I am writing you concerning an immigration issue that I believe needs your attention. As you may or may not know, the State Department has recently released the October 2005 “Visa Bulletin”. In that bulletin, the State Department announced the “priority dates” for the month of October.
Priority dates are critical to those immigrants seeking permanent residence (“Green Card”) in the United States. An immigrant may not apply for, or receive permanent resident status unless their priority date falls on, or before, the date announced by the State Department. An immigrant’s priority date is most commonly the date the US Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS) receives that immigrant’s initial application (“labor certification”) for permanent residency.
For October 2005, the priority date announced for “skilled workers” was March 2001, which is more than one year earlier than previously announced priority dates. For those immigrants from India, China, Philippines and Mexico the priority dates have been moved back even further. This means that unless an immigrant filed their labor certification before March 2001, their application will not be approved until the date moves forward. If the immigrant has not yet applied for permanent residency, and their labor certification was filed after March 2001, their application will not be accepted. The State Department has also stated “forward movement of the cut-off dates in these categories is likely to be limited.”
As you can imagine, this lack of employment-based visas has become a problem. Tens of thousands of immigrants will see their already delayed applications for permanent residence delayed even further.. The most obvious solution to this problem is to increase the current yearly limit of 140,000 employment-based visas. This would benefit the country as such immigrants provide skills that are in high demand in the US and fill jobs for which employers cannot find US workers. Employment-based immigrants are highly skilled, law-abiding people whose benefit to this country is immeasurable.
Please inform me of your opinion on this matter and what you believe you can do to improve the current situation.
Sincerely,
Your name
Priority dates are critical to those immigrants seeking permanent residence (“Green Card”) in the United States. An immigrant may not apply for, or receive permanent resident status unless their priority date falls on, or before, the date announced by the State Department. An immigrant’s priority date is most commonly the date the US Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS) receives that immigrant’s initial application (“labor certification”) for permanent residency.
For October 2005, the priority date announced for “skilled workers” was March 2001, which is more than one year earlier than previously announced priority dates. For those immigrants from India, China, Philippines and Mexico the priority dates have been moved back even further. This means that unless an immigrant filed their labor certification before March 2001, their application will not be approved until the date moves forward. If the immigrant has not yet applied for permanent residency, and their labor certification was filed after March 2001, their application will not be accepted. The State Department has also stated “forward movement of the cut-off dates in these categories is likely to be limited.”
As you can imagine, this lack of employment-based visas has become a problem. Tens of thousands of immigrants will see their already delayed applications for permanent residence delayed even further.. The most obvious solution to this problem is to increase the current yearly limit of 140,000 employment-based visas. This would benefit the country as such immigrants provide skills that are in high demand in the US and fill jobs for which employers cannot find US workers. Employment-based immigrants are highly skilled, law-abiding people whose benefit to this country is immeasurable.
Please inform me of your opinion on this matter and what you believe you can do to improve the current situation.
Sincerely,
Your name
