AOS Delays from Feb 18 DACA Program (petition merged)

[TBoneTX 45,591]

*** Petition thread merged with ongoing thread in General Immigration Discussion forum about overall situation. ***

[asisflyer 47]

There is a Whitehouse.GOV petition asking:

NOT TO DELAY AOS & FAMILY PETITIONS

by putting too many resources to DACA and clogging the system like in 2012.

If it gets 150 signatures. Then it can be seen by everyone on the site.

If it then gets 100,000. It will automatically be reviewed by the President's staff.

http://wh.gov/iT0hq

Lot's of people are afraid of 1 year wait times on their AOS interviews and EAD cards going well beyond 90 days. DACA cases get the FBI background check and biometrics and those resources can clog even if USCIS hires thousands of new people.

USCIS union leaders are talking about wholesale telecommuting (work-from-home) of existing staff to make room for new hires to work DACA in the existing office space.

The PETITION link below will register your feelings about NOT ALLOWING AOS / FAMILY BENEFITS TO BE SLOWED by DACA with your Members of Congress and the President:

http://www.petition2congress.com/17276/give-us-citizen-spouse-petitionsaos-priority-before-daca-expansio/

This is not anti-DACA, but it is pro-EVERY LAWFUL USC SPOUSE IMMIGRANT. Unfortunately, the situation has turned into a case of competing resources with issues that are highly emotional on both sides of the table. If you are a US Citizen and separated from your Spouse overseas for a year; you are not a bad-person for being upset that DACA expansion might make that longer. If you're a US Citizen with a Spouse here and waiting for her work card, you might need that income to survive!!! or meet I-864 requirements even; but again, competing resources. AOS cases worry and having fear, anxiety, concern just as DACA cases. Many can't open Bank Accounts or get Drivers Licenses, just as with DACA.

DACA has lobbyists. Politicians want to politicize the issue and DON'T CARE FOR DACA or FAMILY PETITION IMMIGRANTS. Its just a political game and both groups are just pawns. AOS, DCF IR1, TSC/NVC style K1/IR1 delays can't compete for media time. Bringing a foreign spouse home just DOESN'T SELL AIRTIME. What is ABOUT TO HAPPEN to EVERY NON-DACA APPLICANT cannot be covered in the media as it risks sounding anti-DACA which brings about ridicule and use of the "R" word. If a media outlet covers the AOS vs. DACA saga, they'll have DACA protesters and lobbyists on them immediately.

THERE IS A SOLUTION:

1. ELIMINATE 99% of AOS Mini-Interrogations

a. K1/K3 AOS have already been interviewed overseas. Its INA authorized. No Waiver Delay - APPROVE IMMEDIATELY!

b. B1/B2 AOS - No INA authority to waive for Spouse, but OK for Parents. Surely the lawyers can figure out a way to dance around the INA here. These are case by case. Marriages of 1+ years and people together for 5+ years will have plenty of evidence and be low enough risk to WAIVE INTERVIEW ON. Spend interview time on people who just meet first time and marry 10 days later.

c. H / L / G / A AOS - Adjudicator Discretion on Interview.

While you are at it. Waive the Affidavit of Support and Waive Domicile Requirements for I-130/I-864 and Remove Public Funds question on the I-485.

Let's not strand American families overseas trying to find Joint sponsors since their income is foreign based or having to fly back and create domicile!!! and fly overseas again and wait. There is an expression: "guilty of the terrible crime of having a foreign spouse" well it does feel alive and well. Yet at the end of World War II, when regular judges handled immigration, many serviceman came home with foreign wives. Embassies rubber stamped the entry visas and you didn't need to separate for 6-12 months.

Were they made to feel this way???

113 Billion was spent on public services for illegals (never-doc'd) in 2011 (excludes Doc'd Lawful Asylee/Refugee/Special Status).

Why can't new immigrants partake then? Again, the terrible crime of following the rules! Erase the I-485 question on Public Funds!!!

The meaning of Public Charge is already stripped into meaning long-term disability with no hope of self-sustaining income. You'll also find a sudden reduction in asylee/refugee claims suddenly if any LPR status can apply for public benefits without a 5-year lock.

USCIS: WHY ARE YOU NOT READY FOR DACA PROPERLY ? Why must Families be Separated to make DACA go faster?

You had plenty of time to build new offices, write new software, and hire/train new staff for DACA since everyone knew this was coming for some time behind closed doors. Hint: 18 - 21 year old programmers will get the job done better than multi-national consulting firms. Why don't you find some DACA-qualified PROGRAMMERS in that age group and hire them to develop the platform at a Silicon Valley incubator under the tutelage of some .COM innovators!!!.

- Don't forget FBI background check bottlenecks that compete with other applicants. If DACA is self funded and you did not require Congress to approve funds, then where are the shiny new offices paid for with DACA fees alone?

- Why does Q6 on DACA not assure everyone else of no delays? Rather a response that says so much while saying so little.

Something like DACA needs to occur, but with proper planning and controls, not chaos and not at the expense of lawfully obedient filers.

Hint: Isolate resources, issue interim DACA protected status with easy electronic verification after a limited NAC/LAC check, and collect the fees to build what you need to process them without a wholesale delay of other immigration benefits. Please don't punish all non-DACA applicants. Also, issue Executive Blanket Immunity to Employers who want to hire people who "Applied for DACA" and hold an I-797C NOA that can be verified !!!! Create a system that notifies them automatically of disqualification if any. Again, interim solutions.

There are no perfect solutions here. But please don't punish AOS and Family Petitions with this expansion.

No dancing around it, Taking longer for AOS Interim EAD/AP, I130 processing times, I485 interviews, etc. is Punishing.

Congressional Petition:
http://www.petition2congress.com/17276/give-us-citizen-spouse-petitionsaos-priority-before-daca-expansio/

[Janelle2002 3,865]

You have my vote. We have been getting the back end of the immigration process for years now and it is said. The money we keep spending for me to fly to Sri Lanka is ridiculous while others get to cross the border and stay. They do not have to go through the scrutiny about their relationship, income, criminal records, etc. They do not have to deal with corrupt embassies or corrupt police forces while trying to get police certificates.

We are being punished because we have foreign family members. Our politicians have completely forgotten about us while they fight for votes and political gain. This is disgusting.

[Pitaya 2,577]

~Moved from Fam.-based AOS to General Immigration-related Discussion Forum~

~Petition drives are often discussed at this forum~

[dhlunar 25]

It is not only spouses of US Citizens that are going to be impacted. The I-130 petitions for my in-laws sat at USCIS for 10 months (from May 2013 to March 2014) due to the creation of a new program for illegal aliens that was dropped on USCIS, causing them to shift their attention from lawfully filed I-130, filed by a US Citizen, to a program allowing illegals to have the right to be here.

I have already signed it and shared it on my Facebook!

[asisflyer 47]

DACA last time also delayed the petition for the EB-5 investors. People who wanted to invest 1 million cash with the promise of a minimum of 10 US jobs created within 2 years.

I wonder if DACA cases are put in front of National Security / National Interest assets petitions !

It seems their perspective is that illegal DACAs are Princes and everyone else are the red-headed step-children.

[Ontarkie 14,304]

~~Another petition merged with existing thread, Do not start another petition thread.~~

[asisflyer 47]

Dear VJ Admins, Please consider that the frequent merging, transfers, etc. without a Re-Direct Module to keep the old URL's reduces site traffic.

VJ lost web traffic over the merging. Abandoned URL.

Google penalizes sites with frequent errors of these sorts.

The original URL was indexed on google and other search engines and was deleted with the merge as your site has no Re-Direct feature on merged threads like VBulletin and others have plugins for. Recommend you install or write a similar module.

Check your logs for this. The thread not found will be among your top errors with very frequent sorting, splitting, and organizing that one sees on the board. The irony is that the attempts to better sort the categories amount to lost traffic and lost readership with abandoned URLs already indexed. Google parses you intraday.

Specifically on this thread. AOS forum is where those most affected will read. Not general immigration. The abandoned URL and transfer changed readership from hundreds to zero. Same effect as a deletion.

I thought VJ always wanted to grow and widen viewership and help folks trying for lawful benefits and AOS.

Both in terms of new reader (new ad revenues) and helping most people, the AOS delay threads should not be tossed into the Basement of General Immigration.

May I suggest that the site owners make the decision.

Also I highly recommend you install a re-direct feature that preserves the old decorative URL after merging. Over the years you must have lost thousand of potential new readers over this. This will really make a difference on the site. I would also suggest that you take a more conservative approach to merges and pruning and they reduce breath of URLs indexed with similar keywords and reduce cross-section for organic search engine traffic capture.

My humble advice.

[KayDeeCee 4,893]

However, the AOS forums are for discussing the procedures and process of applying for adjustment, such as the guides, fees, requirements, etc. I might say the petitions could fit into the progress reports sub-forums about case status, but there is more than one AOS forum. This would apply to AOS from family based and other types of visas such as tourist. So, posting petitions such as this in the General Immigration forum to cover all types of adjustment to begin with makes sense and would do away with the need to move and merge threads.

All that said, they should have a way to maintain the links when one post is merged into another. And these last two posts actually better fit in the Site Discussion forum where the admin and owner of the site could see your suggestions.

Edited February 1, 2015 by KayDeeCee

[Shanelle 21]

I can no longer find the website that had the petition to send to Congress with regards to Immigration and the DACA, it seems to have disappeared. A friend of mine told me that his Congressman told him that unless the petitions are handwritten and sent via snailmail, congress never sees them and they are used by spammers for email addys. UGH.

[asisflyer 47]

Hi Shanelle,

I just tested the petition 2 congress link and it looks good.

http://www.petition2congress.com/17276/give-us-citizen-spouse-petitionsaos-priority-before-daca-expansio/

The whitehouse one needs 150 or it will not show on the site.

Sending Snail Mail to the LOCAL offices of your Congressional Reps and Senators is much much better than the electronic petition.

The thing is that most people will not bother.

I have already sent snailmail to a handful of reps. It is important also important to send snailmail to anyone on DHS oversight since USCIS falls under them.

I hope with more people like yourself reaching out to their elected representatives, that attention will be brought to the plight of the legal immigration also.

[shell20 746]

Rumours of AOS waivers, can you explain this in more detail please?

The USCIS announced the DACA expansion starting Feb 18th.

They also offered a cryptic response on whether family petitions will be delayed or not.

With limited resources, how can it not be so?

Unfortunately, Congress has limited DHS funding through February 28th and with this move,

there seems to be a chance of the USCIS reducing operations that require those funds.

So, whether direct or indirect, I do wonder just how severe the delays will be for the processing of "lawful" USCIS adjudication requests that conform and abide by the INA ?

One wonders:

Just how long will a typical petition or AOS take now?

Rumors of AOS waiver plans were leaked to the media by the USCIS Adjudicators Union back in November. Would this be for all types of AOS ? Employment vs. Family? Concurrent vs. Non-Concurrent? Would it be with the typical visa waiver candidate delays or a real-time waiver = approved ?

Is there to be anything special done to avoid penalizing those who lawfully comply with the INA while the executive branch rewards those who openly violate it?

Why is the status of a person entering illegally deemed more valuable and important than a USC' spouse who applied legally, entered legally, and played the cards straight?

Open for your thoughts and opinions.....

[sweetswinks 400]

I have sent letters to the white house, president, and local representatives!

[TBoneTX 45,591]

A recent post has been removed, because it duplicates a query in a stand-alone thread.

This thread is old and is now closed to further comment.

This thread is moved from the General Immigration Discussion forum to the DACA forum.