And bear in mind that one single applicant doesn't generate only a single approval process. In fact there are at least 5, and these are normall handled by the State Department, not DHS/CIS. They include (1) medical approval, (2) NCIC criminal check (3) "security check" (???), (4) federal tax and finances verification, (5) document verification (e.g., Mexican birth certificates, etc., and more.
Try this on for size (from Hugh Hewitt.com; even this former amnesty fan is seeing the light):
Section 601(h) Treatment of Applicants
(1)IN GENERAL --An alien who files application for Z-nonimmigrant status shall, upon submission of any evidence required under paragraphs (f) and (g) and after the Secretary has conducted appropriate background checks, to include name and fingerprint checks, that have not by the end of the next business day produced information rendering the applicant ineligible
(A)be granted probationary benefits in the form of employment authorization pending final adjudication of the alien's application;
(B)may in the Secretary's discretion receive advance permission to re-enter the United States pursuant to existing regulations governing advance parole;
(C)may not be detained for immigration purposes, dteremined inadmissible or deportable, or removed pending final adjudication of the alien's application, unless the alient isdetermined to be ineligible for Z nonimmigration status; and
(D) may not be cosndiered an unauthorized alien (as defined in Section 274A(h)(3) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1324a(h)(3))) unless employment authorization under subparagraph (A) is denied.
Hugh's comments:
Section 601(h)(2), (3), (4), (5), and (6) lay out additional provisions concerning this huge --indeed almost certainly 90% plus?-- portion of the illegals currently in the country that are not subject to the "triggers," and even notes in subparagraph (5) that if an illegal is arrested or detained prior to filing hisor her application for Z permit status, "the Secretary shall provide the alien with a reasonable opportunity to file an application under this section after such regulations are promulgated." Unless the computer spits out a no within 2 days of submitting the application, the illegal gets probationary Z status --before even one more mile of fence is built or a workplace verification system is constructed.
Perhaps I am wrong, but I can only read Section 601(h) as a massive undercutting of the entire concept of "triggers," an undercutting which various talking points have not underscored or quantified, which points to why the jam down demanded by Senator McCain is so reprehensible. Ordinary citizens have almost zero chance of figuring out what this bill intends and how its provisions will interact, and the proxies on whom they might rely will hardly have any opportunity to fully vet the language.
This is Amnesty.
And waiting until the next election may not be sufficient.
The bottom line within all of that gobbledegook is that once an applicant turns in his Z1 (or Z2 or Z3) paperwork, and is fingerprinted by DHS, he/she is, “by the end of the next business day”, a legitimate Z1 (Z2, Z3) U.S. resident. Even without further documentation from DHS/CIS.
It is pretty much standard practice that if an immigrant has supplied DHS/CIS with responsive and appropriate paperwork/applications/fees in a timely manner, that immigrant is completely in the clear legally.
I went through this with my wife. So long as we sent her paperwork certified return recipt and had made copies of the paperwork and any checks or fees, she was legally clear. If you can prove you met the obligation, the burden is on CIS.
But DHS/CIS is such an incompetent organization that you must approach it believing that they will lose or misplace anything you provide to them.
They “lost” a 60 page folio of financial documents, original affidavits, and other materials just before my wife’s naturalization interview. Fortunately I had made duplicate original affidavits and copies of every single page in the folio, along with the certified mail receipts used to send it to DHS/CIS. That got her over the hump.