Why Americans will just not do certain jobs

This week  Business week explored the subject as to why some Americans wont do "Dirty Jobs."  After Alabama passed its most restrictive Immigration Law, the poultry industry, the fruit picking industry, the construction industry are all virtually shut down because no Americans who will take these jobs. This even though Birmingham Alabama is declaring bankruptcy and unemployment is sky high. The article says that these jobs are hard, and pay little with no benefits. The comments on the article are ablaze with how these employers should pay higher amounts and have benefits. But the article does not elucidate as to what will happen if we mandate employers to do that.
The cost of food will go up. The Americans will initially take the jobs.  Then when they discover that its hard work, they will quit. Why? because Americans have this sense of entitlement that immigrants don't have.
This sense of entitlement amongst "true Americans" is pervasive throughout the society. Go to any ivy league college, and there are the kids who got in through legacy, who will walk around in their designer clothes as if they own the world. Yet they contrast with their immigrant classmate, who got in based on merit and continue to outperform the legacy kids in academics.  That is why you have people like George Bush and Rick Perry, graduating with a "gentleman's C"  They never had to work hard ever in their lives.
Same is true of the blue-collar workers. They are spoiled with clean, cool working conditions with accompanying money and benefits. Make them work in the field under the burning sun or in a smelly poultry factory, and their auto industry trained body will not take it.
Yet immigrants come in, work hard and don't complain. That is true of all immigrants , in all ages, starting from the pilgrims. They were not born into privilege. They chose to live in America and expect to work hard and go up the ladder. And that is how America was built, and that is how it became a super power.
So if we become restrictionists like Arizona and Alabama, it is our quality that will suffer.  By becoming insular and white, we will turn the clock back to the time of the Willy Lomans (Death of a Salesman) of this country.

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

Privacy Issues in the Internet Age

This week the Supreme Court heard a case as to whether the police can track an individual through a GPS (available in most smart phones) without a warrant. USCIS has also been using the internet for some time now.  For family based cases based on marriage, the officers check facebook to see the status of the person. Never mind that some people forget to update their status from single to married especially if they are not addicted to Face Book.
But what is more irritating is that USCIS uses Dun and Bradstreet (a private company) to check the address of companies filing for employment based cases. D&B extremely frequently do not update their listing of the Companies.  USCIS  "suggests" that the Employer update their information in D&B. Employers are not lawyers and get scared whenever any Government authority tells them to do something. So they call D&B, who then sign on these employers for paid listings, etc. In the end, this Government agency is enabling a private company to solicit employers and enrich their pockets.
Is this Legal? Yes, employers may not have a right to privacy, but should USCIS suggest to employers to follow up with D&B reporting? Especially when there is NO law to do so?

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

Perm Audits

The Department of Labor (DOL) has announced that the Perm audits will increase. Of these audits, 24% are certified, 55 % are denied and 21% are withdrawn.




The DOL says most of the denials are in the lower skilled categories and in the financial industry. DOL feels that by denying these petitions, they are protecting American jobs. However, there are some lower skilled jobs (like machine work, technical work in the oil and gas industry) where there is a real shortage of US workers. No US Employer goes through the hassle and expense of the Immigration process if they can find qualified local grads. And by "qualified" I don't mean the least qualified, I mean the most competitive.



The DOL also expressed surprise that 21% of the cases were withdrawn. They think that those are fraudulent filings. Not so. It takes two years for an audit. The DOL has a target time of 45-60 days for approving PERMS. Many qualified employees don't want to wait that long.



The whole problem with restrictionist policies is that they negate free market capitalism, and thus are inherently un American.







And that is the problem of the whole PERM process. DOL just restricts the job to the least qualified individual who can do the job. Lets say the Petitioner is Bank of America. The position is an investment analyst. The minimum education requirement is a Bachelor's Degree. The Beneficiary is a graduate in finance and Math from MIT. Lets say someone with Rick Perry's credentials (a C from Texas A & M ) applies. Would you rather have financial advice from the American born A & M grad or the foreign-born MIT grad? By insisting on having the lowest possible credentials available to do the job, the DOL is actually dumbing down the American workforce and decreasing quality of work here.







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

We the People

Today is Diwali. In the North Eastern Province of Bengal, where I'm originally from, it is celebrated , like the rest of India with lighting rows of oil lamps called the Diya and with fireworks.  But the day before this festival is the day of the ghosts, and in the evening the ghosts are rumored to come out.  With the lighting of the diyas on Diwali, the Ghosts disappear. This is similar to All Hallows Eve, and Dia de los Muertos. Its a celebration of life as opposed to death. The shortening of days make people aware of their own mortality and the festivals reinforce life.

Similarly in the spring there is a renewal of life which is celebrated in different cultures, in different ways. Be it Easter, or the Indian festival of Holi, color plays a dominant part.

We may come form different regions, different religions and cultures, yet we are fundamentally all equal.  The Restrictionists in our Immigration policy cannot see beyond these differences in color, race or religion. But we are becoming one world. The internet today unites the world, and outsourcing forces us to compete globally.  Yet when it comes to Immigration, we try to restrict our borders and try to unnaturally preserve our jobs.  But the reality of the marketplace is that people only come if there are jobs, if they can compete.  If not, the jobs are outsourced anyways.

Maybe some day we will have one  world where there will be no Xenophobia, and  no barriers.

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

Entrepreneurs in Residence

The USCIS recently announced an “entrepreneurs in residence initiative.” This follows President Obama’s speech welcoming foreign entrepreneurs who would want to invest in the US for Permanent Residency. It makes sense, since money brought over by these entrepreneurs will be used towards building businesses and jobs in the US.




Towards that end, the USCIS is launching this Initiative to gather information about these programs. Especially targeted is the EB-5 program, and also on Eb-2 and L-1Bs. The EB-5 applicants will have direct access to adjudicators through e mail. All this is positive development, yet, the adjudicators themselves are still giving out under the kitchen sink Requests for Evidence. This is especially true of L-1 A, new Office where an entrepreneur is bringing in money to start the business here. Sometimes it’s apparent that the officer has not even looked at the file, since they want evidence already included in the original petition.

I think the adjudicators have to meet a certain quota, and some adjudicators are happier to give out requests for evidence (RFE) rather than meeting that quota. What the USCIS should do is require the officers to notate the petition. Also such notations should be included in the actual RFE as well. Clients ask me why, when they are bringing in money and investing in US, should the US Government want every single piece of paper they could possibly generate. Such a burden is a big deterrent in many people investing here. It’s much easier to invest in Canada than the US, so why would people looking towards investing bother with us?







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

Approval Notices

Recently the Citizenship and Immigration Service instituted a new rule whereby the approval notices of visas, with the original I-94s are being sent to employers instead of the Attorney. The attorneys get the courtesy copy. The American Immigration Lawyer's Association is protesting against this move.




However I think this is a good move by Citizenship and Immigration Service. First it cuts down on fraud. Fraud is very prevalent in the Immigration petition system. Although the forms require signatures from the employers, those signatures can be forged. Documents can be manufactured. And if employers get a representative’s copy, the lawyer can give the actual copy to the fraudulent employee, who would then get false status. Granted maybe one attorney in the country will do this, but still its fraud.

Secondly the clients can get the approval notice expeditiously. In most states clients need the approvals to renew their driver’s license. Sending that approval notice to the attorney means the attorney has to mail it to the client. Even if the attorney fedexes, it still takes time. And most large law firms take forever to send the documents. This way everything can be done expeditiously.



American Immigration Lawyer's Association has complained that the attorneys can check and see mistakes in the I-797, and correct them. But attorneys can simply ask their clients to scan and send them that approval notice. On the contrary attorneys cannot scan and send the original to the client, since they need the original approval. My clients have no problem scanning and sending the copies to me.



I feel that many lawyers have an inflated sense of ego, and feel that the Citizenship and Immigration Service is slighting them by sending originals to the employer. I applaud this move by the Citizenship and Immigration Service. This is probably the only time, in years, that I think that the Citizenship and Immigration Service is doing something sensible.



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

My hats off to Arizona and Alabama

When Arizona enacted the most restrictive Immigration Laws in the book, I was wondering why the deep south was lagging behind. They just take time to think up legislation, and Alabama delivered with a far more severe punch than Arizona. The law even  forbids undocumented school children from attending schools.

The common concern of all these States is that we have too many illegal immigrants. The Federal Government is not going to do anything for it. So these States take Federal law enforcement in their own hand.

Yet these States bring forth the importance of Comprehensive Immigration Reform. The only problem is that the legislature cant agree on anything. Even the Dream Act, which gives amnesty to children brought over illegally here by their parents, and educated here have  not passed. They don't have any criminal records. Yet the Republicans don't want to give the Permanent Residency to these people.

The Democrats are no Saints either. They have effectively killed the work visa process for small businesses. Especially hit is the small IT industry, where the Obama Administration "legislated on their own" stating that employers should "control" their employees. They effectively nullified third party contracts for H-1B employees for smaller employers in IT industry.  Yet such contracts are Ok for the health care industry.  Talk about the Rule of Law and Obama's lofty principals.

In a Country where even economic reforms gets shot down, willl there be a Comprehensive Immigration Reform? I dont think so.

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