IV Update: Good news for people stuck due to security checks while waiting for visas

[pappu]

In the meeting last Thursday, DHS communicated us about the recently streamlined Visa Mantis process. This issue affected a lot of IV members who had gone for visa stamping in their home county, and were stuck for long time due to background checks.

In the past IV members have posted on the forum their personal stories about being stuck for months due to visa stamping background check delays. IV chapter leader SNathan had lead this effort on the forum. Thank you SNathan! We had communicated those concerns to DHS in ours meetings since the beginning of this year.

On behalf of all the members, Immigration Voice appreciates DHS efforts to address this issue by streamlining the process to reduce the wait times to just two weeks.

Here is the content of the 1 page document sent by DHS. This issue was sometime back, and we are just making sure that the community is aware of this favorable fix made by DHS. Given the complexity due to many federal agencies and departments involved in Visa Mantis process, DHS has taken the lead in fixing this issue for the high skilled community. Immigration Voice very much appreciates willingness of DHS to fix issues affecting high skilled community.

Immigration Voice will continue to proactively raise such issues that our community faces and try to get fixes done through our advocacy efforts.

Thank you DHS!

[pappu]

Streamlining of Security Screening Process for Foreign Scientists

Summary
Until the summer of 2009, foreign scientists seeking entry to the United States often were subject to security screening wait times of many months. While this security screening is an important part of the effort to prevent weapons proliferation, the delays had significant costs. Among other problems, the delays sometimes stymied research efforts and caused scientists to miss conferences and teaching engagements in the United States. Moreover, in the views of many, the delays symbolized counterproductive security measures implemented after September 11. But we have fixed this problem, and security screening wait times for foreign scientists now average only two weeks. Moreover, this dramatic streamlining occurred without any sacrifice in security.

Background
Consular officers conduct security screening on all visa applicants and, depending on the results of the initial screening, the consular officer may request a security advisory opinion, or “SAO,” from the law enforcement and intelligence community. Depending on the concern at issue, the consular officer may request one of several different types of SAOs. In 2008, approximately 56,000 scientists were subject to the Visas Mantis process (“Mantis”), which is the SAO process applicable to certain foreign scientists. While very few were denied visas, many thousands were delayed: in March 2009, for example, approximately 7,000 Mantis cases were pending for more than 30 days, and approximately 1,500 of these were pending for more than 90 days.
On May 29, 2009, following months of interagency consultations, U.S. government agencies responsible for visa security screening implemented changes to streamline the Mantis process. This streamlined process, in conjunction with additional resources, has resulted in a dramatic reduction of the number of cases pending for more than 30 and 90 days: whereas in March there were approximately 7,000 cases pending more than 30 days of which approximately 1,500 were pending for more than 90 days, the September statistics are fewer than 800 pending more than 30 days of which fewer than 200 have been pending more than 90 days. Moreover, average wait times are now just two weeks, and all of the agencies involved in the Mantis process expect that this two week average will remain constant.
Most importantly, the streamlined Mantis process does not sacrifice security – all of the agencies involved believe that there has been no discernible increase in risk.

[gc_on_demand]

Thanks IV Core and all who worked for this ..

[Winner]

Thank you SNathan!

You da man!

[pappu]

We are going to announce another admin fix for I485 applicants soon in the coming days.

[patiently_waiting]

Thanks

[nagio]

Thanks for the great work snathan & IV!

[letstalklc]

Great job done. Thanks for all who are part fo this effort.

[jungalee43]

What happened to campaign on AC-21 immediate denials? Officers are still not following the guidelines as it is evident from the several cases reported on IV, including mine. The hardships and tensions caused are comparable to those where scientists were stuck in their home country. And this can hit any IV member who thinks he is immune to this. Almost one year after the campaign the reckless denials are continuing.

We are going to announce another admin fix for I485 applicants soon in the coming days.

[ronhira]

Thank You DHS. We love you. Please do more administrative fixes.

I hope you are reading this.

Thank you

[rayoflight]

Thanks Pappu and IV. The whole community is eagerly awaiting the news with all their eyes and ears open :)


We are going to announce another admin fix for I485 applicants soon in the coming days.

[kate123]

big thank you to iv!!!!



we are going to announce another admin fix for i485 applicants soon in the coming days.

[uvatbc]

Is there a place where you can keep these success stories together? Something like a trophy page?

[laborchic]

Another milestone reached by IV.. Waiting to hear the I-485 fix.... :p

[laborchic]

Another milestone reached by IV.. Waiting to hear the I-485 fix.... :p..

[scorpion00]

Thanks to IV and all who made the efforts to achieve this milestone.

[Honda]

Thanks to Snathan and IV team members.

[vikki76]

This is great news for PhD's!!!!. I know so many of them who were not willing to move to H1-B as their colleagues were not getting visas in time ( delay upto 9 months) now they can get some relief.

[texanguy]

They should really reinstate visa stamping within the country. That would be a good news.

[gc_buddy]

IV Rocks !

[weasley]

Thank you IV, Snathan and his team.

They should really reinstate visa stamping within the country. That would be a good news.

[pcs]

Aman & Co.... good job buddy...

[scorpion00]

This is exactly what I wanted to ask too. Does the new procedure benefit PhD's only or the people who have MS/BS but get stuck due to name checks, will benefit too?

Thanks in advance.



Pappu/IV Core and all concerned:
First, thanks to SNathan in no small measure, and to everyone who helped him along the way.

Does "scientist" imply only PhDs in research positions in academia/industry? What about other classes of visa stamping applicants (for example, an H1B candidate with a B.S/M.S. who is in a non-research, full time professional occupation)? Could you please clarify?

Also, is there a link to the official document from USCIS/DHS that effectively mirrors the information posted here?

Thanks much for any information you can provide.

[Edison99]

Job done very well by Pappu & SNathan and keep going…

[diehard]

Thanks to IV . Good job.

[santa123]

Well done IV and SNathan!
Best wishes for future endeavors too!

[BharatPremi]

Thanks to IV Team and SNathan,

[sandy_anand]

Many thanks to IV Team and S Nathan. Is there any scope of automatic revalidation being reintroduced in the near future?

[dummgelauft]

Excellent work Pappu and SNathan.
IMVHO, the next best thing to ask for (again, I think it should be an admin fix) relaxing the same/similar job description clause. Maybe making it simpler to the extent that if a person's job with sponsoring employer needs a BS in Mechanical Engineering, the person should be able to take a new job, if the new job also requires a BS in Mech. Engineering.

Also, USCIS deserves due credit for this positive chnage that they have made for H1B applicants.

[pappu]

Excellent work Pappu and SNathan.
IMVHO, the next best thing to ask for (again, I think it should be an admin fix) relaxing the same/similar job description clause. Maybe making it simpler to the extent that if a person's job with sponsoring employer needs a BS in Mechanical Engineering, the person should be able to take a new job, if the new job also requires a BS in Mech. Engineering.

Also, USCIS deserves due credit for this positive chnage that they have made for H1B applicants.

We are already working on it.

[Brightsider]

Oh Boy!!
Another teaser.......and we will keep refreshing this page every half an hour.

Seriously though, many thanks for everything you guys are doing.
It takes a lot of patience, energy and..... thick skin to withstand the barbs.

Keep it up!:)

[vdlrao]

Thank you SNathan for your altruistic effort towards IV community. We all thankful, to you and to the other members in your team, for being done this.

[vin13]

Thanks for the members who worked on this admin fix.

I have another suggestion which should be an admin fix.

It seems that the spill-over of visas happen only during end of the fiscal year. I think the law says that the spill-over should be applied every quarter.

As USCIS claims to have pre-adjudicated several cases, they should have a better control of the numbers. Which means they can allocate spill-over visas every quarter.

Advantages of spill-over every quarter instead of once a year

1) Gives oppertunity for potential applicants to file I-485 earlier and avail EADs for themselves and family.

2) There is a potential to get more spill-over when issued quarterly.(In the last quarter, if there are more demand they cannot take back the spill overs that has already been issued in the previous 3 quarters)

3) Balanced workload for the immigration officers and card issue helping USCIS to better manage and to make sure no visas are wasted in the last quarter.

4) Offcourse getting approvals sooner than waiting for the last quarter is PRICELESS:)

To the core team: I am willing to help out in anyway if you need me to do anything regarding this.

[psaxena]

IV team,
Million thanks SNATHAN and others!! Job well done.

Pappu,
Please create a section on the website called "ACHIEVEMENTS". I hate the part when IV is working hard behind the scene, some members get restless and start questioning the efforts of IV and try to break this community. Atleast with the achievement section, when anybody will try to point fingers, this section will refresh their memory and hopefully by the grace of the god will be blessed with a little more patience and politeness.

Adios!!

We are already working on it.

[Brightsider]

Thanks for the members who worked on this admin fix.

I have another suggestion which should be an admin fix.

It seems that the spill-over of visas happen only during end of the fiscal year. I think the law says that the spill-over should be applied every quarter.

As USCIS claims to have pre-adjudicated several cases, they should have a better control of the numbers. Which means they can allocate spill-over visas every quarter.

Advantages of spill-over every quarter instead of once a year



Ditto to that!
An Admn fix for ensuring quarterly spillovers would be wonderful.

[newuser]

IV team,
Million thanks SNATHAN and others!! Job well done.

Pappu,
Please create a section on the website called "ACHIEVEMENTS". I hate the part when IV is working hard behind the scene, some members get restless and start questioning the efforts of IV and try to break this community. Atleast with the achievement section, when anybody will try to point fingers, this section will refresh their memory and hopefully by the grace of the god will be blessed with a little more patience and politeness.

Adios!!


I second that

[Edison99]

Nice suggestion psaxena !

IV team,
Million thanks SNATHAN and others!! Job well done.

Pappu,
Please create a section on the website called "ACHIEVEMENTS". I hate the part when IV is working hard behind the scene, some members get restless and start questioning the efforts of IV and try to break this community. Atleast with the achievement section, when anybody will try to point fingers, this section will refresh their memory and hopefully by the grace of the god will be blessed with a little more patience and politeness.

Adios!!

[nissan_1]

Can any one please answer this?

This is exactly what I wanted to ask too. Does the new procedure benefit PhD's only or the people who have MS/BS but get stuck due to name checks, will benefit too?

Thanks in advance.

[gc_maine2]

Thanks to SNathan and IV Core.

Good Idea psaxsena, This will help for all Newbies and people who questions IV's credibility.

IV team,
Million thanks SNATHAN and others!! Job well done.

Pappu,
Please create a section on the website called "ACHIEVEMENTS". I hate the part when IV is working hard behind the scene, some members get restless and start questioning the efforts of IV and try to break this community. Atleast with the achievement section, when anybody will try to point fingers, this section will refresh their memory and hopefully by the grace of the god will be blessed with a little more patience and politeness.

Adios!!

[prem_goel]

Hi Pappu,
Do you have the update on the second admin fix for I485 yet? Many thanks!


We are going to announce another admin fix for I485 applicants soon in the coming days.

[baba2s]

Ditto to that!
An Admn fix for ensuring quarterly spillovers would be wonderful.

Wonderful.. this will help ALL.

[baba2s]

Thanks IV Core team for all efforts...

[vikki76]

In the meeting last Thursday, DHS communicated us about the recently streamlined Visa Mantis process. This issue affected a lot of IV members who had gone for visa stamping in their home county, and were stuck for long time due to background checks.

In the past IV members have posted on the forum their personal stories about being stuck for months due to visa stamping background check delays. IV chapter leader SNathan had lead this effort on the forum. Thank you SNathan! We had communicated those concerns to DHS in ours meetings since the beginning of this year.

On behalf of all the members, Immigration Voice appreciates DHS efforts to address this issue by streamlining the process to reduce the wait times to just two weeks.

Here is the content of the 1 page document sent by DHS. This issue was sometime back, and we are just making sure that the community is aware of this favorable fix made by DHS. Given the complexity due to many federal agencies and departments involved in Visa Mantis process, DHS has taken the lead in fixing this issue for the high skilled community. Immigration Voice very much appreciates willingness of DHS to fix issues affecting high skilled community.

Immigration Voice will continue to proactively raise such issues that our community faces and try to get fixes done through our advocacy efforts.

Thank you DHS!
Is there any official memo sent out by USCIS which says that visa mantis program is now streamlined?Need to give this info to someone as a reference..

[sayantan76]

Is there any official memo sent out by USCIS which says that visa mantis program is now streamlined?Need to give this info to someone as a reference..
found some additional media coverage on this important issue but not the memo:

Science Students and Scholars To Get U.S. Visas Faster - China Real Time Report - WSJ (http://blogs.wsj.com/chinarealtime/2009/06/03/science-students-and-scholars-to-get-us-visas-faster/)

AAAS - AAAS News Release - "Scientific, Academic, Engineering Groups Praise Administration Visa Efforts, Urge Further Steps" (http://www.aaas.org/news/releases/2009/0611visa_press_release.shtml)

Waiting game, US visa, Visa Mantis, Administrative processing, Careers and Recruitment, Naturejobs (http://www.nature.com/naturejobs/2009/090903/full/nj7260-131a.html)

[Marphad]

Bravo! SNathan.

[vikki76]

Thank you..thank you..thank you..I am trying to persuade my colleague to go for H1 stamping but wasn't able to do so without any concrete evidence. This helps a lot.

[diehard]

Thank you and Good luck on more fixes.