baywatcher
Registered Users (C)
02/14/2004: Expensive Journey to Immigration Ahead
In the yesterday's hearing before a subcommittee of the Senate Judiciary Committee, the Republicans and Administration officials reportedly backed the President's Temporary Worker Program (nick name: Guest Worker Program). The USCIS is facing a dilemma coming from two on-the-surface contradicting moves within the Administration: One is the pressure on the USCIS to reduce the backlog into 6-month processing times within about two years. Once it is enacted, the Temporary Worker Program will dump a mountain of workloads on the USCIS. In contradition to these immigration policies, the USCIS budget for the coming fiscal year has been slashed $100 million. What is going on?
Close analysis of all of these immigration policy move reflects that the immigration benefits management is expected to be funded not by tax money but user fee revenues. The USCIS has already released a regulation proposing to raise the fee of whoppy $55.00 per petition or application the first year and intends to add additional fees every year based on consumer index. The Bush's Temporary Worker Program also proposes to charge not a small amount of fee in compensation for coming out of the closet of the illegal aliens. Another Bush's program to reduce the processing times to 6-month is also predicated on the fee revenues including the expensive premium processing fees. Without doubt, the USCIS will expand the premium processing programs in the near future. On the U.S. Labor Department court, its plan or proposal for user fee charges for the alien labor certification applications popped up and down in the past. The proposed fee was whoppy $1,500 per a labor certification application. It failed to make it in the Congress. But readers, hold your breath. Without doubt, it will come back sooner or later.
The poor USCIS is increasingly squeezed in the sandwich. Considering the fact that the term "immigration" is taken very negatively and as a backburner under the current environment, the dilemma of the USCIS is probably a natural product of the times. After all, the term "immigration" is perceived by the political leaders as nothing but a soccer ball to kick around in a game named politics. Well, be that as it may, the immigrant community is willing to swallow the sour pills inasmuch as it will lead to good services worth the money. One positive side of all of these: No one should be whining that the immigration is a taxpayer's burden. How many people in the grass-root America would know how the immigration business is funded and operated? Probably nil or less than 1%, if we may exaggerate a little bit. Maybe it is time for the immigration community to engage in a campaign to make the mainstream "grassroot America" informed of the truth. It can be a most powerful lobby for immigration!
In the yesterday's hearing before a subcommittee of the Senate Judiciary Committee, the Republicans and Administration officials reportedly backed the President's Temporary Worker Program (nick name: Guest Worker Program). The USCIS is facing a dilemma coming from two on-the-surface contradicting moves within the Administration: One is the pressure on the USCIS to reduce the backlog into 6-month processing times within about two years. Once it is enacted, the Temporary Worker Program will dump a mountain of workloads on the USCIS. In contradition to these immigration policies, the USCIS budget for the coming fiscal year has been slashed $100 million. What is going on?
Close analysis of all of these immigration policy move reflects that the immigration benefits management is expected to be funded not by tax money but user fee revenues. The USCIS has already released a regulation proposing to raise the fee of whoppy $55.00 per petition or application the first year and intends to add additional fees every year based on consumer index. The Bush's Temporary Worker Program also proposes to charge not a small amount of fee in compensation for coming out of the closet of the illegal aliens. Another Bush's program to reduce the processing times to 6-month is also predicated on the fee revenues including the expensive premium processing fees. Without doubt, the USCIS will expand the premium processing programs in the near future. On the U.S. Labor Department court, its plan or proposal for user fee charges for the alien labor certification applications popped up and down in the past. The proposed fee was whoppy $1,500 per a labor certification application. It failed to make it in the Congress. But readers, hold your breath. Without doubt, it will come back sooner or later.
The poor USCIS is increasingly squeezed in the sandwich. Considering the fact that the term "immigration" is taken very negatively and as a backburner under the current environment, the dilemma of the USCIS is probably a natural product of the times. After all, the term "immigration" is perceived by the political leaders as nothing but a soccer ball to kick around in a game named politics. Well, be that as it may, the immigrant community is willing to swallow the sour pills inasmuch as it will lead to good services worth the money. One positive side of all of these: No one should be whining that the immigration is a taxpayer's burden. How many people in the grass-root America would know how the immigration business is funded and operated? Probably nil or less than 1%, if we may exaggerate a little bit. Maybe it is time for the immigration community to engage in a campaign to make the mainstream "grassroot America" informed of the truth. It can be a most powerful lobby for immigration!