Subject: CSPA IMPLEMENTATION NEWS, JUNE 26, 1993 (IFCSS HQ NR-4148)

From: IFCSS HQ <[email-masked]>
Date: Sat, 26 Jun 1993 18:22:13 -0400

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IFCSS Headquarters News Release No. 4148         June 26, 1993
             CSPA IMPLEMENTATION NEWS, JUNE 26, 1993
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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: [email-masked]

                   CSPA Implementation News    
                   ========================

On the morning of July 25, staff at IFCSS CSPA Information Center
were told that INS local office in the state of Wisconsin continued
to withhold CSPA application forms from potential applicants. Upon
hearing the news, Heping Shi at the IFCSS HQ contacted Mr.
R.M.Miller, Deputy Assistant Commissioner of INS in charge of the
CSPA implementation, pointing out that this practice would put
students in Wisconsin to a great disadvantage in regard to
preparation of the application, since most district offices had
since long been distributing forms. Mr. Miller promised to look
into the matter immediately. In the afternoon, Ms. Rita Boie, the
officer who drafted the CSPA Implementation Regulations, called
back to inform the HQ that she had made a call to the INS District
Office at Chicago (Wisconsin is under its jurisdiction) and asked
them to provide Chinese students with forms. We hope that this time
it will work. We are not sure if there are other states like
Wisconsin, but no matter where you are, you can go and ask for the
forms. If a district office tells you that it has not received the
directive, ask them to contact Adjudication people at the INS
Headquarters.

During his conversation with Ms.Boie, Heping Shi also pointed out
that the addresses of two Service Centers (one in California and
the other in Texas) published in the Federal Register are different
from the addresses distributed by some INS district offices.
Ms.Boie said probably the ones in the Federal Register are the
right addresses, but she would have to make sure.

Heping Shi invited Ms.Boie to IFCSS 5th Congress, to which the
latter responded that she would be happy to come, but would have to
check with her boss. When Heping Shi told Ms.Boie that some
delegates to the 5th Congress were worried that the attendance of
the Congress would delay their application, Ms.Boie laughed and
remarked that the delegates could just bring their application
forms to the Congress and file from there. She added that if the
regulations were published before the delegates were on their way
to Kentucky, they could send the packages out before their
departure.

The HQ also contacted Department of Justice yesterday and was
informed that the Regulations were being studied at the White
House, but the "Additional Instructions" were already approved.
There was virtually no change from the version published in the
June 17th Federal Register. INS and Department of Justice have been
urging OMB for early approval. However, some delay seems to have
been caused at the last moment. We have already voiced our concern
over the delay to OMB, which replied that they were aware of the
July 1st deadline.

The HQ staff will be meeting with INS officers next week regarding
specific questions arising from preparing applications. We will let
you know the answers as soon as we have them.

*********************************************************************
*                 IFCSS Headquarters Office                         *
*-------------------------------------------------------------------*
* President:      Geng Xiao  Assistant to the President: Shi Heping * 
* Vice-President: He Baoping     Executive Director: Zhang Qingsong *
*********************************************************************
*                    Brief on IFCSS 5th Congress                    *
* As of June 25, 102 local CSS organizations have pre-registered for*
* the IFCSS 5th Congress to be held at the University of Kentucky,  *
* lexington, July 2-5, 1993. The 5th Congress Secretariat will begin*
* operation in the afternoon of June 29. The Secretariat's telephone*
* number is  606-258-6556, fax: 606-258-4423. (The lines won't be   *
*            ^^^^^^^^^^^^^      ^^^^^^^^^^^^^                       *
* operational until 2:00 pm, June 29. Refer to 5da Task Force NR-05 *
* for detailed information.                                         *
*********************************************************************