
End Discriminatory Practice of the Visa Number Allocation Process
Discriminatory Practice Led to Disadvantage of China Employment-Based Second Preference in FY 2011, We Need to End it Now!
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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