DSLStart
11-04 09:36 AM
Just replace the word Dil with GC in that song from Dil and it fits perfect :D
ok , here is the best ..
Mujhe Nind Na aaye , nind na aaaye hai , mujhe chen na aaye ,chane na aaye ...
YouTube - Mujhe neend Na Aaye - Dil (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ypMIhmEfK2w)
Another one but really goes with it ,
Aisi deewangi dekhi nahin ...
YouTube - aisi deewangi (Deewana) (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hXmL7WpMyu4&feature=related)
ok , here is the best ..
Mujhe Nind Na aaye , nind na aaaye hai , mujhe chen na aaye ,chane na aaye ...
YouTube - Mujhe neend Na Aaye - Dil (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ypMIhmEfK2w)
Another one but really goes with it ,
Aisi deewangi dekhi nahin ...
YouTube - aisi deewangi (Deewana) (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hXmL7WpMyu4&feature=related)
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bidhanc
03-06 10:57 PM
Same here. We submitted 485 on Jul2 without our medicals and some other major documents like birth certificates etc. Have had not issues till now. Got our receipt notices for 485, AP & EAD. Also got our EADs pretty quickly.
Wondering whether one can mail in the missing docs (including medical) with the 485 receipt instead of waiting for the RFE. Any ideas?
Hi stu*
Did you get an answer whether we can send the medical papers to USCIS now with I-485 receipts?
Would it work?
Anyone??
Wondering whether one can mail in the missing docs (including medical) with the 485 receipt instead of waiting for the RFE. Any ideas?
Hi stu*
Did you get an answer whether we can send the medical papers to USCIS now with I-485 receipts?
Would it work?
Anyone??
indio0617
02-08 09:29 AM
Yes. Travelling through Europe has become a big hassle these days. Avoid the London route. It is the worst. I have travelled via Frankfurt (Lufthansa) several times. But Lufthansa is getting troublesome too these days.
The South Asian route via Singapore is the best. SIA In- flight service is excellent and you will notice a marked difference in their "attitudes". I have heard about China Airlines too. You might want to check that out as well.
The South Asian route via Singapore is the best. SIA In- flight service is excellent and you will notice a marked difference in their "attitudes". I have heard about China Airlines too. You might want to check that out as well.
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bbct
02-11 08:05 PM
http://www.thedegreepeople.com/eb-petition.html
So go ahead on sign in the petition. Dont know how far it goes but atleast it does something good.
I get a message "Remote submissions are not allowed."
So go ahead on sign in the petition. Dont know how far it goes but atleast it does something good.
I get a message "Remote submissions are not allowed."
more...
nashim
08-11 09:56 AM
please add year 05, 06, 07 and 08 too.
belmontboy
05-21 04:56 PM
we have become subject of joke for them!
more...
txh1b
08-16 05:14 PM
1. Depends on the IO. Most of them take you for the interview together unless the legitamacy of your marriage is in question which will not likely be the case for employment based GC unless the marriage was close to the visa bulletin date or similar.
2. You can take any attorney you want to however it is not needed if your case is straight forward. If you have out of stay period , gap in employment and criminal issue, an attorney can just advise you in case the IO asks something that is against the law or you answering the question might prove to have bad consequences. The attorney cannot answer any of the questions asked. Take all documents and not just the ones mentioned in the interview. It would help you for any out of the way questions.
AN attorney is really not needed for many cases unless you have any criminal convictions or borderline legal points to make you eligible for the 485.
2. You can take any attorney you want to however it is not needed if your case is straight forward. If you have out of stay period , gap in employment and criminal issue, an attorney can just advise you in case the IO asks something that is against the law or you answering the question might prove to have bad consequences. The attorney cannot answer any of the questions asked. Take all documents and not just the ones mentioned in the interview. It would help you for any out of the way questions.
AN attorney is really not needed for many cases unless you have any criminal convictions or borderline legal points to make you eligible for the 485.
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Aah_GC
06-17 03:52 PM
What my Attorney (Prashanti Reddy - who does free sessions on IV) said
This is exactly right, if your I140 is revoked, you might as well get a NOID. So, make sure you keep all your GC-sponsored employer's releiving letter, paystubs for the post 180 days of I485 application. That is the only proof that you were employed legally with the GC-sponsoring employer for that 180 day period.
On the AC21 - technically even if you are unemployed and yet have a similar / same job waiting for you, you should still end up getting your GC. I would strongly recommend to make the best use of AC21 and progress in your career.
This is exactly right, if your I140 is revoked, you might as well get a NOID. So, make sure you keep all your GC-sponsored employer's releiving letter, paystubs for the post 180 days of I485 application. That is the only proof that you were employed legally with the GC-sponsoring employer for that 180 day period.
On the AC21 - technically even if you are unemployed and yet have a similar / same job waiting for you, you should still end up getting your GC. I would strongly recommend to make the best use of AC21 and progress in your career.
more...
ramaonline
09-25 06:09 PM
if u stay outside the US for 366 days, the h1 clock is reset - then u can re-enter in h1 status for a new 6 year term - u must have an approved h1b petition, the new petition is subject to cap. (which gets exhausted really soon) -
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man-woman-and-gc
03-10 10:48 AM
. I had the same. you should be getting an Interview at the local office soon(in one or two months time). They want to verify something regarding your case. In my case it was the missing vaccination document
Thankks for responding. Atleast now I know that my application is alive at USCIS.
Thankks for responding. Atleast now I know that my application is alive at USCIS.
more...
rb_248
01-08 02:46 PM
I read on www.immigration-law.com
01/08/2009: Bill Introduced in the House for Comprehensive Immigration Reform
Rep> Sheila Jackson-Lee of Texas introduced H.R.264 yesterday to amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to comprehensively reform immigration law, and for other purposes. For the full text of the bill, please stay tuned.
http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/D?d111:8:./temp/~bdW24V::|/bss/111search.html
H.R.264
Title: To amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to comprehensively reform immigration law, and for other purposes.
Sponsor: Rep Jackson-Lee, Sheila [TX-18] (introduced 1/7/2009) Cosponsors (None)
Latest Major Action: 1/7/2009 Referred to House committee. Status: Referred to the Committee on the Judiciary, and in addition to the Committees on Homeland Security, and Oversight and Government Reform, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned.
Text:
http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c111:H.R.264:
I don't think they will act on this until the economic issues are resolved.
01/08/2009: Bill Introduced in the House for Comprehensive Immigration Reform
Rep> Sheila Jackson-Lee of Texas introduced H.R.264 yesterday to amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to comprehensively reform immigration law, and for other purposes. For the full text of the bill, please stay tuned.
http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/D?d111:8:./temp/~bdW24V::|/bss/111search.html
H.R.264
Title: To amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to comprehensively reform immigration law, and for other purposes.
Sponsor: Rep Jackson-Lee, Sheila [TX-18] (introduced 1/7/2009) Cosponsors (None)
Latest Major Action: 1/7/2009 Referred to House committee. Status: Referred to the Committee on the Judiciary, and in addition to the Committees on Homeland Security, and Oversight and Government Reform, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned.
Text:
http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c111:H.R.264:
I don't think they will act on this until the economic issues are resolved.
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tnite
10-31 10:26 AM
4 months from now, there will be another rush for applications for EADs and people will be spending money for it. Everyone will be back on the forums talking about notices and late processing for these applications. Lot of people will have heartburns and their jobs can be in trouble if their EADs do not arrive on time.
We do not seem to look at the bleak picture ahead in future and are worrying about EADS, AP and notices now. The real problem is retrogression and not if TSC is slower than NSC or vice versa or receipt notices. (You will be surprised that people write to us telling us to focus lobbying efforts on making TSC faster than NSC since that is a big problem faced by millions of people)
The end result of this constant renewals of EAD and AP is heartache, frustration and loss of money for us. We ultimately lose if we do not wake up now and do something.
Unless this community is ready to raise its voice, nothing WILL be done for us in the near future.
You're right pappu, most folks only care about a short term solution to this problem. Even without this mess folks who had applied for EAD or AP sometimes got their documents late and they ended up taking unpaid leave from work to make sure they are not working illegally.
With so many apps in the pipeline, I just cant imagine the delays.Not that I am pessimistic but trying to be prepared for the worst.
And add to that the financial burden of applying ever year (approx $700) for applicant and derivative.That's something you could have saved, spent on your family instead ended up renewing the EAD/AP.
Just my 2 cents
We do not seem to look at the bleak picture ahead in future and are worrying about EADS, AP and notices now. The real problem is retrogression and not if TSC is slower than NSC or vice versa or receipt notices. (You will be surprised that people write to us telling us to focus lobbying efforts on making TSC faster than NSC since that is a big problem faced by millions of people)
The end result of this constant renewals of EAD and AP is heartache, frustration and loss of money for us. We ultimately lose if we do not wake up now and do something.
Unless this community is ready to raise its voice, nothing WILL be done for us in the near future.
You're right pappu, most folks only care about a short term solution to this problem. Even without this mess folks who had applied for EAD or AP sometimes got their documents late and they ended up taking unpaid leave from work to make sure they are not working illegally.
With so many apps in the pipeline, I just cant imagine the delays.Not that I am pessimistic but trying to be prepared for the worst.
And add to that the financial burden of applying ever year (approx $700) for applicant and derivative.That's something you could have saved, spent on your family instead ended up renewing the EAD/AP.
Just my 2 cents
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eb3_nepa
07-23 12:08 PM
ya , in ur words agents
raju_abc. With all due respect to new members.
For one, where you should work is up to you and this forum is NOT the place for questions like, what location is the best to work at.
Secondly, do you realize that you have wasted a perfectly good H1B visa that someone else could have obtained?
raju_abc. With all due respect to new members.
For one, where you should work is up to you and this forum is NOT the place for questions like, what location is the best to work at.
Secondly, do you realize that you have wasted a perfectly good H1B visa that someone else could have obtained?
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a_yaja
03-19 11:26 AM
For the folks (Ajju) who e-filed using a new SSN for their wives - and used the Paperless option: I understand that you have to put $0 for AGI, how about the PIN - should I (correctly) enter the PIN that was used for the 2006 filing OR does that have to change as well?
I have e-filed using $0 and last year's PIN, waiting to see if that goes through. It's been rejected twice so far, since I was using non-zero AGI amount.
Thanks!
How would you put AGI = $0. Would not the AGI be calculated by the tax software? I used TaxACT to efile, and it calculated everything for me. I didn't have an option to enter the AGI anywhere. For e-file, the name/ SSN/ birthdate combination should match (or name/ ITIN/ birthdate if you are using ITIN) - that is the only requirement. The second part is the one where you either send in the 8453 OL form or you enter the exact amount from the 2006 returns (in which case you don't need to mail 8453 OL). I choose the 8453 OL route and I received my tax refund in exactly two weeks.
I have e-filed using $0 and last year's PIN, waiting to see if that goes through. It's been rejected twice so far, since I was using non-zero AGI amount.
Thanks!
How would you put AGI = $0. Would not the AGI be calculated by the tax software? I used TaxACT to efile, and it calculated everything for me. I didn't have an option to enter the AGI anywhere. For e-file, the name/ SSN/ birthdate combination should match (or name/ ITIN/ birthdate if you are using ITIN) - that is the only requirement. The second part is the one where you either send in the 8453 OL form or you enter the exact amount from the 2006 returns (in which case you don't need to mail 8453 OL). I choose the 8453 OL route and I received my tax refund in exactly two weeks.
more...
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MDix
09-18 10:05 PM
How do we know that there would be more FB Visa. This allocation is by law and whatever left by FB get distributed in EB.
Does any one on this forum know under what section of law family to emp based spill over happens ? Last year DOS allocated some 10k family visas ( unused) to emp quota but it was distributed.
Just checking if this allocation is by book of law or interpretation of DOS based on some law. There are some chances that this year family based quota could be more and if DOS make them to fall down from Eb1 -- > Eb2 --> Eb3 -- > Eb4 -- > Eb5. then it could make C for all EB2 and those visas can fall down to Eb3 and this way in Oct 2010 atleast EB3 India get some 10-15 k extra visas. but if DOS allocate them across all category from day one then Eb2 row and Eb1 , 4, 5 keep consuming them and during last quarter spill over come down less..
Lets find out if there is any thing in law.
Does any one on this forum know under what section of law family to emp based spill over happens ? Last year DOS allocated some 10k family visas ( unused) to emp quota but it was distributed.
Just checking if this allocation is by book of law or interpretation of DOS based on some law. There are some chances that this year family based quota could be more and if DOS make them to fall down from Eb1 -- > Eb2 --> Eb3 -- > Eb4 -- > Eb5. then it could make C for all EB2 and those visas can fall down to Eb3 and this way in Oct 2010 atleast EB3 India get some 10-15 k extra visas. but if DOS allocate them across all category from day one then Eb2 row and Eb1 , 4, 5 keep consuming them and during last quarter spill over come down less..
Lets find out if there is any thing in law.
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gapala
03-27 06:52 PM
Immigration is not a popular topic at these times...
Guys watch this video.. Where is the promised transparency? imagine what could happen if this goes through...
US Government is going to access your PC.. up next? Are they going to scan through underwear?
Why is that so called independent and powerful US media mum on this issue?
http://video.google.com/?hl=en&tab=nv
Guys watch this video.. Where is the promised transparency? imagine what could happen if this goes through...
US Government is going to access your PC.. up next? Are they going to scan through underwear?
Why is that so called independent and powerful US media mum on this issue?
http://video.google.com/?hl=en&tab=nv
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nhfirefighter13
May 3rd, 2005, 04:55 AM
Nice work Anders. Personally, I pan for the stuff on the ground and leave the in air stuff static.
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09-09 12:59 PM
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prdgl
02-11 11:08 AM
But quality of life is determined by the freedom and once you get your GC then you will be able to do anything, right ? or I am thinking wrong.
If I did that, my EB2 category is current, my EB3 category is retrogressed - but I value my job and quality of life at my current company higher than the risk of moving to another job JUST to get a greencard quicker
Also, are you talking about the risk involved in changing jobs because of H1B transfer process. Because I am a contractor and all consulting companies are MORE or LESS the same. They all try to make money out of you. So I am trying to understand what kind of risk is that.
Your thoghts are important. Please let me know.
Thanks
If I did that, my EB2 category is current, my EB3 category is retrogressed - but I value my job and quality of life at my current company higher than the risk of moving to another job JUST to get a greencard quicker
Also, are you talking about the risk involved in changing jobs because of H1B transfer process. Because I am a contractor and all consulting companies are MORE or LESS the same. They all try to make money out of you. So I am trying to understand what kind of risk is that.
Your thoghts are important. Please let me know.
Thanks
Lollerskater
04-23 11:46 AM
I have a filing date of July 2nd 2007. My RD? A fantastic Oct 21 2007. That's 3 and a half months, more than a quarter year away.
I filed at NSC, my case ended up in TSC.
Nothing much makes sense, nowadays. :confused:
I filed at NSC, my case ended up in TSC.
Nothing much makes sense, nowadays. :confused:
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.