March 18, 2009

AN URGENT PETITION REGARDING US VISA DELAYS

FROM: HIGHLY QUALIFIED US-EDUCATED SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

PROFESSIONALS AND US TAXPAYERS

Dear Sir/Madam,

Sub: Excessive Delays In Security Clearance of Technology Alert List (TAL) / Visa Mantis
Related Cases Pending Under Section 221(g) of Immigration and Nationality Act (INA)

At the moment, scientists, scholars, and engineers in technology-associated fields are experiencing
delays of more than four months for the issuance of their visas by US embassies and consulates abroad.
We are a group of highly qualified scientists and engineers, who have been living legally in the USA
for last several years and have family, friends, and financial liabilities in the US to take care of.
Almost all of us are US-educated (often, having been funded by US taxpayers), US tax-paying
professionals and are currently experiencing very long delays in the processing of our visas for re-entry
into the United States. Our group is growing larger by the day and represents a random sampling of
those US visa seekers who are all experiencing TAL/Mantis related extended delays under Section
221g of INA. As highly educated professionals, we fully understand that national security is the first
priority of the nation above anything else and firmly stand by the nation’s motto of “Secure Borders
and Open Doors.” However, we also believe that these security clearances must be completed in a
reasonably fixed period of time and not on an “it will happen, when it happens” open-ended schedule.
The New York Times carried an article on March 3rd, 2009 about these visa delays and their adverse
effects on the long-term US scientific and academic interests. The link to the article is provided below
for your reference:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/03/science/03visa.html

To give you an idea of the pending cases from our group, following is a summary of the make-up of
these cases. The detailed graphical and raw data on these real cases have been attached with this
petition, as exhibits, for your reference:

Median time for pending TAL clearance: 89 Days (46% Cases pending for >90 Days)
Average wait time for clearance: 114 Days
Received their Ph.D./M.S. degrees in US: 92% Cases
Qualification of the candidates: 97% Ph.D./M.S.; 3% B.S./B.Tech.
Median number of years spent in the US: 6.5 years
Visa class applied for: 83% H1B; 17% F1/J1/O1/Other

Our analysis of these cases shows that greater than 90% of these professionals have acquired their
Ph.D. or M.S. degrees from U.S. universities and were supported by a full financial aid package. After

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receiving this enormously generous gift from US taxpayers toward their education and training, these
highly qualified professionals are now paying that debt back in the form of larger than average federal,
state, social security and Medicare taxes. They are helping in creating and providing jobs for the
American workforce that lacks such advanced degrees and skills. In many cases, these professionals
are engaged in training future American scientists and engineers. However, US immigration policies
are making it much harder for such highly qualified, motivated, hard working and honest US-educated
foreign scientists and engineers to stay in the country and continue to contribute to the progress of the
nation.

The delays in the processing of visas for scientists and engineers currently on the active payroll of US
universities, pharmaceutical firms, and technology corporations are causing enormous direct losses in
productivity and revenue. This is in addition to the professional loss to the US establishment that hired
the individual to do very specialized work but must now wait indefinitely for their return, putting
critical projects and deadlines in jeopardy. The open-ended visa wait also causes enormous personal
hardship to the visa seekers who left their families, houses, mortgages, cars, jobs and their whole lives
back in the US for a short planned family visit to their home country. It does not create a very
favorable image of the US abroad amongst these highly skilled professionals who have been
contributing to the advancement and economy of the nation for years.

We hereby respectfully petition for your action on an interim and urgent basis to expedite the
TAL/Mantis processing cases without compromising national security and interests of the US.

WE URGENTLY PETITION FOR THE FOLLOWING:

1) Clear the current backlog of cases older than 60 days in the next 30 days (by April 15, 2009).

2) Make decisions on 80% of the cases within 30 days and on the remaining 20% within a total of 60
days from the date of visa interview.

3) Streamline the TAL/Mantis security check process so that it is time-bound and not open-ended.

4) Increase transparency of the process by providing a way to track progress of each case.

5) Initiate the TAL check at the time F1, J1, H1B and L petitions are approved by the USCIS.

6) Implement a recommendation system for these clearances from supervisors or senior authorities and
referees in the relevant field.

We hope that with your guidance, Department of State, in collaboration with USCIS, FBI and other
governmental agencies, can work toward an emergency interim system aimed at rapidly clearing the
catastrophic backlog of these visa cases that have been pending due to lengthy security clearance
process. In the long-term, we urge the lawmakers to consider revamping those sections of the
“Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act of 2007” that relate to US-educated STEM (Science,
Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) professionals:

http://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=110&session=1&vote=00235

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Having lived in the US for the past several years, we feel that the US is our adopted, second home. It
is clearly implied from the educational and professional make-up of this group that we are not
currently working in the US to make a quick buck and leave. Instead, having gone through the
education system in the US connects us to the country and motivates us to make a genuine contribution
to the country that gave us an excellent education. We take pride in distinguishing ourselves from the
IT/software workers who are often forced to work on lower than prevailing wages through
questionable tactics and their unscrupulous employers who diminutively exploit loopholes to weaken
the very fundamentals of the H1B visa system. We wish to highlight that our group of US-educated
professionals has risen through the ranks of American meritocracy and is equipped to make positive,
long-term contributions to the American society and economy. A majority of these applicants also
have pending employment-based green card applications, indicating their intent to legally migrate to
the US as taxpayers and law-abiding citizens and fulfill the American dream that brought them to the
United States in the first place.

Sincerely,

Signed by

All Members

“TAL/Mantis/221g/Administrative Processing related Delays” Awareness Group

www.facebook.com Group ID # 50933335266
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=50933335266

ATTACHMENTS WITH THIS PETITION:

Appendix 1:
Graphical summary of the pending 221g TAL related Administrative Processing visa cases

Appendix 2:
Raw case data of the of the pending 221g TAL related Administrative Processing visa cases

LINKS FOR REFERENCE

1. The live updated database of cases for our group members is publicly viewable at:
http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=pd-XmqrjF_Zob58NgG0GjWg&output=html

2. This open petition can also be publicly downloaded from or viewed at:
http://www.scribd.com/doc/13222616/Petition-US-Visa-Delays-due-to-221g-TAL-Administrative-Processing

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 Appendix 1 - As of March 17, 2009 2:00PM EST

Distribution of TAL/221g/MANTIS Visa Pending Cases

(Raw Data for this analysis on next page)

50
Percent of Cases

40

30

20

10

0
0-30 30-60 60-90 90-120 120-150
Days Pending
(Since Visa Interview)

100 80
Percent of Cases

Percent of Cases

80
60
60
40
40
20
20

0 0
US Institution Non-US Institution Ph.D. M.S./MBA B.S.
Doctoral/Graduate Degree From Qualification

80
80
Percent of Cases

Percent of Cases

60
60

40
40

20 20

0 0
<5 5-10 >10 H1B F1, J1, O1, H4, J2, B1
Number of Years Spent in the US Visa Applied for
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Appendix 2 - As of March 17, 2009 2:00PM EST

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Appendix 2 - As of March 17, 2009 2:00PM EST

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