Over the last few months, ISN President Muthu and Board members myself, Chafi, Jaideep and Jitu have been exploring options to move ISN from its infancy stage to the next level - actually accomplishing some of the goals that we have set for ISN. We have contacted several public policy experts and lobbyists, as we have reported to you on our website. Our discussions with Rick Swartz (see his bio and list of clients attached), an immigration policy expert and activist for over 20 years, have been very productive. His track record, his honesty throughout our discussions and his ideas for ISN have convinced us we can achieve our goals with his help.

Summary of legislative goals
In our discussions with Rick, we have concluded that four of our most important legislative goals have a chance to be accomplished in 2000:

• Extension of H-1B visas beyond the current six-year limit for professionals who have either filed or have been approved for their immigrant visa petitions or have filed and/or received approval of their Labor Certification application.
  
• Removal of the per-country quota limit on employment-based visas.
  
• Provide temporary "green cards" for those who are waiting to file for adjustment of status or for those who have waited longer than the specified time period for their adjustment of status applications to be processed.
  
• Allow unused visas in the employment-based category to be carried over to the following year, if adjustment of status applications are pending in the employment-based categories in the present year.

How to achieve these goals is proposed below.

Framework for legislative success
Rick Swartz has provided us with a credible and compelling framework, which can energize our cause and advance our issues legislatively. We believe that with Rick's help, we will succeed in bringing our most pressing concerns to the negotiating table in Washington, and maximize our chances for legislative success. There are no guarantees of success in politics, but the only way to win is to find a strategy that could work and carry it out. This is what we are now proposing. You, our members and your active participation are the key to our success.

ISN strengths
ISN is a new organization that we created ad hoc over the internet just over a year ago. We have achieved tremendous progress in little time. Our membership has increased dramatically to nearly 10,000 and our website receives almost 50,000 hits a day. We have established ourselves as the premiere website for H-1B visa holders to retrieve information about immigration issues and communicate with others who are in similar situations. We have successfully created a forum in which we can organize H-1B visa holders around the country to change policies that adversely affect our lives here in the United States.

The future of ISN
It is now time for ISN to move to the next level. Our goal is to systematically and effectively establish ourselves outside of the internet as a strong organization that can influence policy decisions in Washington. We believe that by uniting with powerful national organization around the country and in Washington, we will be able to become an overnight "force" in shaping immigration policy in the near-term as well as the future.

Rick and various other pro-immigrant activists firmly believe that this is the year in which broad reform of the immigration system in the U.S. can be successfully implemented legislatively due to numerous factors outlined below. Rick is convinced that the only way broad immigration reform can be achieved is by establishing a coalition of diverse interests, including business, ethnic, church and labor, that will work together to advance a comprehensive platform of pro-immigrant issues. Rick believes that no or little legislative success will be achieved this year on any pro-immigrant issues if the various groups, including ISN, try to advance their causes on their own outside of a broader coalition. Most activists also agree that if reform efforts fail in 2000, significant action may not be possible for the next 2-3 years.

Benefits of working in coalition
The premise of working in coalition with a number of major interests is that significant legislative progress on our issues may be more likely through one or more comprehensive immigration bills, rather than pursuing our agenda through separate legislation. We believe that it possible to combine our issues with others where there already is some bipartisan support, and potential for "strange bedfellow" coalitions, that will actually enhance the prospects for enactment of broad immigration reform. A unity of interests could change the political dynamics in Washington and open the door for several issues, including ours, to achieve legislative success.

Before we agreed to pursue our legislative agenda in coalition with other major interest groups, we carefully evaluated how working in coalition could benefit ISN's agenda and what the prospects of legislative success for our specific issues would be. We have discussed extensively among ourselves and with Rick our concerns about working in coalition with other groups as well as the proposed issues that could be included in any immigration reform legislation. We have conveyed our concerns to Rick that our priorities could be compromised away if we work in coalition with others and that some issues included in the reform platform could affect ISN's goals negatively. Rick openly discussed the risks involved in working with a broader coalition but emphasized that our agenda can only be successful if we join forces with others.

Now is the time to decide
We have concluded that it is indeed in our best interest to join a larger coalition to improve our chances of legislative success this year. We are convinced that ISN can only benefit from working in coalition and that uniting with other interests will bring more attention and support to our issues. We have included all the relevant information regarding the proposed framework of working in coalition and the issue platform for our membership to review. We hope you will take the time to assess the proposal outlined here and come to a decision whether this is indeed our best chance for success. We will set up a section on our website dedicated solely for your comments and concerns to be posted. We need your feedback to make a final decision whether to go forward with this plan. Without overwhelming support from our membership, we will not pursue this proposal. We ask you to take your vote as soon as we install this capability on our website as to how you want us to go forward.

Prospects for reform in 2000
In the past 15 years, major immigration bills have been enacted in election years: 1986, 1990 and 1996. There are growing prospects this could repeat in 2000.

Last year, Congress passed virtually no immigration legislation. But during the year, awareness grew about labor shortages in many sectors, with growing pressure for reform for agricultural, high-tech and other business interests. Organized campaigns for immigration reform began by ethnic and church groups as well. Building upon such developments, these interests are now considering seriously an aggressive lobbying effort in 2000, perhaps in coalition. Outlined below are background considerations and a summary of major issues that are being considered by various interests to assess whether they require participation in immigration reform efforts in 2000.

Background and recent developments
This past July, Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan testified before Congress: "I have always thought that under the conditions such as what we now confront, we should be carefully focused on the contribution which skilled people from abroad, unskilled people from abroad, what they can contribute to this country as they have for generation after generation."

The four leading presidential candidates all have pro-immigrant records. Both parties are competing intensely for Hispanic and other "new ethnic" voters in major states such as California, where these "swing voters" could decide the presidential outcome and who controls the House of Representatives. Recent polls indicate positive immigration reforms are key issues for these voters, as well as for important industries, including agriculture, technology, health care, construction, hospitality and other services.

In recent weeks a new and growing coalition involving representatives from a wide range of industries has begun to meet to develop strategies to press Congress in 2000 for immigration reforms necessary to address immediate and anticipated labor shortages. On November 3, 1999, this group sent a letter to Congress (attached) that states: "We agree with Mr. Greenspan. When companies cannot fill jobs with U.S. workers, hiring foreign nationals should be a viable alternative. However, current immigration law and recent tightening of federal immigration policy have greatly curtailed this potential source of workers"We ask for your help to introduce and support legislation and policy directives that facilitate the entry of essential foreign workers."

Also in recent weeks, a highly influential, pro-immigrant coalition of ethnic, church, business and labor groups from around the country held a strategic retreat to develop strategies for a coordinated lobbying effort in 2000. Their goals are to legalize perhaps one million undocumented workers now in the United States, ameliorate widely criticized provisions of the 1996 Immigration Act, and facilitate the entry of family-based immigrants, many of whom are adults of all skill levels. This network has a history of working successfully with business and pro-immigrant leaders of both parties on immigration matters.

Perhaps most importantly, the agricultural industry has organized intensely to secure introduction in the Senate of a major agricultural immigrant labor reform bill which is poised for consideration early this year. This bill could become the engine for broader reform legislation, supported perhaps by the diverse coalition described above. Discussions of this possibility are under way already among the leaders of key interst groups and congressional offices of both parties.

ISN membership participation
Launching this campaign and achieving legislative success will require your direct involvement in a variety of tasks. We must all take on responsibilities as part of this larger coalition to reap the rewards of legislative success. These include:

1. Fundraising: This campaign can only be successful if we raise a significant amount of money. We need donations from you to be able to travel to Washington, pay for photocopies and mailings, conference calls and other essential things to advance this cause. Moreover, Rick Swartz and his staff have been advising and assisting us for free for the past few months. We cannot continue asking them to provide these services to us without fair compensation and we cannot accomplish our goals without their help. We ask all of you to give generously to ISN and to this cause and to convince others to do the same.
   
2. Media outreach: Some of our members have made progress in contacting various media. Our issues were recently discussed in Techweek and we have been in discussions with other journalists. Thank you for your efforts. We must continue our efforts to reach out to local and national media to convey our issues to the general public and garner support for our cause and that of the larger coalition. We urge all of you to contact your local newspaper and tell them about ISN and what we are trying to accomplish. Our mission will only be successful if our message is broadcast widely throughout the country.
   
3. Membership mobilization: Our membership numbers are impressive. We know that there are thousands of other H-1B visa holders who are, like us, adversely affected by current immigration laws. It is imperative that we reach out to them and convince them to join our efforts. Our mission will only be successful if we carry out these tasks in large numbers and if we can mobilize tens of thousands of affected immigrants to show Washington that ISN is a force to be reckoned with.
   
4. Communication with Congress: We must tell Congress that our issues are important, that these immigration laws are affecting a lot of people who have contributed significantly to the economic boom in this country and that they must be fixed this year. The more we let Congress know that we need immediate relief, the more attention our issues will receive in Washington and around the country. We have installed a simple system on our website that allows our members to email and fax all members of Congress. We will prepare a sample letter will outline our issues and propose solutions that you can use to communicate your grievances to Congress.
   
5. Outreach to other groups: We must identify and reach out to other groups on a local, regional and national level that will work with us in coalition. Communicating with these groups on a regular basis will strengthen our involvement in this campaign and will help us organize ourselves more effectively. We will provide a list of groups that must be contacted in each region. We urge you to share the responsibility of contacting representatives of these groups and meet to discuss the campaign with them. >
   
6. Communication with your employers: We encourage all of you to talk to your employers about what ISN is trying to accomplish. We must convey to them that it is in their interest to support our efforts to reform the immigration system. Employers must become involved in this overall effort and communicate our grievances to Congress.

These tasks outlined above must begin within the next few weeks. Our fundraising, membership recruitment and outreach to the media will start immediately. We will provide for a special section on our website that will be updated regularly to let you know how we are doing on these specific tasks. In the next few days you will receive specific information how you can contribute and help raise funds, how to communicate with Congress, what other groups to contact and how to approach your employers.

Think of the potential. About 10,000 people have signed up as members of ISN. If 1,000 of you contribute just $100, we would have $100,000 to help launch this campaign. If over time 5,000 of you contribute $100, we would have $500,000, some of which could be spent on purchasing radio and television advertising in key congressional districts. And if each of you recruits five or more people to our cause we can generate 50,000 letters, or more, to Congress. This is our time to mobilize, organize and win.

We need your overwhelming support if we plan to move our agenda forward. The decision is in your hands. Please vote as soon as we have included that capability on our website and let us know if this proposal is what you believe will achieve success for ISN and our issues.

We have created a new section on ISN website at http://www.isn.org/lobby regarding this effort. This is work under progress and we would keep you updated with progress.

Thanks for your support so far.

Shailesh Gala.
Vice President.
Immigrants Support Network.
http://www.isn.org