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America is a melting pot of immigrants from all around the world. There are thousands of EB-3 applicants like us who came here legally and contributing to the American Economy, but still have not received the Green cards after long wait time of 8 to 9 years. The root cause of the problem is, the 245(i) Law pass by Congress in year 2000. As per one information approximately 345, 000 numbers of 245(i) applicants had filed for the Green cards on or before April 30'th, 2001.
When Congress passed the law, there was no provision made for additional quota, from where these huge additional numbers of applications were to be issued their green cards. This resulted in a situation of using the additional numbers from limited 140,000 Employment-based Green cards regular quota and has literrally blocked our road of getting green cards. So we,the applicants playing by the rules, have been waiting patiently, silently suffering without green-cards due to this unintended consequence of the 245(i) law passed by the Congress (As the dates for EB-3 applicants is still in year 2001, EVEN AFTER 9 YEARS of passage of the law).
Full Text of 245(i) Law (LIFE ACT)
Please refer to 245i FAQ by Carl Shusterman.
245i had allowed people fitting the following criteria to adjust status in year 2000.
1. Had an illegal status either by entering US illegally or had status violations after entering legally.
2. Applicant has to be physically present in US on Dec 2000.
3. Applicant beneficiary of an immigrant application (Labor certification/I-140/I-130) as of April 2001.
4. Had to pay a penalty of $1000 for pardoning illegal status.
Their labor/I-140/I-130 need not be approved, it only needed to be "approvable". Many people, who were illegal or went out of status, rushed to file their applications before April 2001. In addition, children/spouse of the primary applicant could adjust their status on 245(i) basis even if they were not present in US on Dec 2000. Their priority date (PD) would be the PD of the primary applicant.
After passing this law, there was a mad rush for filing labor certifications before April 2001 deadline. As per OH Law firm there were around 345,000 245i applications pending at DOL. Please see more details below
245(i) DOL statistics
The 245(i) cases which were filed mostly before April 30, 2001 will more or less seriously affect the pace of the visa number progression. But look at the estimate of 245(i) which is pending at the DOL. The number is staggering. There are estimated to be approximately 345,000 245(i) applications with the DOL. Without doubt, some of these applications will be denied, withdrawn or abandoned, but the prediction indicates that as many as 250,000-275,000 direct beneficiaries plus additional derivative beneficiaries of their family members (average 2.5) will move into I-140 and I-485 streams in the future.
In the context of all of the above, we request the Congress to:
TO EXEMPT THE USED & PENDING NUMBERS OF 245(i) CASES FROM REGULAR QUOTA & RECOVER THOSE USED EB VISAS (FOR 245I CASES) TO THE REGULAR QUOTA (IN THE PROPORTION THEY WERE USED- FOR EACH CATEGORY & COUNTRY), WHICH WILL SERVE JUSTICE TO THE LAW ABIDING APPLICANTS, WAITING FOR GREENCARD YEAR AFTER YEAR.
Justification for Change/amendment in the (LIFE ACT of Year 2000) 245i Law which has affected lives of thousands Legal EB Green card Applicants:
1. Before the introduction of this law (before year 2000), EB Green card wait times were very short and priority dates were remaining current. Which is not the case now, as the system is not designed to accommodate this huge influx of large number of 245i applicants & has created ripple effects on the regular applicants like us, who are the victim of these unreasonable and agonizing delays.
2. By any perspective, our Demand is fair and will serve justice to the hardworking applicants and their families. Modification to the 245i law- By exempting 245i application from the stipulated 140,000 quota will not take away any single American Job. All it will do- It Will Adjust the Status of Applicants (who are already working in US) and give them well deserved Green cards, whose applications are already certified by Department of Labor.
3. Without the Green card, applicants waiting since many years do not have choice of mobility in the job & also have to suffer financial loss as they are unable to change the job. This long delay also results in the stress in the family members who are at a great disadvantage- Do not qualify for higher education scholarship, Grants, loans. It also prevents them getting admission to the certain higher education field despite of their talent and qualifications. Also many families have been separated from their children, who cannot stay with their parents when they turn 21 years old, in the case when Primary applicants have not been able to file their Adjustment of Status application, as the Priority Dates are still in 2001. Congress needs to act without delay to help all of these families.
We are facing long delays and injustice without our fault.
We have heard that in America, everyone gets the opportunity according to their talent, qualification and God given Gifts. But it seems that, we and our families are deprived of our rights in spite of the fact that we are playing by the rules, paying taxes and contributing to the country and economy at our best. We request Congress to exempt the used & pending 245i cases from the EB Quota. Thank you & God Bless America.
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