Thread: Immigration Voice campaign to Open Doors for Green Cards

Originally Posted by whitecollarslave

Gosh. Never have things seemed this bad and things seem to be spiraling out of control more than ever. Is this because Jorge Bush has only a year left so he's allowing this invasion and displacement of the American workers?

I don't know, but it looks as though they've opened the flood gates not only to illegal immigration but HB1 visas!

Jorge Bush?
You call yourself LegalUSCitizen and you can't even spell the President's name.
Shame on you.

Actually, such characterizations are common here - we do it to make the point that GWB 'Bush II' seems to work more for the people and government of Mexico than does he for the people of the USA.
LegalUSCitizen, I can assure you, does this quite intentionally to make the point.

With our economy like it is,it seems reasonable that those 500,000 student and H1B visa holders should be patient while waiting for green cards,as there are several millions unemployed that are looking for work and large numbers of them are qualified to do the jobs these imported "temporary" workers are doing.As we are headed into a recession,according to most economists,it seems to me that American workers should be considered first.That there is or ever was a shortage of citizen workers in this country is a myth.The quest of corporations to increase profits is the cause of importation of large numbers foreign labor,who then demand acceleration of their claim to green cards as if it was a right instead of a priviledge.

What they're asking for is an expedited green card decision - it takes like 6-7 years before they can apply for one. This is mainly affects Indian, Chinese, Mexican and Philippino people - because there's an annual limit on the number of skilled workers who can gain permanent residency, and there are plenty from those countries.

I'm not sure I understand this. Is this information not given to you before you apply for non-immigrant worker status here?

How long would it take an American to get a green card in India?
How often does an American in India have to renew their work visa?
How long can an American work on a non-immigrant visa in India?
Can an American take their family with them and have them educated for free k-12?
Can an American get a special rate for colleges in India?
Can an American attend college in India?

We implore you to exercise your authority to implement administratively
these much-needed reforms.

• Recapture administratively the unused visas for permanent
residency to fulfill the congressional mandate of 140,000 green cards
per year.

• Revise the administrative definition of "same or similar"
to allow slight additional job flexibility for legal immigrants
awaiting adjudication of adjustment of status (I-485) petitions.

• Allow filing of Adjustment of Status (Form I-485) when a visa
number is not available.

• Implement the existing interim rule to allow issuance of
multi-year Employment Authorization Documents (EAD) and Advance Parole.

• Allow visa revalidation in the United States.

• Reinstate premium processing of Immigrant Petitions.

I urge you to implement these administrative remedies without delay.
Action is urgently needed to fulfill your stated goal of attracting and
retaining highly-skilled legal immigrants from around the world,
eliminating bureaucratic inefficiency, and improving the lives of
future Americans already living and working legally in the United
States.

administrative remedies More of King George ruling America without regard for law and order, without regard for the citizens to whom the rights of citizenship belong, and certainly without regard to the best interests of America.

I am not for speeding up anything. If anything, we need a serious slowing down. We have had enough illegal immigration and if we used the number of those who come here legally on an average yearly basis, I think the up to 20 million illegal aliens have over saturated us and I personally wouldn't mind some breathing room time. How about some assimilation for those here legally, some enforcing of the law for those here illegally and a real hard look at those who come here to take American jobs.

The blinders are off and Americans have been sold a bill of goods in the game of hollering that we need more visas and foreign workers. It is about the bottom line and dollars.

I am for legal immigration, but not out of control legal immigration or the lying, cheating and shenanigans that has gone on with immigration.

Ephesians 4:32

Is this web site open borders? They use anti-immigrant instead of anti-illegal immigration.

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These sections contained provisions that would have lessened the effects of retrogression and The Senate had already passed this bill on a party line vote and it was sent to the House. The anti-immigrant lobby held the republicans in the House to ransom and threatened to defeat the bill if the immigration provisions were not removed from the bill. Their pitch was that immigration reforms should not be sneaked into a budget reconciliation bill.
Caving to pressure and left with no choice, the republican leaders in the House modified S.1932 and passed that bill without the immigration benefits among other things. Since the passing of the bill was very important for the Republicans and the White House and since President Bush's approval ratings had gone down drastically at that time, he could not enforce his will on the House.

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http://immigrationvoice.org/index.php?o ... &Itemid=25

http://immigrationvoice.org/index.php?o ... &Itemid=49
Ephesians 4:32

This is an older article.

(quote)

Top News September 11, 2007,

High Drama Over Highly Skilled Workers

Governors and companies are pressuring Congress for immigration reform for the most talented as visa workers plan a march in Washington

by Moira Herbst

After failing over the summer to pass legislation that would overhaul the rules for all kinds of immigrants, Congress is gearing up to take on the narrower task of reforming immigration laws for highly skilled workers. The effort is less politically charged than comprehensive reform since it sets aside the contentious issue of what to do with the estimated 12 million illegal immigrants (BusinessWeek.com, 8/22/07) already in the U.S., and it appears likely that some legislation will be passed. But there is opposition, and the nature and degree of reform for the highly skilled remains unclear.

The latest push came Sept. 11, when 13 governors, including Arnold Schwarzenegger of California and Christine Gregoire of Washington, sent a letter to leaders in Congress urging them to take action on the issue. They asked for more temporary visas and permanent green cards for skilled workers from abroad to staff the companies in their states. "If states like ours are to remain world leaders in innovation and intend to continue to see the job growth that is so vital to our economies, we must keep our employers in our states and ensure there is a skilled workforce in this country to fill their immediate needs," they wrote.

The governors are adding their voices to a call by technology companies for more talented workers from abroad. Oracle (ORCL), Google (GOOG), Microsoft (MSFT), Motorola (MOT), Intel (INTC), and Hewlett-Packard (HPQ) have joined together in a lobbying group called Compete America that is pushing for immigration reform for high-skilled workers. "We need an immigration policy that adapts to the changing economy—and one that not only helps fill jobs but one that welcomes innovators who create jobs," says Robert Hoffman, a spokesman for Oracle and co-chair of Compete America.
Top Execs Make the Case

The momentum has some leaders in Congress optimistic about the prospects for substantial change. "I am increasingly thinking there is a greater willingness to move forward on immigration reform," says Representative Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.), chair of the House subcommittee on immigration whose district includes Silicon Valley.

Much is at stake for companies and workers on this front in the immigration battle. Tech players say their ability to compete in the world economy depends on their ability to recruit the best and brightest from anywhere. This year, Microsoft and Google (BusinessWeek, 6/7/07) both sent top executives to Washington to make their case, with no less than founder Bill Gates making the trip (BusinessWeek, 3/8/07). "Simply put: It makes no sense to tell well-trained, highly skilled individuals—many of whom are educated at our top colleges and universities"that the United States does not welcome or value them," Gates said in his testimony.

American tech workers and their advocates feel just as strongly that their futures are on the line. They contend that letting in more engineers and programmers from India or China drives down wages for U.S. workers, discourages kids from studying math and engineering, and ends up sending American jobs abroad.

Many of the proposed reforms would lead to "the disappearance of jobs and the depression of wages," said Julie Kirchner, director of government policy for the nonprofit group FAIR (Federation for American Immigration Reform), in congressional testimony.


Taking to the Streets

What would reform look like? It's impossible to know so early in the process. But the most likely outcome is an increase in temporary and permanent permits for highly skilled workers, along with a tightening of the criteria for doling out those permits. On Sept. 6, the House held a hearing on a bill called STRIVE (or, the Security Through Regularized Immigration and a Vibrant Economy Act of 2007), which includes a provision to hike the number of temporary visas--known as "H-1Bs (BusinessWeek.com, 7/19/07)--to 115,000 from 65,000 per year and add 150,000 more green cards to the current 140,000 yearly total. STRIVE is unlikely to pass since it's a politically explosive comprehensive bill, but its proposals for highly skilled workers may serve as a template for further work.

Tech companies are getting some grassroots support. Immigrant advocates are planning a march on Washington on Sept. 18 to call for more green cards for those already in the U.S. on temporary work visas. "We want to increase the profile of the issue which has been dodged for the last two years," says Aman Kapoor, founder of Immigration Voice, a visa workers' advocacy group. "We'll be physically present in Washington so the message is loud and clear: We have waited patiently, and it's time for a relief package for high-skilled immigrants."

Kapoor expects thousands of tech workers from across the country to converge in Washington next week, and members of his group are busy preparing dozens of new slogans and hundreds of placards for the event. Immigration Voice is hoping to build on the success of a related campaign in July (BusinessWeek, 7/17/07). Kapoor's group is calling for Congress to raise the annual cap on green cards for permanent residency from the current 140,000 to 300,000. Currently about 500,000 high-skilled immigrants on H-1B visas are waiting for green cards, a process that requires them to stay with the same employer, often in the same job, for as long as eight years.
Still in Concept Mode

The key question is whether Congress can pass any immigration legislation after the fiasco this summer over comprehensive reform (BusinessWeek, 7/8/07). Tech companies are cautiously optimistic about immigration reform for the most highly skilled. "Lawmakers are open to ideas, and there's a general recognition that something needs to be done," says Hoffman of Compete America. "But right now we are still very much in concept mode, and we're hoping for the opportunity to sit down and define something."

To succeed, immigration reform will have to strike just the right balance between tech companies and tech workers, between meaningful change and political feasibility. No one doubts the importance of the effort. "Personally, I think we need to do what we can to improve the legal system on the high-tech part," says Lofgren. "If we don't, we'll likely see companies forced to expand overseas instead of here."
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http://www.businessweek.com/print/bwdai ... 591357.htm

Ephesians 4:32

What is going to be left in this country for US citizens----and their children/grandchildren??