Dear Senator,
I just finished reading the bill you are sponsoring on the proposed H-5 visa with great interest and discouragement: I am missing something essential: where does it talk about better provisions for legal workers currently on an H-1B visa status?
I am extremely discouraged to learn that if the current bill (“The Secure America and Orderly Immigration Act of 2005”) passes, illegal immigrants can obtain a legal temporary working visa (H-5) that will qualify them for legal permanent residency status after 4 years without going through the labor certification process. This is a ‘punch in the face’ to us who have studied and worked in the US for a long time but now face the reality of having to depart the US if our labor certifications are not approved, all while illegal immigrants can enter today and in four years become legal residents if the proposed bill passes.
If a goal of US immigration is to become more fair and reasonable, why then are illegal immigrants rewarded while legal foreign national workers on H-1B visas are punished? We would be much more enthusiastic about provisions like the ones proposed for H-5 visas if the present H-1 and H-1B visas would be endowed with the same benefits such as being able to petition a permanent residency without an employer sponsor after extended work periods in the US and the opportunity to allow our spouses to work as well. Why extend these wonderful benefits to illegal immigrants and not to legal temporary workers? This causes the bizarre situation that legal H-1B workers may ensure that they become illegal so they can apply for the H-5 visa and through that become permanent residents much easier.
Comparing the present H-1B with H-5 is in essence a 'punch to the face' for legal immigrants since the H-5 has so many obvious advantages. Are you really trying to tell the honest, skilled, talented, and highly educated people of the world that America is not ready to embrace them since they entered the US legally, while the US is more than happy to embrace uneducated people who have entered the US illegally?
Therefore I urge you to add a provision in your “The Secure America and Orderly Immigration Act of 2005” that gives H-1B workers at least the same rights and immigration benefits as the ones you intend to extend to illegal immigrants though the H-5 visas.
