Green card hopefuls to resort to Gandhigiri in US

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Green card hopefuls to resort to Gandhigiri in US

7 Jul 2007, 0000 hrs IST,Chidanand Rajghatta,TNN

WASHINGTON: Hundreds of Indian high-skilled professionals in the US who have been on a roller coaster ride over the past month in their effort to get the green card will draw attention next week to their frustration -- with white flowers.

In a unique display of Gandhigiri -- a demonstratively peaceful Gandhian protest popularised in a recent Hindi movie -- scores of Indian H1-B visa holders who feel jilted by the abrupt changes in US immigration rules are planning to deluge US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) Director Emilio Gonzalez with flowers on July 10.

Their peaceful venting stems from a June 12 USCIS notification that promised to fast track the green card process for tens of thousands of skilled foreign professionals and their spouses -- only to disappoint later. The announcement led to a stampede in countries such as India and China for obtaining birth certificates and other related documents needed for the process. Applicants spent thousands of dollars to meet the requirements and the deadline.

But on Monday, USCIS rolled back its notification, turning, according to the lobby group Immigration Voice, "a glimmer of hope into despair."

The idea of overwhelming the USCIS office in Washington DC with flowers arose from a fervid discussion on the bulletin boards of Immigration Voice where many skilled workers vent their frustration over the long drawn green card process. Although there were some dissenting voices which said such gestures would be wasted, proponents of this form of Gandhigiri said up to 200 people had signed by for the flowery protest.

According to some estimates from Immigration Voice and its supporters, the Green Card flap affects more than 100,000 skilled workers and their spouses and family in India. Each applicant for the fast tract process announced by USCIS last month is said to have spent upward of $ 2000 to submit documentation.

Except for the $ 325 filing fees which USCIS has said it will refund, the rest of the money, including towards attorney fees, medical exams, couriers etc is down the drain, several applicants said.

"I'd guess that with about 100,000 people filing along with at least one secondary applicant each, that's $ 400 million down the drain. That's not chump change," Vikas Chowdhry, an applicant who has been closely tracking the process, told ToI.

The bonanza for immigration lawyers and physicians who conduct medical fitness tests, who had a busier four weeks than normal, comes on top of millions of dollars of social security tax that the US government collects each year from temporary guest workers (including H1-B visa holders). These guest workers don't get a refund when they return home if they do not qualify or wish not to become permanent US residents.

The Indian government has been trying in vain to arrive at a 'totalisation agreement' with the US in this regard to refund the money. But Washington has been resisting it because without continuous contribution from new immigrants, the country's social security system would go bust.

The 'florid' protest aside, AILF, the litigation arm of the American Immigration Lawyers Association, is also considering filing a lawsuit against USCIS for possibly having violated federal regulations and precedents, apart from the personal trauma and stress caused to individuals.

And in response...

July 9, 2007. Message from USCIS Director Emilio Gonzalez

Message from USCIS Director Emilio Gonzalez

I understand that individuals are planning to send flowers to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) beginning on Tuesday, July 10. USCIS has made arrangements to forward those flowers to our injured service members recuperating at Walter Reed Army Medical Center and at Bethesda Naval Hospital.