illegalities and discrimination in Guangzho

[pingme]

- Student Visas cost less, and are quicker to process than K1 or K3 visas. Is that fair and equal treatment? Could I pay less for my K1 visa and have it processed faster? It is discriminatory against fiancees and wives.

 

- The US embassy/consulate is US soil and as such should observe the same laws and decencies as any place else in the US, including other embassies and consulates. So why does it take some consulates only 6-8 weeks for a K1 or K3 visa, while China takes 6-9 months? Is that equal or discriminatory?

 

- Adoption vs K1/K3 visas, the Guangzhou website even states very clearly that they will give preferential treatment to adoption visas, and Maura's own words indicate the same. That is age discrimination.

 

http://www.usembassy-china.org.cn/guangzho...nnoucement.html

 

"The American Consulate General in Guangzhou gives the highest priority to the adoption community. Please do not hesitate to contact us if you have any questions."

 

Just imagine if such a similar policy were posted for US consulate in Africa:

"The American Consulate General in <African Country Here> gives the highest priority to the white community."

 

The ACLU would be all over them in a minute!

 

I don't want to appear cold or without a heart to children, but in all fairness children and adults are still people, and we should all be treated fairly.

 

Either way, the official policy in Guangzhou includes age discrimination.

 

- For those waiting for their wives or fiancees to obtain their visa, it sounds like the general mentality with the VO is to assume that the women or relationship is not legit, they are just in it for the visa/green card, etc. Granted some of that may happen, but it can happen at any consulate anywhere in the world. In Guangzhou are they practicing sex discrimination against our loved ones, by assuming our loved ones are dishonest ?

 

Some other points:

- Students come to the US and stay for a year, or maybe a few years. We expect our wives and fiancee to stay for a lifetime. Which is more important?

 

- Our wives and fiancees may be raising our children here in the US. Do we want them to have a positive experience with getting here?

 

- The US consulate anywhere in the world, should be a model of American values. These include honesty, fair and equal treatment to everyone, regardless of race or nationality or age, and the preservation of basic human rights. I read stories about other consulates around the world, and for the most part, things are pretty fair.

 

From Guangzhou I have read very little that seems fair, or honest. It makes me feel ashamed to be an American, and that should not be the case.

 

And one question I keep asking myself, with all the blue slips, all the white slips that turn into blue slips over night, and the stories of the "lawyers" waiting outside the consulate to help these poor folks, I wonder how many VO have a deal with one or more of these "lawyers". How easy would it be to have a little side business.

 

"I'll issue 10 blue slips today, and you give me 10% of your business"

 

Better yet, I'll issue some white slips today, and tomorrow change those to blue slips. Those people will be extra devastated, and in need of you services. So how about 15% of their business too?

 

And to protect ourselves, and you, we'll make a policy that the US citizen is not allowed into the interview, so there won't be any witnesses. It will make it easier to generate more blue slips.

[hank]

Pingme,

 

I agree that you have some excellent points that demonstrate the gross unfairness in the system, but do any of these violate specific civil rights laws?

 

Unfortunately, everything in our society is run by the letter of the law. What we need is someone with some knowledge of legal matters to look at the issue and give us a legal issue that we can use as leverage.

[pingme]

King,

 

any comment from you on what is legal?

 

Do the consulates operate above and beyond the law?

 

Is there any history of lawsuits against a US consulate or particular Visa Officer?

 

I am sure the ACLU could tell us, I've written to them, and have yet to hear back.

[pingme]

Letter to ACLU

====================

Case of Discrimination

 

I am writing to the ACLU to point out a clear case of a US government agency clearly practicing discrimination that is affecting thousands of US citizens every month

 

on www.dictionary.com the definition of discrimination includes:

 

- Treatment or consideration based on class or category rather than individual merit; partiality or prejudice: racial discrimination; discrimination against foreigners.

 

this would include race, color of skin, age, etc.

 

I am in the process of waiting for my fiancee to obtain her K1 visa, so that she may come here and we get married and live our life. Most US consulates will process visa applications on a first come first serve basis. This is the fair way to do it. This is not discriminatory.

 

But consider the case if the consulate gives certain classes of people, either based on age, location or color special treatment. This would be considered discrimination.

 

The US consulate is US soil, and as such should following the laws of the US and its constitution.

 

So I would like for you at the ACLU to consider the following statement found on the US consulate site in China:

 

"The American Consulate General in Guangzhou gives the highest priority to the adoption community. Please do not hesitate to contact us if you have any questions."

 

http://www.usembassy-china.org.cn/guangzho...nnoucement.html

 

I have nothing against processing visa requests for adoption, if they are considered fairly, with the other visa requests for loved ones, students, business people etc.

 

But in China, the visa requests for Adoption, students, business people are typically processed in a matter of days or weeks. Typically such a visa will take at most 15 days to complete the background checks, and issue the visa.

 

But for K1 and K3 visas, the background checks take on average 4-9 months! This is an unfair practice and has been going on for years. As a US citizen, I have requested and paid for the visa processing for my loved one, and I expect to be treated fairly, and I expect the US government to treat me and my loved ones fairly.

 

Imagine if the statement were worded slightly differently:

"The American Consulate General in South Africa gives the highest priority to the white community. Please do not hesitate to contact us if you have any questions."

 

Every African American would rally behind this injustice.

 

A US Consulate is usually the first place that a person is able to witness and experience the Human Rights and Justice that we are trying to promote to the world. If the first lesson they learn is that the US will give preferential treatment to certain classes of people, what does that say about the rest of our values?

 

I invite you to contact the US consulate in Guangzhou directly to verify this. I have included their contact information below taken directly from their website. I request that you investigate the practices at this consulate, and I am sure you will find more than just Age Discrimination happening there. It is one of the most poorly managed and run operations of any US Consulate in the world.

 

Thank you

 

Contact Information

http://www.usembassy-china.org.cn/guangzho...u/cg/index.html

 

Address: No. 1 Shamian Street South, Guangzhou 510133

Phone: 020-8121-8000

Fax: 020-8121-9001

 

 

Consul General:

Edward Dong

CG OMS: Martha Petitt

ECO/POL: Harvey Somers

COM: Robert Murphy Tel 8667-4011, Fax 8666-6409

CON: William Martin Fax 8121-8428

ADM: Jeffrey Rock

RSO: Michael Brenn

PAO: Wendy Lyle Tel 8335-4269, Fax 8335-4764

FAS: Keith Schneller Tel 8667-7553, Fax 8666-0703

DHS: Thomas Wong DHSGuangzhouGeneral@dhs.gov

DHSGuangzhouAdoption@dhs.gov

DHSGuangzhouV92@dhs.gov

Tel: 020-8121-8000 Ext 5951

Fax: 020-8121-7735

[nooneufo]

pingme,

I don't understand what you are talking about. Clearly you can buy the visa you need, you just have to find the right person to talk to:

http://www.state.gov/m/ds/rls/41792.htm

 

And really, the way we see Guangzhou operate is clearly in line with the "Face of America" aspect touted at the DOS webpage.

Afterall, no sense in sugar coating corruption American style for the future visitor.

[Robert S.]

I especially don't like the disrespectful way the guards treat people, talking to our ladies as if they were something inferior to themselves.

[pingme]

I could not add my reply to the list of legal help in Guangzhou,

 

http://candleforlove.com/forums/index....ae51e201d3664b6

 

so i am adding it here:

 

My comment, if the US consulate is doing their job, if everything is fair and reasonable, then why would there be such a large "cottage industry" of legal help just outside the consulate walls?

 

I would be curious to know how many other consulates have such a large and growing industry. I have never heard of that before.

 

While providing this list of "preferred vendors" on the consulate website may be of some help, i think it is more an indication that there are serious and deep problems with the consulate itself. It is tantamount to saying, "we know we will screw you, and we know you will want to find some legal help, so here is a list of where to go for help after we've done you in"

 

this also still smells to me of corruption within the consulate unless they can prove otherwise.

[king]

I would direct you to AILA, the immigration lawyers association, 202-216-2400, www.aila.org. It may have some direction for you.

 

It is a constant battle to thwart the GZ Consulate from activities or decisions that I consider as a lawyer to be violating the law or the constitution. However with good facts and law the IV unit has changed it position on individual cases. You are proposing a wholesale change in how the VISA Section in GZ works. There maybe a law or regulation that gives adoptions priority over other cases. That would need to be checked. From experience I know that Consulate visa people think they can control the process. When the V visa law was first passed into law, the IV unit chief told me that EVEN THOUGH the V visa was supposed to help people get to the US faster than the normal processing, there was nothing in the new law to require the VI unit to process the V visa application with any priority over other cases, so he was going to put the V visa applications at the bottom of the pile of things to do and process them when the unit could get around to it.

 

Frankly, I do not know if your kind of claim can be pursued effectively without a great deal of time, energy and money or unless you can get the ACLU or AILA interested.

[king]

Pingme:

I just came across this announceement for helping people with human and constitutional rights issues. I am not sure if it would be helpful to you, but is another source for you.

 

 

 

To: Immigration Attorneys and Advocates

 

From: Peter A. Schey, President CHRCL Foundation

 

Re: Announcement of Immigrant Litigation Fund (ILF)

Description of the Fund and Application Process

 

Date: March 5, 2005

 

The Center for Human Rights and Constitutional Law has for over 20 years engaged in major impact litigation, including numerous class action cases, on behalf of immigrants and refugees. As a result of this work, the Center has won significant court victories and nationwide settlements requiring that all apprehended immigrants be informed of their right to counsel and to contact their consular officers, all immigrants appearing before Immigration Judges must be advised of available local free legal services, all detained immigrant minors are eligible for release to licensed shelters and responsible third parties other than their parents, and all undocumented children are permitted to attend public schools. To learn more about the Center’s work, please visit any of the web sites listed above.

 

Because of the successful outcome of these cases, the Center has won the largest attorney’s fees awards ever issued by the federal government. We plan to use a portion of these fees to establish the Immigrant Litigation Fund.

 

By creating the Immigrant Litigation Fund, we hope to encourage immigration attorneys in private practice or working with non-profit organizations to pursue remedies in the courts on behalf of low-income immigrants and refugees whose rights are being violated under federal and/or state laws.

 

At least in some cases, the cost of litigation is a barrier to low income immigrants and refugees actively pursuing available judicial remedies or appeals of adverse administrative decisions. The Immigrant Litigation Fund will provide financial support for the costs and expenses associated with challenges and appeals on behalf of immigrants and refugees.

 

Structure of the Immigrant Litigation Fund

The ILF grants are made in the form of no-interest loans to be used to pay costs and expenses in court cases brought on behalf of low-income immigrants and refugees.

ILF grants are only paid back if the legal case is successful and the

plaintiff or petitioner recovers his or her legal costs. If the legal case

or appeal fails, the loan is forgiven. Grants will only be made in

cases in which the prevailing party is entitled to recover his or her out of pocket costs.

ILF grants may not exceed ten thousand dollars ($10,000) per case.

The Center for Human Rights and Constitutional Law will evaluate

grant applications to determine the importance of the issue being

litigated, the likelihood of success, and the ability of the plaintiff or

petitioner to pay the costs and related expenses of the litigation

or appeal.

ILF grants may be used for all litigation costs including, for

example, filing fees, transcripts, attorney travel, deposition costs,

expert fees, etc. ILF grants may not be used to pay for attorney’s

fees.

In some cases in which the expertise of its attorneys would increase

the likelihood of success in a case, The Center for Human Rights

and Constitutional Law may require that its attorney become co-counsel in a case or appeal for which an ILF grant is made. This may be done in cases in which the experience of the Center’s attorneys and the resources of the Center would enhance the likelihood of success of the case on appeal.

 

How to apply for an ILF grant

Lawyers in private practice or non-profit legal service providers may apply for ILF grants. There are no application deadlines. Decisions will normally be made within thirty (30) days of receipt of an application. Applicants will be advised in writing of the decision made in response to an application. Materials sent in support of applications will not be returned to the applicant. To apply for an ILF grant, please provide a cover letter including the following information:

 

(1) The issue(s) to be litigated in the case;

(2) The procedural history of the cases;

(3) The facts pertinent to the case;

(4) A summary of the legal argument that will be made in the case;

(5) Identify the lawyers who will work or are working on the case;

(6) Briefly explain why the client(s) would have difficulty paying for the costs of the case;

(7) Explain what costs (e.g. filing fees, transcripts, attorney transportation, depositions, expert fees, etc.) will be incurred in the case, and your estimate of the amount involved for each cost you identify;

(8) Attach to your letter copies of any prior administrative and/or judicial decisions in the case;

(9) If briefs have previously been filed in the case, attach copies of the most comprehensive brief written for the immigrant and the most comprehensive brief written by the government.

 

 

Forward letter applications and attachments via email to pschey@centerforhumanrights.org or via regular mail to Peter Schey, President, Center for Human Rights and Constitutional Law, 256 South Occidental Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90057.

 

If you have any questions regarding the Immigrant Litigation Fund, please email Peter Schey at the e-mail address above.

 

?/p>

 

PDF version of this document

[pingme]

When the V visa law was first passed into law, the IV unit chief told me that EVEN THOUGH the V visa was supposed to help people get to the US faster than the normal processing, there was nothing in the new law to require the VI unit to process the V visa application with any priority over other cases, so he was going to put the V visa applications at the bottom of the pile of things to do and process them when the unit could get around to it.

thanks King for your input.

 

You wouldn't happen to have the name of this person so their attitude could be cited as an example?