The merit based system

While a lot has been said about the 11 million illegal immigrants in the proposal by the Gang of 8, nothing has been said about the merit based point system.  This is business friendly, and hopefully both Republicans and Democrats can agree on this. 

It replaces the old diversity visa and other country specific visas. We can finally move away  from  the goal  to keep this nation white, and make it bright. Diversity visas were given to any one with a simple High school graduation. This at a time when our indigenous high school grads cant get work. 

Instead we move to having a merit based point system.  The points are: Doctorate degree 15 points, Master's 10 points and Bachelors get 5 points. For experience, the proposal creates job zones. (Somewhat like the old preferences)   You get 1 point for high zone employment with a total of 20. 

However the point system is not perfect. A score of 80  on the TOEFL gets 10 points. Good knowledge of English is the same as a Master's Degree?   And countries underrepresented in this country gets an extra 5 points.  And yes, community service gets 2 points. 

Looks very much like an Admissions rubric for s selective Universities.  Time to pad your resumes people. 

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

High Tech vs Low Tech

Mark Zuckerberg created a PAC for Immigration Reform. The debate on Immigration is now between high skilled workers vs the undocumented people. The tech industry vs the fruit industry.  The Republicans vs the Democrats.

Yes, we need fruit pickers. But we can easily teach the 7 % unemployed people in the US to pick grapes in 3 hours.  We cannot teach them to program a computer.

And yes, this is a political issue. The Obama Administration wants "comprehensive Immigration." it says that it wants high tech jobs. But all the administrative options that are available, seems only to apply  to  undocumented  immigrants.  That is good.  DACA is giving many kids the chance to drive legally.  But they are high school graduates, and many simply cannot find a job, even though they are getting the work permit. Similarly the procedure for I-601 waivers is made easier.  And it is helping many families stay intact.

But when it comes to the business immigration, we are simply not seeing those administrative solutions.  The "control" memo that puts a dent on the H-1B s for tech companies, introduced during the Obama administration is still here.  This year the H-1B quotas even for Master's Degree holders from US Universities got filled in the first day, with lottery.  If these Master's Degree holders don't get into the lottery, will their OPT work permit be extended? And if not, why not? These are Master's Degree (or even Bachelor's Degree holders ) from US Universities. Are they inferior to the DACA people simply because they followed the law and maintained legal status? If the DACA people are given work permits for just being high school grads, why should Bach and masters of US Universities not be given the same opportunity? And what about highly qualified spouses of H-1Bs? What wrong did they do? 

And last but not least, the Obama Administration wants a "clear path to citizenship" for everyone. And yes, these 11 million people, (most of them poorly educated) has to stand in line behind all those in line right now. But what about the next high tech inventor who is now in grade school, dabbling in programming. If this kid invents the next google, and wants to come to the US, does she have to wait in line behind the 11 million people? And if so, will we then lose our technology edge in the world, simply due to political pandering of the Democrats? 

Lets make immigration like most countries do: The more qualified you are, the simpler and faster will be your immigration. Irrespective of whether you are legal or not.  We want people for the content of their brains, not for the color of their skin. 

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

H-1B Cap

USCIS announced that it has received approximately 124,000 petitions. 

The cap is 20,000 for US Master's Degree holders and 65,000 for general. 

USCIS has received more than the amount in all categories.  Thus it will do a lottery for the 20,000 Master's Degree holders first. 

Those who are selected will get the receipt notice. 

Those who are not selected will be entered into the 65,000 general lottery 

So US Master's cap will get two chances at the lottery. 

USCIS has not announced when they will do the first lottery. 

We will update each and every one of our clients as soon as we know anything. 

If you don't get selected  the CIS will not withdraw your application fees. If you are on any other visa category, and applied for a change of status, your status won't be changed and you can continue in your current status. 

If you were a student, and are working in your OPT, and don't get selected even after 2 lotteries, you can either : (1) go back to student status, or (2) file H-1B from a non cap (non profit research) institute.

CIS also has the power to extend the cap gap or the EAD status until next year, but we cannot predict if the CIS will do so. 

If you are a student and get selected, you will need your receipt notice to apply for cap gap, if your EAD expires before October 01, 2013. 

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

The Unnatural H-1B quota

Our laws impose the completely unnatural, unrealistic, uncapitalistic quota of 65,000 (plus 20,000 for US Master's Degree holder) visas for H-1B, a visa reserved for professional skilled personnel.  Since the government year starts on October 01, and they accept visa applications 6 months before, the first day one can file the petition is April 01.  The job actually starts from October 01.

From  2006 to 2008 more than that amount was filed with the USCIS on the first day. The government resorted to a lottery.  Then came the economic downturn and the visa filings were slow.  Now again, as the service centers start counting the visas today, its expected to at least reach or exceed the quota this year.  This means that the economy looks better.

The counting starts today, on the day that the job records came out with a bleak report that hiring has slowed down in the USA. I am sure that the anti business immigration folks will scream about job preservation. Yet, the jobs lost in the US are federal government jobs and retail jobs partly seasonal and partly due to the sequestration. None of these jobs are tech jobs. If America idolized colleges for their US News and World Report rankings rather than the NCAA rankings, we would not face a shortage of tech  personnel.

However another major problem is the quota itself.  Computer consulting companies are the main users of the H-1B visas. They have to predict their usage for the year.  Once the quotas are gone, they cannot get labor to supply their clients, and have to take a major hit.

The other reason is that the educated spouses of H-1B holders, (on H-4 visas) cannot work. Dependents of L or J visas can.  But for some completely inane reason, dependents of H visas cannot work. So these H-4 visa holders approach Consulting companies for jobs. Consulting jobs are hard.  Not only do you have to know computer science, you also have to travel places with the job. Americans simply wont work that hard or travel that much.

Thus we should do away with this unnatural quota. Let the marketplace dictate needs. Yet the Obama Government simply will not handle immigration piecemeal. They want those Hispanic votes and wont do anything for the country until they get those votes.

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

What the illegal immigrant can do now

Will an Immigration deal be reached? Who knows? But what an an illegal Immigrant do to prepare?

Usually Immigration legislation stops on the day it is passed. Thus the benefits accrue to people who were physically present in the United States before that date or earlier. This is done to stem people from crossing the border with the news that US is giving immigration. However proving that you were in the United States can be a challenge for people already here with no papers. Most states don't give them driver's license, and they do cash business and dont have bank accounts. They are not in school.

This problem wont be acute for the applicants who have submitted Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) Applicants.

However if you have not applied for DACA, you should prepare and get some documents together. Maybe make a purchase with your name.  Go to the church, get involved in community service. If you are sending money home, then keep those receipts. Get utilities bill in all your names, even if you are sharing them. Buy something on layaway. Get any record you can with your name on it.  And yes, best of all, if you can afford it, enroll in some school.

The next thing to do would be to save money. You are here illegally and there will be some sort of fines involved. Traditionally fines have been $1000/-   That was on top of the actual form fee. Add attorney's fees.  All this will add up.  Although its impossible to say how much money it will cost, I would think before buying my next beer if I was you.

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

Back of WHICH line, Mr. President?

The draft bill that the White house has been drafting which was recently “leaked” to the media has the President stating that the illegal immigrants will have to go to the “BACK OF THE LINE.”   But there are many lines in Immigration.  My question is Which line?

The ways to get Residency for legal people is through employment,  family, Asylum or by lottery (Diversity).  Visas have per country restrictions.  The same number is given to every country, irrespective of the size of the country. Thus for skilled professionals from India and China, there is a long lineup for educated legal people.  People born in India for instance, with a Master’s Degree (and this applies to people with Master’s Degree from an American University) has been waiting in line since 2004 just to get their Permanent Residency. Thats 9 years.  How does this jive with a “Path to Citizenship within 8 years ” that the administration has been promising? Lets face it, most illegal immigrants have at best a high school degree. Should they be allowed to jump over the legal non immigrants from India with a Master’s Degree?

In the family category,   brothers and sisters of  United States Citizens from Philippines   have been waiting since 1989.  They are patiently waiting in Philippines and did not enter illegally as did the people who crossed borders.  Should they now just enter this country illegally?

There is No line up for Asylum and Diversity visas.

The second question is how will we grant this “path to citizenship” to the 11 million illegal residents. Most of them are uneducated and don’t have steady permanent employers. Their relatives are most often illegal. Its not like Mexico will persecute them if they went back to Mexico, so no need to give them Asylum. (note: Asylum has no lines, and if amnesty is asylum then there would be no “back of the line.” ) And if Mexicans needed to enhance “diversity” , we would not even be having this conversation.  It’s only their voting power that is motivating this whole legislation.  So will we create a new category?

Will we clear ALL backlog by artificially increasing the numbers this one time?  If so, what about that very bright Master’s Degree holder who just happened to be born in India and just happened to have not applied before the passing of this legislation? Would the next Sergey Brin have to stand behind these 11 million people? Will they then not simply leave and go to EU?

Also Mr. President, any legislation that is passed WITHOUT the input of 2 parties is not the way our system is supposed to work.  We stand for the checks and balances. Did you not teach Constitutional Law?

However that is not to say that the the Republican plan is all good either.  Granting non immigrant visas to some of these 11 million people is like telling them to self deport.  They wont leave when their visas expire.

But my last plea is to the Democrats. Why do you hate Computer Professionals on H-1B?  Because unless you hate them, why do you still have the completely absurd, unconstitutional “Control” memo from 2010? And why are you selectively enforcing it to the computer consulting industry ONLY? Where is the rule of law that we all fought to reinstate from the Presidency of W Bush?

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

PERM Advertisement

In a recent case, In the Matter of Oracle America, Inc. the Board of Alien Labor Certification (BALCA) held that if an advertisement says travel May be required, and the ETA 9089 does not say so, then the  PERM will be denied.  This is true even though there was one  advertisement for several positions, and the travel was required.

The PERM regulations hold that the advertisement cannot be more restrictive than the actual 9089 perm form. However the PERM form is unforgivable. No one sees the form but the Department of Labor. And if one forgets to cross the Ts and dot the Is, it results in a denial. There is no way to correct it, once the Holy highness of DOL lay their eyes on it.  If the Advertisements say XYZ, and you inadvertently leave out Z, and the DOL looks at the perm, you cannot withdraw anything. You have to defend your ground.  Because of course the almighty DOL never makes any mistake. I dont know of any court, any other agency that is so unforgiving as the DOL.

The court held that the job description for all the jobs were similar.  There is also a suggestion that too broad job description for different positions in one advertisement may not be feasible anymore. Although this is allowable under the PERM regulations, I think the DOL will soon clamp down on it, stating that the description has to be specific, or else the US Citizens wont know how to apply.

If there were USCs available to do the job, the Employer would not go through the whole hassle of advertising and paying a lawyer and going through the laborious Labor Certification process.  Thus is actual fact, the only person that the DOL looks out for are people who use the copy and paste function in their computer, thereby eliminating any risk of accidentally  leaving out any information in the form.

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