Will Flower Power Move the Government?

Filed in archive Americas on July 12, 2007

When you want something from someone, anyone, try flowers.

At least, that is the tactic being tried now by many of the disappointed US green card applicants dismayed by the US government's last minute retraction of the US State Department's July 2007 Visa Bulletin. Flowers are being sent to the US Citizenship and Immigration Services agency in peaceful protest.

The Visa Bulletins published by the US State Department for May, June and, originally, July, reported dramatic increases in the availability of employment-based immigrant visas. The Bulletins explained that the increases were due to an unexpected failure of the US Citizenship and Immigration Services agency to complete the issuance of green cards on a timely basis. The July Bulletin, published mid-June, notified would-be employment-based immigrants that they would be able to file the application for the last stage of the green card process in July. Employers and immigrants invested in the medical exams, photographs, and legal fees related to preparing for this filing. Many applications were posted to the government at the end of June for Monday, July 2, delivery.

It came as a harsh surprise then, when the US State Department retracted the original July Bulletin and announced that, in fact, no more employment-based immigrant visas were available in any visa category. The US Citizenship and Immigration Services then announced that they would not accept any filings.

Will the US government be moved by flowers? Probably not, but it is a lovely gesture.

See US immigration Dept gets a taste of Gandhigiri, Outlook India, July 11, 2007, for more information.