http://www.khrido.com/express-discussion-comments-cm-q199p0/flowery-u-s-protest-by-indian-green-card-seekers-.aspx

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Disgruntled green card applicants from India sent hundreds of flowers to the U.S. immigration agency on Tuesday to protest a recent policy flip-flop that hurt their quest for permanent residency.

The campaign that directed around a thousand flower deliveries to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) Director Emilio Gonzalez was modeled on a popular Indian film promoting the peaceful protest methods of Mahatma Gandhi.

The protest was inspired by the abrupt reversal last week of an announcement issued in June offering expedited processing of green card petitions for thousands of skilled foreign professionals working under H1-B visas.

Thousands of holders of H1-B visas - reserved for skilled workers in computing, engineering and other special professions - scrambled and spent money on lawyers and medical exams to prepare green card applications for a July 1 deadline.

The abrupt closure of this path to a green card - proof of lawful permanent resident status - sent the applicants back to the queue for 2008, when they will have to spend more time and money, organizers of the protest said.

"The gist of the campaign was to peacefully convey disappointment and concern at how things have evolved in the last month," said Sivakanth Mundru, a Virginia-based computer systems analyst who was affected by the policy.

PLEASE SIGN THIS PETITION IF YOU ARE PROCESSING YOUR PAPERS FOR USA. IT IS VERY IMPORTANT THAT THE US AUTHORITIES GET THE MESSAGE.

http://www.immigrantslist.org/page/petition/Chertoff

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Speech by Thomas Friedman of The New York Times....

"When we were young kids growing up in America, we were told to eat our
vegetables at dinner and not leave them. Mothers said, 'think of the
starving children in India and finish the dinner.' And now I tell my
children: 'Finish your maths homework. Think of the children in India
who would make you starve, if you don't.'"

I heard they are accepting applications for another month to file their 485, as a result of this protest. Not sure how much is the truth.

They are. Here is the link:

http://www.uscis.gov/portal/site/uscis

Source : http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/US_to_give_more_Green_Cards/articleshow/2215001.cms

WASHINGTON: Whether as a consequence of Gandhigiri by the victims or as a result of strategic afterthought, US authorities on Tuesday reversed their decision to limit permanent residency (Green Card) to high-skilled foreign workers.

In bulletins and notifications issued on Tuesday, the Department of State(DoS) and the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) said they would accept from skilled workers the "I-485 Adjustment of Status applications" received till August 17, 2007.

In effect, this will enable a lot more Green Card aspirants -- perhaps up to 200,000 -- to advance their applications than was originally envisaged.

An earlier notification would have given only until July 31, 2007 to file I-485 cases with the USCIS. Even that concession was withdrawn abruptly, leading to much heartburn among thousands of applicants who had spent many days and hours and hundreds of dollars to convert their temporary guest worker status to permanent residency.

Following the USCIS/DOS reversal, some skilled workers from India had launched a campaign of "Gandhigiri," swamping the USCIS Director with flower on July 10 in a peaceful effort to win back the concessions.

A July 14 rally in Silicon Valley saw some 500 mostly Indian tech workers from companies such as Oracle, Cisco Systems and Sun Microsystems, a protest, one US business publication noted, "from a community not known for speaking out."

"This is a victory for all our members... we are happy that our efforts have been successful," Immigration Voice, a loose coalition of about 20,000 skilled workers some of whose members had launched the Gandhigiri campaign, said on its website.

The reason for the administration's back-and-forth is unclear. Prominent American hi-tech companies and executives have said the US would be serving itself poorly if it turned away high-skilled immigrants who contribute substantially to an economy based on innovation and entrepreneurship, citing the case of companies such as Google and Yahoo.

On July 13, Oracle senior vice-president Kenneth Glueck sent a letter to Homeland Security secretary Michael Chertoff urging him to reverse the July 2 memorandum. The American Immigration Lawyers Association and the American Immigration Law Foundation, a nonprofit group, has both said they were readying lawsuits.

"The update memorandum puts a severe strain on our ability to recruit and retain highly skilled individuals, including many who were educated right here in the US," Glueck wrote. "At a time when our nation's status as an innovation leader is being seriously and aggressively challenged internationally, the US government should be making it easier for those who are already contributing to our economic growth and innovation leadership to remain in the US on a permanent basis."

USCIS has an annual quota of 140,000 Green Cards for skilled workers. But, current rules limit the number of people who can be admitted to the US from any particular country to 9,800, putting a crimp on Indians, who form the largest group of hi-skilled workers in the US.

USCIS has also fallen short many years of filling the 140,000 annual quota, mainly on account of red tape, as a result of which some 200,000 unused Green Cards are said to have lapsed.

If the administration and Congress decide to revive the lapsed Green Cards, as is being contemplated, some activists estimate up to 100,000 Indian skilled workers could get permanent residency.

The whole process could also galvanize the economy, they maintain. Thousands of high-paid skilled workers have put their life on hold because of this gridlock, they say, holding back from buying homes and making large investments. A Green Card will allow them to move forward with their plans.