Rewards of Being Here legally !
The spirit of this nation had always been to award hard working and law abiding people irrespective of their color, race, culture or origin. But off late there has been a rise in the anti-immigration sentiment. One reason for this is an alarming rise in the illegal immigrants in United States estimated to be around 12 million. This has led many to believe that immigrants in general are not good for the already settled (Permanent residents and Citizens) Americans and they depress economy and put burden on the economy. This is a false notion harbored by many and needs analysis. First of all there is a vast difference between a legal and an illegal immigrant. A legal immigrant or people living temporary are here to help this nation make progress and are here to contribute to the economy of this nation. They have come here on the specific request by the companies; universities and other organizations. They are unnecessarily being victimized for their status as part of the larger immigrant community. They are the most misunderstood community today among the immigrants in general.
The temporary visitors largely are H-1 B, L-1 and Business visa holders .Many of these people are here for many years and waiting for their Green Card after having applied for it. While they continue to work for the same employer waiting for their permanent residency, they feel stagnated in their career path, salaries and even on personal development front because the law does not permit them to change employer while their green card is under process. If they do change then the whole process will have to start afresh.
As one frustrated and depressed work visa holder, Rajneesh puts it “The plight of an immigrant can only be understood by those who are in the same shoes”. A legal immigrant who is in USA is only here on invitation by the US based companies or organizations willing to legally sponsor them for reasons that they do not have enough skilled professionals to do the job. The fate of being a person waiting in queue for a Green Card was never dreamt by me unless I was a victim of such a wait myself. The whole life revolves around waiting for just one card called green card. All the life’s plans are shelved off for some future dates. Many of them wait for settlement as they fear that buying a home or property or starting their own company may be at risk if their green Card is not approved or if they are out of status and in that case they may have to leave the country. There is a constant fear lurking in their psyche that what if they are laid off when they are waiting for their visa dates to become current so that they can apply for adjustment of status. Their dependent wives cannot work legally as law does not permit them to work while on dependent visa. These in many cases have resulted in domestic violence and depressed spouses resulting in disturbed and broken families. The spouses of these legal temporary residents stay at home and feel frustrated as they are also highly educated and can tremendously contribute to the development of the nation if given an opportunity. They feel choked as they have to plan well ahead in time for visits to home country and have to keep themselves abreast with latest immigration laws and by laws. A lack of this planning and understanding has resulted in many being denied entry while trying to re-enter. There are so many issues that they have to deal with being a temporary resident here just because they chose to come to America in search of realizing the American Dream. Most of them feel as if they made a wrong decision having come to America. This has sent a negative feedback in their native countries that America is no longer a welcoming nation for temporary work visa holders and one may have to wait up to more than ten years to get permanent residency. This feedback has turned many potential high tech and software professionals elsewhere. The current wait time in Canada and Australia is less than a year. European nations are also becoming a very welcoming society for these people. So the competition to secure them is getting hot.
While the wait becomes long the anxiety and depression starts to sets in most of the cases. Many have therefore already left this country and this is a drain on the economy as they are now a part of other nation’s economic development. Many of this class of people were educated in United States and were contributing but the immigration laws have forced them to go elsewhere. America is land of opportunity and for those willing to work hard for a better future should be rewarded and taken care of, but it seems there is no one listening right now to their voice. The spirit America seems to be getting lost somewhere.
There are organization and groups like NumbersUSA who oppose any increase in their visa numbers which can drastically help these victims of bureaucracy, but due to their short sightedness they fail to see that the same people whom they are opposed to will help increase the economic well being of this nation once they become permanent residents as they all will move up in the ladder demanding higher salaries and thus supporting the proponents of anti-immigrants view point. Right now they are all stuck in the same state for years. This may in some case lead to their exploitation which may in fact depress wages. Their short-sightedness, misinformation and vague propaganda have created an atmosphere where the naïve public fails to understand the difference between the real benefactors and illegal immigrants. This has led public develop an overall anti-immigrant sentient.
Presently there is a bill pending in Senate called the SKIL bill (S.2691) introduced by senator John Cornyn (TX) Co-sponsored by George Allen (R, VA), Wayne Allard (CO), Bennett Robert (UT) and others. There is another related bill introduced by John Shadegg (AZ).This bill seeks to increase the annual visa caps for Immigrants visa under Employment category, exempt students who earned masters in USA from visa numbers, Allows to apply for Adjustment of Status even though there may not be immediate available Visa numbers. The bill is intended to secure the American competitiveness in 21st century while countries like India, China, Australia and European countries compete for skilled man power in Software and high tech sector to secure their competitiveness. This bill will help reduce the wait times for Temporary work Visa holders helping them assimilate faster in US society and thus securing the nations’ interest.
There are reforms for this class of immigrants in the much debated comprehensive immigration Reform Bill passed by Senate but congress did not pass it. These provisions got lost in the shadow of illegal immigration debate and therefore separate bills were introduced by way of SKIL Act of 2006 to take care of the plight of Temporary visa holders. By clubbing the provisions for both legal and illegal population in one bill did much harm to this community as they were totally neglected by the congressman. These people pay taxes, social security (unfortunately cannot be claimed once they leave this country), contribute to the social cause and very much feel themselves a part of this nation.
But the administration failed to reform current Visa availability issue which is doing much harm to the nation.
The public is expected to understand the plight of these people and pressurize congress to pass this bill and not misunderstand the other immigration bills pending in senate which are controversial. These people deserve credit and appreciation for helping this nation and definitely needs a much awaited attention from the public and Government.
The temporary visitors largely are H-1 B, L-1 and Business visa holders .Many of these people are here for many years and waiting for their Green Card after having applied for it. While they continue to work for the same employer waiting for their permanent residency, they feel stagnated in their career path, salaries and even on personal development front because the law does not permit them to change employer while their green card is under process. If they do change then the whole process will have to start afresh.
As one frustrated and depressed work visa holder, Rajneesh puts it “The plight of an immigrant can only be understood by those who are in the same shoes”. A legal immigrant who is in USA is only here on invitation by the US based companies or organizations willing to legally sponsor them for reasons that they do not have enough skilled professionals to do the job. The fate of being a person waiting in queue for a Green Card was never dreamt by me unless I was a victim of such a wait myself. The whole life revolves around waiting for just one card called green card. All the life’s plans are shelved off for some future dates. Many of them wait for settlement as they fear that buying a home or property or starting their own company may be at risk if their green Card is not approved or if they are out of status and in that case they may have to leave the country. There is a constant fear lurking in their psyche that what if they are laid off when they are waiting for their visa dates to become current so that they can apply for adjustment of status. Their dependent wives cannot work legally as law does not permit them to work while on dependent visa. These in many cases have resulted in domestic violence and depressed spouses resulting in disturbed and broken families. The spouses of these legal temporary residents stay at home and feel frustrated as they are also highly educated and can tremendously contribute to the development of the nation if given an opportunity. They feel choked as they have to plan well ahead in time for visits to home country and have to keep themselves abreast with latest immigration laws and by laws. A lack of this planning and understanding has resulted in many being denied entry while trying to re-enter. There are so many issues that they have to deal with being a temporary resident here just because they chose to come to America in search of realizing the American Dream. Most of them feel as if they made a wrong decision having come to America. This has sent a negative feedback in their native countries that America is no longer a welcoming nation for temporary work visa holders and one may have to wait up to more than ten years to get permanent residency. This feedback has turned many potential high tech and software professionals elsewhere. The current wait time in Canada and Australia is less than a year. European nations are also becoming a very welcoming society for these people. So the competition to secure them is getting hot.
While the wait becomes long the anxiety and depression starts to sets in most of the cases. Many have therefore already left this country and this is a drain on the economy as they are now a part of other nation’s economic development. Many of this class of people were educated in United States and were contributing but the immigration laws have forced them to go elsewhere. America is land of opportunity and for those willing to work hard for a better future should be rewarded and taken care of, but it seems there is no one listening right now to their voice. The spirit America seems to be getting lost somewhere.
There are organization and groups like NumbersUSA who oppose any increase in their visa numbers which can drastically help these victims of bureaucracy, but due to their short sightedness they fail to see that the same people whom they are opposed to will help increase the economic well being of this nation once they become permanent residents as they all will move up in the ladder demanding higher salaries and thus supporting the proponents of anti-immigrants view point. Right now they are all stuck in the same state for years. This may in some case lead to their exploitation which may in fact depress wages. Their short-sightedness, misinformation and vague propaganda have created an atmosphere where the naïve public fails to understand the difference between the real benefactors and illegal immigrants. This has led public develop an overall anti-immigrant sentient.
Presently there is a bill pending in Senate called the SKIL bill (S.2691) introduced by senator John Cornyn (TX) Co-sponsored by George Allen (R, VA), Wayne Allard (CO), Bennett Robert (UT) and others. There is another related bill introduced by John Shadegg (AZ).This bill seeks to increase the annual visa caps for Immigrants visa under Employment category, exempt students who earned masters in USA from visa numbers, Allows to apply for Adjustment of Status even though there may not be immediate available Visa numbers. The bill is intended to secure the American competitiveness in 21st century while countries like India, China, Australia and European countries compete for skilled man power in Software and high tech sector to secure their competitiveness. This bill will help reduce the wait times for Temporary work Visa holders helping them assimilate faster in US society and thus securing the nations’ interest.
There are reforms for this class of immigrants in the much debated comprehensive immigration Reform Bill passed by Senate but congress did not pass it. These provisions got lost in the shadow of illegal immigration debate and therefore separate bills were introduced by way of SKIL Act of 2006 to take care of the plight of Temporary visa holders. By clubbing the provisions for both legal and illegal population in one bill did much harm to this community as they were totally neglected by the congressman. These people pay taxes, social security (unfortunately cannot be claimed once they leave this country), contribute to the social cause and very much feel themselves a part of this nation.
But the administration failed to reform current Visa availability issue which is doing much harm to the nation.
The public is expected to understand the plight of these people and pressurize congress to pass this bill and not misunderstand the other immigration bills pending in senate which are controversial. These people deserve credit and appreciation for helping this nation and definitely needs a much awaited attention from the public and Government.
posted by Suman at
3:15 PM
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