Immigration Voice is founded by a group of volunteers who closely followed the Senate debate in November of 2005. This Debate was expected to provide relief from green card delays. A few active posters on immigrationportal.com (an Internet forum) called Senate offices in support of an item in the Budget bill that contained the ability for immigrants to file for Adjustment of Status* even with visa number unavailability. Pending Adjustment of Status* applications, immigrants waiting for their employment-based green cards could still get Employment Authorization and Travel Documents; they may change employment to similar jobs, dependents may work, and they may travel freely in and out of the country. This was expected to provide much-needed relief to high-skilled immigrants affected by green card delays.
The Budget bill passed but high-skilled immigration provisions were removed in the Senate-House Conference, much to the disappointment of more than 500,000 legal skilled immigrants stuck in the green card backlog. At this time Aman Kapoor, an active poster on immigrationportal.com called for a conference call to form an organization. After a few phone calls, select members decided to meet in Washington, D.C. to discuss the action plan. The action plan begins with the formation of Immigration Voice, commonly known as IV.
*Adjustment of status is a process that is used to apply for lawful permanent resident status (also known as applying for a Green Card).
