WASHINGTON -- Chandrakanth Vemula was frustrated with trying to get an employment-based green card.  He paid his taxes, was a law-abiding legal resident and contributed to the country’s economic growth and development.

Vemula, 31, got into a predicament back in 2005, when he was laid-off from his job as a software analyst at a consulting firm in Atlanta.  He was in the sixth year of his H-1 visa, a document granted to highly skilled workers.

U.S. immigration law permits six years for an H-1 work visa, through the sponsorship of an employer.  The visa can be extended however, if a green card application for permanent residence has been pending for more than a year. 

But with the lay-off, Vemula’s green card application was essentially terminated.

“Nobody was giving me proper guidance—it didn’t seem like anyone cared,” said Vemula. 

Help was on the way. Vemula joined online discussion forums to talk to other legal immigrants in similar situations. Eventually, he successfully navigated the system. But he was still frustrated by the red tape and delays facing those attempting to get their employment-based green cards. 

The frustration, even desperation, shared by many in Vemula’s situation has sparked the emergence of a grass roots organization, committed to getting legislation approved for this cause of legal immigrants. 

 Immigration Voice, an all-volunteer group, suspects that many in Congress are not fully aware of their problems, especially in the face of a heated immigration debate that has centered on undocumented workers. .

The organization, which claims 24,000 members, was created in late 2005 and has undertaken fund-raising efforts.   Most of the core group of volunteers have full-time jobs and take time out of their daily schedules to contribute to the organization. 

”This grew entirely out of frustration,” said Mark Bartosik, spokesman for Immigration Voice.  A British citizen, Bartosik says he has been waiting eight years for his green card.  “It’s a case of people’s patience wearing out.  They just completed some applications from 2001! That’s how tethered we became.”

In September, about 2,000 legal immigrants marched on the West Lawn of the Capitol to gain visibility among lawmakers, Bartosik said.  Volunteers also spent several days of the week meeting with congressional aides, explaining the green card problems and suggesting possible legislative solutions. 

With an all-volunteer team in full-time jobs in order to maintain legal status, the organization recently hired Patton Boggs, an influential lobbying law firm, to be its “ear to the ground” in Washington. 

“When people hear the word “immigration,” they think about the 12 million undocumented workers,” said Tamsen Mitchell, a British native, who flew to the Capital from San Francisco.  “People don’t realize or understand our precise problems.”

The green card application is a three step process that requires a certification approval from the Labor Department, approval from Citizenship and Immigration Services and finally an elevation to permanent resident status by the State Department.

Out of an average of one million green cards issued each year, only about 14 percent are reserved solely for the employment-based category.  No country can claim more than 7 percent of the employment-based cards. That was a disadvantage for Vemula, an Indian citizen, as it meant a higher volume of applications.

The majority of green cards are issued to facilitate family reunification. 

The situation is further complicated by the fact that spouses and dependents of a single green card applicant receive separate cards, filling up the quotas quickly. 

Immigration Voice has made reaching out to lawmakers a priority and a core group of volunteers has started state chapters to assist in this initiative.

Another tactic amounts to a civics lesson, teaching the recent immigrants the intricacies and peculiarities of the legislative process and the nuances of how to present one’s self to a congressman or state legislator. . 

Some of their efforts have yielded tangible benefits.

In July, the State Department reversed an announcement in its June bulletin of the availability of 60,000 new visas for skilled workers.  The last step in the process requires a filing with the State Department, but can only be done upon availability from that year’s annual quota. 

To protest this apparent flip-flop, Immigration Voice members arranged delivery of more than 200 bouquets of flowers to Emilio Gonzales, director of Citizenship and Immigration Services, in the spirit of Gandhi’s principle of non-violent aggression.

In San Jose, Calif., the organization mobilized about 500 residents to gain the support of Rep. Zoe Lofgren, D-Calif., to take up the visa issue with the State Department.  

Later in the month, the State Department reinstated the visa pool, also under pressure of the threat of a lawsuit by the American Immigration Lawyers Association, said Bartosik.

“We have better things to do—we would rather be designing the next IPod,” said Gopal, an Indian national living in  San Jose, Calif., who did not reveal his last name due to a non-disclosure agreement with his employer. “But unless we talk about our issues, nobody will.  The laws are archaic and were established when there was no Silicon Valley.”

Vemula is heartened at the response among Immigration Voice members and recent advances in Washington.  However, he is aware of the challenging task of getting legislation approved with presidential elections due next year.  

“Immigration Voice educates a lot of people and also says to them that the ‘American Dream” is not so easy,’” he said.