Foreign workers balk over backlogs
They protest years' wait for green card
Kristin Collins, Staff Writer

Deepak Suryanarayanan moved across the world searching for the bright promise of America. Eight years later, it is still just out of reach.
Suryanarayanan, a computer engineer from India, meets all the requirements for work-based immigration -- but he is trapped in a growing backlog of people waiting to become permanent U.S. residents. According to the government's estimate, he faces another seven years in line.

Suryanarayanan says the long wait is demoralizing, and he is fed up with a system that dangles a promise it cannot keep. The soft-spoken Cary resident is becoming a leader in a nationwide push to reform the work-based immigration system.

"I need to speak out," he said, "because I've realized, there's no one who's going to speak for me."

Legal immigrants across the country say they are tired of politicians debating the fate of illegal immigrants while ignoring the long delays that face those who come legally. Legal immigrants must spend thousands of dollars in legal fees without knowing when or whether they will win permanent residency.

While they wait, their lives are in limbo. They cannot change jobs or get promoted, international travel is sometimes difficult, their spouses and children often can't work or get driver's licenses, and they must frequently renew their temporary work visas.

Some were incensed that a deal some lawmakers proposed for illegal immigrants in a reform bill this summer -- a "Z-visa" that would allow them to work and live in the United States indefinitely -- was far better than the one offered to those who have followed the rules.

Some legal immigrants asked their attorneys whether they could apply for the Z-visa and were told no. In addition, the bill would have cut the number of green cards issued each year that grant residency to legal immigrants. The proposal failed, but many are still seething.

"If you want to give amnesty, give them U.S. passports and make them citizens tomorrow, fine," said Jay Pradhan, of Reno, Nev., a spokesman for the grass-roots activist network Immigration Voice. "But don't do that at our expense."

United in frustration

The government limits work-based green cards to 140,000 a year, and no more than 7 percent of that quota can go to immigrants from a single country.

That means that even the most qualified candidates from such countries as India, China and Mexico face huge backlogs, which are cleared on a first-come, first-serve basis. The system is so overloaded that just one small step, such as the FBI background check, can take years.

Immigrants caught in the system began sharing information and commiserating on an Internet chat room called Immigration Voice. In July, the site transformed into a political action network, fueled by an unprecedented government mix-up. First, the government announced that backlogs were cleared and thousands of people were eligible to apply for green cards. Then, after people scrambled to complete their applications, federal officials said there were no available green cards and all applications would be rejected.

The site's leaders organized a "flower protest," and thousands of people sent flower arrangements to the Washington, D.C., office of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Soon after, federal officials reversed the decision, allowing thousands of immigrants to submit green card applications.

Energized, the site's leaders developed an agenda and asked immigrants all over the country to start local centers of activity. Suryanarayanan took up the cause for the Triangle.

As home to a growing immigrant community, he said, the Triangle should be among the loudest voices.

He began spreading the word among co-workers and friends.

In September, he and a fellow activist chartered a bus and took 40 people to Washington, where they joined immigrants from across the country. They picketed in front of the Capitol and visited the offices of North Carolina politicians.

Brad Taylor, a Canadian immigrant who works with Suryanarayanan, took his wife and son to the rally. It was their first trip to the nation's capital.

It was empowering to see how many others were living with the same frustrations. "Now I realize that we can actually go out and say something without getting arrested or deported," he said.

Ana Santiago, a spokeswoman for U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, says the agency has made a major push recently to process applications more quickly. And she says it sends applicants frequent updates about where they are in the process. Anytime they have questions, she said, applicants can make an appointment to meet with an immigration officer.

But she said that the number of applicants far outnumbers the available green cards, and only Congress can help with that.

Stiff resistance

Suryanarayanan is planning another round of meetings with congressional members at their North Carolina offices, trying to persuade them to raise the quota.

But he is learning how difficult it can be to bring about change.

Although some employers in North Carolina and across the country have spoken out about the need for more skilled foreign workers, none have joined the Immigration Voice effort to speed the permanent residency process. Suryanarayanan's company refused to allow him to even mention its name for this story. Another Raleigh activist said his employer would not allow him to be named in the newspaper at all.

Immigrants are also hesitant, he said. Some are afraid of deportation, and others are simply in denial.

"People aren't willing to believe that they're going to be in this line for 10 years," he said.

Many also fear putting themselves in the sights of critics.

Groups such as the Washington-based Center for Immigration Studies, which pushes for stricter limits on immigration, say it is a myth that the United States does not produce enough engineers and high-tech workers. They say companies recruit foreign workers to drive down wages.

Mark Krikorian, the group's director, says companies dangle the hope of permanent residency as a recruitment tool, even though they know there aren't enough green cards available.

"We need to stop stringing them along and say, 'Your time's up. You've got to leave,' " Krikorian said.

How much longer?

Suryanarayanan and his wife, Radha Patel, say the hardest part is the constant hope that, if they just wait another month, or another year, they will earn the right to stay permanently. Both have temporary work visas, which they have to renew periodically.

But they know it's also possible that they could wait years and have their applications rejected.

"We've been here seven years, contributed to the economy, paid our taxes," Patel said. "We have a right to a fair system. We should know when we'll be getting our green cards."

For now, the couple say, they will give it another year or two. They bought a home in Cary.

But they fear that they will end up back in India, having lost years establishing themselves in North Carolina -- and having wasted the thousands of dollars they spent in the process.

kristin.collins@newsobserver.com or (919) 812-8532
http://www.newsobserver.com/news/story/768394.html