Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals: Help with Applications, Process and thought process behind it

The big day has arrived (and gone) on August 15, 2012, marking the commencement for accepting the request for "Consideration of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals". I will try to answer some basic questions which people may not have found the answers to on USCIS website due to storm of information buffeted at them at once.

Should we apply as soon as possible? 
Apply as soon as possible but do not rush feel left out if others have already applied.  Do not leave it to the USCIS to ask for more information as it can can add another fortnight to processing time.

Should I submit anything other than evidence document or anything redundant? 

Other than essential documents to prove that you meet the requirements, only attach your defining certificates and achievements. Think about what defines your career and what achievement is just a dabbling effort.

What does this process exactly mean in practical terms? 
Well, it is a consideration and not a guarantee.  Even if you meet all the requirements, the application can be denied and you can do nothing about it.

So, how will USCIS decide on who to approve and who not to approve within the section of people who meet the basic requirements? 
The application will be denied if you fail to meet ALL the requirements. USCIS will then select (leniently, of course) those who it believes will go on to become a productive part of the society.


What is the administration's motif behind all this? 
The overt motif is to bring young individuals into light and give them a fair chance to a better life and let them churn the economy.  But remember, even if you are granted deferred action, you are still an illegal immigrant stuck in a state of limbo at a price of behaving responsibly if in order to renew the deferral after two years.  USCIS can conveniently deport individuals who present threat to US since now they are "documented".

What are we exactly getting ourselves into when we apply for the deferred action? 
As young illegal immigrants, most of you are not on record of Homeland Security and Immigration department.  By applying for this initiative you are surrendering yourself to the mercy of the government. So, be careful and only apply if you think you've been a good and progressive member of the society because government is not mandated to answer anyone for their decisions.

What are the applications? 
Required applications: Form I821D (Main application), Form I765 (Work permit), Form I765W (Work permit worksheet).
Optional Applications: Form G-1145 (for electronic updates), Form G-28 (filled by a lawyer or accredited representative, if you hire one).

What about lawyers and how do I stay away from scams? 
Hire a lawyer or at least consult qualified individuals volunteering to help with the process (such as NYSYLC).  A careful submission will pay off big time in the coming months! Only if your evidence is absolutely unambiguous and you are crystal clear about the process, Do it yourself.

Hiring a lawyer doesn't mean you should be oblivious to the process. In fact, try to stay ahead.  Do a lot of research by reading everything laid out on USCIS website which is the official word in any case.  Ask your lawyer questions you think he/she should know. Select your lawyer on the basis of their insight.

Make sure your lawyer fills out the Form G-28 and puts down a state license number on top of Form I821D because that's the only way for you to know if your lawyer is currently allowed to practice. There are many non-attorneys who are volunteering to help with the process.

What should I pay the lawyers for and how much should I pay them? 
Only pay lawyers for this particular process and not to apply for SSN, driver's license and advanced parole document (permission to travel abroad). A decent lawyer fees, based on my investigation is $600-$800 plus $465 (application fee).  If the lawyer asks a lot more than that (like N.M. Gehi who asks for $3000!), look for other attorney.  All you need is a work permit to get SSN and these two documents will get you your driver's license. Both are simple processes and officials will help you with the application filing.

What is the processing time like? 
People are getting their work permits even within a month! USCIS is definitely chipping in extra hours.  Generally, I think 1-2 months is a good estimate.

What is next once my application is approved and I receive my work permit? 

Once you have a work permit, you can receive SSN.  Once you have SSN and work permit, you can get your license. Both are very simply processes and you don't need to pay anyone to help you with it.  You can also apply for advanced parole if you need to travel abroad, but let's not get into it at this point.

Is there a final word?
Of course, there is. This process is a favor to you by the US Government (precisely, President Obama), so appreciate it by making an honest living, being a decent and productive individual and reflecting your best self.  With such intentions in mind, you shall cross the bridge to a better life! God Bless.

For any questions, leave a comment!
OCTOBER 17, 2012 UPDATE

iREVIEW: District 9

Starring Sharlto Copley, Jason Cope and David James. Written by Neill Blomkamp and Terri Tatchell. Directed by Neill Blomkamp.  

I am absolutely gobsmacked by this film.  It is Humans vs. Aliens at its best, mostly because it is much more than that.  I understand that it is rather trite to say that a film is held together by theme and blunt action is merely an instrument of ornamentation.  But this film reinforces my belief to a new level.

For the regular masses who watch films for plain entertainment (as they should) and have no intentions or aspirations of making one, District 9 is a colossal war between Humans and "poor" aliens stuck on Earth quite literally due to a mechanical failure in their "mother ship."  Watching this film unfold, one laminate at a time, enthralls us like Independence Day, Transformers and Aliens, bottled into one breathtaking concoction, would.

Basically, an alien population (around 20 years ago) unfortunately landed on our planet and quick to leech upon the helpless, humans soon amass a treasure of high-tech ammunition they found the alien ship loaded with.  But here's the problem.  These weapons are biologically engineered to be handled by the aliens only.  Fallen to the mercy of the merciless, the "prawns", as the aliens are known to be, are forced into a few acres of containment with slum-like conditions.  Meanwhile, over a period of decades, as underground tests are being performed to decode the alien weaponry conundrum, riots are breaking down on the ground between the repressed aliens and the restless civilians. Hence, the government decides to relocate some million aliens to the outskirts of the city.  So far so good. But then something really awesome happens and rest I'll be kind enough to leave it for you to watch.

It is not that the movie is all hullabaloo, albeit it is frantic and loud at most points, but it is the emotional quotient you are taken aback by.  Much potent than what we saw in AVATAR,  District 9 truly slams a mirror in front of us and ferociously commands us to judge whether we adore or decry the atrocities on these aliens.  And let me tell you, you will be disgusted by the human thinking and find the race quite repulsive.  This success in showing us who we are at our deepest is what makes the film a gem.

There is a heart wrenching metamorphosis that takes place throughout the film and is the sole reason for aliens to fight back.  When one of us, with a conscience, enters their territory and becomes one of them, it is bad news for the profligate few (or many) of us.

Whether it be the acting, Sharlto Copley is the center of this film, or the semi-mockumentary style filmmaking,  District 9 follows the Avatar path but leaves a deeper scar on our vile hearts. Bravo!

Go get you DVD today!

iREVIEW: The Hunger Games

Starring Jennifer Lawrence, Wes Bentley, Stanley Tucci, Josh Hutcherson, Elizabeth Banks and Woody Harrelson. Written by Gary Ross et al. and Directed by Gary Ross. 

Sometimes even when the premise of a film is set in a future so unimaginable, an unmistakable connection with our lives resonates through the entirety of it. The Hunger Games revolves around the same Earth, the same humans and the same relations, except all of them blooming at their rawest.

We are taken to the world where humans are so hopped-up on decadency and pleasure, a murderous game is a blockbuster reality TV, probably monopolizing TV ratings.

This is a special film. I believe the message of the film should be like an aroma that is absorbed almost subconsciously but is enjoyed at the sensory level. An Indian story writer Salim Khan said it rightly that a film is a garland of flowers woven over a string, where flowers are the entertainment and string is the message.  We know the string exists, which is why the film is bearable, but we just don't see it (and we don't want to see it).  This is one of such films and that's why it's special.

The Hunger Games is a leftist film, an exaggerated take on the occasional communistic nature of our governments.  Instances such as the ludicrous trailer being presented to justify the barbarism behind the annual hunger games; the controllers of the game whimsically making up rules and interfering in the natural course of the game and so forth, are some of the loud moments in the film clearly instilling in us a fear for a totalitarian government.

The film is indeed a grim representation of our distant future with little hope for redemption, but not none.  "The hunger games" part of the film is simply a roller coaster ride for the audience. This magical connection we have with the game is partly because the making of the film and "the game" in it run hand in hand.  "When we want a relationship" as the controller thinks, we get a relationship between Katniss and Peeta.  When it's time for a finale, we get a finale in form of the vicious beast.  Katniss actually says during the climax "it's the finale"! You wish "the games" have started earlier in the film at the cost of the passive first half and those pesky (and nonsensical) brief flashbacks, but nonetheless, it's a wholesome thrill ride.

Jennifer Lawrence as Katniss takes the middle seat in the film and all you care is the preservation of her innocence and sanctity, which more or less represents our hope.  This film is one of those rare occasions, which is why it is so precious, when we truly feel the nausea associated with lust for decadency.

  

Precious Words (Juhi Chawla)

There are three types of people: those who watch things happen, those who make things happen and those who wonder what happened.

Juhi Chawla (Film Actress, producer, Miss India 1984)

Corruption and Anna Hazare: Honest Intentions, Bad Idea

Corruption is so deep in India that it has managed to penetrate the psyche of its citizens who, to reconcile with this horrid reality, condone it as a part of their daily lives.  It is a fact that bribing a peon at a government expedites your case file and of course a little more in the higher official's pocket can positively effect the outcome as well.  In this downward spiral the middle class usually finds itself in, the majority lower class (which is not able to afford bribing) is simply pulverized between the corrupt system and realities of their hideous living standards. Naturally, such a democratic nation becomes a breeding ground for emotive movements that may overlook the fundamentals of democracy which seemingly had lost its effectiveness.

Such is the movement by Anna Hazare, a social activist from Bhingar (Maharashtra, India), who rose to "Gandhian" pedestal for inspiring a head on collision with corruption.  I believe in Hazare's honest intentions but I am equally perturbed by the fact that his team has failed to understand the nature of the monster they are upholding.  The monster I am talking about is the center of Hazare's movement, the Jan Lok Pal Bill, seeking the creation of Jan Lok Pal, an independent investigation body above the President and the Prime Minister to eliminate corruption via a fast track courts.

At first glimpse, an independent anti-corruption body seems such a poetic solution to the corruption conundrum in India but ponder on the concept for an unbiased moment and the fundamental flaw is glaringly visible. Jan Lok Pal is a parallel government and has absolutely no balance and check mechanism attached to it.  In other words, where are these Lokpals (officials to run this anti-corruption body) going to come from? Jupiter? Mars? Nope, you guessed it right, they are going to come from the same bureaucratic lineage present in our government that we are trying to clean in the first place.  Justice Katju, former Supreme Court Judge, pinched part of the right nerve by saying:

 "[Jan Lok Pal Bill] will immediately double the corruption in the country, far from abolishing it because the Jan Lok Pal Bill brings all public servants purview of the Jan Lok Pal... to investigate and supervise the investigation of two crore [public servants] will require around one lakh Lakpals... you have to provide them [Lokpals] salaries, staff, etc., and most of them will become blackmailers considering the low level of morality prevailing in the country"

Even though I think Katju grossly simplified the corruption issue by solely linking it with "low level of morality prevailing in the country", I agree with his foresight in deducing that Lokpals will be future blackmailers and hence the next and brand new tier of corruption. 

I think we don't realize that corruption is not an entity but rather an idea and the counter to it is the wholly progress of the nation. Currently, India is improving in bits and pieces and the citizens who fortuitously find themselves in such minute "sections of improvement" refuse to deal with lagging downtrodden.  We cannot fight corruption, and any anti-social and backward idea, if the entire nation fails to collectively tread towards progress.  On one hand, benefits and salaries for lower rung government officials should be improved and simultaneously, other social issues like homosexuality and woman trafficking must be dealt with, broadening the psyche of common man to coax them into eliminating social evils on their own.  However, one must not forget that corruption-free democracy is an idealistic state which in theory only a communistic country can reach at the cost of their citizen's basic freedoms. So, we have to choose between a democracy with higher living standards at the cost of localized but inherent corruption or a communistic corruption free nation? I think the answer is obvious. 

Before I detour further from the central issue (of Lokpal), at this point, I would like to interject what Yogendra Singh Yadav, an Indian social scientist, said: 

"This is not a movement about Anna Hazare, the person... it is about every person, every village, every town, discovering their own little Anna. It is not about Lokpal... in no movement in the world people get into fine prints, movement was about people discovering they matter, that they can do something, that they are not helpless. And it is not only about corruption, this is about demanding a better life, a better polity... this is why they have the confidence, this is why the politicians feared them." 

I do empathize with the romanticized descriptions of Hazare's movement but I think Yogendra Yadav  talks about what the movement should have been and not what it has reduced to.  My point is that Hazare's movement might have started with an intent to end corruption via Jan Lok Pal bill but at this time, as the theatrics of the movement suggest,  Jan Lok Pal, the anti-corruption body, to be its crux and the promotional card.

I am, therefore, forced to analyze the greater picture encompassing the protagonist of this movement, Anna Hazare.  I wouldn't be surprised if Hazare, after the bedazzling stardom, has wet dreams about his name being mentioned in the same breath as Mahatma Gandhi. Is it really the corruption, as an idea, that he still wants to fight or is the titillating iconic status that he wants to perpetuate at the cost of the parallel government? 

Whatever be the case, one cannot deny the fact that Hazare's movement has brought much needed light on the horridly dark reality of corruption in the country.  But the fact that the movement did not carry itself forward from this one Jan Lok Pal parallel government,  I cannot endorse it.  I am sure Hazare did not start as a dishonest social activist who was hungry for authority but I am dubious that he didn't end up morphing into one.