H-1B sob stories about Green Cards
H-1B sob stories about Green Cards
Date: Friday, August 18, 2006 2:40 AM
<<<<< JOB DESTRUCTION NEWSLETTER No. 1542 -- 08/18/2006 >>>>>
Two stories appeared lately about H-1B visa holders that are having trouble
getting Green Cards. To understand what all the fuss is about it's
necessary to understand the issue.
If an H-1B worker decides to change jobs or if he loses his job for any
reason, to stay in the U.S. he will need another employer to sponsor him
for a new H-1B visa. That's no problem unless his intent is to get a Green
Card to permanently stay in the U.S. If for any reason he leaves his
employer the green card process must start over from scratch. That's a real
bummer for the H-1Bs considering the long delays to get a green card.
The prize of a green card is used as a carrot by employers because they
know that the H-1B worker must kowtow until his green card is approved.
This carrot-and-stick game places the H-1B worker in a bad position that's
analogous to an indentured servant. The allure of getting a Green Card and
the fear of losing their visas forces H-1Bs to be docile, submissive, and
willing to work for less pay; which of course are traits that most U.S.
employers value above all else.
To understand more about Green Cards and their relationship to H-1Bs, use
these two links:
http://www.zazona.com/shameh1b/H1BvsGreenCard.htm
and
http://heather.cs.ucdavis.edu/itaa.real.html#tth_sEc9.4.2
The Sacramento Bee article, as well as many others we have seen lately
trumpet the Skil Bill as the solution since it increases the number of
Green Cards. The rationale behind this approach is that the H-1B will be
liberated simply by issuing more permanent visas. That of course means that
foreign workers will permanently take jobs Americans need, but of course
that rarely seems to be an important issue in the mass media. In the
newsletter about the idiotorial in the Arizona Daily Star I mentioned that
the Skil bill is never mentioned by name, and this article is no exception.
I'm not sure why the shills think this is a good strategy but I'm sure they
know what they are doing since they are highly paid professionals.
A pending Senate immigration bill would more than triple the
140,000 annual visa supply to 450,000 a year for a decade before
lowering it to 290,000. Supporters say this would decrease the
backlog of applications and add more workers wherever they are
needed. The bill would also raise the 65,000 H-1B annual cap to
115,000.
Another solution bandied about to end the indentured status of H-1Bs is to
issue unlimited numbers of instant green cards. Unfortunately organizations
such as IEEE support this sellout to common sense.
I have a different solution to ending the indentured status of H-1Bs. Since
H-1B is considered a temporary work visa, all that needs to be done is to
prohibit all H-1Bs from getting Green Cards so they can get permanent
residency. H-1Bs would become truly temporary instead of an easy ticket to
U.S. citizenship. H-1Bs would be required to go back to their home country
and apply for Green Cards just like everyone else does. The beauty of this
solution is that once H-1B visa holders realize they can't get a Green
Card, they will no longer have to suck-up to their employer, and therefore
they won't be as exploitable. Even better, the U.S. labor market won't be
glutted with thousands of new workers. As the saying goes: "Nobody breaks
into the amusement park when the rides are closed".
Simple, huh?
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
http://www.infoworld.com/article/06/08/15/34OPrecord_1.html?source=NLC-RECORD2006-08-16
Getting a raw deal on a green card
Promises, promises. Meantime this IT pro's six-year H-1B window is closing
fast
By Anonymous
August 15, 2006
Ive been in the U.S. as an H-1B worker for almost six years now, and
while Ive managed plenty of successful projects, one job Ive never
managed to complete is landing a green card.
I was trained as a business analyst. But when I first came to the United
States, the consulting company that brought me over, a firm Ill call
"Acme Technologies," put me to work as a project manager for an ERP
implementation at a major test lab in Princeton, N.J. Acme seemed pleased
at the prospect of my coming to work for them and promised to take care of
processing my green card application. From my first day at the office,
however, I felt a lot of animosity from the staff.
Maybe thats why the project manager title didnt last very long. On my
third day of work, I was demoted to "consultant" without any explanation,
and another programmer was given the PM position. I still had all the same
responsibilities, though. Worse yet, the new PM kept changing his mind
about what we were supposed to do, which slowed us down a lot. Our client
was annoyed because I kept missing my deadlines.
Some six months later, my boss at Acme asked me to update him on the
project. The VP who gave my position to the other programmer was there,
too. Instead of telling my boss about all the delays his protigi had
caused, he simply declared that I had failed as PM. Next thing I knew, I
was cleaning out my desk and calling my lawyer to find out how quickly I
needed to book a flight back to Cochin. When I asked Acme how my green card
application was proceeding, they changed the subject.
Luckily, a competitor was looking for a consultant who knew VB and ASP, and
the woman who hired me promised that shed handle all the arrangements
needed to procure my green card. I signed up without hesitation and
transferred my H-1B visa. A year passed -- a year of working long overtime
hours and weekends without any overtime pay.
When my boss told me I had to work on Christmas Eve, I called the company
lawyer and asked him for a status report on my green card application. He
told me that my employer had never submitted any documents. When I
confronted the owner, she first told me that the papers had been delayed
because of my lack of experience in certain areas. Then, after a few
minutes, she admitted she hadnt filed because it was too expensive.
I found a new job with a company that took on my H-1B. Same promises, but
this time I got them in writing. (Im a slow learner.) Ive been with
this outfit for almost three years without a single salary increase. When I
pointed out that the other PMs in the company were getting yearly increases
and bonuses, my boss told me that the expenses theyd incurred for the
green card processing precluded my receiving the same pay package.
Meanwhile, do I have a green card? Of course not. Im still waiting for
the processing backlog to be cleared. So Im stuck at a low-paying job
with no hope of a raise. And my six-year window as an H-1B is closing fast.
If youre an H-1B looking for that green card, take care! There are
plenty of employers who will promise you the world when, in fact, theyve
got you chained to your desk, going nowhere.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
http://www.sacbee.com/content/news/story/14286256p-15102798c.html
or
http://www.scrippsnews.com/node/11173
Hired hands: Wait for green card tries visa holders
Obtaining permanent residence frustrates foreign professionals.
By Susan Ferriss -- Bee Staff Writer
Published 12:01 am PDT Thursday, August 3, 2006
Raghu Ballal hates feeling forced out of America.
The Indian-born engineer regrets leaving a well-paying job with the
subsidiary of a Fortune 500 company -- and giving up opportunities to
pursue a master's degree in business administration at the University of
California at Berkeley or Los Angeles.
The long wait Ballal and his wife face for legal permanent residency -- for
green cards -- has pushed them to pursue the American dream in another
country.
Their house in the Sacramento suburbs is up for sale and the couple will
use some of the money to pay for Ballal to study at Oxford University in
England this fall, or perhaps in Paris. Armed with an MBA, Ballal will
apply for fast-track residency in Britain through the United Kingdom's new
Highly Skilled Migrant Program.
"If I go to the United Kingdom now, I would be a U.K. citizen even before I
became a green card holder in the United States," said Ballal, 30.
Ballal earned a master's in environmental engineering from Lamar University
in Texas in 1999. For six years, he has worked on a H-1B temporary visa for
the Sacramento subsidiary of the Shaw Group, a Baton Rouge, La., firm that
sponsored him for legal permanent residence last year.
Ballal's decision to try his luck in Europe is the byproduct of America's
overtaxed system for legally admitting foreign workers, which could leave
him hanging for five or more years and prevent him from pursuing a
promotion while he waits.
The experiences of Ballal, as well as his friends and relatives, offer some
insight into the complex issue of gaining legal residency in the United
States.
One of his neighbors waited five years for a work-related green card,
giving up only after he married a U.S. citizen and received residency
through his marriage. A brother-in-law working at a high-tech company
decided to return to India rather than wait for a green card because so
many Indian companies are now doing information technology work.
The debate about legal immigration is now in the hands of Congress, with
the American public just as torn over how many people, and under what
conditions, the country should admit legally, as it is over illegal
immigration.
Business groups and economists tend to argue the United States should raise
the annual ceiling on work-related green cards, reducing the waiting time
for applicants and opening up new spaces. Otherwise, they say, America
risks losing talented people it needs as the U.S.-born work force shrinks
and competition from the global economy grows.
Population-control and immigration-control groups like Numbers USA or the
Federation for American Immigration Reform favor a general decrease in
immigrant visas.
And some take an especially hard line on the temporary non-immigrant visas
-- H-1Bs -- that employers often initially use to hire professional workers
and retain them while green card applications are in progress.
"There wouldn't be so many people waiting for green cards if there weren't
so many people on H-1B visas," said Kim Berry, a Sacramento high-tech
worker who is president of a group called Programmers Guild, an
anti-temporary visa group.
Although employers must prove they tried to recruit U.S. workers first
before they can sponsor someone for a green card, Berry complained that
employers are not required to comply with the same rule before seeking
temporary visas for foreign workers. Intel's Folsom branch, he said,
announced plans to cut jobs, while the company has pushed Congress for more
H-1B visas.
H-1B visas are less controversial in Ballal's field, civil engineering,
where qualified professionals are in short supply.
Ballal has led projects to design landfills in the Sacramento region and
the Bay Area, and he's been trained as the company's West Coast radiation
safety specialist. He's paid $62,000 a year.
Before helping him submit his green card petition, Ballal said, Shaw
advertised and interviewed people. "They ended up hiring a guy for a job,"
Ballal said, "but it wasn't my job."
Ballal has always wanted to pursue an MBA, and he was thrilled to be
admitted to UC Berkeley and UCLA. He was even more thrilled when Shaw
offered to help with the $82,000 tuition for a part-time program that
allows students to continue working.
But once he got the MBA, Ballal wouldn't be able to accept a promotion or
change jobs because his green card petition is based on Shaw demonstrating
to the Labor Department that it needs him for the job he had when he
applied.
Yet Ballal knows he's better off than many temporary visa holders. The H-1B
allows a professional foreigner with a college degree to work for a U.S.
employer for up to six years, with the potential for one-year extensions if
a residency petition is pending. While many companies gladly sponsor
employees for permanent residency, some employers, critics say, depend on a
revolving stable of cheaper H-1B holders who are rarely offered a chance to
become residents.
A recent Government Accountability Office report found that the Labor
Department's system of reviewing H-1B applications from employers "lacks
quality assurance controls." The department, which must certify the
application before a visa is granted, failed to identify thousands of
instances where wages did not meet legal prevailing wage standards,
according to the report.
In March, David Huber, a high-tech American worker, complained at a
congressional hearing that he been laid off from two jobs and replaced by
H-1B workers. "It is wrong to force American workers to compete against
such a program," he said.
Huber said the temporary workers are "often treated as indentured servants"
dependent on their employers' "good graces" to stay in the country.
Companies have committed H-1B abuses, said Delhi-born Sumeet Aggarwal, a
friend and neighbor of Ballal who has worked under the visas for high-tech
companies.
He said he believes the U.S. government should fix the system, which
provides a legal path into the United States, rather than scaling it back
or abolishing it.
"We've been contributing to the United States," Aggarwal said. "This
country is about immigrants, right?"
Aggarwal, 28, petitioned for a work-based green card five years ago, but
dropped his bid when he received residency after marrying a U.S. citizen.
Even though he now has greater freedom to change jobs, he still plans to
head to Paris in January and get his MBA. He and his wife, he said, might
decide to stay in Europe or Asia. "I think the governments there understand
the value highly skilled workers bring," Aggarwal said.
In the United States, about 140,000 employment-based green cards are
available annually for applicants and their families. As of January of
2005, more than half a million applicants were waiting for visas, which are
granted after a prolonged, multi-agency review.
The true number could be more than 1 million, counting dependent spouses
and children whose visas are drawn from the same annual pool of green
cards, according to Immigration Voice, an applicants' advocacy group
lobbying for a faster process.
Every nationality is subject to the same per-country limits on how many
U.S. immigrant visas can be granted each year. As a result, the wait for
work-related green cards for workers from India and China, where
technological expertise is widespread, is often longer than for others
because so many applications have piled up over the years.
A pending Senate immigration bill would more than triple the 140,000 annual
visa supply to 450,000 a year for a decade before lowering it to 290,000.
Supporters say this would decrease the backlog of applications and add more
workers wherever they are needed. The bill would also raise the 65,000 H-1B
annual cap to 115,000.
Ballal said he'd be content to stay at Shaw and wait for his green card if
he weren't frozen in his job category, even if he gained an MBA.
In Britain, he could put the degree to use immediately. In Britain's
point-based system for highly skilled visas, his MBA from Berkeley or UCLA,
not just Oxford, would give him a boost. So would his perfect English,
education and work experience.
Britain's highly skilled program doesn't require that an employer sponsor
him for his initial visa. He can petition for himself even without a job
offer if he can prove his skills are in demand.
If he's accepted, he can change jobs and apply for the equivalent of a
green card in two years, likely getting it in weeks. After two years he can
apply to become a U.K. citizen, which would take months rather than years.
At the Shaw Group, co-workers said they would be sorry to see Ballal go.
Spokesman Chris Sammons in Baton Rouge said his company has a larger
concern: the shortage of civil engineers. Surveys of universities show that
the majority of U.S. civil engineering advanced degrees -- as well as those
in many math and science disciplines -- are going to foreign nationals.
With a work force of 25,000 and 135 offices carrying out environmental,
petrochemical and other engineering projects in the United States and
overseas, "We have hundreds of job openings, I'm sure," Sammons said.
The company will have another opening soon, as Ballal prepares to pack.
Leaving, he said, is bittersweet because he's spent many productive years
here.
Rather than quitting Shaw, he'll take an official leave of absence. In
Europe, he plans to watch for job opportunities wherever the global economy
beckons. To prepare himself for a possible return , he's already
considering studying another skill to add to his risumi: Spanish.
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