Noorah101

USCIS is not funded from our taxes. I believe it's funded from the fees USCIS charges.

Rene

Michael

Conservatives believe that the government is inefficient and therefore anything that can be outsourced with the least amount of regulations at the lowest price should be outsourced to private industry. Therefore every year or two, someone bids lower for the contract since they found a way to pay workers less. They then give the workers an instruction manual and tell them to do the job.

jeffreyhy

In addition to what Ian wrote, they are not supposed to give out advice. Their function is to give out [a limited amount of] information. For one thing, most US taxpayers have no idea that the function even exists. Most US taxpayers know little more about immigration than that there are too many illegal aliens in the USA, most of them hispanic. Beyond that, as Rene wrote, it is not funded with "our money". It's funded by the fees paid by the immigrants, perhaps in most cases via their friends and families in the USA.

Looking at the bigger picture, who knows what kind of shams are unknowingly funded by US taxpayers. For a start, you've heard of the term "earmarks"?

jmood

No. What's an earmark?

Also, so why don't they cut this service alltogether then? If it's just us "immigrants" that will suffer/complain, since our complaints come to nothing anyway, the USCIS would be richer and things would go along at the same speed regardless.

Michael

Actually earmarks have nothing to do with this. Normally earmarks or also known as "pork" and get a bad name because their is always an occasional earmark that funds something like "studying the sexual habits of worms" or the latest best known one was the "bridge to nowhere" in Alaska.

An earmark is congressional funding of projects that are specifically for a certain district or state and not all states equally. So one could say that the funding of high speed rail in California is an earmark. Congressmen fight to get funding put into bills that benefit their district and if they can't get the funding, they threaten to oppose the bill.

ian-mstm

Rene is right. Immigration is not funded via the taxpayers. It's funded through the fees they collect for the various applications. Why? Because US citizens, by and large, have no need of US immigration services except as it relates to some non-USC.


It's hard to tell whether this is just another rhetorical question, or if you seriously believe what you've written!

Ian

jeffreyhy

"This service" was created to stop people from calling the service centers directly with their questions, to allow service center staff to focus on their primary job of adjudicating applications and petitions. The benefit from the point of view of USCIS is that the public still has access, but providing the access does not detract from the efficiency of the operation.

The uselessness of the service is not unique to government - most businesses also provide telephone customer service, and for many companies that service is totaly useless except as a source of frustration.

Regards, JEff

jeffreyhy

I agree with your explanation of what earmarks are, which demonstrates that earmarks do indeed have a lot do to with the question that was asked:
"So why do taxpayers (us) allow this kind of sham to be funded with our money?"

Earmarks are a mechanism that allow legislators to fund all sorts of "shams" with our tax money without our knowledge.

Regards, JEff

britinOR

I have a question relating to removal of conditions on green card.

What do you do if you need to travel outside the USA after you have filed I751, after your conditional green card expires, but before you have received confirmation of I751 acceptance and removal of conditions?

My conditional card expires March 1 2012, I filed I751 at the beginning of Jan (as early as I could in the 90 day window before GC expires). I'm going to the UK on March 16th, and having read some anecdotes on British expats it seems that the renewal of GC and removal of conditions may take longer than the 90 day period.

Should I start freaking out now?

Also how long does it take to get confirmation that they did receive my I751 petition? I keep checking my bank to see if they cashed the cheque for $590 and they have not yet.

rather nervous
Brit in OR

jeffreyhy

So it's been about 2 weeks? You should receive a Receipt Notice any day now, and that notice will solve your problem. As long as you also have your biomentrics out of the way before you leave.

Regards, JEff

Noorah101

Since you're not traveling until March, you will most likely receive the 1-year extension letter before you need to travel. When you travel, carry your expired green card plus the 1-year extension letter.

Rene

ian-mstm

You should receive a letter indicating that your status as a PR is extended for one year. If you need to travel, you must take that letter and your expired GC. Both together will be sufficient to get back into the US.

If you travel without the letter, you will most likely be sent to secondary until your status as a PR is confirmed, and then you'll most likely be paroled into the US pending a hearing by an immigration judge.

Ian