Immigration and Republicans

The republican campaign have on the whole catered to their socially conservative base and been either silent or hostile on the issue of immigration.  But today, two Republican proponents of Immigration, NYC mayor, Bloomberg, and Rupert Murdoch blasted Mitt Romney for the Republican stance on Immigration. In a panel discussion, Mr. Murdoch said that there is a huge shortage of  Technology and Science graduates and that he is amazed that we dont grant automatic visas to Master's Degree holders  instead of  making them go through the "restrictive H-1B visa process".

The Republicans have been friendly to business immigration.  However, Romney and Ryan dont seem to care about Immigration.  The Campaign's attitude is that Immigration is a Hispanic issue and they have given up on those votes.  The Deferred Action  of  Childhood Arrivals (DACA) has been wrongly criticized by the Republican party as back door amnesty.  All these dreamers are getting is a work permit, and they are young, educated, came  into this country through no fault of their own and have no criminal records.  We educated these people in our public schools, and yet we don't give them the right to drive or work. They live and fall sick, and we pay for their health care. Yet they are denied the basic right of survival. Why not give them the right to work and earn their own living?

20 years from now, the population of the United States will not be a majority of religious, conservative, anti gay, anti women's rights, gun toting, country music loving individuals. And the rest of the population will not forgive this Republican party. Unless of course the Republican party  does another 360 degrees turn and become the party of Abe Lincoln again.

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

The PERM form 9089 should completely match all advertisements

The DOL has complex rationale, where the filing of a PERM form, 9089 becomes a mechanical process, whereby one should suspend their thought process. In a recent case, Prosoft Associates Inc,  The employer put down "drug testing and background check in the job order for the State Workforce Agency, but forgot to add that to the 9089.  The employer later sought to amend it, but  the Board of Alien Labor certification (BALCA) cannot look at new evidence.  Neither does the Certifying Officer give any leeway to an employer to change anything. BALCA held that the requirement of drug testing and background check, not otherwise mentioned in 9089, would "deter otherwise well qualified individuals from applying."  Everyone with common sense realizes that the employer simply forgot to add this requirement in the 9089, and that such requirements are routine part of most employers.  But then, the Dept of Labor lacks that sense.  And of course people with common sense don't visit the DOL's website to look for jobs either. 

The simple thing to do is to craft a final job description, and then copy and paste it in the Prevailing Wage Request, every advertisement, and in the 9089. That way, employers wont make mistakes. Because whatever the employer does on the 9089 form is chiseled in stone like the ten commandments, never to be corrected. 

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

American Dreamers

Who Can File?

1. Did you come to the US before your 15^th birthday?
2. Did you live in the US continuously (ie did not leave US) since August 15, 2007?
3. Are you currently under the age of 31?
4. Are you currently in school, have a high school diploma, A GED certificate, or honorably discharged by the military?
5. Do you have any criminal record—ie Felony or a significant Misdemeanor?
6. Were you present in the US on June 15, 2012?
7. Were you out of status on or before June 30, 2012?

When can you apply?

The Citizenship and Immigration Service has said they will release information on August 15, and you can apply from that day

What documents do you need?

1. Proof of present enrollment in school, or Diploma or certificate or military
2. Proof of being in the United States before 16^th birthday----- proof of school records from 9^th or 10^th grade or below.
3. Birth certificate—If in other language, translated in English
4. Proof of current residence (in June) in the United States----like bills, pay checks, school records, etc
5. Citizenship and Immigration Service fees of $380/-
6. 2 passport size photos
7. If minor criminal record, proof of it.

What will You get?

You will not get the Green Card (Permanent Resident Card).  But you will get the WORK PERMIT, can work legally, and won’t get deported

What is the procedure?

You will file on or after August 15^th.

You will have to go in for fingerprints

You can check your status on line

Then you will have the Work Permit mailed to you by Citizenship and Immigration Service.

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

Michelle Bachmann has accused Hillary Clinton of having ties to the Muslim Brotherhood because one of her long time aid, Huma Abedin is a Muslim. Others in the far right also "accuse" President Obama of being a Muslim, simply because his father happened to be Muslim.

Hard to believe that this country was founded on the principle of religious freedom. The Tea party and the far right build their campaign on hatred.  Huma Abedin, the Hillary Clinton aid was born of Muslim parents.  her father was from India, and her mother was from Pakistan, before the two countries were separated.  They both have their PhDs from U Penn, an Institution which Ms. Bachmann will never get into.

Meanwhile Sheriff Joe Arpaio has been accused of racial profiling in Arizona. And Scalia has stated slavery as a precedent for having individual states control federal immigration law. 

I guess there has always been a segment of society, who has hated other people. And most often they are fueled by religion. Every religion, in order to propagate their views has to state that they are the only religion.  And then they base their platform on hatred, whether its for gays, or Muslims or whoever is weak, in order to gain support for their cause.  And thus the religious people, in the guise of being pious, continue their culture of hatred, shaking the very foundation of America.

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

How to Choose an Immigration Attorney

This is an age of specialization.  Of course, if you have an immigration issue, it makes sense to go to an immigration attorney. But there is super specialization even within the field of immigration.  There is business immigration (where employer sponsors). There is family immigration where a blood relative sponsors. Then there is Asylum, deportation, etc where courts handle the problems.  All these fields are varied, with vast knowledge required for each. Although there are lawyers who does every type of immigration, it is usually difficult to keep abreast of all types of immigration law. Thus if you have a simple problem, sure, a general immigration lawyer will do.  Just like if you have a cold or a hang nail, a GP will be fine.  But if you have a complicated problem, and go to a lawyer who does not specialize in that type of immigration law, the lawyer may not be able to competently handle your case.

I do mainly business immigration, and see a lot of cases where deportation lawyers screw up business immigration cases. For instance, I've seen lawyers doing PERM, instead of H-1B, thereby putting beneficiary out of status, and unable to adjust.  I have seen L-1A visa holders for whom lawyers did PERM on EB-3.  I've seen H-1B extended with B and then the lawyer files perm. Of course the B gets rejected due to the dual intent.

I am sure, that deportation lawyers might have seen similar horrible situations when business immigration lawyers do hearings.

It is hard of course for the common person to figure out what type of case they have, and what attorney to go to. Thus clients should ask their lawyers:

1. How many cases of exactly the same type have you handled previously

2. How many denials, how many approvals

Although no client has ever done this, and I know it probably impacts the lawyer client relationship, it may not be a bad idea to have this in writing from the lawyer. After all, the lawyer gives you a retainer agreement, I dont see why you cannot have things in writing from the lawyer.

Also, please check the educational certificates of the lawyer. In general,the higher the college they graduated from, the higher their ranking in their college, the better the lawyer will be. Check to see if they were in Law Review. Also, in general, lawyers graduating from a foreign college, (unless its a high profile college you've heard of, like Oxford or Cambridge) its usually a good idea to avoid them.  Foreign lawyers just have to pass a minimal standard bar exam, which they study for very hard and pass.  And even then, they have exams from the 50 states to choose from, and generally choose the easy states.

In the end, clients have to follow buyer beware rules. 

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

Red State, Blue State

Increasingly, United States is divided into the Red State and Blue State.  One is liberal, asking for social rights, the other is conservative, asking for less governmental interference. Yet immigration was an issue that transcended party lines.  And for the most part it still does.  The doing away with per country quota for Green card passed the house and senate with support from both sides.  Business Immigration for the most part is supported by both sides. Yet the difference is becoming increasingly evident in the illegal immigrant field.

While Arizona, Alabama, and Georgia, the red states passed anti immigration local laws, California for instance has a bill termed "Anti Arizona."  California feels that if local law enforcement has the right to check immigration documents of people they stop for probable cause, it will lead to impermissible targeting of minorities. 

Yet in the final analysis, the decision to restrict illegal immigration is a financial one. If immigrants feel threatened in one state, they will just go into another.  Arizona businesses are already feeling the sting of the Immigration Act, and even Governor Brewer  was backing down on some of the principles of the bill. And Georgia had half its crops going bad, with no one to pick the crops.  And Republicans love businesses. 

If the Republican party can concede to their financial segment rather than their extreme right wing militia, they can come to terms with illegal immigration. Then the Congress can pass a comprehensive immigration reform.  If so, at the least, the American public will not hate Congress, at the best, everyone, from Mexican immigrants to big business will be happy with both parties. 

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

Freedom from Hatred

Every year around the July 4th holiday we hear a lot of patriotic rhetoric, and many profess love for our country.  Yet can love be prefaced with hatred? To some individual, love for the United States translates to hatred for individuals, who they perceive to be here illegally. They go back to the birth of America but forget that at that time their forefathers were "illegal" in this land.

As Charles Garcia wrote in a piece by CNN, the term "illegal Immigrant" is a slur. This term was omitted in the majority opinion in  US v. Arizona, which recognized the contribution of immigrants in the modern US society.  Mr. Garcia notes that unauthorized stay in the US is a civil offense, while the term "illegal" is generally reserved for criminal offense.

The term aside, there is a prevailing attitude in our country that the face of a Us Citizen is white.  The term "All American" generally stands for blond white people. And even with a black President, we still think of the face of immigrants as colored.  Its so ingrained that the former president of American Immigration Lawyer's Association wrote an immigration blog with Jeremy Lin. But not with say Steve Nash, (from South Africa/ Canada) or Dirk Nowitzki (from Germany).

Its sad, but for us, colored people, even if we are born in this country, people ask where are you from? And if you answer a city in the United States, they ask where is your parent from. No one ever asked Scalia that question, even though his father was from Sicily.

We are all Americans if we live and work to better this country.  And for those of us who chose this country as home, maybe we love this country even more.  We werent simply born here, we consciously chose it.

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