I created this petition to make sure that the granted asylees in the USA are treated equally by the USCIS when they apply to become permanent residents. This issue affects around 100K of people who have their applications pending in the immigration system under A05 category, some of them are waiting for more than 4 years; we need change now!

Dear Mr. President Biden,

Dear Ms. Ur Mendoza Jaddou,

I hope you are having a good day. We are a group who live in The United States of America under a granted asylum status; the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (AKA the USCIS) refer to this status as (A05) category. We are writing to inform you of the inequality we face with our pending applications. We believe that USCIS is working harder under the leadership of the new director Ms. Ur Mendoza Jaddou. However, by looking at the recently published statistics by USCIS, The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) recently published report, a recent news piece about the USCIS director warning of ‘unprecedented’ backlog, and posts by other people under the same A05 category, it seems that the A05 category is being marginalized and caught as a backlog inside a bigger backlog.

We tried to call the USCIS to submit inquiries about our pending cases. We tried to expedite for several unforeseen reasons and emergencies. Some of us have our work authorization expired, lost, or misplaced and our work authorization renewal applications pending and stuck with the USCIS as well. Some of us sought the help of Members of Congress, yet we do not get any clear information about why is it taking this long for our cases to be adjudicated. For some of us, it feels like our lives ceased to exist while waiting for this adjustment of status. We are caught, helpless, in the middle of the long and scary processing times published by the USCIS, which has reached up to 43 months for the A05 category.

“We all know firsthand that each pending case represents a person, a family, an opportunity, and a dream. It also represents a chance for our communities and our country to more fully benefit from all the talents and energy that immigrants have to offer,” Ms. Ur Mendoza Jaddou said in her published note in the Washington Times newspaper (Sep 17, 2021). Many of us couldn’t meet the requirements to sign a long-term contract of our dream job, simply because a legal permanent residency card (green card) is required. The anxiety and distress resulted from the long processing times combined with uncertainty give us deferred hope. This cripples our efforts to use our strengths and our full potentials to contribute to the economy of The United States of America; furthermore, it made us sick.

Dear Mr. President Biden, we are so happy you took office last January because we know that we are at the heart of your published agenda. Since the USCIS left us in limbo hung out to dry, we are asking for your support in addressing our hurdle. As we are voiceless and vulnerable, we want your honorable office to be our voice. We will appreciate it if your honorable office can tackle our plea with the USCIS, please.

Thank you for your consideration of our concern. We reached the end of our ropes with the USCIS but we have hope in your support. With your support, we are confident that the USCIS will consider working on our pending cases without further ado. Thank you for your continued leadership and service to the United States of America.

Respectfully,