Weekly Recap 10/10-10/16

What I did:


3 hours:  refining my proposal.
1 hour:  being frustrated and inappropriately venting about it.
1 hour: sketching a process map to take to my meeting with Bridgette Carr.  Post-its didn't seem appropriate.
1 hour:  meeting with law professor Bridgette Carr.  She specializes in immigration law and human trafficking.
3 hours:  reflecting and researching based on what Bridgette suggested and pointed out.
1 hour:  researching online tutorials/classes to better enhance my technical capabilities.


What I accomplished/ discovered/ encountered:


Accomplishment- finished proposal, somewhat successfully I think.  One page is very limiting, even when you push the margins a bit.  I'm happy to set writing aside for a while.  I'm ready to make!!


I've discovered that I am to the point where I need to start making before I can make anymore progress in the "concept" of my project.   I think mapping out this process in a well designed, visually approachable way will start leading me in the right direction, or at least make me realize that it's the wrong direction.  I really feel like I have come to some good concrete ideas about some much needed tools for immigrants, petitioners, and lawyers.  A holistic view of the entire process is so so so important.  Both lawyers and immigrants/petitioners have told me this.  They want to know the estimated time frame for the whole process, the estimated cost for the whole process, and all of the forms, translations, and other details that are necessary before starting the incredibly daunting task of immigrating.  


Meeting with Professor Bridgette Carr was enlightening.  She was definitely a distinct personality but she brought some very important things to my attention.  She told me that helping the people that aren't help-able is really important.  There are a lot of people who are not eligible in anyway at the current state of their life, family, or the government's law.  It is so important for them to know how they fit into the matrix because if they don't understand it is so likely  that they will return to their home country and hire what they think is a "lawful" or "legitimate" attorney.  They will pay them an obscene amount of money to file the documents they are told are lawful.  These "attorneys" are fraudulent and in turn file fraudulent forms.  By filing fraudulent forms, any chance of immigrating they may have had for the future is then gone forever.  She also informed me about inadmissibility, which I absolutely don't understand yet but am planning to research further.  She brought up the importance of the home country of immigrants.  This has a huge impact on the amount of time they are forced to wait.  Each country has a different length of "line" for the wait time of immigration processing.  I think a global map with some sort of scale correlating to the amount of wait time would be an interesting tool.  It could be updated monthly or yearly.  She also reassured me that my plan to map out the cost of each element of the process is important so that people know what to expect. 


I found, on accident, this "check processing times" tool on the current immigration website.  It is so important in knowing an estimated wait time based on the type of form you are filling out and the person you are/or are petitioning.  The goal amount of time that the USCIS would like to be able to process almost all of the types of immigration is 5 months.  The reality is that it takes a few years at least.  This chart is for the I-130 form, a very common form for citizens and perm. residents to file for their family members wanting to immigrate, for their single children, under the age of 21.  86.2 month is just over 7 years.  That is crazy.  I don't know how people would have found this tool.
https://egov.uscis.gov/cris/Dashboard/ProcTimes.do

So far I think my process map is going to have many  many different layers of information.  Right now I imagine it as a printable pamphlet and poster that could be used to give immigrants and lawyers, but also an interactive online navigation that could also be used in some sort of proposed kiosk in different offices and consulates. 


I really feel like I've made great progress this week.  I feel really concrete in my direction and am ready to start making.  There are hours of flash tutorials in my very near future.


Whats Next:
Flash tutorials.  Lots and lots of them.  Lynda.com will be my friend.
Designing a printable poster/pamphlet for one aspect of the family based immigration process.  Probably the U.S. Citizen wanting to petition a family member.  It is the simplest for now.  I'm really excited to get started!