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Z&A Reps Met with Lawmakers in D.C. to Discuss Clients’ Concerns From time to time, our clients are affected by three issues: (1) the limited annual H-1B quota prohibits many of them from working for a private employer in the United States even if they have received job offers; (2) the employment-based immigration visa quota has created significant visa retrogression for people born in India and China; (3) prolonged FBI name checks have delayed many applicants’ green-card application process. To address our clients’ concerns, Mr. Matthew Graham and Attorneys Ben Wisniewski and Jerry Zhang of Zhang & Associates arranged a trip to Washington, D.C., in order to meet with members of Congress and congressional staff. On the morning of Monday, September 17, Ben, Jerry, and Matt attended their first meeting with Senator Hilary Rodham Clinton’s deputy chief legal consult and chief legislative director. Senator Clinton’s staff members were very engaged in the conversation. They listened attentively and asked questions. In particular, Senator Clinton’s legislative director was very interested in the problems with premium processing that Jerry brought up during the meeting. Jerry requested that the Senator’s offices push for USCIS to resume premium processing procedures for EB cases. On September 18, Zhang & Associates’ representatives participated in a rally organized by Immigration Voice. Hundreds of people attended the rally. Rally participants included doctors, medical technicians, computer engineers, and other professionals coming from as far as California and Washington State to attend the rally. Accompanied by a police escort, a crowd that stretched four city blocks walked together from the Washington Monument to the Capitol, all the participants carrying signs and waving their respective state flags. The rally drew the attention of numerous onlookers in the streets. Once the rally participants reached the Capitol, a number of people—including a member of Congress and members of Immigration Voice—spoke candidly about the issue and their personal experiences with the strenuous visa process. This rally drew significant attention from the media. The New York Times, the Washington Post, and some other major media outlets reported on the event. Shortly after the rally, Matt, Ben and Jerry met with Representative Zoe Lofgren, chair of the House Subcommittee on Immigration. During the July Visa Bulletin fiasco, Representative Lofgren wrote a strong letter to USCIS Director Emilio T. González, demanding that USCIS take action to fix the issue. It is widely believed that Representative Lofgren played a critical role in the efforts to favorably revise the visa bulletin. Ben and Jerry began the meeting by thanking her for invoking USCIS to reopen I-485 petition filing in July, after USCIS originally closed the door for I-485 filings that month. During the meeting, Representative Lofgren was especially supportive of U.S. employers’ need to retain talent. She was very well informed on the issues as a result of her experience as an immigration attorney prior to joining Congress. Also, she agreed that the government needed to fix the issues of the employment-based immigration visa and delayed FBI name checks. However, she favors a more comprehensive bill that would fix many different problems in the American immigration system rather than a specific piece of legislation dealing with only highly skilled immigrants. Moreover, Representative Lofgren may offer help to encourage the FBI to centralize their communication structure, which, in turn, would decrease the long name-check delays. In the meeting, she constantly mentioned the national interest of the United States. After the meeting, Jerry requested a photo with Congresswoman Lofgren, She suggested that we pose with her in front of the American flag, and we did. ------------------------- At Zhang & Associates, P.C., our attorneys and supporting professionals are committed to providing high quality immigration and non-immigration visa services. We specialize in NIW, EB-1, PERM and I-485 cases. In the past eleven years, we have successfully helped thousands of clients get green cards. If you plan to apply for a green card, please send your CV to Attorney Jerry Zhang (info@hooyou.com) for a free evaluation. (09/25/2007) For more immigration news, please click here |
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