IV action item: Media drive on Visa Bulletin

[pappu]

We are starting a media drive from tomorrow on visa bulletin.
Before we post all the details and how to's

we need help from members to:

- post some email templates specific to this visa bulletin and our cause. Mention IV name several times in the template so that the reporter can contact us.

- Someone please collect a list of the reporters from pervious media drives , make a file and post it here.

Let us get this background work done tonight and from tomorrow morning we will start this drive with a bang.
=======================
media list
http://www.mydatabus.com/myFiles.php...k&fn=Media.xls
members can post other email addresses on the thread so that everyone can write emails

[pappu]

Immigration Voice is compiling experiences from members on the 02/07 Visa Bulletin incident. Please see the posts below.

We encourage members to share their experiences with us. Please look at the posts below for focus and talking points, and post your stories on IV at
http://immigrationvoice.org/forum/sh...9550#post99550
with details on:
a) Your current Green Card Status
b) If you have yet sent in your I-485 application
c) Your contact details along with Name and handle on IV. IV is mindful of your privacy and will share this information externally only with prior consent. No anonymous write-ups, please
d) IMPORTANT: We want to keep our focus in our stories only on the following issues:
- Impact of 07/02 on your application (Quality of life issues, time and money expended, inconvenience experienced, et al)
- Request USCIS /DOS to consider accepting 485s filed
- Please refrain from mentioning AILA or even questioning the mechanics of USCIS in the past few days
- Please refrain from using strong negative accusatory adjectives while refering to any federal or state agency

Some of our key members will guide you through the process.

WHAT'S BEEN DONE ALREADY
Stories that have been accepted for publishing are listed on our blog at immigrationvoice.blogspot.com

http://www.prlog.org/10022648-no-cel...-july-4th.html
The above story ranked the highest (over 3500 views) in the last 7 days on prlog.

An additional story was also released yesterday:
http://www.prlog.org/10022854-americ...aspirants.html

WHAT YOU CAN DO
a) Distribute the above stories (Other blogs, contacts)
b) Submit more write-ups

[pappu]

IV release.:Please send it to other media offices and free press release distribution services
http://www.prlog.org/10022648-no-cel...-july-4th.html

[pappu]

IV Press release

http://www.prlog.org/10022648-no-cel...-july-4th.html

[engineer]

Originally Posted by pappu

IV release.:Please send it to other media offices and free press release distribution services
http://immigrationvoice.blogspot.com/

I have sent the blogpost to chowk.com

[engineer]

Here are media contacts:

60m@cbsnews.com
HDNet: Dan Rather reports
mcuban@hd.net, wnelson@hd.net
nytnews@nytimes.com,
news-tips@nytimes.com,
washington@nytimes.com
AmericasNewsroom@foxnews.com ; satya.prakash@hindustantimes.com ; pmagazine@hindustantimes.com ; aditya.ghosh@hindustantimes.com ; Fatherjonathan@foxnews.com ;
Drmanny@foxnews.com ;
Lisonlaw2@foxnews.com ;
YourComments@foxnews.com ;
Beltway@foxnews.com ;
Myword@foxnews.com ;
Bigstory-weekend@foxnews.com ; Bigstoryweekend@foxnews.com ;
Bullsandbears@foxnews.com ;
Cash@foxnews.com ;
Cavuto@foxnews.com ;
Fncimag@foxnews.com ;
Forbes@foxnews.com ;
Friends@foxnews.com ;
Feedback@foxnews.com ;
Jamie@foxnews.com ;
Fncspecials@foxnews.com ;
FNS@foxnews.com ;
Newswatch@foxnews.com ;
Foxreport@foxnews.com ;
Atlarge@foxnews.com ;
Heartland@foxnews.com ;
JER@foxnews.com ;
Lineup@foxnews.com ;
Ontherecord@foxnews.com ;
Oreilly@foxnews.com ;
Redeye@foxnews.com ;
Special@foxnews.com ;
Studiob@foxnews.com ;
Hemmer@foxnews.com ;
Colonelscorner@foxnews.com ;
Housecall@foxnews.com ;
Hannity@foxnews.com ;
Colmes@foxnews.com

[newuser]

Here is the link for the reporter contacts that was compiled for the last media drive

[pappu]

/\/\/\

[gcnirvana]

Pappu,
If we reinstate the recent forums frame, we might get more hits to this thread. Now its hidden 3 layers deep and not many people go look for it. Just a thought.
BTW, I've sent my experience over the July VB ordeal to all the media contacts given here and the one I had from the past.

Go IV Go.

Originally Posted by pappu

/\/\/\

[vasa]

American Dream suspended on the eve of American Independence

For aspiring immigrants ,4th of July is not just a holiday and fireworks but a promise of all good things that are American , which comes to those who follow the law , live by her rules and wait patiently for their turn to be called Americans.

Patience is not just a virtue but a way of life for thousands of Legal immigrants who have been living in the US for a number of years . Besides the everyday stress of Job,Mortgage,Health and education of their children they live with the added suspense of when their application for permanent residency ,commonly

referred as "Green card" will move ahead from its deep slumber.

To apply for a employment based "Green Card" , a employed worker's company needs to fulfill the

requirements of the DOS/USCIS and the date the application is received by the department is referred to as the "priority Date". A movement of a month keeps the hopes and spirits high of the applicants and their families and a couple of months is sheer joy. In 2004 there was a negative trend of retrogression of
the applications in queue and the dates moved back instead of moving front. It implied a waiting period of a couple of years at the minimum. So midway of the application process everything stalled, all eyes turned towards the senate and the house hoping they would mediate and provide respite to this broken situation. Nothing happened and so we waited for the much anticipated CIR as it was told to us that a comprehensive immigration reform will address the situation of the legal immigrants also besides its main agenda to solve the issue of illegal immigrants in this country.

The CIR died , then mid June the USCIS came up with a bulletin announcing that it will start accepting applications for adjustment of status for all employment based applicants and their dependents ..From then on it was a scramble to fulfill a long list of requirements to be able to apply on time. The first task was
for my husband to convince his HR to sponsor the process. Since they had already budgeted for the fiscal year and are on a spending freeze , it took a lot of convincing . The HR complied and gratefully we set out to get our Medical exams(at own cost of 150*2).Since we live in a small state with few doctors we
drove 2 hours to a neighboring state to get them on time. Being a mother of 3 small kids, I could not work on important paper works with them around. So after putting them to bed we spent the entire night pulling out the required documents from archives and placing them in order; numerous phone calls to parents
back in India to collect their date of birth, place of birth information and completed the questionnaire. Got passport pictures(60$) and mailed it all to our lawyers praying it will be one of the first to reach the department office on start of business on July 2nd..little did we suspect that this was nothing but adding insult to the injury plan by the honorable DOS.. They had already prepared a rude

shock when they released a bulletin update on July 2nd stating that they will not accept any applications as they had already allocated all the visas for the current fiscal year in a unprecedented action.
This has left thousand of families like us confused, saddened and in the middle of nowhere.

We are raising families here, our everyday life is no different from any other AMERICAN middle class family with same expectations and hopes, so its not easy to presume that we can pull out or get out of this situation and return to our home countries . We still have faith in the constitution and the spirit of this country and preserve faith that this wrongdoing will be reversed and we will get the opportunity to achieve what we have waited for years in a long queue, abiding by the law and fulfilling all requirements to the
tee..
On the eve of America’s independence let justice prevail and urge the congress and the STATE department to undo this monstrous decision of USCIS ..

God bless America.

[pcs]

I talked to someone & got immediate appointment. Few minutes later I got anoter call back to reaffirm teir support

Please call your congressman office. I am only asking them to ask USCIS to receive the application instead of rejecting it

[ramus]

Which congressman did you call?
Thanks.

Originally Posted by pcs

I talked to someone & got immediate appointment. Few minutes later I got anoter call back to reaffirm teir support

Please call your congressman office. I am only asking them to ask USCIS to receive the application instead of rejecting it

[gc_aspirant_prasad]

their office was not aware of this. Drew their attention to the statement by Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren.
They ve promised to check & do what they can.

[pcs]

Originally Posted by ramus

Which congressman did you call?
Thanks.

Ralph Regula in Ohio

[ramus]

Anybody have any contact with NPR.. Can we just 10 mins somewhere..