prom2
11-05 12:32 PM
Finally I got mail from USCIS on 11/04 saying my AP is approved. But the message says it is approved on 10/17. I didn't know why they took so many days to update the status? Is it normal?
Application Type: I131, APPLICATION FOR USCIS TRAVEL DOCUMENT
Current Status: Approval notice sent.
On October 17, 2007, we mailed you a notice that we have approved this I131 APPLICATION FOR USCIS TRAVEL DOCUMENT. Please follow any instructions on the notice. If you move before you receive the notice, call customer service.
Mine was the same, I receive email on 11/04 and notice sent on 10/17.
Good luck.
Application Type: I131, APPLICATION FOR USCIS TRAVEL DOCUMENT
Current Status: Approval notice sent.
On October 17, 2007, we mailed you a notice that we have approved this I131 APPLICATION FOR USCIS TRAVEL DOCUMENT. Please follow any instructions on the notice. If you move before you receive the notice, call customer service.
Mine was the same, I receive email on 11/04 and notice sent on 10/17.
Good luck.
wallpaper Red Umbrella clip art
ronhira
09-18 09:42 PM
USCIS admits to a backlog of 190K but most are in EB2-I/C and EB3 with a PD earlier than Aug 2007. No one knows how many people are waiting in these categories with approved I-140s from Aug2007-Sep2010. It could be another 150-200K. S0 even if the backlog is not 800K, but its around 400K.
uscis definition of backlog is pending AOS applications that have been processed and have visa dates current...... they do not account for application with non-current dates as backlog..... so that's y they say the backlog is 190K..... but in reality the backlog size is many folder higher than 190K.....
u may want to look for uscis definition of backlog....
uscis definition of backlog is pending AOS applications that have been processed and have visa dates current...... they do not account for application with non-current dates as backlog..... so that's y they say the backlog is 190K..... but in reality the backlog size is many folder higher than 190K.....
u may want to look for uscis definition of backlog....
gandalf_gray
06-02 10:27 AM
It does seem that you will be out of status in the interim period. Can you go to your country on a vacation, come back on H1 and start your new job afresh?. If you can then I suggest you do that, if not I suggest you consult an attorney.
NKR, thanks . I am considering that option.
Can you please tell if I do the L1 Extension, will it NEGATE the approved H1 ?
NKR, thanks . I am considering that option.
Can you please tell if I do the L1 Extension, will it NEGATE the approved H1 ?
2011 Umbrella clip art
freeskier89
01-02 02:23 AM
Imageshack hosts them last I checked. I thought so too, but they don't seem to anymore
more...
pcs
07-31 02:05 PM
Let us all work to find solution to this issue & keep sharing info
milind70
10-15 02:03 PM
Hi,
Probably ur 485 is going be approved soon!We had only one soft LUD after fp in our 485s on 7th sep 2007,and no luds on i-140 and i-131 till date??
goodluck,
vaishu
I think not since his PD is 2006.
Probably ur 485 is going be approved soon!We had only one soft LUD after fp in our 485s on 7th sep 2007,and no luds on i-140 and i-131 till date??
goodluck,
vaishu
I think not since his PD is 2006.
more...
pappu
06-05 11:26 AM
If you are unable to come to DC, please contribute to this effort by donating funds to immigration voice. It will help us recuperate the costs associated with hosting such a high profile event in Washington DC. If you have not contributed,
click here (http://immigrationvoice.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=26&Itemid=25) and please contribute now. This is an effort that helps each and every one of us. Hopes and prayers will not make visa bulletins current. Congressional action will. And congress will act only if we act to advocate our issues and solutions.
Most of us are still in the limbo of green card process and waiting in different stages. Some of us may have advanced to the I-485 stage and have a little more career flexibility but the hanging sword of uncertainty still looms over our heads.
Our angst, our insecurity:
Even with EAD and other options, lack of green card is lack of security and lack of certainty. You know it and you feel it every day. In order to find a permanent fix for the uncertainty, angst and insecurity and in order to snap out of the probationary lifestyle and career, we have to finish what we started over 4 years ago -- get the U.S. Congress to act on this problem and solve it once and for all.
Early effort wins:
The first agenda of next Congress will be immigration and we expect an immigration bill to be debated sometime in early 2011. However, it would be a big mistake to wait until that time to do something about that bill. Successful advocacy efforts are the ones that start early and introduce concepts and ideas into the debate before the legislators write their first draft. Once the committee hearings and debates begin, it is harder to get changes or fixes into a bill because it requires an amendment to the bill in a politically charged and heated atmosphere. Groups and organizations that wait until the last minute to influence members of congress often fail to achieve results. In order to succeed in next year's immigration bill, we have to begin talking to members of congress now. Remember, the advocacy efforts we did with lobby day and rally in Sept 2007 influenced congress to include our provisions in bipartisan bills introduced in Aug 2008. Legislative things take time.
How you can help:
You and help in two different ways:
Join the advocacy effort in DC on June 7th and 8th. (http://immigrationvoice.org/forum/forum85-action-items-for-everyone/1437978-iv-announcement-advocacy-days-in-washington-dc-7th-and-8th-june.html) If you have never done this before, we encourage you to help us with this and join us. Immigration voice will arrange the logistics of setting up meetings and arranging the material for you to take to your Congressmen and Senators. We are expecting about 150 immigration voice members to gather in DC and participate in over 200 meetings with Congressmen and Senators.
Contributing Funds to help finance the effort. (http://immigrationvoice.org/forum/forum85-action-items-for-everyone/1534974-funding-drive-iv-needs-your-support-for-advocacy-events-in-dc.html) You are most welcome to come to DC and join us but if your job demands are such that you cannot take two days off on June 7th and 8th, then you can still contribute to this effort by contributing financially to Immigration Voice. Kindly contribute funds to this effort by clicking on this link (http://immigrationvoice.org/forum/forum85-action-items-for-everyone/1534974-funding-drive-iv-needs-your-support-for-advocacy-events-in-dc.html). You have an obligation to yourself and your family to plant your career in this country once and for all. EAD and AP, if you have them, are not going to cut it. We are not there yet. And we have to finish together what we started together.
Thank you.
Immigration Voice. (ImmigrationVoice.org - Home (http://www.immigrationvoice.org)).
click here (http://immigrationvoice.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=26&Itemid=25) and please contribute now. This is an effort that helps each and every one of us. Hopes and prayers will not make visa bulletins current. Congressional action will. And congress will act only if we act to advocate our issues and solutions.
Most of us are still in the limbo of green card process and waiting in different stages. Some of us may have advanced to the I-485 stage and have a little more career flexibility but the hanging sword of uncertainty still looms over our heads.
Our angst, our insecurity:
Even with EAD and other options, lack of green card is lack of security and lack of certainty. You know it and you feel it every day. In order to find a permanent fix for the uncertainty, angst and insecurity and in order to snap out of the probationary lifestyle and career, we have to finish what we started over 4 years ago -- get the U.S. Congress to act on this problem and solve it once and for all.
Early effort wins:
The first agenda of next Congress will be immigration and we expect an immigration bill to be debated sometime in early 2011. However, it would be a big mistake to wait until that time to do something about that bill. Successful advocacy efforts are the ones that start early and introduce concepts and ideas into the debate before the legislators write their first draft. Once the committee hearings and debates begin, it is harder to get changes or fixes into a bill because it requires an amendment to the bill in a politically charged and heated atmosphere. Groups and organizations that wait until the last minute to influence members of congress often fail to achieve results. In order to succeed in next year's immigration bill, we have to begin talking to members of congress now. Remember, the advocacy efforts we did with lobby day and rally in Sept 2007 influenced congress to include our provisions in bipartisan bills introduced in Aug 2008. Legislative things take time.
How you can help:
You and help in two different ways:
Join the advocacy effort in DC on June 7th and 8th. (http://immigrationvoice.org/forum/forum85-action-items-for-everyone/1437978-iv-announcement-advocacy-days-in-washington-dc-7th-and-8th-june.html) If you have never done this before, we encourage you to help us with this and join us. Immigration voice will arrange the logistics of setting up meetings and arranging the material for you to take to your Congressmen and Senators. We are expecting about 150 immigration voice members to gather in DC and participate in over 200 meetings with Congressmen and Senators.
Contributing Funds to help finance the effort. (http://immigrationvoice.org/forum/forum85-action-items-for-everyone/1534974-funding-drive-iv-needs-your-support-for-advocacy-events-in-dc.html) You are most welcome to come to DC and join us but if your job demands are such that you cannot take two days off on June 7th and 8th, then you can still contribute to this effort by contributing financially to Immigration Voice. Kindly contribute funds to this effort by clicking on this link (http://immigrationvoice.org/forum/forum85-action-items-for-everyone/1534974-funding-drive-iv-needs-your-support-for-advocacy-events-in-dc.html). You have an obligation to yourself and your family to plant your career in this country once and for all. EAD and AP, if you have them, are not going to cut it. We are not there yet. And we have to finish together what we started together.
Thank you.
Immigration Voice. (ImmigrationVoice.org - Home (http://www.immigrationvoice.org)).
2010 CLIP ART UMBRELLA: and
lostinbeta
10-03 11:56 PM
What part don't you understand exactly? It is a pretty straightforward tutorial.
more...
hsj
07-10 12:06 AM
Hi,
I had applied for my EAD renewal from Nebraska on 6/10 and got the card production ordered mail on 7/8. So your renewal should hopefully come through before your current EAD expires
I had applied for my EAD renewal from Nebraska on 6/10 and got the card production ordered mail on 7/8. So your renewal should hopefully come through before your current EAD expires
hair Blue Umbrella
babuworld
02-08 11:11 AM
Hi,
I filed it for my wife. Please follow the following steps
1. https://efiling.uscis.dhs.gov/efile/ Register your by clicking on new user
2.After Registering it will ask you to select with forms you want to file online.
3. Select I-765 (EAD) file . Make sure you have the following information with you Passport number,Current I-94, DOB, A# number etc, H1B or H4 info ready.
4. Once you fill the form , it will ask for credit card information.
5. Once you submit the form . it will automatically generate LIN number for you.
6. Please Post that form to TSC or NSC what ever center you belong.
NOTE: Please do not post any other document unless asked by USCIS.
7. You will get Recipt number in One week also you will get Figure Print Notice the following week.
Hope this information will help you alot.
I did efiling for Myself and we got Receipt Notice is one week. Figure Print in next week and EAD in 11 weeks.
Good Luck!
Thanks,
babuworld.
I filed it for my wife. Please follow the following steps
1. https://efiling.uscis.dhs.gov/efile/ Register your by clicking on new user
2.After Registering it will ask you to select with forms you want to file online.
3. Select I-765 (EAD) file . Make sure you have the following information with you Passport number,Current I-94, DOB, A# number etc, H1B or H4 info ready.
4. Once you fill the form , it will ask for credit card information.
5. Once you submit the form . it will automatically generate LIN number for you.
6. Please Post that form to TSC or NSC what ever center you belong.
NOTE: Please do not post any other document unless asked by USCIS.
7. You will get Recipt number in One week also you will get Figure Print Notice the following week.
Hope this information will help you alot.
I did efiling for Myself and we got Receipt Notice is one week. Figure Print in next week and EAD in 11 weeks.
Good Luck!
Thanks,
babuworld.
more...
adusumilli
10-01 01:32 PM
I had same message for the I-485 but my EAD is approved. i called NSC about the FP print notice and they said it is issued in error and everything is fine. i have FP appointment on 10/05. So i think you just give a call and check with USCIS.
1. My EAD application status at USCIS website got changed to,
Current Status: Approval notice sent.
this morning. My heartfelt thanks to ImmigrationVoice activists for this.
My spouse's EAD application status still shows as,
Current Status: Case received and pending.
In my case, my spouse's application is the derivative application of mine. Any incidence of spouse's EAD case getting stuck while the primary's application going through?
2. Also, Is EAD approval anyway related/tied to I-485 Application? In that case, it is understandable for my spouse not to see her status changed. Because, her I-485 Applications status is shown as,
Current Status: Fingerprint fee rejected and notice mailed; case in suspense.
though we both have already finished our finger printing. Our attorney says, its USCIS's mistake and he has already sent $70(once again) towards her fingerprinting fees to be on the safer side.
Any information would be helpful.
Thanks,
1. My EAD application status at USCIS website got changed to,
Current Status: Approval notice sent.
this morning. My heartfelt thanks to ImmigrationVoice activists for this.
My spouse's EAD application status still shows as,
Current Status: Case received and pending.
In my case, my spouse's application is the derivative application of mine. Any incidence of spouse's EAD case getting stuck while the primary's application going through?
2. Also, Is EAD approval anyway related/tied to I-485 Application? In that case, it is understandable for my spouse not to see her status changed. Because, her I-485 Applications status is shown as,
Current Status: Fingerprint fee rejected and notice mailed; case in suspense.
though we both have already finished our finger printing. Our attorney says, its USCIS's mistake and he has already sent $70(once again) towards her fingerprinting fees to be on the safer side.
Any information would be helpful.
Thanks,
hot bird with umbrella - Clip Art
sbmallik
09-13 02:44 PM
The Priority Date portability fails only if the approved I-140 was determined to be fraudulent. Otherwise, even if it is revoked, you are good.
Yes, the new employer has to re-start your GC process, so that you can port the older PD to the new application. So, not much time can be gained ...
Other option is to change job after I-485 application is pending for 6 months, but this involves sticking to the current employer for longer time. The advantage is the new employer needn't re-start the process - just invoke AC21 clause and proceed. Exact time requirement depends on your priority date and country of changeability.
Yes, the new employer has to re-start your GC process, so that you can port the older PD to the new application. So, not much time can be gained ...
Other option is to change job after I-485 application is pending for 6 months, but this involves sticking to the current employer for longer time. The advantage is the new employer needn't re-start the process - just invoke AC21 clause and proceed. Exact time requirement depends on your priority date and country of changeability.
more...
house U with umbrella - Clip Art
thakkarbhav
08-26 03:28 PM
Normally in the job ad they specify if they need greencard holder or citizen. If they have not specified and you have job then it is all set. EAD is the document which establish your right to work. so they ask it when you join them. They will take photocopy of it. You need to update them when you renew your EAD.
tattoo Free Silhouette Clipart Image
abhisam
07-09 11:50 AM
I am working on EAD which expires on 10th Septempber 2008. I filed for my EAD on 25th June, 2008 and with the current processing dates at Nebraska, my guess is that I wont recieve my EAD until later September/early October.
Will I have to stop working for the period when I dont have my EAD? My employer is very co-operative and will bear with me. But what are my options?
My husband is the primary applicant of our 485 petition, so we wont have any issues of going out of status.
I would really appreciate your advice on this.
Will I have to stop working for the period when I dont have my EAD? My employer is very co-operative and will bear with me. But what are my options?
My husband is the primary applicant of our 485 petition, so we wont have any issues of going out of status.
I would really appreciate your advice on this.
more...
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tapukakababa
03-11 02:01 PM
Anyone with real experience and have been through this.. please help me?
dresses Black Umbrella clip art
GodHelpUs
03-21 10:48 AM
I am really shocked on looking at this article.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/21/nyregion/21immigrant.html?hp
An Agent, a Green Card, and a Demand for Sex
Article Tools Sponsored By
By NINA BERNSTEIN
Published: March 21, 2008
No problems so far, the immigration agent told the American citizen and his 22-year-old Colombian wife at her green card interview in December. After he stapled one of their wedding photos to her application for legal permanent residency, he had just one more question: What was her cellphone number?
Skip to next paragraph
Enlarge This Image
Uli Seit for The New York Times
Isaac R. Baichu, 46, an adjudicator for the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services, was arrested after he met with a green card applicant at the Flagship Restaurant, a diner in Queens. He is charged with coercing oral sex from her.
Audio A Secret Recording
Enlarge This Image
Uli Seit for The New York Times
The Flagship Restaurant, where Mr. Baichu met with a green card applicant.
The calls from the agent started three days later. He hinted, she said, at his power to derail her life and deport her relatives, alluding to a brush she had with the law before her marriage. He summoned her to a private meeting. And at noon on Dec. 21, in a parked car on Queens Boulevard, he named his price � not realizing that she was recording everything on the cellphone in her purse.
�I want sex,� he said on the recording. �One or two times. That�s all. You get your green card. You won�t have to see me anymore.�
She reluctantly agreed to a future meeting. But when she tried to leave his car, he demanded oral sex �now,� to �know that you�re serious.� And despite her protests, she said, he got his way.
The 16-minute recording, which the woman first took to The New York Times and then to the Queens district attorney, suggests the vast power of low-level immigration law enforcers, and a growing desperation on the part of immigrants seeking legal status. The aftermath, which included the arrest of an immigration agent last week, underscores the difficulty and danger of making a complaint, even in the rare case when abuse of power may have been caught on tape.
No one knows how widespread sexual blackmail is, but the case echoes other instances of sexual coercion that have surfaced in recent years, including agents criminally charged in Atlanta, Miami and Santa Ana, Calif. And it raises broader questions about the system�s vulnerability to corruption at a time when millions of noncitizens live in a kind of legal no-man�s land, increasingly fearful of seeking the law�s protection.
The agent arrested last week, Isaac R. Baichu, 46, himself an immigrant from Guyana, handled some 8,000 green card applications during his three years as an adjudicator in the Garden City, N.Y., office of United States Citizenship and Immigration Services, part of the federal Department of Homeland Security. He pleaded not guilty to felony and misdemeanor charges of coercing the young woman to perform oral sex, and of promising to help her secure immigration papers in exchange for further sexual favors. If convicted, he will face up to seven years in prison.
His agency has suspended him with pay, and the inspector general of Homeland Security is reviewing his other cases, a spokesman said Wednesday. Prosecutors, who say they recorded a meeting between Mr. Baichu and the woman on March 11 at which he made similar demands for sex, urge any other victims to come forward.
Money, not sex, is the more common currency of corruption in immigration, but according to Congressional testimony in 2006 by Michael Maxwell, former director of the agency�s internal investigations, more than 3,000 backlogged complaints of employee misconduct had gone uninvestigated for lack of staff, including 528 involving criminal allegations.
The agency says it has tripled its investigative staff since then, and counts only 165 serious complaints pending. But it stopped posting an e-mail address and phone number for such complaints last year, said Jan Lane, chief of security and integrity, because it lacks the staff to cull the thousands of mostly irrelevant messages that resulted. Immigrants, she advised, should report wrongdoing to any law enforcement agency they trust.
The young woman in Queens, whose name is being withheld because the authorities consider her the victim of a sex crime, did not even tell her husband what had happened. Two weeks after the meeting in the car, finding no way to make a confidential complaint to the immigration agency and afraid to go to the police, she and two older female relatives took the recording to The Times.
Reasons to Worry
A slim, shy woman who looks like a teenager, she said she had spent recent months baby-sitting for relatives in Queens, crying over the deaths of her two brothers back in Cali, Colombia, and longing for the right stamp in her passport � one that would let her return to the United States if she visited her family.
She came to the United States on a tourist visa in 2004 and overstayed. When she married an American citizen a year ago, the law allowed her to apply to �adjust� her illegal status. But unless her green card application was approved, she could not visit her parents or her brothers� graves and then legally re-enter the United States. And if her application was denied, she would face deportation.
She had another reason to be fearful, and not only for herself. About 15 months ago, she said, an acquaintance hired her and two female relatives in New York to carry $12,000 in cash to the bank. The three women, all living in the country illegally, were arrested on the street by customs officers apparently acting on a tip in a money-laundering investigation. After determining that the women had no useful information, the officers released them.
But the closed investigation file had showed up in the computer when she applied for a green card, Mr. Baichu told her in December; until he obtained the file and dealt with it, her application would not be approved. If she defied him, she feared, he could summon immigration enforcement agents to take her relatives to detention.
So instead of calling the police, she turned on the video recorder in her cellphone, put the phone in her purse and walked to meet the agent. Two family members said they watched anxiously from their parked car as she disappeared behind the tinted windows of his red Lexus.
�We were worried that the guy would take off, take her away and do something to her,� the woman�s widowed sister-in-law said in Spanish.
As the recorder captured the agent�s words and a lilting Guyanese accent, he laid out his terms in an easy, almost paternal style. He would not ask too much, he said: sex �once or twice,� visits to his home in the Bronx, perhaps a link to other Colombians who needed his help with their immigration problems.
In shaky English, the woman expressed reluctance, and questioned how she could be sure he would keep his word.
�If I do it, it�s like very hard for me, because I have my husband, and I really fall in love with him,� she said.
The agent insisted that she had to trust him. �I wouldn�t ask you to do something for me if I can�t do something for you, right?� he said, and reasoned, �Nobody going to help you for nothing,� noting that she had no money.
He described himself as the single father of a 10-year-old daughter, telling her, �I need love, too,� and predicting, �You will get to like me because I�m a nice guy.�
Repeatedly, she responded �O.K.,� without conviction. At one point he thanked her for showing up, saying, �I know you feel very scared.�
Finally, she tried to leave. �Let me go because I tell my husband I come home,� she said.
His reply, the recording shows, was a blunt demand for oral sex.
�Right now? No!� she protested. �No, no, right now I can�t.�
He insisted, cajoled, even empathized. �I came from a different country, too,� he said. �I got my green card just like you.�
Then, she said, he grabbed her. During the speechless minute that follows on the recording, she said she yielded to his demand out of fear that he would use his authority against her.
How Much Corruption?
The charges against Mr. Baichu, who became a United States citizen in 1991 and earns roughly $50,000 a year, appear to be part of a larger pattern, according to government records and interviews.
Mr. Maxwell, the immigration agency�s former chief investigator, told Congress in 2006 that internal corruption was �rampant,� and that employees faced constant temptations to commit crime.
�It is only a small step from granting a discretionary waiver of an eligibility rule to asking for a favor or taking a bribe in exchange for granting that waiver,� he contended. �Once an employee learns he can get away with low-level corruption and still advance up the ranks, he or she becomes more brazen.�
�Despite our best efforts there are always people ready to use their position for personal gain or personal pleasure,� said Chris Bentley, a spokesman for Citizenship and Immigration Services. �Our responsibility is to ferret them out.�
When the Queens woman came to The Times with her recording on Jan. 3, she was afraid of retaliation from the agent, and uncertain about making a criminal complaint, though she had an appointment the next day at the Queens district attorney�s office.
Mr. Baichu was arrested as he emerged from the diner and headed to his car, wearing much gold and diamond jewelry, prosecutors said. Later released on $15,000 bail, Mr. Baichu referred calls for comment to his lawyer, Sally Attia, who said he did not have authority to grant or deny green card petitions without his supervisor�s approval.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/21/nyregion/21immigrant.html?hp
An Agent, a Green Card, and a Demand for Sex
Article Tools Sponsored By
By NINA BERNSTEIN
Published: March 21, 2008
No problems so far, the immigration agent told the American citizen and his 22-year-old Colombian wife at her green card interview in December. After he stapled one of their wedding photos to her application for legal permanent residency, he had just one more question: What was her cellphone number?
Skip to next paragraph
Enlarge This Image
Uli Seit for The New York Times
Isaac R. Baichu, 46, an adjudicator for the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services, was arrested after he met with a green card applicant at the Flagship Restaurant, a diner in Queens. He is charged with coercing oral sex from her.
Audio A Secret Recording
Enlarge This Image
Uli Seit for The New York Times
The Flagship Restaurant, where Mr. Baichu met with a green card applicant.
The calls from the agent started three days later. He hinted, she said, at his power to derail her life and deport her relatives, alluding to a brush she had with the law before her marriage. He summoned her to a private meeting. And at noon on Dec. 21, in a parked car on Queens Boulevard, he named his price � not realizing that she was recording everything on the cellphone in her purse.
�I want sex,� he said on the recording. �One or two times. That�s all. You get your green card. You won�t have to see me anymore.�
She reluctantly agreed to a future meeting. But when she tried to leave his car, he demanded oral sex �now,� to �know that you�re serious.� And despite her protests, she said, he got his way.
The 16-minute recording, which the woman first took to The New York Times and then to the Queens district attorney, suggests the vast power of low-level immigration law enforcers, and a growing desperation on the part of immigrants seeking legal status. The aftermath, which included the arrest of an immigration agent last week, underscores the difficulty and danger of making a complaint, even in the rare case when abuse of power may have been caught on tape.
No one knows how widespread sexual blackmail is, but the case echoes other instances of sexual coercion that have surfaced in recent years, including agents criminally charged in Atlanta, Miami and Santa Ana, Calif. And it raises broader questions about the system�s vulnerability to corruption at a time when millions of noncitizens live in a kind of legal no-man�s land, increasingly fearful of seeking the law�s protection.
The agent arrested last week, Isaac R. Baichu, 46, himself an immigrant from Guyana, handled some 8,000 green card applications during his three years as an adjudicator in the Garden City, N.Y., office of United States Citizenship and Immigration Services, part of the federal Department of Homeland Security. He pleaded not guilty to felony and misdemeanor charges of coercing the young woman to perform oral sex, and of promising to help her secure immigration papers in exchange for further sexual favors. If convicted, he will face up to seven years in prison.
His agency has suspended him with pay, and the inspector general of Homeland Security is reviewing his other cases, a spokesman said Wednesday. Prosecutors, who say they recorded a meeting between Mr. Baichu and the woman on March 11 at which he made similar demands for sex, urge any other victims to come forward.
Money, not sex, is the more common currency of corruption in immigration, but according to Congressional testimony in 2006 by Michael Maxwell, former director of the agency�s internal investigations, more than 3,000 backlogged complaints of employee misconduct had gone uninvestigated for lack of staff, including 528 involving criminal allegations.
The agency says it has tripled its investigative staff since then, and counts only 165 serious complaints pending. But it stopped posting an e-mail address and phone number for such complaints last year, said Jan Lane, chief of security and integrity, because it lacks the staff to cull the thousands of mostly irrelevant messages that resulted. Immigrants, she advised, should report wrongdoing to any law enforcement agency they trust.
The young woman in Queens, whose name is being withheld because the authorities consider her the victim of a sex crime, did not even tell her husband what had happened. Two weeks after the meeting in the car, finding no way to make a confidential complaint to the immigration agency and afraid to go to the police, she and two older female relatives took the recording to The Times.
Reasons to Worry
A slim, shy woman who looks like a teenager, she said she had spent recent months baby-sitting for relatives in Queens, crying over the deaths of her two brothers back in Cali, Colombia, and longing for the right stamp in her passport � one that would let her return to the United States if she visited her family.
She came to the United States on a tourist visa in 2004 and overstayed. When she married an American citizen a year ago, the law allowed her to apply to �adjust� her illegal status. But unless her green card application was approved, she could not visit her parents or her brothers� graves and then legally re-enter the United States. And if her application was denied, she would face deportation.
She had another reason to be fearful, and not only for herself. About 15 months ago, she said, an acquaintance hired her and two female relatives in New York to carry $12,000 in cash to the bank. The three women, all living in the country illegally, were arrested on the street by customs officers apparently acting on a tip in a money-laundering investigation. After determining that the women had no useful information, the officers released them.
But the closed investigation file had showed up in the computer when she applied for a green card, Mr. Baichu told her in December; until he obtained the file and dealt with it, her application would not be approved. If she defied him, she feared, he could summon immigration enforcement agents to take her relatives to detention.
So instead of calling the police, she turned on the video recorder in her cellphone, put the phone in her purse and walked to meet the agent. Two family members said they watched anxiously from their parked car as she disappeared behind the tinted windows of his red Lexus.
�We were worried that the guy would take off, take her away and do something to her,� the woman�s widowed sister-in-law said in Spanish.
As the recorder captured the agent�s words and a lilting Guyanese accent, he laid out his terms in an easy, almost paternal style. He would not ask too much, he said: sex �once or twice,� visits to his home in the Bronx, perhaps a link to other Colombians who needed his help with their immigration problems.
In shaky English, the woman expressed reluctance, and questioned how she could be sure he would keep his word.
�If I do it, it�s like very hard for me, because I have my husband, and I really fall in love with him,� she said.
The agent insisted that she had to trust him. �I wouldn�t ask you to do something for me if I can�t do something for you, right?� he said, and reasoned, �Nobody going to help you for nothing,� noting that she had no money.
He described himself as the single father of a 10-year-old daughter, telling her, �I need love, too,� and predicting, �You will get to like me because I�m a nice guy.�
Repeatedly, she responded �O.K.,� without conviction. At one point he thanked her for showing up, saying, �I know you feel very scared.�
Finally, she tried to leave. �Let me go because I tell my husband I come home,� she said.
His reply, the recording shows, was a blunt demand for oral sex.
�Right now? No!� she protested. �No, no, right now I can�t.�
He insisted, cajoled, even empathized. �I came from a different country, too,� he said. �I got my green card just like you.�
Then, she said, he grabbed her. During the speechless minute that follows on the recording, she said she yielded to his demand out of fear that he would use his authority against her.
How Much Corruption?
The charges against Mr. Baichu, who became a United States citizen in 1991 and earns roughly $50,000 a year, appear to be part of a larger pattern, according to government records and interviews.
Mr. Maxwell, the immigration agency�s former chief investigator, told Congress in 2006 that internal corruption was �rampant,� and that employees faced constant temptations to commit crime.
�It is only a small step from granting a discretionary waiver of an eligibility rule to asking for a favor or taking a bribe in exchange for granting that waiver,� he contended. �Once an employee learns he can get away with low-level corruption and still advance up the ranks, he or she becomes more brazen.�
�Despite our best efforts there are always people ready to use their position for personal gain or personal pleasure,� said Chris Bentley, a spokesman for Citizenship and Immigration Services. �Our responsibility is to ferret them out.�
When the Queens woman came to The Times with her recording on Jan. 3, she was afraid of retaliation from the agent, and uncertain about making a criminal complaint, though she had an appointment the next day at the Queens district attorney�s office.
Mr. Baichu was arrested as he emerged from the diner and headed to his car, wearing much gold and diamond jewelry, prosecutors said. Later released on $15,000 bail, Mr. Baichu referred calls for comment to his lawyer, Sally Attia, who said he did not have authority to grant or deny green card petitions without his supervisor�s approval.
more...
makeup General Clip Art
mdipi
10-28 09:15 PM
eberth, did you do the bed?
girlfriend KLEC: Clipart
ca_immigrant
03-25 04:39 PM
the one from vamsi has gone up to 116 now...
vote for a question folks....ask your friends also to vote..
does not hurt to try our luck...
vote for a question folks....ask your friends also to vote..
does not hurt to try our luck...
hairstyles The above clipart are from
dealsnet
08-05 11:17 AM
I did spend EAD renewal for me and wife. Within 1 week our GC is approved. I think because of this application, they took my file out and approved. So I didn't regret the amount spend for this. I have received EAD denial letter after 3 weeks. So this is our last amount for USCIS. Many people with older priority date still in their shelf. Think about it and be happy.
I've applied for EAD/AP renewal for both myself and my wife. I spent $1,290 for this.
Say I got my GC approved and then I call USCIS and withdraw my pending EAD/AP application. Will I get a refund for pending EAD/AP application, if I get my GC approved before EAD/AP approval?
Thanks,
India EB2; PD - Nov 05
I-140 - Filed Mar '06; Approved Jun '06
I-485 - Reached NSC July 26'07;
I've applied for EAD/AP renewal for both myself and my wife. I spent $1,290 for this.
Say I got my GC approved and then I call USCIS and withdraw my pending EAD/AP application. Will I get a refund for pending EAD/AP application, if I get my GC approved before EAD/AP approval?
Thanks,
India EB2; PD - Nov 05
I-140 - Filed Mar '06; Approved Jun '06
I-485 - Reached NSC July 26'07;
tabletpc
05-28 11:43 AM
gc_on_demand
when you say "You will be back on line in this mess."...do you mean I again need to get PERM approved from new company and i-140 and then apply for 485..??
or can I jsut apply for 485 with previous company labor and i-140 approval...??
when you say "You will be back on line in this mess."...do you mean I again need to get PERM approved from new company and i-140 and then apply for 485..??
or can I jsut apply for 485 with previous company labor and i-140 approval...??
zCool
04-01 05:27 PM
"Bought" the labor?
So you broke the LAW..
And now you want to know how to break it further??
You are ignorant, and CRIMINAL!
Not to mention stupid!
Get the heck outta here..
So you broke the LAW..
And now you want to know how to break it further??
You are ignorant, and CRIMINAL!
Not to mention stupid!
Get the heck outta here..