End Discriminatory Practice of the Visa Number Allocation Process

style='mso-spacerun:yes'>                                                                                             

 

End Discriminatory

Practice That Led to Disadvantage of China Employment-Based Second Preference in

FY 2011

lang=X-NONE style='mso-fareast-language:ZH-CN'>I am

writing to express my grave concerns
lang=X-NONE style='mso-fareast-language:ZH-CN'> regard
style='mso-fareast-font-family:SimSun;mso-fareast-language:ZH-CN'>ing
lang=X-NONE style='mso-fareast-language:ZH-CN'>
style='mso-fareast-font-family:SimSun;mso-fareast-language:ZH-CN'>severe discriminatory

practice of the crucial visa number
lang=X-NONE style='mso-fareast-font-family:SimSun;mso-fareast-language:ZH-CN'>allocation

process under of the Immigration Visa Control and Report Division (Visa Office).

This issue is emergent and need
style='mso-ansi-language:EN-US'>s immediate attention.
lang=X-NONE style='mso-fareast-font-family:SimSun;mso-fareast-language:ZH-CN'>

lang=X-NONE style='mso-fareast-language:ZH-CN'>Numbers and facts show severe d
lang=X-NONE style='mso-fareast-font-family:SimSun;mso-fareast-language:ZH-CN'>iscriminatory

practice by the

Visa Office with regard to the way visa numbers are
style='mso-fareast-language:ZH-CN'> assign
style='mso-fareast-font-family:SimSun;mso-fareast-language:ZH-CN'>ed
lang=X-NONE style='mso-fareast-language:ZH-CN'> to documentarily qualified

applicants of China Employment-Based Second Preference (EB2) in FY 2011.
style='mso-bidi-font-weight:normal'>Specifically,
style='mso-bidi-font-weight:normal'> the Visa Office?s allocation plan violates the

non-discrimination principle of INA Sec. 202(a) (1) (A) (See Appendix A).
style='mso-bidi-font-weight:normal'> China EB2 is facing the result of losing visa numbers allowed by the

law and is the only disadvantaged EB2 group
lang=X-NONE style='mso-fareast-language:ZH-CN'> in FY 2011.
lang=X-NONE style='mso-fareast-font-family:SimSun;mso-fareast-language:ZH-CN'>

style='font-size:14.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>Visa

Office?s allocation plan violates the non-discrimination principle of INA Sec.

202 (a) (1) (A)

lang=X-NONE>INA 202 specifies a per-country limit to preclude preemption of the

annual numbers by one or more foreign states. China and India are the only two

oversubscribed countries whose visa demand exceeds the per-country limit. The

yearly limit for China EB-2 and India EB-2 are 2,803 each. INA also allows

?unused visa numbers? to be shared by oversubscribed countries.

lang=X-NONE>The Visa Office stated in March that there are about 12,000 ?unused

visa numbers? from EB-1 category to be allocated to EB-2 category. According to

INA, no country can start using ?unused visa numbers? while another country is

still oversubscribed (Priority date is not current) but has NOT reached the

yearly limit of 2803. According to the data provided by USCIS, China EB-2

pending cases only decreased by 1350 from Oct.2010 to Mar. 2011, which means China

EB-2 is still 1450 away (more than half) to reach yearly per-country limit of

2803.

lang=X-NONE>According to communication with the Visa Office, the Visa Office

will advance Indian EB-2 priority date to allow them reaching their country

limit and using ?unused visa numbers? in May 2011, while discriminately holding

China EB-2 priority date back and disallowing China EB-2 to reach its own

yearly limit of 2803. In other words, Indian

EB-2 is allowed to consume visa numbers at a faster rate and reaching their

limit much earlier than China EB-2, which put China EB-2 in a very disadvantage
style='mso-bidi-font-weight:normal'>d
lang=X-NONE> position. This is not only unfair but

violates the non-discrimination principle of INA Sec. 202(a) (1) (A).

lang=X-NONE>Visa bulletin for May 2011 will be announced in about one week,

this discriminately and unlawful visa allocation practice must be corrected

immediately. We sincerely request and strongly urge actions be immediately taken

to stop the Visa Office from this severely
style='mso-fareast-font-family:SimSun;mso-fareast-language:ZH-CN'>
lang=X-NONE>discriminatory practice.

style='font-size:14.0pt'>China EB2 is

the only disadvantaged
lang=X-NONE style='font-size:14.0pt'>group

in FY 2011
lang=X-NONE style='font-size:14.0pt'>

lang=X-NONE style='mso-fareast-font-family:SimSun;mso-fareast-language:ZH-CN'>The

Visa Office has shown vast inconsistency in the way of allotting visa numbers

to different countries. The numbers and facts show that China EB2 as a group is

unfairly treated no matter what the explanations might be. This unfortunate

situation is due to the discriminatory practice of the visa number allocation

process by setting too early cut-off date on China EB2 and limiting our visa

number consumption
style='mso-fareast-font-family:SimSun;mso-fareast-language:ZH-CN'> rate while

allowing other country like India to consume visa number more quickly, which makes

China?s backlog situation much worse. As a matter of fact, China EB2 is the

only disadvantaged EB2 group.

style='font-size:14.0pt;mso-fareast-language:ZH-CN'>Summary

lang=X-NONE style='mso-fareast-font-family:SimSun;mso-fareast-language:ZH-CN'>Legal

immigration remains a long and exhausting process for many immigrants and their

families. These are all people coming here legally and working as scientists

and high tech engineers who are making tremendous contribution to America and

keep this country competitive in world. Many wait more than five years for immigration

visa numbers to be available to them while their lives hang in the balance. Thus,

it?s very important to have a fair and transparent visa number allocation

process.

lang=X-NONE>Based on the information above, I believe that the current way of

allocating visas to China EB2 violates the

non-discrimination principle of INA Sec. 202(a) (1) (A). Actions need to be

taken immediately to make the corrections and to prevent visa wastage. Therefore,

I respectfully expect your assistance to resolve this situation in the

following ways:

lang=X-NONE style='mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";mso-fareast-language:

ZH-CN'>1.     

Allow China EB-2 and Indian EB-2 to reach the

2803 country limit at the same time, and advance cut-off date of China EB2 accordingly
lang=X-NONE style='mso-fareast-font-family:SimSun;mso-fareast-language:ZH-CN'>.

style='mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";mso-ansi-language:EN-US'>
style='mso-list:Ignore'>2.     

Abide the non-discrimination principle of INA

Sec. 202(a) (1) (A), and allocate ?unused visa number?
style='mso-ansi-language:EN-US'> (spillover visa numbers)
lang=X-NONE> fairly among China EB-2 and Indian EB-2
style='mso-ansi-language:EN-US'>: instead of allocating spillover strictly

based on priority date which does NOT follow the congressional intent of

keeping the flow of immigrants level on a per country basis, we strongly urge

the Visa Office to allocate them by

sharing them evenly among all countries who are backlogged in the Second

Preference (50% each to India and China).
style='mso-ansi-language:EN-US'>This will follow Congressional intent with

respect to the spill-over, whereas simply giving them out according to the

priority date results in EB-2 India receiving almost all of the spill-over

visas.

lang=X-NONE style='mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";mso-fareast-language:

ZH-CN'>3.     

Make the visa allocation process more

transparent, providing actual approved immigration visa numbers for each

country monthly.

lang=X-NONE style='mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";mso-fareast-language:

ZH-CN'>4.     

Discuss these matters with members of the

subcommittee on Immigration and members of the Committee on the Judiciary and

explain to them the necessity of urging the Visa Office to follow the INA

strictly.

lang=X-NONE>If you have any questions about this, please contact me
style='mso-ansi-language:EN-US'>by email at contact@niunational.org
lang=X-NONE>.

lang=X-NONE>Thank you

very much for your time
style='mso-fareast-font-family:SimSun;mso-fareast-language:ZH-CN'> and consideration.

Sincerely yours,

A China EB2 applicant and

Member of New Immigrants United

style='mso-bidi-font-weight:normal'>Appendix A

INA Sec. 202(a) (1) (A) -

Provisions of the Law on non-discrimination principle

Sec. 202. [8 U.S.C. 1152]
style='mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"'>

(a) Per Country Level. -
style='mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"'>

(1) Nondiscrimination. -
style='mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"'>

(A)

Except as specifically provided in paragraph (2) and in sections
href="http://www.uscis.gov/ilink/docView/SLB/HTML/SLB/0-0-0-1/0-0-0-29/0-0-0-101/0-0-0-195.html#0-0-0-843">101(a)(27)

,
href="http://www.uscis.gov/ilink/docView/SLB/HTML/SLB/0-0-0-1/0-0-0-29/0-0-0-914.html#0-0-0-699">201(b)(2)(A)(i)

, and 203, no person shall receive any preference or priority or be

discriminated against in the issuance of an immigrant visa because of the

person's race, sex, nationality, place of birth, or place of residence.
style='mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"'>

More information:

http://www.uscis.gov/ilink/docView/SLB/HTML/SLB/0-0-0-1/0-0-0-29/0-0-0-1016.html

style='mso-bidi-font-weight:normal'>Appendix B

href="http://www.travel.state.gov/pdf/EmploymentDemandUsedForCutOffDates.pdf">http://www.travel.state.gov/pdf/EmploymentDemandUsedForCutOffDates.pdf