Visagate2015 Update

Some Updates on #Visagate2015

We have been following #Visagate2015 closely for updates on the lawsuit (Mehta vs. DOS, to reinstate the original October Visa Bulletin). One of the more touching parts of the ordeal thus far is that thousands of bouquets of flowers have been delivered to the Department of Homeland Security. Applicants who sent their Green Card applications on October 1 had delivery rejected.

The October Visa Bulletin introduced the modernized visa system that President Obama’s executive actions promised in November 2014. The modernized visa system shows both filing and action dates. This means that someone who is eligible for an Immigrant Visa can file earlier and begin the process, rather than waiting to file when the priority date is current. This great news for thousands of individuals (the lawsuit claims 30,000 are affected) was hocus-pocused two weeks later when the Visa Bulletin was revised with severely rolled back filing dates. The revised bulletin, issued September 25, came 6 days before thousands of hopeful applicants were filing their applications for Permanent Residence. Many of the applicants have been waiting for years and years for their dates to become current.

Individuals with family-based Immigrant Visas have been adversely affected, but it is the employment-based individuals who are the centerpiece of the lawsuit and receiving much of the attention. The tech industry and business community have rallied behind their employees with a letter to the State Department, Department of Homeland Security, and the White House. An excerpt from the letter:

The rescission of the promise of “adjustment” and the concrete interim benefits associated with these applications with only three days warning before the filing period commenced—and well after preparations already triggered legal fees and costs—was both heartbreaking for these immigrants and deeply troubling for all who observed the process. It is also important to note that the original and revised October 2015 visa bulletin both include a 41-month retrogression for EB-2 India and a 23-month retrogression for EB-2 China, compared to the August 2015 visa bulletin. At the outset of the federal government’s fiscal year, when the entire array of 140,000 immigrant visas are available, it is puzzling to see the contraction of immigrant visa availability and further deepening of the green card backlog.

This is a truly unfortunate example of poorly-conceived execution by your respective departments, one that furthers, rather than mitigates, an ever-growing impairment to our country’s ability to attract and retain the best talent in the world.

As for the actual lawsuit, a ruling on the temporary restraining order might be issued today.