlined such that every post except those noted in (3) would be able to meet this restriction. Potentially Time intensive processes such as a “namecheck” should be started immediately upon receipt of the application. Repeat namechecks should be kept to a bare minimum.

 

2) Maximum time for CR1 and IR1 applications with applicants married and continuously living together (>90% of the time) while awaiting the visa – 6 months (start to finish), as noted above.

 

3) Exception to the 6 month rule for countries ranked with an extreme risk for propagating terrorist activities, and those engaged in direct military conflicts against the USA.

 

4) P3 instruction packet mailed immediately upon receipt of application (no confirmation required), thus eliminating subsequent delays before scheduling interview.

 

5) Complete application submitted from the beginning, thus eliminating the need for multiple parts filled out later, as well as reducing redundancy. Eliminate redundant forms, and hopefully implement online applications, and online status information kept current throughout all steps of the application processing.

 

6) For extraordinary cases, any namecheck or other step that takes longer than 4 months to complete must have a written explanation for the delay provided to both the applicant and beneficiary, an estimated completion date, and an explanation about what is being done to remedy the situation, as well as a description of additional information which may be required from the applicant.

 

7) High processing priorities at all service centers (VSC, NSC, TSC, CSC, MSC) as well as at all of the “Posts”.

 

8) Approximate equal processing time at all “Posts” including Canada, Europe, Russia, Ukraine, and China.

 

9) Visa applications for K1-K4 family members should take no longer than those for Temporary Workers, Businessmen, and Students entering from the same country.

 

10) Eased requirements for sponsoring multiple entry tourist visas for nonimmigrant family members (parents, siblings, children, and their respective spouses and children).

 

11) Maximum time for AP or Work Authorization following a K1-K2 application – 30 days if the K1 and K2 applicants have already had exhaustive background checks in the last 6 months.

 

12) Maximum time for AOS following K1-K4 Applications, 11 months if the K1-K4 applicants have already had exhaustive background checks in the last 6 months.

 

13) “Truth in Advertising”…. Let everyone know upfront the total cost and time for the application process.

 

14) It is hard to imagine direct costs associated with immigration of nearly $1000 per person (current fees), but adjust the charges and fees so that adequate staffing is made available to process the applications.

 

15) If countries have multiple US Consulates, allow application processing at EVERY American Consulate in order to make the traveling more convenient to the applicants as well alleviate case backlogs in processing applications.

 

16) In the 21st century, no shipment of application materials to a US Embassy or US Consulate should take over 2 weeks. If a delivery service can not be found to meet these restrictions, then the information about the cases should be communicated electronically, and processing should be done with the electronic forms.

[turtle]

Wow, sounds like a good list. One thing which may make it easier to swallow is to at least allow for expidited processing. I know I'd certainly be willing to shell out some more cash if it would push things along. In a perfect world of course it wouldn't be necessary, but we're talking about the US government here...

 

Funny, I was thinking about this while looking over the requirements for a chinese "D" visa (permanent resident). The chinese consulate states a 4-day processing time. An extra fee will get you an expidited processing time of 2 days! Geez, as if 4 days isn't quick enough???

[se_lang]

sounds good except 3, see edit below.

 

 

3) Exception to the 6 month rule for countries ranked with an extreme risk for propagating terrorist activities, and those engaged in direct military conflicts against the USA.

[keelec]

sounds good except 3, see edit below.

 

 

3) Exception to the 6 month rule for countries ranked with an extreme risk for propagating terrorist activities, and those engaged in direct military conflicts against the USA.

Darrell,

 

There are certain countries like Cuba that are blacklisted.... (Why????) well, that is a discussion for elsewhere, but they need to be captured as possible exceptions without interfering with the countries where our loves are awaiting their visas.

[se_lang]

sounds good except 3, see edit below.

 

 

3) Exception to the 6 month rule for countries ranked with an extreme risk for propagating terrorist activities, and those engaged in direct military conflicts against the USA.

Darrell,

 

There are certain countries like Cuba that are blacklisted.... (Why????) well, that is a discussion for elsewhere, but they need to be captured as possible exceptions without interfering with the countries where our loves are awaiting their visas.

but that is not an issue that should hurt the people of Cuba only the government.

[Martytb]

Clifford, change #15 to read consulate, not Embassy.

[keelec]

Ok,

I changed numbers 3 and 15 as suggested. I am willing to consolidate, or append other ideas if you have suggestions.

 

I am sure I remember reading something about US Economic Sanctions and Immigration.... Then I ran into this website:

 

http://www.usaengage.org/archives/studies/nam3.html

 

It appears as if the USA has economic sanctions against nearly EVERY country

 

Somewhere there has to be a list that captures the nations that the US Considers the highest risk, thus requiring more intense evaluation and longer wait periods.

 

----- Clifford -----

[se_lang]

Somewhere there has to be a list that captures the nations that the US Considers the highest risk, thus requiring more intense evaluation and longer wait periods.

 

----- Clifford -----

wouldn't that be racial profiling then, gesh can't offend the terrorists now can we.

 

since our borders are wide open and we have sleeper cells here in US along with our own home grown wacko's maybe security checks should be started as soon as packet is received and can run as long as it takes but holds no bearing on the fiance(e)/Spouse coming to US.

[keelec]

That's the way it was before that fatefull day in August. Instead of consulates being able to issue the visa in 15 days after submitting the clearance requests UNLESS something negative was received; the consulates were instructed that the visa could NOT be issued until they received the OK. Of course, no one told the FBI and donzen other agencies doing the checks that they now actually had to do something with them.

I just don't think the process of namechecks should extend FOREVER.

 

I realize that after all of the computer crunching, there may be need to have an agent look at the cases.

 

And, those cases that involve significant delays are the ones that need to be looked at.... (thus, the 15 day rule was kind of stupid).

 

If they began all of the namechecks on day-1 of the application process, that would give them several extra months to do the checks..... I can't imagine anything could take over 6 months to resolve, but they could even schedule the interview while awaiting the results of the check. If they conduct the interview before it is completed.... Well, that would be a good opportunity to add additional input into the process as well as getting the fingerprints and police reports. Actually, I have always wondered why the fingerprints and police reports came so late in the process.

 

----- Clifford ------

[Guest jimb]

Wow, sounds like a good list. One thing which may make it easier to swallow is to at least allow for expidited processing. I know I'd certainly be willing to shell out some more cash if it would push things along. In a perfect world of course it wouldn't be necessary, but we're talking about the US government here...

 

Funny, I was thinking about this while looking over the requirements for a chinese "D" visa (permanent resident). The chinese consulate states a 4-day processing time. An extra fee will get you an expidited processing time of 2 days! Geez, as if 4 days isn't quick enough???  

 

 

While I would have gladly paid for expidited processing, I don't think it is a good idea.

 

The fees could be as much as $5000 to $10,000 and while it could be great for the person who has that much money to spend, it would slow down the processing for everyone else.

 

If you don't have the money you get bumped to the end of the line. Would that also lead to expidited processing for someone who has political connections also? Maybe a large donation to the political party in power?

 

A poor democrat would have no chance at all.

 

JMHO

 

jimb

[turtle]

Well of course it's not a good idea, and in a perfect world it wouldn't be necessary-- but this the government we're talking about. Sometimes it seems the only thing they care about is money. So if they won't accede to any of our other wishes, at least we could get this. I was thinking more in terms of an extra hundred or so, I don't think even our govt would push it up to $10000 (who knows, maybe they would)

[keelec]

The truth is.... TIME COSTS MONEY.

 

The delay has cost me $3000 in tax deductions, as well as an extra trip to Russia that I would otherwise not have taken..... Planning it now, but I will put down about $2000 for the trip expenses...... Plus Irina's computer..... Plus other expenses. Overall, it is costing me at least $5,000 because the interview and visa was not granted in a timely fashion.

 

Granted, in our case, we might have saved $5K to $10K in college tuition with her studying in Russia last year rather than studying here (perhaps slightly increasing expenses).

 

However, other couples miss out on thousands and thousands of dollars of income. Hypoclear has estimated that the delay they are experiencing has cost them on the order of $50K - $100K.

 

When we started, I would be very pissed off if we had to pay $1000 to $5000 in fees upfront. But, in hindsight, it would have been a bargain.

 

What would POINT OF ENTRY Processing be worth?

 

I am a little upset now that I have discovered that fees are not the $110 that I expected, but rather the total amount will be nearly $1000 (and, of course, rates have gone up while I've been waiting for the visa).

 

This immigration thing is a HUGE Monster.... But, I think it would be a stretch to justify the $1000 or so that we are being charged now.

 

----- Clifford -----

[Stats]

I hate to rain on your parade, but....

 

All that the feds need to do is bring up this local story (not eveyone is a legit immigrant):

 

Two women indicted for leading alleged marriage fraud ring

 

By The Associated Press

(5/26/04 - HOUSTON) — Two women have been indicted on charges they ran a large scale marriage fraud scheme that recruited immigrants from Africa and the Middle East to marry U.S. citizens, authorities said Tuesday. Aminata Smith, 43, of Houston, and Emma Guyton, 46, of Bryan, were each charged with four counts of inducing illegal immigration, four counts of marriage fraud and one count of conspiracy. All the charges are felonies that could bring a maximum of 70 years in prison and more than $2 million in fines for each woman.

 

Thirty-six U.S. citizens also have been charged with one count each of marriage fraud, which carries a maximum five-year prison sentence and $250,000 fine. Half of them were in custody as of Tuesday afternoon, said U.S. Attorney Michael Shelby. These 36 individuals -- 13 men and 23 women -- range in ages from 20 to 51 and most are from Bryan and Houston. The others are from Cypress, Midland, Somerville, and Wharton. The women made deals with the potential immigrants before they arrived in Texas. Typically, Shelby said, the immigrants came legally with documents such as student visas, then participated in sham marriages that let them apply for green cards, which allow immigrants permanent legal residency.

 

"The green card is the thing. That is the holy grail that is sought by people who want to immigrate to the United States because that is the card that allows them for what they really are after, which is employment in this country," Shelby said. The immigrants came from Algeria, Cameroon, Gabon, Guinea, Israel, Jordan, Kenya, Mali, Nigeria, Pakistan, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Tanzania and Uganda, prosecutors said. The marriages took place between April 2000 and July 2003.

 

Shelby said the U.S. citizens entered "into sham marriages with these foreign nationals in order to move them to the front of the line so they could expeditiously get the green card. Guyton and Smith did this for one purpose and one purpose only, for personal enrichment." Shelby said Smith and Guyton charged the immigrants between $1,500 and $5,000 to have the marriages arranged while they paid the U.S. citizens between $150 and $500 for their participation.

 

Guyton and Smith and 14 the U.S. citizens in custody made their first court appearances later Tuesday before U.S. Magistrate Judge Frances Stacy. Guyton, Smith and nine others were released on bond. Guyton and Smith could not be reached for comment, and it was unclear if they had attorneys yet. An undetermined number of immigrants also were in custody and the others were being sought. All face likely deportation once the criminal proceedings have taken place.

 

The 20-month investigation in the case, initiated by the San Antonio office of Immigration and Customs Enforcement in September 2002, identified about 60 U.S. citizens involved in a total of 210 sham marriages to immigrants. Authorities began investigating after a worker in the Milam County clerk's office became suspicious after seeing individuals get married multiple times in one year. Milam County is just northwest of Bryan, where many of the allegedly fake citizen-spouses lived. Shelby said the initial arrests in the case are the first phase of a three part investigation dubbed "Operation Two Step."

 

"The United States has the most liberal immigration laws in the entire world, but never before has the enforcement of our immigration laws been more important," Shelby said, referring to the fight against terrorism. "We will not allow people to circumvent these laws for profit."

[keelec]

The United States has the most liberal immigration laws in the entire world

Whoever was writing that must have been smoking dope!!!!!!!!!

[keelec]

It is hard for me to believe that anybody would committ fraud against the US Government for a mere $150.

 

I wonder if any of those men ever fell in love with their wives, or visa versa, any of the women ever fell in love with their husbands? I guess that a fraudulent arranged marriage would likely end up badly.

 

I wonder what one can do to tell for sure if a relationship/marriage is real? Look at the number of international trips? See how the two interact? Munchkins? Who is taking care of who (mutual?)