Is Money Behind U.S.C.I.S. Move to have Department of State take
Unprecedented Action to “Update” July Visa Chart?
By Alan Lee, Esq.†‡
Was the Department of State's unprecedented action on July 2, 2007,
issuing an "Update on July Visa Availability" closing
off visa availability for the rest of the fiscal year for employment
based cases and essentially gutting its July visa bulletin (which
opened the employment based categories EB-1 through EB-3 for adjustment
of status applications) all about the money with U.S.C.I.S. in the
role of culprit? We believe the answer unfortunately is "yes"
and reflects U.S.C.I.S.'s desperate desire to grab its huge future
fee increase from individuals that it saw slipping through its fingers.
U.S.C.I.S. undoubtedly perceived its expected windfall of hundreds
of millions of dollars through its outlandish July 30th increase
in fees for petitions and applications (average increase 66%) threatened
by the July visa chart which would allow many employment based individuals
and their families to beat the fee increases. A typical family of
four (husband, wife, child aged 16 and the other 12) applying for
adjustment of status currently pays $1,605 to U.S.C.I.S. (including
I-140 charge). That same family on and after July 30th would pay
$4,105, an increase of $2,500, or 255%. If one multiplies those
figures by at least 100,000 ( $250 million difference) 1,
one can imagine the explosive temper of top U.S.C.I.S. officials
when they saw the Visa Office July chart. U.S.C.I.S. has made no
bones that it is depending upon the fee increases to fund its proposed
systems and structures for the 21st century.
The Visa Office made it clear through the updating of the visa
bulletin that its update was only because of U.S.C.I.S. action using
the phrases "The sudden backlog reduction efforts by Citizenship
and Immigration Services Offices during the past month....",
and "As a result of this unexpected action....." The Visa
Office cited these efforts as resulting in the use of almost 60,000
employment numbers. It is also clear that the Visa Office had no
wish to defend U.S.C.I.S. when it issued its update on July 2nd.
Whether it retains its stance in the future of washing its hands
and pointing the finger at U.S.C.I.S. remains to be seen in light
of probable Administration pressure to spin the story in a more
positive light to the government as this Administration has exhibited
a continual attitude of "soaking" immigrants, legal or
otherwise ( $25,000+ for a family of four to immigrate under the
recent fallen Senate bill ( See our article, “$10,000 Required
For Earned Legalization and Adjustment Under the Secure Borders,
Employment Opportunity and Immigration Reform Act”, http://www.alanleelaw.com/english/articles/a2007-05-26.htm),
which figure was modified from the earlier Administration proposal
of $82,000+ ( See our article, “Mr. Lee's Comment to March
28, 2007 White House Immigration Reform Proposal - Z Visas”,
http://www.ilw.com/immigdaily/digest/2007,0403.shtm
in "LETTERS" section), the passed amendment to S. 1639
raising H-1B surcharge fees to $5,000 on top of the fraud ($500)
and filing ($190) fees, and the rapacious July 30th U.S.C.I.S. fee
increase). The author recalls his telephone conversation with Charlie
Oppenheim, the chief of immigrant visa control and reporting, Visa
Office, in December 2004 concerning the 101,000 "pool numbers",
in which Mr. Oppenheim gave no credence to U.S.C.I.S. figures that
the agency had cleared over 100,000 cases (including dependents)
between April and November. (The exact differential was 115,000
cases, a rate of about 16,400 per month). The author has no knowledge
of the exact number of cases that U.S.C.I.S. claimed to close in
June for the State Department to announce that almost 60,000 employment
numbers were used (employment based immigrant visa numbers are also
requested by U.S. consulates and embassies), but notes that the
vast majority of employment based cases are with aliens in the States
who adjust status here rather than consular processing their cases.
If U.S.C.I.S. claimed to clear anywhere in the area of 40,000-50,000
cases last month, that number for one month is difficult if not
incredulous to believe, and if true would have involved massive
shifts of U.S.C.I.S. personnel from other responsibilities to comb
through and adjudicate all files of persons eligible to immigrate
through employment, or less than careful consideration of the cases.
Hopefully the agency was not in such a desperate state as to cut
corners to endanger our national security if it was the latter case.
The facts and the legality of U.S.C.I.S.'s actions will undoubtedly
be the subject of multiple lawsuits. However this turns out, the
agency and the Administration will wind up with less respect than
before. This Administration needs all the good publicity that it
can muster in light of its unpopular Iraq war and recent actions
freeing Scooter Libby (not even Paris Hilton avoided imprisonment)
and supporting Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and creating further
public mistrust of the justice system even after confirmation that
he and other White House aides politicized the selection of United
States Attorneys. Unless U.S.C.I.S. and the Visa Office can change
course, this episode will unfortunately become a black eye to all
parties as further facts emerge in the coming days.
1 100,000 + figure based upon author's conjecture
of number of labor certifications granted since March 2005 (pre
and post PERM), cases pending with U.S.C.I.S. in early 2005, and
non labor certification employment based immigrant categories set
off by the annual allotment of available employment based immigrant
visas since March 2005. Further research would have to be done to
establish more accurate figures, but the author would be surprised
if the figure was any less as even U.S.C.I.S. believed that an open
employment chart for July would cause an avalanche of applications.
To deal with the anticipated level of applications, the agency closed
premium processing of I-140 petitions for 30 days using phrases
in its June 27, 2007, announcement such as "due to pent up
demand for preference visa categories for which visas will become
available...", "substantial increase...", and "volume
of Form I-140 petitions ... expected to exceed USCIS' capacity to
provide the Premium Processing Service."
|
