USCIS I-140 and Employment based I-485 form filing and approval stats

To Whom It May Concern:

This is a request under the Freedom of Information Act. I hereby request the following records:

Number of pending and approved “Form I-140 - Immigrant Petition for Alien Worker” applications, received on or after January 1, 2008, grouped by case status, application month, class and beneficiaries' country of birth.

Number of pending and approved rejected employment-based “Form I-485 - Application to Register Permanent Residence or Adjust Status” applications, received on or after January 1, 2008, grouped by case status, application month, class and beneficiaries' chargeability.

If aggregated reports for the above records are not available, we would like to request access to certain proportions of records of individual cases, unless they are the personal identifiable information or otherwise undisclosable by law.

For the list of pending and approved I-140 applications, we request the receipt number, receipt date, priority date, beneficiary's nationality, status of the application. For approved applications, we request the type of post approval activities (i.e. whether the approved application is for consular processing or change of status).

For the list of pending and approved employment-based I-485 applications, we request the receipt number, priority date, receipt date, chargeability, employment preference category, current case status of each application (for example “preadjusticated”), and approval date if applicable.

I also request that, if appropriate, fees be waived as I believe this request is in the public interest. The requested documents will be made available to the general public free of charge as part of the public information service at MuckRock.com, processed by a representative of the news media/press and is made in the process of news gathering and not for commercial usage.

In the event that fees cannot be waived, I would be grateful if you would inform me of the total charges in advance of fulfilling my request. I would prefer the request filled electronically, by e-mail attachment if available or CD-ROM if not.

Thank you in advance for your anticipated cooperation in this matter. I look forward to receiving your response to this request within 20 business days, as the statute requires.

Sincerely,

Frank Lin

REQUEST FOR EXPEDITED FOIA PROCESSING

To Whom It May Concern:

This is a request for expedited processing of a Freedom of Information
Act (“FOIA”) request, made pursuant to 28 CFR 16.5(d)(1). On July 3,
2012, I submitted an FOIA request (copy attached) to U.S. Citizenship
and Immigration Services seeking the disclosure of:

Number of pending and approved “Form I-140 - Immigrant Petition for
Alien Worker” applications, received on or after January 1, 2008,
grouped by case status, application month, class and beneficiaries'
country of birth.

Number of pending, rejected, and approved employment-based “Form I-485 -
Application to Register Permanent Residence or Adjust Status”
applications, received on or after January 1, 2008, grouped by case
status, application month, class and beneficiaries' chargeability.

I believe this request meets the criteria for expedited processing
under 28 CFR 16.5(d)(1)(iv), as “[a] matter of widespread and
exceptional media interest in which there exist possible questions
about the government’s integrity which affect public confidence.” 28
CFR 16.5(d)(1)(iv).

The FOIA request was made in the hope that we can reverse engineer
part of the process how USCIS and Department of State allocates the
immigration visa numbers. Under the current law, applicants from each
country can receive up to 7% of total immigration visa quota every
fiscal year. Any unused visa numbers at the end of each fiscal year
cannot be rolled over, and those numbers are "wasted". We also
strongly believe that in certain categories, some countries were
unlawfully favored with more than 7% of the visa numbers while other
countries receives less than 7% and has applicants lined up waiting
for visa numbers. This process is flawed at best.

Without the first-hand data from USCIS (and DOS), we can hardly
demonstrate the government's alleged malpractice in its visa
allocation process; and if we don't get the numbers expeditiously
enough, the chance for the Department of State and USCIS fixing the
issues would be minimal. This is because even if there are
misallocations, when the fiscal year turns over it can hardly be fixed
under current laws.

There is “widespread and exceptional media interest” in the proper
allocation of immigration quotas, particularly now in regards to the
current recession and stalled American job growth.

As the New York Times Reported:

http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/05/22/4-senators-propose-easing-visa-limits-for-highly-skilled/

And the Washington Post:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/on-small-business/senators-beckon-immigrant-entrepreneurs-and-workers-with-startup-act-20/2012/05/22/gIQATplCjU_story.html

It is equally clear that “there exist possible questions about the
government’s integrity which affect public confidence” given the
above questions, which are impossible to answer without the requested
data.

Also as outlined above, a delayed response to this request could cause
irreparable harm to those unfairly excluded because their country's 7
percent quota was misappropriated.

MuckRock is a widely known and recognized news site, based in the
Boston Globe and whose news stories, which include original reporting
and analysis, are regularly cited by outside publications including
the Washington Post, New York Times, Wall Street Journal and hundreds
of other sources.

Thank you for your consideration of this request. As applicable
Department regulations provide, I will anticipate your determination
within ten (10) calendar days. Under penalty of perjury, I hereby
affirm that the foregoing is true and correct to the best of my
knowledge and belief.

An acknowledgement letter has not yet been received for this request.

To Whom It May Concern:

I wanted to follow up on the following Freedom of Information request, copied below, and originally submitted on July 3, 2012. Please let me know when I can expect to receive a response, or if further clarification is needed.

Thank you for your help.

To Whom It May Concern:

I wanted to follow up on the following Freedom of Information request, copied below, and originally submitted on July 3, 2012. Please let me know when I can expect to receive a response, or if further clarification is needed.

Thank you for your help.

We'd like to have the datasheets as proceedings of search for a processed case number COW2012000857.

To Whom It May Concern:

I wanted to follow up on the following Freedom of Information request, copied below, and originally submitted on July 3, 2012. Please let me know when I can expect to receive a response, or if further clarification is needed.

Thank you for your help.