A sudden about-face by the State Department has left tens of thousands of highly skilled immigrants unable to apply to become legal permanent residents as they had expected to today, even though many have already paid expensive legal and medical fees to get their applications ready, according to a new lawsuit.
The affected immigrants are mostly from India and China, and many have advanced degrees and work at top tech companies or in medical firms.
They say they've spent thousands of dollars apiece. Lawyers estimate that the total is in the tens of millions and that the government has also jerked them around emotionally, forcing them to cancel trips, miss weddings and funerals, and take time off work, all for nothing.
The State Department issued a bulletin Sept 9 detailing which categories of people in the US could file their final green card paperwork today. The move came in response to an executive order last year from President Barack Obama seeking to improve and simplify the nation's immigration system.
The bulletin thrilled many of the workers who are here on petitions for employment visas, as it was expected to help clear up a years long backlog of applications by immigrants from China and India. Many immediately started preparing to file by getting their paperwork in order, paying lawyers and obtaining required medical exams and vaccinations.
But on Sept 25, the government revised that notice without explanation, severely curtailing who could apply by issuing new and earlier cut-off dates for consideration based on when an application for a green card was filed. The State Department issued no word as to when those left out might be allowed to file.
Shashi Singh Rai, 32, of Gurnee, Illinois, said her husband, a systems engineer at a pharmaceutical company, has had to put off obtaining a master's degree in business administration for the past five years and has had to turn down promotions as he waits for his green card, because his visa petition is job-specific, she said.
When the State Department issued its initial bulletin, she said, they excitedly called their parents in India. The couple spent USD 600 obtaining their birth certificates, Rai said, but her disappointment wasn't about the money.
"All our dreams are on hold for this. We have waited patiently," she said. "We have been just hanging by a thread, and that thread has been cut.
