I normally avoid publishing my political views on the intrawebs, but this is an issue very close to my heart that often prevents me from sleeping.
As I'm sure you are aware, there is apparently massive pressure for immigration reform right now.
Now, what does this mean to most Americans? Pretty much 1 of 2 things right now:-
1) Make those illegals felons, construct a giant fence and ship em back or
2) Give them an easy path to citizenship, "they" are doing jobs that very few citizens want to do, but are vital to the economy.
But not many Americans know about the wider scope of the much needed reform. Due to the # of illegal immigrants currently in the states (and there are roughly 12 million or so) thats a much more interesting news story than the roughly 800,000 LEGAL immigrants currently stuck in EAD (aka greencard) processing. Currently proposals do nothing to address this.
Congressional intent was that the entire employment-based green card process should take 6 months to a year. The reality is that for most applicants the process now takes 6 to 12 years.
As a quick summary on the greencard application process for Employment based greencards here are the steps (which is much different from marriage greencards - that doesn't take long at all despite what Andy McDowell and Gerard Depardieu would have you believe).
1) LABOR CERTIFICATION- your employer files documents to the DOL that proves that ther is no American for the job at that time, and that it will not adversely affect American's wages
Congressional Intent: Certification Completed in 21-60 DAYS.
Reality: Average of 3 years!
2)IMMIGRANT PETITION - This is the employer application to hire a SPECIFIC person for that job
3)ADJUSTMENT OF STATUS Upon approval of the petition in step 2 the employee can change their visa class to the "greencard"
Congressional Intent: step 2 and 3 approvals in 6 months.
Reality: Nearly 300,000 pending cases at USCIS. YEARS of delay for highly skilled applicants (Economic Report of the President, Jan 2005).
Reality: Retrogression - if Visa Numbers not available for a particular category, applicant cannot even file for the last part – YEARS MORE of delay. Currently. in my category, they are processing applications with a submission date of 1st MAY 2001, my submission date was roughly June 2004.
Reality: Retrogression - if Visa Numbers become unavailable after forms are filed, those applicants not considered part of “backlog” – not counted as pending! YEARS MORE of delay.
Consider this... most highly skilled immigrant workers work on an H1B visa. A 3 year visa that can be extended a further 3 years for a maximum of 6 years. I'm nearly on year 6. You can extend this visa 1 year at a time after a certain stage of the greencard process has been met. But that effectively means that you can't travel outside of the country (its a big pain in the butt extending a visa... time... money...travel to your country of origin... blah blah).
Annual limits for those H1B visas have risen dramatically over the last 10 years, and it is estimated that ½ those on an H1B will transfer to a greencard, however greencard quotas have not rised. Additionally, an average of 1 dependant is filled for with each original greencard petition – again eating away at the greencard quota.
It is very disheartening to hear that people who have abided by the law and immigration policies of the US are getting screwed. The thought that there are a massive number of potential queue jumpers out there drives me crazy.
I'm not surprised that the illegal immigration issue is becoming a political hot cake, I'm just depressed that the legal immigration issues are not being addressed. Many of the recent presidential elections have won with majorities of less than 1,000,000 votes. I wonder who is fighting hardest for those potential voters? |
