Discussion On The Politics of Immigration Reform (Comprehensive Or Otherwise)

[Pedro Gonzales]

I am optimistic, and the reason is the multitude of names outside congress that have voiced support for the bill as it stands (or at least the general principles): Grover Norquist, Bill Gates, Sean Hannity, Mark Zuckerberg, Bill O'Reilly, Fareed Zakaria, Rupert Murdock, Vivek Wadhwa. These are influential folk from both the left and the right. Except for the far left and the far right (i.e., unions, LGBT crowd, and anti-immigrants, each for their own reasons) no one really appears opposed to the Gang of 8 bill. So I am optimistic, cautiously optimistic, but optimistic nevertheless.

[immitime]

immitime - step away from the ledge my friend. I sincerely hope you were being sarcastic in your post.

There's no need for doom and gloom scenarios. I have recommended this to others. If your life sucks so much without a GC, then maybe you should consider going back to your home country. If you imagine your life will miraculously change with a GC, you are in for a rude shock.

From a day to day perspective for a young / middle-aged person, the only thing that changes with a GC is the sense of security (and a shorter line through customs). I don't want to undermine the sense of security aspect but you should really be focusing on the foundations of your life - family, health and job (in that order). You should take action to improve all those aspects. You can change jobs if you feel you are being victimized in your current job - albeit with some paperwork.

Vizcard,

As some wise man said.. "Truth Hurts" But that is the Truth.. May be some lucky ones like you are in good situation. I am happy for you. But GC gives lot more.. I was not sarcastic.. again Truth Hurts my dear friend.

[Jonty Rhodes]

immitime - step away from the ledge my friend. I sincerely hope you were being sarcastic in your post.

There's no need for doom and gloom scenarios. I have recommended this to others. If your life sucks so much without a GC, then maybe you should consider going back to your home country. If you imagine your life will miraculously change with a GC, you are in for a rude shock.

From a day to day perspective for a young / middle-aged person, the only thing that changes with a GC is the sense of security (and a shorter line through customs). I don't want to undermine the sense of security aspect but you should really be focusing on the foundations of your life - family, health and job (in that order). You should take action to improve all those aspects. You can change jobs if you feel you are being victimized in your current job - albeit with some paperwork.

Vizcard, I agree with what ton_vj said. I can't speak for the engineers or people in IT field but I can speak for physicians. I had 3 promotional offers last year and one of them was in hospital administration. My hospital got affiliated with a bigger health system and they were offering me administrative position but they could hire only green card holders and US citizens due to their internal policy so despite meeting all their qualifications, I could not accept the offer. They were willing to wait for maximum one year in hopes that I will have my GC (PD EB2I May, 2011) by that time but I am sure that I won't get my GC in 1 year so then they will hire somebody else. Also, if you try to move to a big city, one of the most common requirement for physician hiring in those big cities, is being a GC holder or a US citizen. Similarly, if you want to take up a job in a big University Hospital or an Academic Hospital, then being a GC holder and US citizen can be a huge huge advantage. I can tell you this from my own experience.

Physicians suffer even more in terms of obtaining fellowships after their residency training. When I applied for Gastroenterology fellowship, my application was rejected from most of the places and 9 out of 10 rejections had one common reason - "Sorry, we only take Green Card Holders or US citizens. No H1Bs." In fact, one interview invite I received from Houston, TX (by mistake) was cancelled because they realized that I was on visa during a 2nd look at my application.

My life dose not suck without a GC. I am very happy with my current job and have no complaints. I enjoy it fully and have no qualms about the salary, work schedule, life style or the place where I live. But I just wanted to say that GC does not only mean sense of security and short line in customs. Green Card can make a significant difference in terms of career opportunities one may get after being greened, especially for physicians and may be it holds true for other professions as well.

[immitime]

I am optimistic, and the reason is the multitude of names outside congress that have voiced support for the bill as it stands (or at least the general principles): Grover Norquist, Bill Gates, Sean Hannity, Mark Zuckerberg, Bill O'Reilly, Fareed Zakaria, Rupert Murdock, Vivek Wadhwa. These are influential folk from both the left and the right. Except for the far left and the far right (i.e., unions, LGBT crowd, and anti-immigrants, each for their own reasons) no one really appears opposed to the Gang of 8 bill. So I am optimistic, cautiously optimistic, but optimistic nevertheless.

Appreciate your optimism. Thanks for the energiser

[vizcard]

I understand where you are coming from TJ and Jonty. Ofcourse there are limitations to the jobs one can accept. The same applies for me and I'm in management consulting. My only point is that if you have a stable situation, there is no need to whine and bitch and moan. Its unhealthy and moreoever there's nothing you can do about the GC backlogs. You have to be mature about it (and it seems like you are by your cogent and coherent responses). Almost everyone in the EB queue has decent jobs with decent income. It could be better but it could be a lot worse. Like I said earlier, if you feel your life is so terrible, going back is an option just as finding another job is or the good old "suck it up and stay put" option. Instead of spending time on forums, look for other jobs that will improve your situation. (BtW, when I say "you", its a general you ...not you specifically).

My PD is Aug 2008 so I've been waiting a loooong time myself (and I've been in the US since 1999). I have a great opportunity with my Firm to lead a small practice in Singapore....that'll be my fast track to making partner in the US. Making partner means a minimum of 2x increase in income overnight. Because of GC issues its very difficult for me to just accept that job but I refuse to whine about it because I cannot control my GC situation.

[infoseek]

I understand where you are coming from TJ and Jonty. Ofcourse there are limitations to the jobs one can accept. The same applies for me and I'm in management consulting. My only point is that if you have a stable situation, there is no need to whine and bitch and moan. Its unhealthy and moreoever there's nothing you can do about the GC backlogs. You have to be mature about it (and it seems like you are by your cogent and coherent responses). Almost everyone in the EB queue has decent jobs with decent income. It could be better but it could be a lot worse. Like I said earlier, if you feel your life is so terrible, going back is an option just as finding another job is or the good old "suck it up and stay put" option. Instead of spending time on forums, look for other jobs that will improve your situation. (BtW, when I say "you", its a general you ...not you specifically).

My PD is Aug 2008 so I've been waiting a loooong time myself (and I've been in the US since 1999). I have a great opportunity with my Firm to lead a small practice in Singapore....that'll be my fast track to making partner in the US. Making partner means a minimum of 2x increase in income overnight. Because of GC issues its very difficult for me to just accept that job but I refuse to whine about it because I cannot control my GC situation.

That is indeed the right attitude. While I do, and would guess the rest, would agree that life in US with GC is better than one without... it in no way implies that life in US on a visa is a pain or is without opportunity. I would, personally, infer that if an employer is not willing to take that burden and cost of processing my GC / facilitating transfer / refile etc.. then I am not just good enough. This has always served me well whenever I got rejected for any visa /gc related reasons and motivated me to put in more effort... I came here in 2001 and changed 3 jobs refiling my greencard everytime (latest being in 2009). If my situation needs me to change jobs or look for better opportunity I definitely would just get on it rather than giving myself excuses.

[immitime]

Everybody who is on the GC queue--- situation is almost the same. Everybody knows how to take care of their situation, and mature enough to understand that. Its always better to spend time for usefull stuff. Income is not everything in life, there are other parameters. Everything is General here not pointing any of our valuble forum members.

[bvsamrat]

I completely agree. Mainly most of the Non -IT employers who are really not aware of the rules and regulations and leave to their attorney and play very safe by keeping you in same position.

Another important feature, if you are frequent international traveler, GC makes a quite difference and makes your travel easy.

Vizcard, I agree with what ton_vj said. I can't speak for the engineers or people in IT field but I can speak for physicians. I had 3 promotional offers last year and one of them was in hospital administration. My hospital got affiliated with a bigger health system and they were offering me administrative position but they could hire only green card holders and US citizens due to their internal policy so despite meeting all their qualifications, I could not accept the offer. They were willing to wait for maximum one year in hopes that I will have my GC (PD EB2I May, 2011) by that time but I am sure that I won't get my GC in 1 year so then they will hire somebody else. Also, if you try to move to a big city, one of the most common requirement for physician hiring in those big cities, is being a GC holder or a US citizen. Similarly, if you want to take up a job in a big University Hospital or an Academic Hospital, then being a GC holder and US citizen can be a huge huge advantage. I can tell you this from my own experience.

Physicians suffer even more in terms of obtaining fellowships after their residency training. When I applied for Gastroenterology fellowship, my application was rejected from most of the places and 9 out of 10 rejections had one common reason - "Sorry, we only take Green Card Holders or US citizens. No H1Bs." In fact, one interview invite I received from Houston, TX (by mistake) was cancelled because they realized that I was on visa during a 2nd look at my application.

My life dose not suck without a GC. I am very happy with my current job and have no complaints. I enjoy it fully and have no qualms about the salary, work schedule, life style or the place where I live. But I just wanted to say that GC does not only mean sense of security and short line in customs. Green Card can make a significant difference in terms of career opportunities one may get after being greened, especially for physicians and may be it holds true for other professions as well.

[Jonty Rhodes]

I understand where you are coming from TJ and Jonty. Ofcourse there are limitations to the jobs one can accept. The same applies for me and I'm in management consulting. My only point is that if you have a stable situation, there is no need to whine and bitch and moan. Its unhealthy and moreoever there's nothing you can do about the GC backlogs. You have to be mature about it (and it seems like you are by your cogent and coherent responses). Almost everyone in the EB queue has decent jobs with decent income. It could be better but it could be a lot worse. Like I said earlier, if you feel your life is so terrible, going back is an option just as finding another job is or the good old "suck it up and stay put" option. Instead of spending time on forums, look for other jobs that will improve your situation. (BtW, when I say "you", its a general you ...not you specifically).

My PD is Aug 2008 so I've been waiting a loooong time myself (and I've been in the US since 1999). I have a great opportunity with my Firm to lead a small practice in Singapore....that'll be my fast track to making partner in the US. Making partner means a minimum of 2x increase in income overnight. Because of GC issues its very difficult for me to just accept that job but I refuse to whine about it because I cannot control my GC situation.

I agree in total with what you are saying here. I think we all agree that even though we don't have GCs yet, most of us have pretty decent lives so far after we went through the initial struggles and most of us are probably in decent positions as well. We also have options of either going back or "suck it up and stay put" and I agree with them as well. I wrote that paragraph, not to complain about not getting a GC quickly and being stuck in a backlog but mainly to highlight the fact that there are many other advantages of having a green card. Sometimes you feel like whining but then I am already past that phase now. I agree with you and what Q says, that "GC is not everything in life. Concentrate on career and try to advance it." Obviously, sometimes it may be difficult or may not be possible without GC but then if one is determined enough, he/she can still do it once they get their GC. I am gonna end my philosophy lecture here. Working night shifts this week. Gotta get back to work.

[axecapone]

All along, I spent time just reading all the intelligent posts at this forum. I never spoke anything simply because I had nothing to offer to the conversations. Great forum with very intelligent posts. Keep up the awesome work folks!!

That being said, I have a different tone about GC: Without a fix to the system, I think GC wait will become an absolute waste of time. Many of us have left our homes, parents and close relatives to live in this country. Our spouses (many of whom are highly qualified) are stuck without a job on H4. You cant make major career changes without GC. You cant start a business without a GC because the risk of a business combined with risk of not getting a GC in time is way too high. Even with all the labor laws in place, there are companies that unethically take advantage of the immigration situation and such immigrants are no minority. There are many more issues and we all know them.

So the question is, given all the above issues, is the wait worth 4-5 year wait? Yes but its borderline. Is it worth a 7-8 year wait (which is basically a big chunk of my prime life)? For me, absolutely not! United States of America will do fine without a CIR but we will suffer and at some point, we need to draw the line and walk away. Just my 2 cents!

[rupen86]

If this amendment is indeed included and passed, it would weaken the chance of passing the bill.

http://www.cnn.com/2013/05/01/politi...ex-immigration

[immitime]

If this amendment is indeed included and passed, it would weaken the chance of passing the bill.

http://www.cnn.com/2013/05/01/politi...ex-immigration

Track all the amendments until this minute...

http://www.judiciary.senate.gov/legi...amendments.cfm

Good read for all of us.

An interesting new book that helps explain the role, struggles, and contributions of immigrants and minorities is “What Foreigners Need To Know About America From A To Z: How to understand crazy American culture, people, government, business, language and more.” It paints a revealing picture of America for those who will benefit from a better understanding. Endorsed by ambassadors, educators, and editors, it also informs Americans who want to learn more about the U.S. and how we compare to other countries around the world on many issues.

As the book points out, immigrants and minorities are a major force in America, as the GOP recently discovered. Immigrants and the children they bear account for 60 percent of our nation’s population growth and own 11 percent of US businesses and are 60 percent more likely to start a new business than native-born Americans. They represent 17 percent of all new business owners (in some states more than 30 percent). Foreign-born business owners generate nearly one-quarter of all business income in California and nearly one-fifth in the states of New York, Florida, and New Jersey.

Legal immigrants number 850,000 each year; undocumented (illegal) immigrants are estimated to be half that number. They come to improve their lives and create a foundation of success for their children to build upon, as did the author’s grandparents when they landed at Ellis Island in 1899 after losing 2 children to disease on a cramped cattle car-like sailing from Europe. Many bring skills and a willingness to work hard to make their dreams a reality, something our founders did four hundred years ago. In describing America, chapter after chapter identifies “foreigners” who became successful in the US and contributed to our society. However, most struggle in their efforts and need guidance, be they in Anytown or Zenith, USA. Perhaps intelligent immigration reform, concerned Americans and books like this can extend a helping hand. http://www.AmericaAtoZ.com

[rupen86]

Track all the amendments until this minute...

http://www.judiciary.senate.gov/legi...amendments.cfm

Good read for all of us.

An interesting new book that helps explain the role, struggles, and contributions of immigrants and minorities is “What Foreigners Need To Know About America From A To Z: How to understand crazy American culture, people, government, business, language and more.” It paints a revealing picture of America for those who will benefit from a better understanding. Endorsed by ambassadors, educators, and editors, it also informs Americans who want to learn more about the U.S. and how we compare to other countries around the world on many issues.

As the book points out, immigrants and minorities are a major force in America, as the GOP recently discovered. Immigrants and the children they bear account for 60 percent of our nation’s population growth and own 11 percent of US businesses and are 60 percent more likely to start a new business than native-born Americans. They represent 17 percent of all new business owners (in some states more than 30 percent). Foreign-born business owners generate nearly one-quarter of all business income in California and nearly one-fifth in the states of New York, Florida, and New Jersey.

Legal immigrants number 850,000 each year; undocumented (illegal) immigrants are estimated to be half that number. They come to improve their lives and create a foundation of success for their children to build upon, as did the author’s grandparents when they landed at Ellis Island in 1899 after losing 2 children to disease on a cramped cattle car-like sailing from Europe. Many bring skills and a willingness to work hard to make their dreams a reality, something our founders did four hundred years ago. In describing America, chapter after chapter identifies “foreigners” who became successful in the US and contributed to our society. However, most struggle in their efforts and need guidance, be they in Anytown or Zenith, USA. Perhaps intelligent immigration reform, concerned Americans and books like this can extend a helping hand. http://www.AmericaAtoZ.com

Looks like Hatch has filed entire I-Squared Act as an amendment.

[gs1968]

To viz
I apologize that I was posting all day in the wrong thread-some more tweets

"And @SenatorSessions takes the lead, filing 49 amendments to the immigration bill. That tops the 24 filed by @SenOrrinHatch.

"Reviewing filed amendments. Shocking that @SenatorSessions @ChuckGrassley @SenOrrinHatch are loading up on anti-legalization amndmnts...

"Sessions said in a statement that he won't support the bill w/o his "modest" amendments, which essentially gut the bill…So guess he's a no

[gs1968]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/0...tml?1367966186

[vizcard]

To viz
I apologize that I was posting all day in the wrong thread-some more tweets

"And @SenatorSessions takes the lead, filing 49 amendments to the immigration bill. That tops the 24 filed by @SenOrrinHatch.

"Reviewing filed amendments. Shocking that @SenatorSessions @ChuckGrassley @SenOrrinHatch are loading up on anti-legalization amndmnts...

"Sessions said in a statement that he won't support the bill w/o his "modest" amendments, which essentially gut the bill…So guess he's a no

Gs- you've been awesome. Keep posting all CIR bill specific stuff on the CIR thread.

[rupen86]

I hope gang of 8 remain united in opposing same sex amendment by Leahy.

http://colorlines.com/archives/2013/...igrations.html

[qesehmk]

It doesn't matter - this is designed to weaken republican support to the bill. Think about it .. a democrat trying to weaken republican support to the bill. Who would've thunk that!!

I hope gang of 8 remain united in opposing same sex amendment by Leahy.

http://colorlines.com/archives/2013/...igrations.html

[vizcard]

It doesn't matter - this is designed to weaken republican support to the bill. Think about it .. a democrat trying to weaken republican support to the bill. Who would've thunk that!!

I think its more to appease the gay rights lobby. Now he can say he tried.

[gcq]

http://news.yahoo.com/immigration-re...064800254.html

[qesehmk]

Yes. Certainly. Plus it is much more harmful to GOP if immigration reform fails.

Yesterday Chuck Schumer insisted on LGBT immigration. Now when we are talking about immigration - what % is LGBT. So when somebody has to announce this - it is not a good sign.

I think its more to appease the gay rights lobby. Now he can say he tried.

[gcq]

Yes. Certainly. Plus it is much more harmful to GOP if immigration reform fails.

Yesterday Chuck Schumer insisted on LGBT immigration. Now when we are talking about immigration - what % is LGBT. So when somebody has to announce this - it is not a good sign.

LGBT has a very powerful lobby. Democrats bank on them as their reliable vote bank. Democrats will continue to push.. It is upto GOP to deny it to democrats. Again plain politics !

[Ramsen]

http://news.yahoo.com/immigration-re...064800254.html

Probably not. They will keep the house unless they got some other issues. Even CIR passes democrats will win as the bill is pushed mainly by democrats. After CIR GOP need to wait many years. But again if immigration issue is not raised at the time of elections and if GOP played soft they can get some more votes and also Latino group turnover may be lesser. I cannot buy the point that GOP will lose house because of latino votes. Of course it is nice to get vote from them to improve their tally

[gs1968]

http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2013/0...igration-vote/

The article is vague and again he is not committing on what will come up for vote.

The House Judiciary sub-committee is holding hearings this week on both the AG Bill and E-verify Bill on May 16th

http://judiciary.house.gov/hearings/hearing113.html

This is puzzling since the E-Verify hearing was held already in February of this year

http://freebeacon.com/trust-but-e-verify/

[girish989]

Hello Guys - does anybody know what this means -

USCIS Menu(http://www.uscis.gov/portal/site/usc...RCRD#Immigrant) of Potential Immigrant (EB-1 & EB-2) or Nonimmigrant Visa Pathways for Foreign Entrepreneurs.

USCIS intends to expand(http://www.uscis.gov/portal/site/usc...0045f3d6a1RCRD) Entrepreneurs in Residence Initiative (ERI) program that can open additional pathways to various employment/investment related immigrant and nonimmigrant visa pathways. Read on.



I saw this on immigration-law.com/