US Housing Crisis and Employment based Green Card issues

[satyasaich]

We can not control roy becks or lou dobbs
When an elephant walk on a street, dogs will always bark because it's their nature

Originally Posted by JunRN

This proposal if it hits the major news media will atleast catch the attention of most people regarding our plight as immigrants.

On the other hand though, those on the other side will think that this proves their point --- they are losing jobs and money -- immigrants are taking it. They are losing houses and properties --- immigrants are taking it. They will put the blame on us.

[reddy77]

Yes, mine was approved a month back without any hassles and bought the home ....

Originally Posted by whitecollarslave

Has anybody really tried to get a mortgage recently? I have been denied by 8 lenders so far simply because I don't have a green card. Most lenders have tightened their underwriting guidelines. They will give mortgages only to U.S.Citizens or somebody who is a permanent resident aka having a green card. There are very very few lenders who will give mortgages to somebody on a visa and the rates may not be very favorable.

[Madhuri]

This is a very good initiative and moreover the timing is perfect for this.
I sent out emails and did my part.

[nixstor]

Please keep sending those emails. IV is nothing but I + WE

Those of you who have homes and think this is unfair to you, I can understand your vantage point of being excluded. But there is a clear indirect consequence of such a legislation. I would say, Who ever bought the home bought the home with an intention of making US their permanent home. Some one else would say, I know guys who bought 2 homes. Its all greed and nothing else. So lets not go there.

None of them knew that FNM & FRE will be gobbled up by Fed, Lehman will go under after 158 years, AIG will be owned 80% by the gov and ML would be sucked up for peanuts. If they had a slightest inkling they would not have bought a home.

The problem is we have a glut of homes on the market. There are a bunch of people who can invest but do not want to because of the uncertainty they are facing. No doubt every one has uncertainty. Imagine a law maker's perspective (not mine or IV's) on exempting some one from the numerical limits, if he/she does not help reduce the number of houses by 1. All that matters at the negotiating table is whether this helps the housing markets or not.

As some one said, this is not the senate/house floor. If such legislation were to be enacted congress will design a lot of preconditions to be met. (legal and financial) We cannot dilute the message to start with. There was a good amount of discussion about this "already own a home" issue before the whole thing appeared on the website. Its in our best interest we start from here.

Its easy to sit down here and write what is fair and what is unfair. What really matters in the end is whether we can sell our pitch and make it palatable to lawmakers. Please stop enumerating all the unfair events in the EB immigration process. It just does not get any where.

If you don't like the idea thats fine. But please refrain from posting nasty and dirty comments on my profile. Not that I care about reputation, The usage of such words is totally unasked for.

[texanguy]

I think it would serve better to our community to channel our efforts toward eliminating the need of EAD and AP document and have I-485 receipt serve as those documents. It will take the pain away for the waiting people.
All the USCIS needs to do is to declare that they will accept I-485 receipt as a proof for employment eligibility (maybe along with passport etc.)

i mean afterall, do you really think that congress will pass any legal immigration bill before election? i dont think so, it probably would be in the lame duck session if we are lucky.

[needhelp!]

Sending link to TX chapter now.

[needhelp!]

Please send the email one-by-one instead of a single mass email.

[greensignal]

can somebody PM me the message and email addresses to send.

Thank You!

[whitecollarslave]

Originally Posted by reddy77

Yes, mine was approved a month back without any hassles and bought the home ....

If you don't mind sharing who was the lender?

[PavanV]

I believe the proposal has to be amended, it says "20%" of the loan amount , here in CA, the houses are around 500k, 20% of which turns out to be 100k, i dont have that kind of money, looks like everybody out there seems to have ton loads of money !! (damn desis !)
How about saying " buying a house" with good credit.

[HumJumboHathuJumbo]

why not ask for citizenship if we buy 2 houses?. I will even buy that toxic debt from banks, if i get citizenship and a gori.

[JunRN]

Judiciary committee is busy talking about horses...instead of houses....maybe we should say we will buy horses instead if they give greencard...

just kiddin'

[h1techSlave]

aps, I can see your apprehension.

I already have a house here and am not planning to buy another by putting 20% down payment. But I support this idea, because, it might take away a couple of 100 people from the queue.

Plus, such a letter is indicating to the Congress that we are ready to give the country a helping hand when she needs our help the most.

I hope you would reconsider your position.

Originally Posted by aps

IV is started for one cause, that is to eliminate the unfair country quota and speed up the green card process. Let us stick with that.Do not divert by introducing these kind of proposals.

Few weeks before there was a fight between eb3 and eb2 applicants on this forum. Now you are starting a new group which favors who has money. This is not good. Let us unite and focus on one goal. I am not supporting this idea. Please drop this.

aps

[reddymjm]

Originally Posted by needhelp!

Sending link to TX chapter now.

RandyK (or any one from MI chapter) Can you send a link to Mi chapter too. I already fwded the link to friends at work.

[h1techSlave]

Originally Posted by sayantan76

No matter what the incremental benefit is, I think its blatantly unfair (like it was blatantly unfair to push some people to labor backlog centers and approving people with later PDs first) to change the rules of engagement and prioritization midway through the process and give preference to someone based on an ability to invest certain $$s in an house.......buying a house is a commercial and lifestyle decision........should not be a precursor to a USCIS adjudication.......

Actually you are right that such a proposal is not fair. But putting country quota is also not fair, when we are talking about EB GCs. And like you said, BECs were also not fair. So the whole EB thingie is pretty badly messed up. We are suggesting the Congress a way (an unfair way) to get out of this mess.