Gandhigiri in America

  The Indian techies in US, who have been waiting for the acceptance of their applications for Green Card finally opt for ?Gandhigiri? as practiced by Munnabhai in his movie. They have been sending flowers to USICS for the last one-month.

INSPIRED BY Munnabhai’s (Bollywood flick "Munna Bhai MBBS") Gandhigiri philosophy, frustrated techies from India, who are presently living in the US, have been sending flowers to US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) Director for the last one month. Techies initiated this move in wake of unprecedented delay on the part of USCIS regarding acceptance of the Green card applications.

Though USICS had announced in mid June that anyone who clears the first stage of the Green Card process can apply for the final stage and later-on potentially work for any employer of his choice, USCIS has not been accepting any application for the Permanent residency (Green Card) program.

This campaign was started by an organization, Immigration Voice. This is a non-profit organization, which acts as an interface between the set of immigrants and the legislative branches of the government. This helps in reducing the excessive delays and clearing the backlog of petitions, which have been submitted by nearly half a million highly skilled workers who are certified by US Government to be doing a job that no US citizen is willing, qualified or able to do.

In the recent days American government tried to legalize all the illegal immigrants but the issue of the legal immigrants is of least concern to all the lawmakers. AILA (American Immigration Lawyers Association) is channeling up all the energy to fight against USCIS lawfully.

Emilio Gonzalez, Director, USCIS who is also aware about this initiative said, “I understand that individuals have been sending flowers to USCIS since July 10. USCIS has made arrangements to forward those flowers to our injured service members recuperating at Walter Reed Army Medical Center and at Bethesda Naval Hospital.

Most of the organizers are happy that at least their efforts are acknowledged by the Director and these flowers will add colors to the life of soldiers and their families.

But the question is— Will this Gandhigiri really work and help in speeding up the process?