Petition to Government to improve immigration process

[coyote 3]

Ameri brit. Hello.

Tight is indeed the word.

It is a complete nightmare. We were advised that we were applying with plenty of time....

I n your opinion, if you had to pick a date, by which point one would know it definitely isn't going to happen in time, when do you think that would be?

I hope this isn't off-topic but I've started a petition asking Hillary Clinton and all the other relevant officials to streamline this process and build in the transparency and accountability that we normally receive from government agencies. Please consider signing, particularly if you are the U.S. citizen petitioner.

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/falling-in-love-with-someone-from-another-country-is-not-a-crime/

[Kathryn41 3,205]

Above post split out from its placement in another thread into its own thread so that it gets more exposure.

[JimVaPhuong 4,863]

I hope this isn't off-topic but I've started a petition asking Hillary Clinton and all the other relevant officials to streamline this process and build in the transparency and accountability that we normally receive from government agencies. Please consider signing, particularly if you are the U.S. citizen petitioner.

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/falling-in-love-with-someone-from-another-country-is-not-a-crime/

Kudos for taking the initiative to do something. Unfortunately, I can't sign it.

I don't think it's realistic to set an arbitrary time limit on AP or security checks. Completing these things sometimes depends on getting information from other agencies within the US government, or even foreign governments, where neither DHS or DOS has the authority or ability to expedite the process. If you force them to make a decision before all of the information can be obtained then the decision is going to be a denial. Personally, I think it would suck to be denied just because my case hit the 90 day time limit, and then be told by a CO or IO "We could probably have approved it if we'd only had a few more weeks".

I agree that they should provide a thorough explanation when a visa is denied. I can't really comment on whether there's racial bias except to say that racial bias is already against federal law. If a CO denies a visa because they are racially biased do you really think they're going to write that on the explanation they send to the petitioner and beneficiary?

Reason for denial: The consular officer does not believe in mixed marriages.

Seriously?

No, they're going to reach into their grab bag of discretionary reasons which the consular officer is given under the law, and they're going to cite that section of the law in their denial. Nowhere are they going to actually admit that racial prejudice had anything to do with it, regardless of how transparent the process is. Even if you had access to a video recording of the interview, they wouldn't say it even if they were thinking it.

If you have evidence that racial bias is resulting in visa denials then the proper way to address this is with a lawsuit. You already have the law to back you up.

I do agree strongly that there should be an appeals process for visa denials, but I don't think that the high fees are valid basis to argue for this. Immigration law requires that the costs be largely paid for by the people who use the immigration system - petitioners and beneficiaries. A more rational argument is that an appeals process would allow the problem to be addressed at the point where it was discovered, rather than the redundancy of having USCIS reconsider a petition which it had already previously considered and approved. Some people, including some very talented immigration lawyers, believe that there is a valid constitutional argument to be made, and that the lack of an appeals process violates the "due process" clause. I don't agree with this argument at all. "Due process" is only guaranteed when someone under the control of the US government (extended to the state governments by the 14th amendment) might be deprived of life, liberty, or property. Neither the petitioner or beneficiary are being denied any of these things when a visa is denied.

Anyway, I do have some very strong opinions about this stuff, but a petition campaign to the agencies involved can only affect the policies of those agencies, and I don't believe the policies are where the real problems lie. I believe the real problems are in the immigration law itself, and only Congress can fix that. I believe the law can be changed so that it drastically reduces the amount of fraud, and therefore expedites the process for everyone.