************************************************************** IFCSS Headquarters News Release No. 5033 July 27, 1993 ************************************************************** Independent Federation of Chinese Students and Scholars (IFCSS) 733 15th Street, N.W., Suite 440, Washington, D.C.20005 Tel. (202)347-0017 Fax: (202)347-0018 Email: ifcss@wam.umd.edu The IFCSS HQ Second Open Letter to the New Comers ================================================= Dear Friends: After we sent out the first open letter (IFCSS HQ News Release No. 5017), we have received from you some further inquiry regarding the late-arriving dependent issue. Your voice and concern have been well heeded, though we apologize for being unable to response to you earlier. Let me first explain what we could do and couldn't do concerning the CSPA late-arriving dependents, then inform you of what we did or achieved in the matter, and finally assess its impact on your chances as, in your terms, late comers. We could NOT ask the INS to change the laws regarding the late- arriving dependents' legal rights to apply in either the second family-based or third employment-based categories. That they have such legal rights is dictated by the U.S. immigration laws (INA). These laws are stable for years, and are applied not only to the Chinese but to all peoples of all countries. If you may take the trouble to read the IFCSS HQ News Release No. 5032, you may have some idea of how this system works. No one really believes that these laws can be changed in the Congress in the near future. What we CAN do are no more than two things. First, we CAN pass information from the INS to our fellow members, i.e., the late- arriving dependents. This, we consider, is our responsibility at the IFCSS HQ, and you would probably do no less, were you in our position. Secondly, we CAN work for bigger immigration quota for the Chinese nationals so that this group will not build a backlog to reduce the chances of late comers. This in fact is what we have tried hardest to accomplish. Such stand we took is well reflected in the letter the IFCSS HQ has sent to the various offices (IFCSS HQ News Release No. 5024). We hope that this late-arriving dependent group will be packaged into the world-wide quota as the CSPA principals have been. Thanks to the support from you and others, we have achieved this result. According to Mr. E.B. Duarte, Director of the INS Exams Operations Facilitation Program, not only the late-arriving dependents' visa quota in the third category will be located worldwide, but their visa quota in the second family-based category will also come from a world pool. That is, 70 percent of their quota (in this second category) will be from other countries. Now you may probably see that our effort on the late-arriving dependent issue is designed not to harm you, but to benefit you both now and in the future. With the current arrangement, the backlog created by the late-arriving dependents --- who, as the system works (IFCSS HQ News Release No. 5032), will be inevitably ahead of you in either the 2nd or 3rd categories --- is kept at the minimum. Otherwise, you will wait probably for a long time behind this group. The IFCSS HQ will continue to work for the general interest of the Chinese students and scholars, including yours. We always look forward to your criticisms regarding our work, and hope to do better for our members, whether they came before or after a certain date. Best Regards Sincerely, Lin Changsheng President Shi Heping Vice President  ********************************************************************* * IFCSS Headquarters Office * *-------------------------------------------------------------------* * President: Lin Changsheng Vice President: Shi Heping * *-------------------------------------------------------------------* * PBS-L is IFCSS's news distribution list for individuals. To sign * * on or off from the list, please send email to listserv@ifcss.org * * leave the subject line open and put in the mail body: * * (For signing on) sub PBS-L last name first name * * (For signing off) unsub PBS-L last name first name * * For more information about IFCSS, write to ifcss-info@ifcss.org * *********************************************************************