Subject: CND-US CSPA Information Exchange Package (IX), June 18, 1993

From: [email-masked]
Date: Fri, 18 Jun 1993 18:25:43 -0500

+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+   C h i n a   N e w s   D i g e s t  +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

                               (US Regional)

Information Exchange (IX): About Preparing to Apply for U.S. PR Under CSPA

                          Friday, June 18, 1993

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| CND-US, normally 1 or 2 issues a week, is a supplement to CND-Global and |
| has  basically no overlap with the daily news.  CND-US provides in-depth |
| information concerning Chinese students/scholars in the United States.   |
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[Editor's Note: The following is collected and edited from the information
                CND received or saw on the network and elsewhere, we believe
                it is of information nature.  We forward it to concerned
                readers as a timely reference service.  However, some of the
                information may need to be verified (it is beyond our
                capacity to do so).  Please consult your lawyer and use
                your own discretion before you use the information printed
                in this package to make decision(s) on related matter.

                Also, please refer to CND-US CSPA Information Exchange Packages
                (I) thru (VIII) for more info. Many questions have been
                answered and/or discussed in the previous issues.

                Related info is available from CND CSPA InfoBase, by anon
                ftp to CND.ORG (IP: 132.249.229.100) dir pub/InfoBase/CSPA

                Some of the e-addresses/names/ID's are withheld per sender's
                request, except for those already posted to public network.

                We welcome readers sending their info/experience to us to let
                others to share, request for anonymity will be honored.

                Due to our limited manpower resource of volunteers, we regret
                that we may not be able to answer questions from readers.

                CSPA = Chinese Student Protection Act of 1992, U.S.A. ]

Table of Contents                                                 # of Lines
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 Information Exchange (IX): About Preparing to Apply for U.S. PR Under CSPA

1. Federal Register Publishes Additional Instructions for Form I-485 ... 233
2. IFCSS Analysis on Additional Instructions for Form I-485 ............. 25
3. CIU UW-Medison Report on CSPA Implementation News .................... 32
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1. Federal Register Publishes Additional Instructions for Form I-485 ... 233
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>From: Amy Yenkin, Doug Mollenauer (NAFSA Central Office)
Forwarded by: Zuofeng Li
Date: June 18, 1993

On Thursday, June 17, 1993 the Federal Register published additional
instructions for the Form I-485, application for status as a permanent
resident.  The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) was required by law to
submit these instructions as part of the Chinese Student Protection Act of
1992.

The instructions are not the CSPA regulations.  The CSPA regulations should
appear in the Federal Register very soon, most likely sometime next week.
After the regulations are indeed published, NAFSA and the American
Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) will make available a joint CSPA
"Question and Answer" brief.

The following excerpt was taken from the 6/17/93 Federal Register:

           ADDITIONAL INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE FORM I-485

The Chinese Student Protection Act of 1992 (CSPA) allows certain persons to
apply to adjust status regardless of whether a visa petition has been filed
or an immigrant visa number is immediately available.

Who May File

You may apply for adjustment of status under the CSPA if you were inspected
and admitted or paroled into the United States and you:

     are a national of the People's Republic of China (PRC) described in
section 1 of Executive Order No. 12711, as in effect on April 11, 1990;

     was in the United States at some time between June 5, 1989, and April
11, 1990, inclusive, or would have been in the United States during this
time period except for a brief, casual, and innocent departure from this
country;

     has resided continuously in the United States since April 11, 1990
(other than brief, casual and innocent absence);

     was not physically present in the PRC for longer than 90 days after
April 11, 1990 and before October 9, 1992;

     is admissible to the United States as an immigrant, unless the basis
for excludability has been waived;

     establishes eligibility for adjustment of status under all provisions
of section 245 of the Act, unless the basis for ineligibility has been
waived; and

     properly files an application for adjustment of status under section
235 of the Act.

If you are a PRC national who meets these requirements, you may apply for
CSPA adjustment regardless of your age or marital status.

Please note that CSPA adjustment applicants are not required to have applied
for benefits under Executive Order No. 12711.

Non-PRC Family Members

A non-PRC spouse or a non-PRC child of an eligible PRC national may also
qualify for CSPA adjustment.  If your relationship to the PRC national is
based on a marriage, the marriage must have taken place before April 12,
1990, and must not have been terminated.  You must also:

     meet the requirements of section 1 of Executive Order 12711;

     meet the continuous residence and physical presence requirements listed
above; and

     have been unmarried and under the age of 21 on April 11, 1990, if you
are applying as the child of an eligible PRC national.

Persons Who are Ineligible Special rules apply to CSPA adjustments.  You
will not be eligible for CSPA adjustment if:

     you were not admitted or paroled following inspection by an immigration
officer;

     you have A, E, of G nonimmigrant status, or have an occupation which
would allow you to have this status, unless you submit a completed Form
I-508 to waive diplomatic rights, privileges and immunities;

     if you have A or G nonimmigrant status, unless you submit a completed
Form I-566;

     you are already a conditional permanent resident; or

     you were admitted as a K-1 or K-2 fiance(e).

General Filing Instructions

Read the General Filing Instructions on Form I-485, which provide more
information about forms and evidence.

If required evidence is unavailable, you may submit secondary evidence.  Due
to the difficulties some CSPA applicants may encounter when attempting to
obtain documents from the PRC, you may submit secondary evidence of your
birth or marriage in the PRC even though you do not have evidence that you
unsuccessfully tried to obtain a birth or marriage record from the
appropriate authorities in the PRC.

All CSPA applicants should check "block b other" on Part 2 of Form I-485.
PRC national applicants should write "CSPA- Principal" next to "block b
other".  Non-PRC national applicants should write "CSPA-Qualified Family
Member" next to "block b".

Your Form I-485 must be accompanied by:

     a copy of your birth certificate or other record of your birth;

     evidence of your relationship to an eligible PRC national, if you are a
non-PRC family member (see Form I-485 Instructions under "Initial Evidence -
Evidence of eligibility based on your being the spouse of another adjustment
applicant...");

     two (2) ADIT-style photographs (see Form I-485 Instructions under
"General Filing Instructions");

     one (1) complete set of fingerprints on Form FD-258 (if you are between
14 and 75 years of age);

     a completed Form G-325A, Biographic Information Sheet (if you are
between 14 and 79 years of age);

     an original medical examination report on Form I-693 completed by a
physician authorized by your local INS office;

     a copy of your Form I-94, Arrival-Departure Record, or other evidence
of inspection and admission or parole into the U.S.;

     an original letter of employment, a completed Affidavit of Support on
Form I-134, or other evidence that you will not be likely to be a public
charge in the U.S.;

     a photocopy of evidence that you have previously been found eligible
for benefits under Executive Order 12711 such as deferred enforced departure
(DED), employment authorization, and/or waiver of the two-year foreign
residency requirement, if applicable;

     a photocopy of all pages of your most recent passport or an explanation
of why you do not have a passport; and

     an attachment on a plain piece of paper showing:

     -the date you arrived in the U.S. (must be before April 11, 1990);

     -the date of each departure you made from the U.S. since that arrival,

     -the reason for each trip, and

     -the date you returned to the U.S. after each trip;

     -if you did not depart the U.S. after your initial date of arrival,
write "I was in the United States on April 11, 1990, and I have not departed
from the United States since April 11, 1990; and

     an attachment on a plain piece of paper showing:

     -the date you arrived in the PRC; and

     -the date you left the PRC for each trip you made to the PRC between
April 11, 1990 and October 9, 1992;

     -if you did not go to the PRC, write "I was not in the PRC between
April 11, 1990 and October 9, 1992".

Fee

CSPA adjustment of status applications must be submitted with the fee
required by Form I-485.

When to File

If the President of the United States determines and certifies to Congress
before July 1, 1993, that conditions have changed so as to permit safe
return to the PRC, no applications for CSPA adjustments will be granted.

You must file your CSPA adjustment application before July 1, 1994.

Where to File

File your application for CSPA adjustment of status with the Service Center
having jurisdiction over your place of residence.

   If you live in: Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Maine,
Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania,
Puerto Rico, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, Virgin Islands or West
Virginia, mail your application to:

          USINS Eastern Service Center
          75 Lower Welden Street
          St. Albans, VT 05479-0001

   If you live in: Arizona, California, Guam, Hawaii or Nevada, mail your
application to:

          USINS Western Service Center
          P.O. Box 10485
          Laguna Niguel, CA 92607-0485

   If you live in: Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana,
Mississippi, New Mexico, N. Carolina, Oklahoma, S. Carolina, Tennessee or
Texas, mail your application to:

          USINS Southern Service Center
          P.O. Box 152122, Department A
          Irving, TX 75015-2122

   If you live elsewhere in the U.S., mail your application to:

          Northern Service Center
          P.O. 82521
          Lincoln, NE 68501-2521

Processing

You must mail your application directly to the Service Center.  A receipt
will be mailed to you after your application is received.  This receipt may
ask you to go the local INS office, where the fingerprint and signature
needed for your alien registration card will be recorded on Form I-89.  Take
the receipt and your passport or other photo identification with you to the
local INS office.

Applications may be approved without an interview.  However, if you receive
a notice requiring you to appear at a local INS office for an interview
concerning your CSPA application, your application will not be approved
until after the interview has been completed.

Decision

After processing is completed, a notice of the decision will be mailed to
you.  Keep the decision notice for your records.  If your application is
approved, an alien registration card will be mailed to you within several
months.

Travel Outside the U.S.

If you plan to leave the U.S. to go to any other country, including Canada
or Mexico, before a decision is made on your application, contact your local
INS office.  Leaving the U.S. without advance written permission may result
in automatic termination of your application.  You may also experience
difficulty upon returning to the U.S.  if you do not have written permission
to reenter.

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2. IFCSS Analysis on Additional Instructions for Form I-485 ............. 25
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Forwarded by: A CND Reader
Date: June 17, 1993

[Editor's Note: Please be advised that, as the IFCSS pointed out, the
Additional Instructions carried in Item 1 of this news package is still
subject to change. The following is translated and paraphrased from the
original IFCSS Analysis in Chinese and may therefore contain inaccuracies.]

I just received my copy from IFCSS through Federal Express.  Apart from the
Supplementary Instruction, IFCSS has a short analysis.  Major points are as
follows:

IFCSS contacted the drafter of the document (LiTe.BoWeili), as soon as they
received it.  BoWeiLi said, it is not the official document yet, because the
review processes have not finished in the Office of the Attorney General and
Bureau of Budget.  The contents may still undergo changes. When asked if
applicants can send in their applications now to one of the four INS
centers, BoWeiLi replied that this may cause delays if the draft is changed
later.  But according to the analysis of the IFCSS-CSPA Center, as far as
the forms needed for CSPA are concerned, little changes should occur.  It is
up to individual CSSs to make the decision whether to file their
applications now or not.  It should be noted, however, all applications sent
to INS before July 1 will be queued in the same day, i.e. July 1.

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3. CIU UW-Medison Report on CSPA Implementation News .................... 32
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>From: Kening Li <[email-masked]>.
Forwarded by: A reader from Chinese Discussion Net at Medison, Wisconsin.
Date: June, 16, 1993

Per my conversation with Mr. Zhang, Qingsong in the Headquarters of IFCSS,
there are a number of new developments regarding the CSPA Implementation.
Briefly, they are:

   1) Medical Exams ARE required.  Everyone knows that.

   2) Birth Certificate is NOT necessary.  Passport, valid or not valid,
      is sufficient as proof of date and place of birth.

   3) Regional or local INS offices should not decline to give out I-485
      and related forms.  INS Headquarters have already sent out telegrams
      to regional offices to inform them so.  The text of the telegram is
      to be released by IFCSS and you can bring it to INS when going there
      next time.  They should not have any reason to say the packet is not
      complete, or they are not doing their job!

   4) The most important issue is the quota number.  The final agreement
      is: There are going to be 40,000 plus visas the first year, and all
      the rest is going to be granted, again, ALL is going to be granted
      the next fiscal year starting Oct. 1, 1993.

CIU is not happy about the INACTION of our Foreign Student Office and the
Milwaukee INS.  We think all us should express the frustration we
experienced because of the inaction.  A good place to start is the
Congressmen's office for the INS and Dean of Students Office for ISO.

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