Wednesday, February 22, 2012

Where in the Melting Pot does Jeremy Lin fit?

 America had, I think wisely adopted the melting pot method.  No matter where we originate from, we are all Americans, one nation, one people.  This is very different from countries like Canada and England where they have the cultural mosaic theory, where each individual maintains their own cultural identity. We are all supposed to be one people on America. Yet, minorities who look foreign, are seldom recognized as American. And the same is the case with Jeremy Lee. He can technically become a President, yet in the US he is looked upon as an Asian American, and in China (note his parents are from Taiwan) he is looked upon as Chinese.

There are plenty of good blogs, claiming what a wonderful Asian player he is. But it is inherently stereotyping that is going on here. To claim that he is a wonderful Asian player, is to say the same thing of a black mathematician. Jeremy Lin is a good player. PERIOD. What does it matter if he is Asian, or black or white? Or whether his parents came over as immigrant or his ancestors landed on the Mayflower?

Even David Leopold, the ex president of  American Immigration Lawyer's Association wrote a blog on Huffington Post stating that if the anti immigration restrictionists had their way, Jeremy Lin would not be here. http://ailaleadershipblog.org/2012/02/19/immigration-linsanity/  So he too sees Lin as an Asian American rather than just American.  Yet Steve Nash is Canadian/South African, and no one claims that has the restrictionists had there way, he would not be here? Or Dirk Nowitzki? Because they look like "Americans?"

My children, like Jeremy Lin, were born in the US. People ask them where they are from. They say , "Houston." Yet very often, people ask, "where are you originally from?" No one asks a white person, if they are from UK, or Ireland. We as Americans can ask if they are from New York or Texas. But asking someone who does not identify with the "mother country" where they are from is just plain Un-American.

Contact Houston Immigration Lawyer, or Houston Immigration Attorney Annie Banerjee, for more information

Thursday, February 9, 2012

Advancing Priority Dates and Marriage

As most people now know, the Priority dates of Second Preference for India and China are advancing rapidly, and many people with Priority dates in 2010 can file their I-485s.  This has presented a small but important problem for Indian beneficiaries. Many of them are young , unmarried and will get married through the traditional  arranged marriage system.  Under the traditional Indian system mixing between girls and boys are frowned upon. Usually the families pick out several  'suitable mates", the prospective bride and groom talk to each other, decide as to who to marry, and if both parties are willing, they get married.

With their child in America, working on the H-1B visa, and many of them not visiting India because of the highest rates of H-1B visa denials from the consulates in India, many parents were reluctant to start looking for a suitable mate for their children. Yet the looming prospect of getting their Green cards fast has produced a rush.

This is because almost every immigrant visas in the United States depend on per country quotas.  And the wait for  a green card holder from India to bring in their spouse is currently almost three years.  That means that once the beneficiary gets the green card,  and before they become a citizen, (in 5 years)  if they marry, they cannot bring in their spouse for 3 years. This of course creates a lot of strain especially in an arranged marriage situation for the newly weds.

If they have their H-1B , they have to go to India, get their visas (a huge If in Indian consulates) get their spouses an H-4 visa and come back and file for adjustment of status for their spouse. Deciding to marry one person from the list given to them by their parents in a hurry can be harrowing.

If they don't get the H1B visa, the beneficiary can travel back with the travel permit, wait and get their Green card and then file a following to join petition. In this situation, the green card holder can file a following to join application, once he gets the Green card, but cannot travel during the process.  This is also not easy.

Unfortunately such is the price of US Immigration.


Contact Houston Immigration Lawyer, or Houston Immigration Attorney Annie Banerjee, for more information

Thursday, February 2, 2012

Kansas tires to introduce legislation to authorize illegal immigrants to work

A traditionally conservative group of Business Association consisting of  Chamber of Commerce, the Farm Bureau , various building and manufacturing firms and Agricultural industry is trying to get the Kansas legislature to introduce a bill making it possible for undocumented (yes, illegal) workers to work there legally.  They claim that the shortage of labor in various industry has had devastating consequences in States that enacted strict legislation for excluding undocumented immigrants. For instance in Georgia, 50% of the produce has not been picked loosing the State $4.2 million and would rise to $20 Bn, if all undocumented immigrants left Georgia. They also state that deporting even a third of undocumented aliens will cost US $80 billion. 

The immigrants do work that US workers simply will not do. Even Arizona, an early proponent of anti immigration legislation is backing off due to the terrible economic loss that the State has been hit with. 

The Kansas bill would require certain illegal immigrants with clean record stay in Kansas for 5 years. 

What's interesting about this legislation is that its been promulgated by Republicans. Unfortunately the Republican party has two factions, the social conservatives and the fiscal conservatives. The social conservatives (consisting of mostly white and racist people) have pegged their hatred about the mostly brown (Mexican) illegal immigrants on grounds that these people are here illegally. The fiscal conservative group is seeing the devastating economic consequences of these hard line bills and not liking them. It will be interesting to see who wins. 


Contact Houston Immigration Lawyer, or Houston Immigration Attorney , Annie Banerjee, for more information