Washington State Chapter

[mrajatish]

Friends,
As part of the Washington State Chapter, I want to arrange a conference call for all Washington, Oregon and Idaho state members. I will send out details soon on the conf call.

The main agenda will be
1. How to increase awareness about IV and increase its member base/funding?
2. How to target the big employers in this region (e.g., Intel, Microsoft)?
3. How to meet all Congressmen and their Immigration staff?

Thanks,
Raj
mrajatish@yahoo.com

[we_can]

i just noticed your post. i am from portland, oregon. so count me in also. i had posted a message on the orgon state chapter a while ago and have not had a single response yet. Inspite of the large numbers of members in seattle and portland areas, i too am sad to this kind of inactivity and non-response.

members from northwest (oregon, washington and idaho): This state chapter initiative is very important for our efforts. We are doing this for ourselves and I am pretty sure that these efforts will not harm your career or work in anyway. So, please do reply so that we could all get active and show that we in the Northwest can work for our situations and for iv's efforts in our own way.

we_can

[jbr]

Not sure if the conference call mentioned in the previous post has already been held. I wouldn't mind joining in future calls. Thanks.

[pankajkakkar]

I'd like to join the conference call as well.

[pappu]

Its been a long time since a conf call is organized. Could you all pls. organize the call and start action items. Thanks

[styrum]

I live in Seattle area now and would like to participate in any joint effort. Please let me know when any such activitity is planned.

[pankajkakkar]

Please email me (kakkar_pankaj@hotmail.com) and I'll try to get us co-ordinated.

[pappu]

Pankaj, can you organize the conf call and start activities. Others will join and help you.

[we_can]

Pankaj, I have sent you an email.

[kaizersoze]

I just posted this on another thread. I'lls et up a conf call, hopefully this weekend. We need to build some momentum and meet as many lawmakers as possible.

PS: This post pertains to seattle area congressmen. I'll post a contact list of lawmakers in the northwest region. I noticed that someone from portland als posted here.


Folks,

As part of the WA state chapter, we have started meeting lawmakers. We met one congressman last week, are meeting one this friday and another next week and more as appointments get scheduled. I just want to share at this point that the initial reaction was very positive. They are very approachable, and very willing to listen. They understood the pain we are going through and noted the suggestions we made and the provisions that we want them to support.

I want to point out that although they were aware of the ongoing debate on immigration and the difference between H1B issues and GC issues, they dont fully understand the GC process and how long and how much we suffer in the process. Once they realize this, they look at it differently. The only way they will know is if we go and talk to them !!

I request and urge everyone to take 2 mins out of their busy schedules and just call their congressmen/senators. Help the core team out. They cannot do everything themselves. IV has all the material ready on the website. All you have to do is spend 30 mins talking to the representatives about it. I am speaking from personal experience. IT GOES A LONG WAY !!

Once we have met a couple more lawmakers, I'll put a detailed post about the takeaways.

[kaizersoze]

just noticed up the thread that there was a conf call held already. pankaj,
could you pls share the details.

[kaizersoze]

Folks,

I just put together this info and also posted on another thread. PLease, please go through this and start setting up appointment with your lawmakers.
We have already set up/met with Reichert, Murray and McDermott. Pls help in setting up appointments with the others. You may have to leave a couple of voicemails before they get back to you: refer 1st para of the letter below.(total 30 secs/per voicemail ). Remember, they are very open to listeneing to you...you are teh future vote bank


The congressman to whose district you do not belong will not entertain any requests. You guys have to contact your local congressmen

List of the senators and the congressmen
http://www.visi.com/juan/congress/cg...e=ctc&state=nj

To find your local representative
http://www.house.gov/writerep/


This is the letter we used. Some lawmakers contacted over the phone specifically asked to be faxed the letter and asked ho many people would visit.

Date: 01/24/2007

Dear Congressman XXXX,

I am a concerned constituent writing to you on behalf of ImmigrationVoice, a non profit organization working to get the problems of Employment based Legal Immigration to the attention of lawmakers. I would like to request for a meeting to discuss the problems that the legal high skilled immigrant community is facing.

Employment Based Legal immigration is currently facing some of the worst waiting periods in the recent past. Applicants have to wait to finish their final phase of immigration for as many as 6-7 years because of the lack of employment based green card numbers which is also called Green Card Retrogression. The reasons for these are certain bureaucratic delays, flawed practices and procedures and arcane laws which are not in tune with reality at all.

Please also note that there are more than 350,000 Labor applications pending at the Labor department to be processed. Some of them are as old as from year 2000. These applicants are waiting for certification from the US Department of Labor as high-skilled workers who are not displacing existing American workers in the market.

Subsequent to rigorous but unfruitful recruitment efforts by our employers and other processing stages by USCIS, we still have to face prolonged wait times. It is also to be noted that most of us are already working in the U.S. for the past 5-6 years and are contributing to the U.S. economy in the form of taxes etc - some of which we do not derive any benefit from. This also hurts the businesses in your constituency like my employer because they have to wait indefinitely to hire talented applicants on a permanent basis. This is a very important issue and will determine whether the United States of America remains competitive in the fields of science and technology and retains the best talent from around the world.

ImmigrationVoice is a nonprofit organization comprised of volunteers who are suffering due to these delays and wish to bring this important issue in front of their lawmakers. Hence I would request an appointment so that I can explain these problems and ask for support for some of the legislative measures that have been introduced to alleviate these problems.
I look forward to hearing back from you.

Thank you.
Sincerely,

(Place holder for your signature)
Your name:
Your address:
Your email:


The list of resources you need are available here: http://immigrationvoice.org/index.ph...53&Itemi d=36

We took binders of information. A quick 5 min stop at OffiecDepot will do the trick and makes a good impact on the lawmakers.

C'mon people, now is the time to make a difference. lets make this happen !!

[paskal]

hello WA members,

we need to get this chapter up and running again.
anyone still coordinating efforts?
anyone interested in getting things going again?

[mrajatish]

Let us restart the Washington state chapter - all interested volunteers, please email me at mrajatish@gmail.com to kickstart the process.

-Raj

[seahawks]

My wife and me have joined the yahoogroups for WA chapter, We are going for the rally, how can we encourage more friends in WA state to go? I know there are people willing to sponsor, provide part of funds, help with accommodation and so on and if anyone in WA has any of these limitations, people are willing to coordinate. How do we get the point across to all Washingtonian GC sufferers or people who just filed for 485 and don't see the bleak tomorrow. How do we wake them up all up? We have so many employers here, is there something we can do to wake them up from the slumber and mirage of filing 485? I must admit, I was sleeping too until yesterday when we booked our tickets.