How does 2011 look like for us?

[eastindia]

With republicans controlling in Congress how does 2011 look like for us?

I mean Republicans are good for industry. So they will obviously be good for Employment based Green cards.

So we should be happy now? and good times of a recapture bill should come? Are there any points against it? I have not heard anyone saying against this bill. So it should pass easily if Republicans introduce it.

[gcgonewild]

cons:

Gridlock: House with Republicans, Senate with Dems. Obama with Veto power. Nothing Comprehensive
Rep. Lamar Smith House Judiciary Committee chairman
Steve King House Immigration Subcommittee chairman
Grassley - likely candidate for senate majority leader
Healthcare repeal likely to dominate next congress
Tea party candidates against any immigration reform


pros:

Nothing Comprehensive: only chances for piecemeal regulations
Arizona style immigration laws. This would bring immigration to "Front burner"

[immig4me]

How does 2011 look like for us?

Three words: distant, doubtful and depressing.
The chances of either party taking the issue of immigration in early 2011 is unlikely
(before anyone decides to give me red, know this - I am in the same boat as you and I want results as much as you do..)

[bigboy007]

unless there are one by us who ever comes in congress there will be no relief... Even if there are all republicans in house, senate and in white house. Unless we as community and we as individuals reach out to our local congressman there cant be much hope. IV is doing its best in Capitol hill so all the staffers and some congressman agree that there is pain... but when we dont speak out it is assumed we are happy with "status Quo" hence they are not worried about us. All these calculations doesnt matter

[desigirl]

VISAS FOR THOSE WHO WOULD HELP THE ECONOMY: On the other side, we need to recognize the need for many of these worker's services and expand our work visa program to accommodate those aliens who have real taxpaying work in the United States. Laws are already on the books allowing the government to issue temporary work visas. Little change is necessary except policy changes and additional visa numbers.
Not every program needs to lead to permanent residence or citizenship.
There is a current program for H-2 temporary workers. Due to numerical and draconian restrictions few employers even try to take advantage and bring workers in legally under this program.
Western hemisphere H-5 visa: This temporary work program can be expanded to allow some western hemisphere workers illegally working in the United States to apply for permission to work along with persons outside the U.S. All visas would be obtained outside the U.S. and would require yearly renewal. They would not be available to those without sponsors and would require applicants to show taxes and a lack of a criminal record. Employers would have to insure a fair wage or be subject to fines and expulsion from the program. Families must not be included and this would not be a path to legal permanent residence. Procedures would have to be significantly streamlined. It is in the American national interest to have strong neighbors both economically and politically. Stable neighbors add to our national security. Our closest neighbors are in the western hemisphere. Our very closest neighbor is Mexico.

We need a policy that gives employment preference to natives of the western hemisphere and does not have to include an immigrant component. Not every work visa must lead to permanent residence and U.S. citizenship. It could be limited to temporary work visas. Just allowing temporary workers to come to the United States to engage in taxpaying employment while allowing them to regularly visit their families abroad will allow these workers to build a stronger middle class and stabilize their economies and their governments. This is nowhere more important than in Mexico where poverty has spawned a drug war that could conceivably destabilize that government and create a massive refugee, military and political problem for us. Since most illegal immigrants are Mexican it is essential that we get a handle on this part of the problem if we are to have any hope of controlling our borders at all. There is every reason to give employment preference to nationals of the western hemisphere, especially Mexico. There is precedent for this. Before 1964, we had a temporary work program for Mexicans called the 'Bracero program'. It was cancelled because of perceived abuses in the system. The real reason was discrimination against Mexican nationals. We threw out the baby with the bathwater. This program needs to be revived. There is a fear that some aliens pose a terrorist threat. This is not an issue among Mexican and western hemisphere natives. Our concerns about the Mexican drug wars spilling over into the United States are all too real but need to be addressed differently. A western hemisphere temporary worker program will be good for the United States in another way. It would allow us to recognize the economic realities of our workforce and bring undocumented workers into the light. It will allow us to collect taxes and further shrink the pool on undocumented persons here further isolating those left undocumented. It might be limited to occupations with less than a four per cent unemployment rate.

Keep highly skilled work in the U.S.: The current H-1 visa program for specialty workers should be numerically expanded to encourage high tech companies to process their work in the United States and not have to outsource this work. It is essential to our economic and military future that we be at the forefront in technology. We should encourage the world's most skilled workers to work here.
These proposals will still leave a very large pool of undocumented persons. There are several more proposals to deal with further shrinking this pool.

Harry DeMell (A republican approach to immigration)

[thomachan72]

Harry DeMell (A republican approach to immigration)

Atleast the last para of that looks favorable to us eh?

[Hello_Hello]

2011 will look like 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004.....sun will rise in the East and set in the West. US congress will keep fooling people as they have been doing in last 10 years ie bringing and killing Immig. related legislations.
USCIS will continue to throw more & sharper marbles down our throats for us to choke & make breathing harder....DOS will not be too far behind...
each of us will get another 50 grey hair strands.
With republicans controlling in Congress how does 2011 look like for us?

I mean Republicans are good for industry. So they will obviously be good for Employment based Green cards.

So we should be happy now? and good times of a recapture bill should come? Are there any points against it? I have not heard anyone saying against this bill. So it should pass easily if Republicans introduce it.

[regacct]

Atleast the last para of that looks favorable to us eh?
Its more related high skilled would be more on EB1 and EB2 though

[thomachan72]

Its more related high skilled would be more on EB1 and EB2 though

Since he proposes expanding the H1b program it does not limit it "highly" skilled. Good economist realize that "skilled" is equal to "highly" skilled. Unemployment is actually beneficial for industries to perform better. In other words the pool of applicants should always be on par or outperform the demand by atleast a tiny bit to be economically viable and prevent out/offshorring.
If you have 2 jobs and only one "skilled" applicant the wages go up and its only matter of time before the job also goes up (abroad) to cheaper locations.

[gvenkat]

unless there are one by us who ever comes in congress there will be no relief... Even if there are all republicans in house, senate and in white house. Unless we as community and we as individuals reach out to our local congressman there cant be much hope. IV is doing its best in Capitol hill so all the staffers and some congressman agree that there is pain... but when we dont speak out it is assumed we are happy with "status Quo" hence they are not worried about us. All these calculations doesnt matter

Is there a plan to just focus on EB3-I, That is the only way to get more people going. That is the only group that seems to be rotting. NO ONE ELSE. There should be some legislative relief for EB3-I alone. How can one explain a wait for Ten years to obtain a GC. that simply does not add up.

[tonyHK12]

Yes legislative relief is needed urgently, and we can achieve that only by supporting and helping IV.
Well its good that they want to expand H1b program anyway.
Interesting thought - Since India just added 50,000 jobs to the USA, would they reciprocate and add 50,000 extra visas available to our pending queue!

[sayantan76]

unless there are one by us who ever comes in congress there will be no relief... Even if there are all republicans in house, senate and in white house. Unless we as community and we as individuals reach out to our local congressman there cant be much hope. IV is doing its best in Capitol hill so all the staffers and some congressman agree that there is pain... but when we dont speak out it is assumed we are happy with "status Quo" hence they are not worried about us. All these calculations doesnt matter
i dont think calling on lawmakers (barring some reasonable ones with otherwise safe seats) and explaining the situation logically to them is particular beneficial.......those who are up for re-election in swing districts and states look at their every legislative vote with a fairly simple (and i would say, completely logical from their standpoint) lens - can their opponent use their vote (for or against any legislation) to make a case that the congressman is anti-jobs/ pro- deficit/ pro-taxes etc etc....(basically can the vote make him/ her appear to be against whatever is important to local electorate)........hence complex, convoluted logic around highly skilled folks staying here results in boom for housing, some of them start companies etc etc and hence it is great for American economy in long run, in my view, does not work..........

if we can help create a simple message on how by backing legal permanent residence for foreign workers staying here for long periods of time - a congressman can look better in front of "current" voters when he/ she is up for reelection in 2-3 years - it might be a more effective way to make them act (and not just see and sympathise) on our side of the story.

[sunny1000]

"No chance in hell" is how I would put it for any kind of pro-immigration reform in 2011 (CIR, piece meal or otherwise). Of course, the antis (Smith/King) in the house will pass an enforcement-only bill which will, of course, die in the senate.

Then, 2012 will dawn on us, God willing, and that will be an election year. Nobody will go near the word "immigration".

We have seen this movie over and over and over again.

Let's see what Harry does in the lameduck session in the Senate. He may do some grandstanding to prove it to the Latinos that he tried but, the GOP blocked it (since he promised that he would introduce immigration bill in the lameduck session). If by God's grace, it somehow passes the Senate, then, we may be home free (chances of that happening is as good as winning a lottery).

[immig4me]

"No chance in hell" is how I would put it for any kind of pro-immigration reform in 2011 (CIR, piece meal or otherwise). Of course, the antis (Smith/King) in the house will pass an enforcement-only bill which will, of course, die in the senate.

Then, 2012 will dawn on us, God willing, and that will be an election year. Nobody will go near the word "immigration".

We have seen this movie over and over and over again.

Let's see what Harry does in the lameduck session in the Senate. He may do some grandstanding to prove it to the Latinos that he tried but, the GOP blocked it (since he promised that he would introduce immigration bill in the lameduck session). If by God's grace, it somehow passes the Senate, then, we may be home free (chances of that happening is as good as winning a lottery).

Not sure how we will be "home free" if the DREAM ACT passes? Did you mean to say, we are free to go back to India?

[sunny1000]

Not sure how we will be "home free" if the DREAM ACT passes? Did you mean to say, we are free to go back to India?

I meant to say that if Reid introduces the CIR or parts of it (as reported in some of the media during the election campaign) and if it passes, we will be home free. I did not mean the DREAM ACT.

[mayhemt]

With republicans controlling in Congress how does 2011 look like for us?

I mean Republicans are good for industry. So they will obviously be good for Employment based Green cards.

So we should be happy now? and good times of a recapture bill should come? Are there any points against it? I have not heard anyone saying against this bill. So it should pass easily if Republicans introduce it.

Reminds me of this story (I made up this story actually...)

There are two bugs living in the toilet rim. Every time somebody takes a dump, these two bugs get drenched in poop. They don't like it, but they couldn't get out either. One day the younger of the two, really excited says "Hey I just overheard they are changing the toilet seat, our hard ships are over, YIPPEE!". The other bug (being the experienced one), just sighs and goes on his way.

Moral of the story: No matter how many times the seats (politicians) change, we will be thrown shit every year.

[immig4me]

Reminds me of this story (I made up this story actually...)

There are two bugs living in the toilet rim. Every time somebody takes a dump, these two bugs get drenched in poop. They don't like it, but they couldn't get out either. One day the younger of the two, really excited says "Hey I just overheard they are changing the toilet seat, our hard ships are over, YIPPEE!". The other bug (being the experienced one), just sighs and goes on his way.

Moral of the story: No matter how many times the seats (politicians) change, we will be thrown shit every year.

The question now becomes,
1. do we accept that we get drenched in s**t and there is no escaping it at all?
2. do we work to get out of the hole?