ca_immigrant
06-15 05:47 PM
Now they have all cases almost pre adjucted and must have entered information into some sort of computer system . can we put pressure to get information based on PD and country of origin so we can idea about wait and also we can show to congress man.
Pre adjucted is so misleading a term.....as someone else pointed out earlier in another thread.....pre adjucted does not necessarily mean you are all set to go, the moment visa becomes available you will be given one without any questions...
when the visa becomes available (10 years down the lane), we will then send out an RFE (if we choose) asking you for employment verification....and a "few" other things -:)
so what is pre adjucted.......:rolleyes:
Pre adjucted is so misleading a term.....as someone else pointed out earlier in another thread.....pre adjucted does not necessarily mean you are all set to go, the moment visa becomes available you will be given one without any questions...
when the visa becomes available (10 years down the lane), we will then send out an RFE (if we choose) asking you for employment verification....and a "few" other things -:)
so what is pre adjucted.......:rolleyes:
wallpaper Honda Prelude
averagedesi
08-31 11:41 AM
I am not sure what you mean by there is no issue with my EAD.
Here is an excerpt from an USCIS FAQ
Who is eligible for an EAD that is valid for two years?
The two-year EAD is available to pending adjustment applicants (i.e., those who have filed a Form I-485, Application to Register Permanent Residence or Adjust Status) who have filed for an EAD under Section 274.a.12(c)(9) of Title 8, Code of Federal Regulations (8 C.F.R.) and who are currently unable to adjust status because an immigrant visa number is not currently available. USCIS will continue to grant EADs that are valid for one-year for adjustment applicants who have an available immigrant visa number and are filing for employment authorization under 8 C.F.R. Section 274a.12(c)(9). In order to be eligible for an EAD with a two year validity period, an applicant’s I-140, Immigrant Petition for Alien Worker, must be approved.
Here is the actual link to the FAQ
http://www.uscis.gov/portal/site/uscis/menuitem.5af9bb95919f35e66f614176543f6d1a/?vgnextoid=62ae15d3ffd7a110VgnVCM1000004718190aRCR D&vgnextchannel=ea0db6f2cae63110VgnVCM1000004718190a RCRD
So my I140 is approved, when my EAD was approved on July 30th my priority date which is March 25. 2005 was not current.
Here is an excerpt from an USCIS FAQ
Who is eligible for an EAD that is valid for two years?
The two-year EAD is available to pending adjustment applicants (i.e., those who have filed a Form I-485, Application to Register Permanent Residence or Adjust Status) who have filed for an EAD under Section 274.a.12(c)(9) of Title 8, Code of Federal Regulations (8 C.F.R.) and who are currently unable to adjust status because an immigrant visa number is not currently available. USCIS will continue to grant EADs that are valid for one-year for adjustment applicants who have an available immigrant visa number and are filing for employment authorization under 8 C.F.R. Section 274a.12(c)(9). In order to be eligible for an EAD with a two year validity period, an applicant’s I-140, Immigrant Petition for Alien Worker, must be approved.
Here is the actual link to the FAQ
http://www.uscis.gov/portal/site/uscis/menuitem.5af9bb95919f35e66f614176543f6d1a/?vgnextoid=62ae15d3ffd7a110VgnVCM1000004718190aRCR D&vgnextchannel=ea0db6f2cae63110VgnVCM1000004718190a RCRD
So my I140 is approved, when my EAD was approved on July 30th my priority date which is March 25. 2005 was not current.
crazydesi
09-03 07:39 PM
# 8/29/2008 AILA Liaison Seeks Examples of Adjustment Cases Pending Security Checks (. 27 KB) AILA is collecting information in an effort to work with USCIS to identify adjustment of status applications that may be approvable as of October 1, 2008, when new visa numbers become available. The focus of this effort is those adjustment of status cases, which are approvable under the February 4, 2008, security check memo by Michael Aytes. AILA Doc. No. 08082968.
2011 Honda Prelude
moe
02-04 11:26 AM
hi everyone..i try to long sotry short.i came here 2001 with b1 then i stay since date.. 2004 my employer apply for gc. so far i got my i 140 approved notice about about 1 year ago..
but law we have to wait.they my lawyer said we have wait mayby long time.. my case date is april 2006 ..
Q1-do i have rigth to work here now?
Q2-do i have to wait realy long time?
Q3- can i do anything for waiting time shorter?
MY lawyer is good man but i can even talk to him when i need
but law we have to wait.they my lawyer said we have wait mayby long time.. my case date is april 2006 ..
Q1-do i have rigth to work here now?
Q2-do i have to wait realy long time?
Q3- can i do anything for waiting time shorter?
MY lawyer is good man but i can even talk to him when i need
more...
VenuK
06-16 02:10 PM
HI,
I recently went for stamping in Canada and they did ask me recent paystubs.
I woudl work for the new company , have some paystubs and then go to neighboring country to get the stamping done. But if the current visa on passport is valid for some more time, I dont think its really needed to get visa from latest company. To my knowledge u can always use old stamp to travel, as long as you have the latest aproval petition and you carry with you,I may be wrong if somehting changed recently,
Thanks,
Sri.
Hi Sri,
Thanks for your feedback.
The current/recent visa on my passport is expired in Dec 2007. but i have applied for H1-B extension in June 2007.
Thats why im so nervous about the whole situation.
fyi... I have all the pay stubs from my old company till May 2008.
Venu
I recently went for stamping in Canada and they did ask me recent paystubs.
I woudl work for the new company , have some paystubs and then go to neighboring country to get the stamping done. But if the current visa on passport is valid for some more time, I dont think its really needed to get visa from latest company. To my knowledge u can always use old stamp to travel, as long as you have the latest aproval petition and you carry with you,I may be wrong if somehting changed recently,
Thanks,
Sri.
Hi Sri,
Thanks for your feedback.
The current/recent visa on my passport is expired in Dec 2007. but i have applied for H1-B extension in June 2007.
Thats why im so nervous about the whole situation.
fyi... I have all the pay stubs from my old company till May 2008.
Venu
pbojja
10-17 12:34 PM
Can anyone tell me what it means in terms of documents...???
Your questions are too demanding dude
Your questions are too demanding dude
more...
gimme Green!!
06-14 04:54 PM
On what basis does I-485 get processed?
Is it based on Labor application (Priority Date) or by date of receipt of I-485 application? :confused:
Or by luck of the draw?:cool:
Is it based on Labor application (Priority Date) or by date of receipt of I-485 application? :confused:
Or by luck of the draw?:cool:
2010 Honda Prelude Forum
obelix
08-21 07:24 PM
I am in a similar boat [not sure about the reason though, no reasons were given]. My lawyer is going to re-file with premium processing citing an old receipt date of June 27th, 2007. Any updates from your side?
My i-140 premium processing application was filed on the 22nd of June,2007 as indicated in the information below. The package & check were returned in the first week of July. A letter indicating the reason for remittance and return was that the labor cert. attached was a photocopy and not the original.
Now what does not make sense here is that the original labor was sent along with the original i140 application filed last year(in june 2006).
I called the USCIS info line and the rep. suggested that i could resend it with an explanation.
What concerns me is if i do resend it, would it be considered only after suspension of i140 premium is lifted or would it be considered as a case from last month and processed under premium.
My i-140 premium processing application was filed on the 22nd of June,2007 as indicated in the information below. The package & check were returned in the first week of July. A letter indicating the reason for remittance and return was that the labor cert. attached was a photocopy and not the original.
Now what does not make sense here is that the original labor was sent along with the original i140 application filed last year(in june 2006).
I called the USCIS info line and the rep. suggested that i could resend it with an explanation.
What concerns me is if i do resend it, would it be considered only after suspension of i140 premium is lifted or would it be considered as a case from last month and processed under premium.
more...
karanp25
08-03 02:10 AM
No worries...i am in same situation...did my FP early this yr. EAD renewal card says "No FP available".
Sorry - did not check this thread till today
My RD was July 11 for both of us - got Ead for me Aug 2 with 2 yr validity
hers is still pending
Mine shows no FP on file even though I did FP in Oct 07 ( less than 1 yr) That kinda worries me
Anyways PD is May 04 EB3 - so long way to go - and besides caring at this point when I see PD of 2006 getting GC
Sorry - did not check this thread till today
My RD was July 11 for both of us - got Ead for me Aug 2 with 2 yr validity
hers is still pending
Mine shows no FP on file even though I did FP in Oct 07 ( less than 1 yr) That kinda worries me
Anyways PD is May 04 EB3 - so long way to go - and besides caring at this point when I see PD of 2006 getting GC
hair 1990 Honda Prelude Si
mayitbesoon
02-20 05:47 PM
any inputs on how to open a service request or enquiry through senator's office for I-140 processing delay?
more...
El_Guapo
01-14 04:07 PM
Text "HAITI" to 90999 from your cellphone. This will automatically donate $10 to the Red Cross International Relief Fund. It will be charged to your cellphone bill next month. I've done this already.
hot 1990 Honda Prelude Si
donelson
January 7th, 2005, 03:28 PM
I picked up the 105 Micro Nikkor about a month ago to use with my D100, and while I haven't taken a lot of pictures with it, yet, I've been happy with the ones I have taken. I did quite a bit of research before I bought it and determined that this would be a little better for my needs than the 60mm. Hope this helps.
Don :)
I take macro photographs of gems and jewelry to be sold on the Internet. Currently, I use a coolpix 5000 and get some pretty good photos from it. I use a light box and different light sources (fluorescent & incandescent) to capture color and color-changes in the gems.
I just bought a d70 and now need a good macro lens for it. I tried the promaster 100mm macro (I think it is the vivitar lens) and it didn't work to well for me. My 1:1 macro images are all under exposed and not as clear as I have seen. They are actually blurry when blown up 100% on my monitor. I use a good tripod and stopped down to f22 to increase depth of field. If I pull back a bit, the images get better, but then I don't have the magnification I need.
I take the photos on extra white laser printer paper and most of the time, use indirect 5000K fluorescent lighting in a light box. I don't understand why my 1:1 photos seem to be underexposed. The white paper looks gray and the gem is dark and dull. Photos taken with my coolpix 5000 look great. The background is white, and the gems are lively.
After my disappointment with the cheap promaster lens, I made the decision to purchase the Nikon 105 Micro, but when I called to order it (from expresscamera.com), they asked me why I was purchasing a 35mm lens for my digital camera. They suggested the Sigma 105mm EX DG lens and wanted to sell it to me for $650. They said that this sigma lens was better than the Nikon for digital cameras and that the Nikon would also take underexposed photos. This could be that they just didn�t want to sell me the Nikon lens for $500 and wanted to sell me a $400 sigma lens for $650.:mad:
I need a lens that will allow me to blow the photos up to 100% on my monitor and they will be clear and the gem needs to look like a gem and not a dark crystal.
Don :)
I take macro photographs of gems and jewelry to be sold on the Internet. Currently, I use a coolpix 5000 and get some pretty good photos from it. I use a light box and different light sources (fluorescent & incandescent) to capture color and color-changes in the gems.
I just bought a d70 and now need a good macro lens for it. I tried the promaster 100mm macro (I think it is the vivitar lens) and it didn't work to well for me. My 1:1 macro images are all under exposed and not as clear as I have seen. They are actually blurry when blown up 100% on my monitor. I use a good tripod and stopped down to f22 to increase depth of field. If I pull back a bit, the images get better, but then I don't have the magnification I need.
I take the photos on extra white laser printer paper and most of the time, use indirect 5000K fluorescent lighting in a light box. I don't understand why my 1:1 photos seem to be underexposed. The white paper looks gray and the gem is dark and dull. Photos taken with my coolpix 5000 look great. The background is white, and the gems are lively.
After my disappointment with the cheap promaster lens, I made the decision to purchase the Nikon 105 Micro, but when I called to order it (from expresscamera.com), they asked me why I was purchasing a 35mm lens for my digital camera. They suggested the Sigma 105mm EX DG lens and wanted to sell it to me for $650. They said that this sigma lens was better than the Nikon for digital cameras and that the Nikon would also take underexposed photos. This could be that they just didn�t want to sell me the Nikon lens for $500 and wanted to sell me a $400 sigma lens for $650.:mad:
I need a lens that will allow me to blow the photos up to 100% on my monitor and they will be clear and the gem needs to look like a gem and not a dark crystal.
more...
house 2000 Mitsubishi Eclipse (hate
pyrosleepy
11-09 10:12 AM
My 6 year on H1-B status had expired on Nov 8. I-129 for extension based on approved I-140 was filed and delivered to USCIS on Nov 1 as per Fedex. However, USCIS has not cashed my employers check or my money order for the H-4 extension. I called them and they don't have any information. They told me to wait for another week. I am very worried that what will happen if the Fedex package has somewhat got lost. What will happen to my and spouse's status and my 3 year extension. My own lawyer seems to be a little perplexed on this matter, not sure of himself.
Anyone, please give me some guidance on this.
Thanks very much in advance.
Anyone, please give me some guidance on this.
Thanks very much in advance.
tattoo View Wallpaper Picture
joeshmoe
09-04 12:37 PM
Congrats!!!!:cool:
I remember you because you created the "June 1st filers - receipt " thread.
I hope many approvals come soon.
I would appreciate detailed signature will help us.
See my signature, hope it helps. I got an LUD on my 485 on August 30th but I had no idea why, I guess it might have been the NameCheck and then this email this morning .... unf.. believable!
I remember you because you created the "June 1st filers - receipt " thread.
I hope many approvals come soon.
I would appreciate detailed signature will help us.
See my signature, hope it helps. I got an LUD on my 485 on August 30th but I had no idea why, I guess it might have been the NameCheck and then this email this morning .... unf.. believable!
more...
pictures maybach exelero wallpaper 08.
felix31
06-05 03:16 PM
I agree. Such delays are forcing several professionals to consider Australia and Canada. Its a loss to this country and gain for other countries since they have favourable immigration laws. However it is really tough to uproot ourselves and go some place else and start over. Canada still does not have a good economy and job prospects as in USA, thus the struggle is going to be hard for you if you were to look for a job.
Pappu,
I guess the uprooting thing depends on many other issues....
E. G. My husband changed 6 consulting companies - worked on projects all over US and we lived in 6 US states before finally settling down with the present employer who started hubby's GC.
However the retro thing is ruining everything (just like so many others here - we are not an exception).
In less than a year I will have a state teaching certification and will be just a step or two away from my Masters in ED.
Will that help me? No, sir!
We cant file I-485..and change of status to H1 for me is out of question (been on H4 6yrs).
So, in our case - moving to Canada is much like moving to another State...
Not a big deal...It certainly will not be the first time to rent U-haul. :)
What will be different is that once we land we will both be immigrants, free of employer's grip and never ending retro.
It is true we may not have a job in Canada for some time, but I believe the peace of mind will be priceless..
I dont mind tranfering teaching cert (its possible), even taking a few extra courses if they require me to do so. We can even move gradually, I will find a job first and then he will move.
Both my husband and I care to much for each other to continue suffering in the US, under these conditions. He is not happy, since I suffer professionaly and will only loose whatever skills I am getting now. (Alrready lost too much not working in the past 6 yrs).
If one spouse suffers and is not happy, how can the other be content?
He is under constant pressure of working longer and harder, God forbid new recession and job layoffs - I can't work, so who will support the family?? :eek:
We had enough difficulties in the past and transfered enough companies to finally draw aline and say - this is enough.
I would LOVE to work, BUT - as H4 - I can only dream about that.
Even with Canada's economy not doing so well and other obstacles you mentioned, just being able to work, start our own business is going to give us an enormous relief.
Guys - dont get me wrong, I am all for US green card and we support IV efforts monetarily and otherwise, BUT, if no immigration reform emerges, we will move to Canada.
In the next 2 yrs (while Canadian PR gets processed) we will know exactly how things stand.
Pappu,
I guess the uprooting thing depends on many other issues....
E. G. My husband changed 6 consulting companies - worked on projects all over US and we lived in 6 US states before finally settling down with the present employer who started hubby's GC.
However the retro thing is ruining everything (just like so many others here - we are not an exception).
In less than a year I will have a state teaching certification and will be just a step or two away from my Masters in ED.
Will that help me? No, sir!
We cant file I-485..and change of status to H1 for me is out of question (been on H4 6yrs).
So, in our case - moving to Canada is much like moving to another State...
Not a big deal...It certainly will not be the first time to rent U-haul. :)
What will be different is that once we land we will both be immigrants, free of employer's grip and never ending retro.
It is true we may not have a job in Canada for some time, but I believe the peace of mind will be priceless..
I dont mind tranfering teaching cert (its possible), even taking a few extra courses if they require me to do so. We can even move gradually, I will find a job first and then he will move.
Both my husband and I care to much for each other to continue suffering in the US, under these conditions. He is not happy, since I suffer professionaly and will only loose whatever skills I am getting now. (Alrready lost too much not working in the past 6 yrs).
If one spouse suffers and is not happy, how can the other be content?
He is under constant pressure of working longer and harder, God forbid new recession and job layoffs - I can't work, so who will support the family?? :eek:
We had enough difficulties in the past and transfered enough companies to finally draw aline and say - this is enough.
I would LOVE to work, BUT - as H4 - I can only dream about that.
Even with Canada's economy not doing so well and other obstacles you mentioned, just being able to work, start our own business is going to give us an enormous relief.
Guys - dont get me wrong, I am all for US green card and we support IV efforts monetarily and otherwise, BUT, if no immigration reform emerges, we will move to Canada.
In the next 2 yrs (while Canadian PR gets processed) we will know exactly how things stand.
dresses 1979 Honda Prelude
saimrathi
07-02 06:00 PM
There is hope....
Was this your case? Did you get approved in two months? Whats your PD?
Was this your case? Did you get approved in two months? Whats your PD?
more...
makeup golfradict#39; 2001 Honda Prelude
jsb
12-15 10:08 AM
Thanks Chris for sharing this info
This is a good news. But It is scary that they don't have any mechanism to pull the application based on PD/country.
....
USCIS offices process application in order they receive them physically (not in RD sequence). They don't process based on PD's. For adjudication ty need physical file to review documents, medicals, photocopies, etc. Sorting physical files of such a large volume in any other order would be a tedious task. Obviously they don't index files, and keep that info on the system, which would makei it easy to locate a file. Therefore, unless they do that, even if they know A# of cases due for approval, process is unlikely to work.
This is a good news. But It is scary that they don't have any mechanism to pull the application based on PD/country.
....
USCIS offices process application in order they receive them physically (not in RD sequence). They don't process based on PD's. For adjudication ty need physical file to review documents, medicals, photocopies, etc. Sorting physical files of such a large volume in any other order would be a tedious task. Obviously they don't index files, and keep that info on the system, which would makei it easy to locate a file. Therefore, unless they do that, even if they know A# of cases due for approval, process is unlikely to work.
girlfriend Honda Prelude Rear View
GCard_Dream
06-29 03:58 PM
It is a shady practice. The main reason an employer wouldn't give you a copy of a I-140 is that if you were to leave company A and company B sponsors you for GC, you can keep your old priority date. But that is only possible if you can furnish a copy of approved I-140 to INS. It is such a stupid practice on part of INS to request the petitioner to provide a copy of something (like I-140) that they themselves approved and should already have a record of. But I don't think anyone expects any better from INS anyway.
I agree that it is a employer driven petition but the employer purposely holds the information back so that they have more control over the employees decision making ( specially if the employee is thinking about leaving the company).
This is not a shady practice. The employer had petitioned for a labor certification earlier to sponsor GC for an employee who might have left the company. Now they filled the position with you, so its perfectly alright to use the same petition for you.
As far as the documents are concerned, they are employer centric and they have no reason to give them to you. You will have nothing to do with those even if you get them. If the only purpose you want to solve is to know whether or not your labor and I40 were infact approved as your employer says, you should request your employer to show you a copy.
The copies are wothless to you if you leave the company anyways, before you get an EAD.
Don't heed the advise of people who ask you to find a better employer. Such people are only trying to get their own GCs faster, since there will be one less person with an earlier priority date.
I agree that it is a employer driven petition but the employer purposely holds the information back so that they have more control over the employees decision making ( specially if the employee is thinking about leaving the company).
This is not a shady practice. The employer had petitioned for a labor certification earlier to sponsor GC for an employee who might have left the company. Now they filled the position with you, so its perfectly alright to use the same petition for you.
As far as the documents are concerned, they are employer centric and they have no reason to give them to you. You will have nothing to do with those even if you get them. If the only purpose you want to solve is to know whether or not your labor and I40 were infact approved as your employer says, you should request your employer to show you a copy.
The copies are wothless to you if you leave the company anyways, before you get an EAD.
Don't heed the advise of people who ask you to find a better employer. Such people are only trying to get their own GCs faster, since there will be one less person with an earlier priority date.
hairstyles Car wallpapers Honda Prelude -
serg
10-30 08:50 PM
[Apologies for the cross-post]
Since there are lot of ppl here who have had EAD/AP for years ...
Do you know if USCIS lets you petition for renewal of EAD/AP only 4 months before expiry? Our legal assistant says that they can not apply for renewal until its 4 months to expiry. I was under the impression that we could apply six months in advance. Can someone post a USCIS link that provides a definitive answer?
Thanks
http://www.uscis.gov/portal/site/uscis/menuitem.5af9bb95919f35e66f614176543f6d1a/?vgnextoid=d502194d3e88d010VgnVCM10000048f3d6a1RCR D&vgnextchannel=1847c9ee2f82b010VgnVCM10000045f3d6a1 RCRD
"Renewal EAD: You should apply for a renewal EAD six months before your original EAD expires."
Since there are lot of ppl here who have had EAD/AP for years ...
Do you know if USCIS lets you petition for renewal of EAD/AP only 4 months before expiry? Our legal assistant says that they can not apply for renewal until its 4 months to expiry. I was under the impression that we could apply six months in advance. Can someone post a USCIS link that provides a definitive answer?
Thanks
http://www.uscis.gov/portal/site/uscis/menuitem.5af9bb95919f35e66f614176543f6d1a/?vgnextoid=d502194d3e88d010VgnVCM10000048f3d6a1RCR D&vgnextchannel=1847c9ee2f82b010VgnVCM10000045f3d6a1 RCRD
"Renewal EAD: You should apply for a renewal EAD six months before your original EAD expires."
eucalyptus.mp
02-17 08:46 PM
Do I need recent salary slips for transfer ?
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?
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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
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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?
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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
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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.
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