psk79
05-30 12:20 AM
My few cents.. I was well aware of this situation from my past.. When you first filed h1 with A in 2006 and got approved, it doesn't mean anything unless u started the job with A. So that 'overridden' stuff is WRONG.
Basically u could continue with univ. as along as ur h1 is with them is valid.. then when u tried to transfer that old employerA's h1 to B, u are in GOOD status as u r working with the univ. However, the reason for using A is only to show uscis that u were counted against the CAP once before and u don't need cap for this new employment with B.
Since the problem here is with B, you better get some more info on why it was denied. See if they can appeal or something.. I didn't know that employer has to be qualified? Do they mean this company doesn't have enough revenue to support u or something?
Also there are different opinions on using employer A's h1 to transfer without actually working with A. Half the people say its not possible as u never worked for A and the other half say its fine as u were counted in CAP. B should have told you to wait until ur H1 was approved as this is a weird situation.
Anyway, since u already left univ, u can try to go back to univ or atleast start with A. Once u go out of the country and get the visa stamped, you should be clear of any out of status issues I believe.
Basically u could continue with univ. as along as ur h1 is with them is valid.. then when u tried to transfer that old employerA's h1 to B, u are in GOOD status as u r working with the univ. However, the reason for using A is only to show uscis that u were counted against the CAP once before and u don't need cap for this new employment with B.
Since the problem here is with B, you better get some more info on why it was denied. See if they can appeal or something.. I didn't know that employer has to be qualified? Do they mean this company doesn't have enough revenue to support u or something?
Also there are different opinions on using employer A's h1 to transfer without actually working with A. Half the people say its not possible as u never worked for A and the other half say its fine as u were counted in CAP. B should have told you to wait until ur H1 was approved as this is a weird situation.
Anyway, since u already left univ, u can try to go back to univ or atleast start with A. Once u go out of the country and get the visa stamped, you should be clear of any out of status issues I believe.
wallpaper the mother of LeBron James
snathan
05-12 07:05 PM
My PD is Sep-03, EB3-India. I left the employer who sponsored me one year after I filled 485 (thanks to July-07 fiasco). I have over 12 years of experience and was wondering if it was possible to port to EB-2 without having to file for new labor by just refilling I-140.
Thanks
Nope...you can not.
Thanks
Nope...you can not.
Raju
07-05 06:20 AM
Actually it would have been greater mess if they would have allowed to file 500 to 700k persons if that number is correct. Mainly those who are missing the bus due to marriage and other reasons would have suffered a lot. PD date movement
should be as accurate as possible or gc number should be increased. Or if they allow to file everyone then processing of application should be based on PD.
Senthil1,
You are wrong. I-485 approval is based on the combination of PD and RD. When a PD is current for an application then they look at RD. So if the dates retrogress after applying then the apps will sit on the shelves till the PD becomes current. You are stupid to think that just because a few people cannot apply, no one should be allowed to apply. There is a reason why they have to wait and you will find this kind of people all the time.
should be as accurate as possible or gc number should be increased. Or if they allow to file everyone then processing of application should be based on PD.
Senthil1,
You are wrong. I-485 approval is based on the combination of PD and RD. When a PD is current for an application then they look at RD. So if the dates retrogress after applying then the apps will sit on the shelves till the PD becomes current. You are stupid to think that just because a few people cannot apply, no one should be allowed to apply. There is a reason why they have to wait and you will find this kind of people all the time.
2011 Heat star LeBron James was
ronhira
10-11 10:55 AM
It not the right time to start campaign. All policians will be busy in elections an they may not hear waht we say. After elections may be the right time to do.
i agree with yabayaba.... there is no use of any campaign..... the only campaign law makers care @ is election campaign...... hold off till the end of elections.....
i agree with yabayaba.... there is no use of any campaign..... the only campaign law makers care @ is election campaign...... hold off till the end of elections.....
more...
ksrk
01-21 06:43 PM
Do I need Germany visa to travel on AP, to India via Germany with Lufthansa air lines.. Please let me know.
Thanks.
You don't need a visa to transit in Frankfurt - meaning if you are catching another flight to a non-Schengen state (like India). Else, all "interview", visa stamping (even for other Schengen states), etc. happens in Frankfurt.
Thanks.
You don't need a visa to transit in Frankfurt - meaning if you are catching another flight to a non-Schengen state (like India). Else, all "interview", visa stamping (even for other Schengen states), etc. happens in Frankfurt.
perm2gc
11-08 07:57 PM
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS FOR EXTENDING H-1B VISA STATUS
PAST THE PERMISSIBLE 6 YEARS OF H-1B STAY
________________________________________
1. AC21 104 (c) - Approved I-140 Petition = Extension of H-1B Visa Status in 3 Year Increments.
� Under Section 104 (c) of AC21, the beneficiary of an approved I-140 who is prevented from filing an adjustment of status application due to application of worldwide OR per-country limitations may be granted an extension of H-1B visa status in 3 year increments pending eligibility to apply for adjustment of status.
� There is no requirement that the foreign citizen have a Labor Certification or immigrant visa petition pending for one full year prior to the expiration of the foreign citizen's 6th year of H-1B visa status.
� However, there MUST be an approved I-140 to access this benefit.
� This benefit does not apply to dependents who have reached 21.
2. AC21 106 (a) - Pending Labor Certification or
Employment Based Immigrant Visa Petition = Extension of H-1B Visa Status for 1 Year.
� Section 106 (a) of AC21 permits H-1B non-immigrants to obtain an extension of H-1B visa status beyond the 6-year maximum period, when:
(a) 365 days or more have passed since the filing of any application for labor certification, Form ETA 750, that is required or used by the foreign citizen to obtain status as an EB immigrant; or
(b) 365 days or more have passed since the filing of an EB immigrant visa petition.
� Extensions may only be granted in one-year increments, but may be requested on a single (combined) extension request for any remaining time left in the initial 6-year period.
� Must establish that the above criteria were or will be met either on or before the requested start date on the H-1B extension application.
� Thus, a foreign citizen is eligible for an extension of H-1B visa status beyond the 6th year as long as either the qualifying labor certification application or I-140 immigrant petition has or will have been pending for at least 365 days prior to the foreign citizen�s requested start date, regardless of whether the H-1B extension application was filed prior to the passage of such period.
� If the foreign citizen would no longer be in H-1B status at the time that 365 days from the filing of the labor certification application or immigrant petition has run, thus leaving a gap in valid status, then the extension of stay request cannot be granted.
� A request for an H-1B extension beyond the 6-year limit should not be denied on the sole basis that an I-140 petition has not yet been filed.
Are you advertising your Law Office on the message board...????
PAST THE PERMISSIBLE 6 YEARS OF H-1B STAY
________________________________________
1. AC21 104 (c) - Approved I-140 Petition = Extension of H-1B Visa Status in 3 Year Increments.
� Under Section 104 (c) of AC21, the beneficiary of an approved I-140 who is prevented from filing an adjustment of status application due to application of worldwide OR per-country limitations may be granted an extension of H-1B visa status in 3 year increments pending eligibility to apply for adjustment of status.
� There is no requirement that the foreign citizen have a Labor Certification or immigrant visa petition pending for one full year prior to the expiration of the foreign citizen's 6th year of H-1B visa status.
� However, there MUST be an approved I-140 to access this benefit.
� This benefit does not apply to dependents who have reached 21.
2. AC21 106 (a) - Pending Labor Certification or
Employment Based Immigrant Visa Petition = Extension of H-1B Visa Status for 1 Year.
� Section 106 (a) of AC21 permits H-1B non-immigrants to obtain an extension of H-1B visa status beyond the 6-year maximum period, when:
(a) 365 days or more have passed since the filing of any application for labor certification, Form ETA 750, that is required or used by the foreign citizen to obtain status as an EB immigrant; or
(b) 365 days or more have passed since the filing of an EB immigrant visa petition.
� Extensions may only be granted in one-year increments, but may be requested on a single (combined) extension request for any remaining time left in the initial 6-year period.
� Must establish that the above criteria were or will be met either on or before the requested start date on the H-1B extension application.
� Thus, a foreign citizen is eligible for an extension of H-1B visa status beyond the 6th year as long as either the qualifying labor certification application or I-140 immigrant petition has or will have been pending for at least 365 days prior to the foreign citizen�s requested start date, regardless of whether the H-1B extension application was filed prior to the passage of such period.
� If the foreign citizen would no longer be in H-1B status at the time that 365 days from the filing of the labor certification application or immigrant petition has run, thus leaving a gap in valid status, then the extension of stay request cannot be granted.
� A request for an H-1B extension beyond the 6-year limit should not be denied on the sole basis that an I-140 petition has not yet been filed.
Are you advertising your Law Office on the message board...????
more...
485_se_dukhi
08-15 08:56 AM
I'm posting it where ever I can on different forums.
2010 LeBron James#39; mom, Gloria
abhi_jais
12-04 03:24 PM
Bharmohan and Mukesh:
What happened to your case? Is it still pending or you got it stamped?
Please let us know.
What happened to your case? Is it still pending or you got it stamped?
Please let us know.
more...
prdgl
02-11 11:08 AM
But quality of life is determined by the freedom and once you get your GC then you will be able to do anything, right ? or I am thinking wrong.
If I did that, my EB2 category is current, my EB3 category is retrogressed - but I value my job and quality of life at my current company higher than the risk of moving to another job JUST to get a greencard quicker
Also, are you talking about the risk involved in changing jobs because of H1B transfer process. Because I am a contractor and all consulting companies are MORE or LESS the same. They all try to make money out of you. So I am trying to understand what kind of risk is that.
Your thoghts are important. Please let me know.
Thanks
If I did that, my EB2 category is current, my EB3 category is retrogressed - but I value my job and quality of life at my current company higher than the risk of moving to another job JUST to get a greencard quicker
Also, are you talking about the risk involved in changing jobs because of H1B transfer process. Because I am a contractor and all consulting companies are MORE or LESS the same. They all try to make money out of you. So I am trying to understand what kind of risk is that.
Your thoghts are important. Please let me know.
Thanks
hair LeBron James
GCNOMAD
03-07 01:58 PM
Just a quick comment on S4165504 reply based on my experiences that I posted before on the same thread.
The airport immigration counter or the CPB offices can correct only the mistakes from their side, and that too only within 2 or 3 days. But for cases where the I-94 expired, they dont consider it as a mistake on their side and immediately ask you to leave.
In fact, for my case when I called the LA airport immigration counter office, they adviced me that I can only go to the CPB office in downtown for any corrections and cannot come to the airport office.
Regards
The airport immigration counter or the CPB offices can correct only the mistakes from their side, and that too only within 2 or 3 days. But for cases where the I-94 expired, they dont consider it as a mistake on their side and immediately ask you to leave.
In fact, for my case when I called the LA airport immigration counter office, they adviced me that I can only go to the CPB office in downtown for any corrections and cannot come to the airport office.
Regards
more...
TwinkleM
06-26 11:20 AM
Thanx once again Ms. Sen for you so valuable response. Is there anyways, you could tell me the email address. It will be then easy for me to talk to him when I have all the information. Another question, has the email to be sent out only by the lawyer, or the company can directly do that?
Thanx once again...
Thanx once again...
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shivarajan
04-04 03:06 PM
Did a hasty click... thought the poll was for pd date (and missed the invoice part of it). Suspecting others also might have done the same.
more...
house Gloria James, the mother of
I-485 approval
08-20 10:30 AM
I filed for I-485 under EB3 category in July 2007 and have a priority date of March 2003. Since EB3 is not moving at all. I applied in EB2 category and got I-140 approved based on my old Priority date(March 2003).
My attorney sent a letter to USCIS and requesting them to approve my case based on my approved I-140 (EB2) in July 2009. Since then we haven't recieved any communication from them.
My case is current as of Aug 1st 2009 but no LUD's on my case.
How would I know that USCIS have changed my case from EB3 to EB2.
I apperciate your response in this regard.
My attorney sent a letter to USCIS and requesting them to approve my case based on my approved I-140 (EB2) in July 2009. Since then we haven't recieved any communication from them.
My case is current as of Aug 1st 2009 but no LUD's on my case.
How would I know that USCIS have changed my case from EB3 to EB2.
I apperciate your response in this regard.
tattoo (LeBron James#39;s Mother) Gloria
ameryki
08-10 12:33 PM
I wonder my lawyer asked for a cashier's check or money order :-)
more...
pictures Lebron+james+mother+sleeps
adde72
07-17 06:10 PM
Donate so we can continue fighting!
http://immigrationvoice.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=26&Itemid=25#HowToContribute
Order Details - Jul 17, 2007 6:38 PM EDT
Google Order #376816648638727
Print
Shipping Status Qty Item Price
Not yet shipped 1 Contribute 100 $100.00
Tax (VA) : $0.00
Total: $100.00
Purchased from:
Immigration Voice
PO Box 114
Dayton NJ 08810
UNITED STATES
850 391-4966
\
http://immigrationvoice.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=26&Itemid=25#HowToContribute
Order Details - Jul 17, 2007 6:38 PM EDT
Google Order #376816648638727
Shipping Status Qty Item Price
Not yet shipped 1 Contribute 100 $100.00
Tax (VA) : $0.00
Total: $100.00
Purchased from:
Immigration Voice
PO Box 114
Dayton NJ 08810
UNITED STATES
850 391-4966
\
dresses but LeBron James#39; mother
abhijitp
02-18 01:05 PM
I didn't receive any confirmation from USCIS regarding interfiling.
I have been trying to know this too... is interfiling guaranteed to work?? Or have there been examples it just got lost in the pile of applications at USCIS?
Sorry to hear about your situation. Experts, please try to help bmeduru11!
I have been trying to know this too... is interfiling guaranteed to work?? Or have there been examples it just got lost in the pile of applications at USCIS?
Sorry to hear about your situation. Experts, please try to help bmeduru11!
more...
makeup If LeBron James#39; mom, Gloria,
CatsintheCraddle
05-04 01:14 PM
My I-485 was denied April 14. USCIS said I only sent them a partial answer to their request for evidence.
I filed for I-485 and I-130 in Nov. 2008 and in December we had to resend all mine, my husband (sponsor) and my cosponsor's tax info. which we did. My case was resumed but I never received my EAD. I contacted the USCIS regarding this and they responded with another RFE; they needed my cosponsor's tax. info again. We resend the exact same things as we did in December and in the meantime I contact my senator and the ombudsman who both look into the case and tell me the USCIS has promised to respond to me a.s.a.p.
USCIS's response: My I-485 has been denied, my cosponsor did not send in all his tax info. My cosponsor, who has an identical copy of everything he has sent now three times (everything was in the original application in Nov. too) says it is all there. The USCIS wants us to file for a motion to reopen the case which costs $585. To me this is ridiculous; I originally lost my job (I was working under OPT) becuase they kept delaying my case, and now they want more money? I know it's my word against theirs but we are considering applying for the motion to reopen but was wondering how long do they have to accept or deny this. Also, we are submitting a waiver for the fee due to my husband also being unemployed at the moment and need our savings if we have to leave the country but are wondering if we can also send a check along with the waiver in case they won't waive the fee. They denied the case on April 14, 2009 but did not mail the letter out until the april 23 - we now have less than a week to file for a motion.
Please, if anyone has any experience with filing a motion let us know about it.
I filed for I-485 and I-130 in Nov. 2008 and in December we had to resend all mine, my husband (sponsor) and my cosponsor's tax info. which we did. My case was resumed but I never received my EAD. I contacted the USCIS regarding this and they responded with another RFE; they needed my cosponsor's tax. info again. We resend the exact same things as we did in December and in the meantime I contact my senator and the ombudsman who both look into the case and tell me the USCIS has promised to respond to me a.s.a.p.
USCIS's response: My I-485 has been denied, my cosponsor did not send in all his tax info. My cosponsor, who has an identical copy of everything he has sent now three times (everything was in the original application in Nov. too) says it is all there. The USCIS wants us to file for a motion to reopen the case which costs $585. To me this is ridiculous; I originally lost my job (I was working under OPT) becuase they kept delaying my case, and now they want more money? I know it's my word against theirs but we are considering applying for the motion to reopen but was wondering how long do they have to accept or deny this. Also, we are submitting a waiver for the fee due to my husband also being unemployed at the moment and need our savings if we have to leave the country but are wondering if we can also send a check along with the waiver in case they won't waive the fee. They denied the case on April 14, 2009 but did not mail the letter out until the april 23 - we now have less than a week to file for a motion.
Please, if anyone has any experience with filing a motion let us know about it.
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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?
Skip to next paragraph
Enlarge This Image
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
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?
Skip to next paragraph
Enlarge This Image
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.
hairstyles LeBron James posed with his
paskal
10-02 05:03 PM
C'mon folks...after San Jose and DC we look up to you for inspiration. The awe inspiring energy and motivation of the Cal chapters will serve as as an example for all others.
You guys are fortunate to have able leaders and energetic volunteers. This is the time to join the party! We are quietly harnessing the gains from the Dc rally and we continue to hope that there will yet be relief forthcoming soon. Nothing will happen though without your active support and participation.
Please help make the SoCal gathering a resounding success!
You guys are fortunate to have able leaders and energetic volunteers. This is the time to join the party! We are quietly harnessing the gains from the Dc rally and we continue to hope that there will yet be relief forthcoming soon. Nothing will happen though without your active support and participation.
Please help make the SoCal gathering a resounding success!
go_getter007
08-13 12:20 PM
If what you've heard is true, it's quite funny - illegal American "aliens" in India. :D
GG_007
Have heard of US citizens in India who are having problems getting work visa. And are getting paid in cash! Seems like the number of illegal US citizen aliens in India may be going up over the next ten years....
GG_007
Have heard of US citizens in India who are having problems getting work visa. And are getting paid in cash! Seems like the number of illegal US citizen aliens in India may be going up over the next ten years....
arnet
10-26 11:48 AM
post this question to the attroney sonal mehta vema who gives legal advise in IV forum, check the following threads to know how to post a question:
http://immigrationvoice.org/forum/showthread.php?t=1267
it is better to check with attroney, if you need attroney, i can suggest few like rajivkhanna at immigration.com or sheila murthy at murthys.com or sonal mehta at nankin.com/mehtaverma.html.
I work as a dentist in a company which was held in partnership by 2 partners.I have a approved H1b and my I 140 is filed in May 2006.Now as of Oct 01 the original company is finished as the partners have seperated.I am confused about my case, if I have to file a new H1b and 140 or an ammendment or just nothing.The tax id number for the company which will now give my paycheck has changed.As for me my work location has not changed and I still work in the same position.Can I take paychecks from the new company which now belongs to one of the partners or do I need to inform immigration to refile H1 or I140 or both.Any advice is appriciated
http://immigrationvoice.org/forum/showthread.php?t=1267
it is better to check with attroney, if you need attroney, i can suggest few like rajivkhanna at immigration.com or sheila murthy at murthys.com or sonal mehta at nankin.com/mehtaverma.html.
I work as a dentist in a company which was held in partnership by 2 partners.I have a approved H1b and my I 140 is filed in May 2006.Now as of Oct 01 the original company is finished as the partners have seperated.I am confused about my case, if I have to file a new H1b and 140 or an ammendment or just nothing.The tax id number for the company which will now give my paycheck has changed.As for me my work location has not changed and I still work in the same position.Can I take paychecks from the new company which now belongs to one of the partners or do I need to inform immigration to refile H1 or I140 or both.Any advice is appriciated
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