legal immigrants have no clout

A

applying4gc

Registered Users (C)
As legal immigrants, it is clear we don't have a voice in DC. Albeit painful to admit, this is because we are too factious, divided, and proud. The other side of the aisle, those who against immigrants, takes little effort to break us down.

These past few months demonstrated that lawmakers pay more attention to illegal immigrants by providing them a program (ex. temporary worker program) that will eventually enable them to legally immigrate in this country despite they entered US and are here illegally.

Ironically, illegal immigrants have more clout in DC while legal immigrants have less if not, none. Worse, lawmakers appear to have categorized both legal and illegal immigrants under one group. A majority of lawmakers in Congress are against all immigrants as shown by the exclusion of the temporary relief provisions in the house bill.

This is no longer a cause for legal immigrants. Rather, it is cause for ALL immigrants.

Temporary relief provisions for legal imimgrants in the Budget Bill is practically dead.

The only chance for permanent as well as temporary relief for us is to rally with illegal immigrants in advocating for a Comprehensive Immigration Reform Bill which provides the most number of employment-based visas.

On or before February 2006, we must push for a Comprehensive Immigration Reform Bill that will provide the most number of employement-based visas.

The Kennedy-McCain bill provides the most number of employment-based visas.

This is the final chance we have to obtain relief.

We have two (2) simple choices here :

1) split hairs as to what provisions we should push in a bill
and inevitably get defeated, or

2) advocate for a Comprehensive Immigration Reform Bill
that provides the most number of employment-based
visas which has a higher chance of succeeding.
 
sorry....i am not convinced yet....that i should jump on the illegal bandwagon....so that we legals will get some attention.......i dont think it is going to work that way.......even though helping illegals is a good thing for politics (the whole community is a huge vote bank).....they will not be able to fool everyone now...and house has passed a bill which is against illegals...
 
applying4gc said:
As legal immigrants, it is clear we don't have a voice in DC. Albeit painful to admit, this is because we are too factious, divided, and proud. The other side of the aisle, those who against immigrants, takes little effort to break us down.

These past few months demonstrated that lawmakers pay more attention to illegal immigrants by providing them a program (ex. temporary worker program) that will eventually enable them to legally immigrate in this country despite they entered US and are here illegally.

Ironically, illegal immigrants have more clout in DC while legal immigrants have less if not, none. Worse, lawmakers appear to have categorized both legal and illegal immigrants under one group. A majority of lawmakers in Congress are against all immigrants as shown by the exclusion of the temporary relief provisions in the house bill.

This is no longer a cause for legal immigrants. Rather, it is cause for ALL immigrants.

Temporary relief provisions for legal imimgrants in the Budget Bill is practically dead.

The only chance for permanent as well as temporary relief for us is to rally with illegal immigrants in advocating for a Comprehensive Immigration Reform Bill which provides the most number of employment-based visas.

On or before February 2006, we must push for a Comprehensive Immigration Reform Bill that will provide the most number of employement-based visas.

The Kennedy-McCain bill provides the most number of employment-based visas.

This is the final chance we have to obtain relief.

We have two (2) simple choices here :

1) split hairs as to what provisions we should push in a bill
and inevitably get defeated, or

2) advocate for a Comprehensive Immigration Reform Bill
that provides the most number of employment-based
visas which has a higher chance of succeeding.
Click to expand...

My very thoughts! I have been saying that we should not have this illegal vs legal immig divide, but should work to make the process smoother for all immigrants.
 
In Greek mythology, there were two types of heroes.

Achilles was brave and strong but was full of pride. He was defeated and perished in the end.

On the other hand, there was Odysseus who was as strong and as brave as Achilles. But then, he did not allow pride to govern. Instead he was practical. He lived a long life and succeeded.

On the very first day the retrogression hit our community, I have stated in this forum that the only chance we have to eliminate retrogression is to push for a comprehensive immigration reform bill, that is the Kennedy-McCain bill. This bill provides the most number of employment-based visas.

There are four (4) simple reasons behind this:

1) Legal immigrants don't have any influence. This was clearly and convincingly demonstrated by Congress' exclusion of S 8001 in the budget bill.

2) Illegal immigrants have more influence than us because their types of work are not the ones Americans want. Most Americans do not want to work as hotel workers, caregivers (to both children and the elderly) and farmers. Nonetheless, these are jobs which need to be done and which can not be outsourced. This is why Congress will be devising a guest worker program.

3) Congress will not address immigration issues on a piecemeal basis. Congress will not debate and pass one bill for legal immigrants and debate and pass one bill for illegal immigrants. With limited time, Congress will rather address all major issues concering immigration in one bill.

4) The US citizen counterparts of legal immigrants who can vote are not part of a strong and vocal voting block. On the other hand, the US citizen counterparts of illegal immigrants comprise a formidable voting block.

In light of these reasons, by ourselves we can not do it. The only chance we have at this point is to ride the coattails of illegal immigrants.

We must push for comprehensive immigration reform bill. The Kennedy-McCain bill is the only permanent and immediate solution to retrogression.

Write/fax/e-mail/call Senators, Congressmen, local and national media, and advocacy groups about passing the Kennedy-McCain bill.

Below is the provision under Kennedy-McCain which provides for more employment-based visas.

---------------------------------

Title VI of Secure America and Orderly Immigration Act of 2005 (popularly known as Kennedy-McCain bill) provides for the re-capture of visas. See below.

The employment-based visas will go as high as 290,000 per year from 140,000 per year. That is a whopping 150,000 increase!

Kennedy-McCain in its entirety is the only hope for us affected by the retrogression.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Title VI: Family Unity and Backlog Reduction

The employment-based categories are revised to provide additional visas for employers who need to hire permanent workers, and the annual cap is raised from 140,000 to 290,000
Immigrant visas lost due to processing delays are recaptured for future allotments
 
applying4Gc you do make sense....thanks for making the argument...

i agree with you....but i also know that we may end up wasting our energy supporting a wrong bill....

i will suggest that we should dig this bill to see if it can have an adverse effect on us.
 
applying4gc said:
In Greek mythology, there were two types of heroes.

Achilles was brave and strong but was full of pride. He was defeated and perished in the end.

On the other hand, there was Odysseus who was as strong and as brave as Achilles. But then, he did not allow pride to govern. Instead he was practical. He lived a long life and succeeded.

On the very first day the retrogression hit our community, I have stated in this forum that the only chance we have to eliminate retrogression is to push for a comprehensive immigration reform bill, that is the Kennedy-McCain bill. This bill provides the most number of employment-based visas.

There are four (4) simple reasons behind this:

1) Legal immigrants don't have any influence. This was clearly and convincingly demonstrated by Congress' exclusion of S 8001 in the budget bill.

2) Illegal immigrants have more influence than us because their types of work are not the ones Americans want. Most Americans do not want to work as hotel workers, caregivers (to both children and the elderly) and farmers. Nonetheless, these are jobs which need to be done and which can not be outsourced. This is why Congress will be devising a guest worker program.

3) Congress will not address immigration issues on a piecemeal basis. Congress will not debate and pass one bill for legal immigrants and debate and pass one bill for illegal immigrants. With limited time, Congress will rather address all major issues concering immigration in one bill.

4) The US citizen counterparts of legal immigrants who can vote are not part of a strong and vocal voting block. On the other hand, the US citizen counterparts of illegal immigrants comprise a formidable voting block.

In light of these reasons, by ourselves we can not do it. The only chance we have at this point is to ride the coattails of illegal immigrants.

We must push for comprehensive immigration reform bill. The Kennedy-McCain bill is the only permanent and immediate solution to retrogression.

Write/fax/e-mail/call Senators, Congressmen, local and national media, and advocacy groups about passing the Kennedy-McCain bill.

Below is the provision under Kennedy-McCain which provides for more employment-based visas.

---------------------------------

Title VI of Secure America and Orderly Immigration Act of 2005 (popularly known as Kennedy-McCain bill) provides for the re-capture of visas. See below.

The employment-based visas will go as high as 290,000 per year from 140,000 per year. That is a whopping 150,000 increase!

Kennedy-McCain in its entirety is the only hope for us affected by the retrogression.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Title VI: Family Unity and Backlog Reduction

The employment-based categories are revised to provide additional visas for employers who need to hire permanent workers, and the annual cap is raised from 140,000 to 290,000
Immigrant visas lost due to processing delays are recaptured for future allotments
Click to expand...

Applying4GC,

Very well put. This is what I have also been saying - that we should not make the distinction between legal and illegal immigrants, but must all band together. I say this not because I support illegal imig, but because, as you pointed out, in the eyes of Congress all types of immigrants are lumped together.

Unfortunately, I was put down by many people in some other forums as a supporter of illegal imig. But there is nothing wrong in helping the illegal imigs become legal, and at the same time getting ourselves GC.

Let us hole heartedly support McCain-Kennedy bill and try to get them to include imig visa recapture provisions along with guest worker program in that bill.
 
gc-despo.....u still dont get it....we are not thinking of helping illegals become legal.........we are just thinking of becoming political and using the same bill....which is aimed for the illegals....because may never get our own bill....

i hope now u know the reason why you are put down...

infact i am still not convinced that getting together with the illegals is a good idea, because even though politicaly they have a strong support because of huge vote base.....they do not have any justification.....

i guess it will be helpful if some one can list the points from this bill....
 
Last edited by a moderator:
techy2468 said:
gc-despo.....u still dont get it....we are not thinking of helping illegals become legal.........we are just thinking of becoming political and using the same bill....which is aimed for the illegals....because may never get our own bill....

i hope now u know the reason why you are put down...

infact i am still not convinced that getting together with the illegals is a good idea, because even though politicaly they have a strong support because of huge vote base.....they do not have any justification.....

i guess it will be helpful if some one can list the points from this bill....
Click to expand...

Techy,

By "becoming political and using the same bill", you will invariably help to also push the cause of illegal immigrants. Since we realize that we will not get our own exclusive bill, we have to join forces with the illegal immigrants lobby. If we do so, then we will be helping them in their fight to become legal, like it or not.

My point, once again, is: Do not make this distinction that we are somehow better than illegal imigs, but let us all identify ourselves as immigrants and fight together.
 
Congress will not draft a bill exclusively for legal immigrants.

What Congress will do in February 2006 is to address as many immigration issues as possible.

From this point until February 2006, we must push for the McCain-Kennedy Bill.

There are two (2) ways the Kennedy-McCain will permanently eliminate employment-based retrogression.

1) It will increase the employment-based visas from 140,000 to 290,000 per fiscal year. Currently, there are only 140,000 available visas per fiscal year. There will be more than 100% increase and some.

"The level of employment-based immigrant visas is increased from 140,000 to 290,000 per fiscal year. Unused employment-based immigrant visas from previous fiscal years are recaptured and made available for employment-based immigrant visas for future fiscal years."

Source : Title VI, Section 601 or page 11, paragraph 1 of attached.

2) Each employment-based category will experience an incredible increase in the yearly available visas which will provide relief.

"The 290,000 ceiling for employment-based immigrant visas is redistributed among the employment-based immigrant visa categories and certain modifications are made to current categories. 20% is allocated to the first preference—aliens with extraordinary ability, outstanding professors and researchers, and multinational executives and managers. 20% is
allocated to the second preference—aliens holding advanced degrees or having exceptional ability. 35% is allocated to the third preference—skilled workers and professionals..."

Source : Title VII, Section 603, paragraph # 2 or page 12, paragraph 4 of attached.

The language of Title VII, Section 603 translates to a statistical increase for employment-based categories 1, 2, and 3.

Current System---McCain-Kennedy bill
140,000(100%)---290,000(100%)EB Annual Quota
28.6% (40,040)-- 20.0% (58,000)-----------EB-1
28.6% (40,040)-- 20.0% (58,000)-----------EB-2
28.6% (40,040)-- 35.0% (101,500) ---------EB-3

Tell your family and friends affected by the retrogression to contact their senators, cngressmen, local and national media, and all pro-immigrant advocacy groups to push for the Kennedy-McCain Bill.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Happy Holidays and a Prosperous New Year to All!

I wish everyone a safe and happy holiday season!

It has been a wonderful experience participating in this diverse and rich forum.

Be safe and God Bless!
 
I dont see any substatntial increase in the EB2 or EB1 category. To me it seems like trying to put more visa numbers available to the EB3 category as the EB3 other category is the hot favorite right now. I think there is a greater demand for Nurses,etc. so the bills will address that.

It is quite expected as this bills are never introduced to help individuals but business interests. Right now the healthcare lobby is strongly active and bills will be introduced to help that industry.
 
Guys,

Come and join immigration voice at immigrationvoice.org an organization solely for the issues & concerns of the Employment based green card process.

This organization is 4 days old and started by the people on S.1932 thread of this forum.

The following the is the agenda of the orgaization

In first quarter of 2006 US Congress will consider comprehensive immigration reform bill. We want the following to be included in the bill to alleviate the long wait for the green card.

• Filing I-485 even if priority date is not current. Doing so would entitle us for an EAD that would give us flexibility for job opportunities.
• Increasing the annual Employment based Green Card quota.
• Eliminating/Reducing retrogression by recapturing unused visas and removing dependents from numerical visa limits.
• Labor department to enhance the processing capabilities of the Backlog Center


In the past we have seen that due to lack of professional representation, employment based immigration issues have been ignored by the lawmakers. The latest Example has been dropping of section 8001 & 8002 from the Budget Reconciliation Bill passed by the congress in December 2005. These events have made us realize that we need to hire a professional strategist firm who can analyze the issue in various dimensions and accordingly advise and help us formulate our strategies towards achievement of our above mentioned goal. The hired strategy firm will also be responsible for providing us a structured platform were we can put forth our concerns to the lawmakers and convince them to include clauses addressing our issues favorably. The said strategy firm can qualify and help us align with pertinent Support groups and forums that would strengthen our voice and raise the cause to the lawmakers. We have very less time to collaborate our efforts in a structured format that can lead us to putting our voice up, as the Reform’s decision is due in February 2006 itself. We need funds to hire the professional strategist firm. We also need your contribution in terms of your ideas and efforts by registering you as a Volunteer. Funds and their utilization would be transparent in this process althrough. All the volunteers will be provided a weekly update on the funds collected and their utilization


Register at immigrationvoice.org

or email at info@immigrationvoice.org
 
bear23 said:
I dont see any substatntial increase in the EB2 or EB1 category. To me it seems like trying to put more visa numbers available to the EB3 category as the EB3 other category is the hot favorite right now. I think there is a greater demand for Nurses,etc. so the bills will address that.

It is quite expected as this bills are never introduced to help individuals but business interests. Right now the healthcare lobby is strongly active and bills will be introduced to help that industry.
Click to expand...

The numbers for EB-2 and EB-1 increase from 40,000 to nearly 60,000. If that would reduce my waiting time from 6 years to 4 years, that is 2 years less of this stress.
 
You are walking in circles

Didn't you learn anything from the S.1932 experience ?
Controversial issues such as the H1B visa number increase and permanent EB visa numbers increase proposal (by not counting spouses) simply blew us away. If you are asking something unreasonable when it comes to immigration these days, chances are you will fail because Americans and the immigration reduction groups are working very hard to deny any request. I watched all C-Span debates regarding the S.1932 and I didn't see anything about the cause of the relief for the EB GC applicants. Instead, the discussion was almost always around the H1B increase. We need to request to solve the specific EB cut-off issues, not messing around with illegal alien bills.

Also, someone mentioned in this thread that we do not have a political voice in DC and illegal aliens are all over the news and having a good time in the US. True. We should speak up and voice our opinion, but our actions will most likely have minimal impact. Let me tell you that illegal aliens receive all the red carpet thanks to US employers who support them. The sad reality is that we have no more or very few employers to support us. Let's fight, but let's also pray !


applying4gc said:
Congress will not draft a bill exclusively for legal immigrants.

What Congress will do in February 2006 is to address as many immigration issues as possible.

From this point until February 2006, we must push for the McCain-Kennedy Bill.

There are two (2) ways the Kennedy-McCain will permanently eliminate employment-based retrogression.

1) It will increase the employment-based visas from 140,000 to 290,000 per fiscal year. Currently, there are only 140,000 available visas per fiscal year. There will be more than 100% increase and some.

"The level of employment-based immigrant visas is increased from 140,000 to 290,000 per fiscal year. Unused employment-based immigrant visas from previous fiscal years are recaptured and made available for employment-based immigrant visas for future fiscal years."

Source : Title VI, Section 601 or page 11, paragraph 1 of attached.

2) Each employment-based category will experience an incredible increase in the yearly available visas which will provide relief.

"The 290,000 ceiling for employment-based immigrant visas is redistributed among the employment-based immigrant visa categories and certain modifications are made to current categories. 20% is allocated to the first preference—aliens with extraordinary ability, outstanding professors and researchers, and multinational executives and managers. 20% is
allocated to the second preference—aliens holding advanced degrees or having exceptional ability. 35% is allocated to the third preference—skilled workers and professionals..."

Source : Title VII, Section 603, paragraph # 2 or page 12, paragraph 4 of attached.

The language of Title VII, Section 603 translates to a statistical increase for employment-based categories 1, 2, and 3.

Current System---McCain-Kennedy bill
140,000(100%)---290,000(100%)EB Annual Quota
28.6% (40,040)-- 20.0% (58,000)-----------EB-1
28.6% (40,040)-- 20.0% (58,000)-----------EB-2
28.6% (40,040)-- 35.0% (101,500) ---------EB-3

Tell your family and friends affected by the retrogression to contact their senators, cngressmen, local and national media, and all pro-immigrant advocacy groups to push for the Kennedy-McCain Bill.
Click to expand...
 
Are you back ?

applying4gc,

You are one of the two moderators in this forum. I have complained about many people's posts which violated the forum rules (vulgarity, sexually abusive and many more). I know that you are a volunteer. But we need your help to control this forum. I don't think this forum is a lawless land, you can do anything as a moderator !!

applying4gc said:
I wish everyone a safe and happy holiday season!

It has been a wonderful experience participating in this diverse and rich forum.

Be safe and God Bless!
Click to expand...
 
gc-despo said:
My point, once again, is: Do not make this distinction that we are somehow better than illegal imigs, but let us all identify ourselves as immigrants and fight together.
Click to expand...

But we are better, and it is an insult to many legal immigrants to be lumped in with a bunch of criminals who choose not to obey the law.
 
applying4gc

asnssf said:
applying4gc,

You are one of the two moderators in this forum. I have complained about many people's posts which violated the forum rules (vulgarity, sexually abusive and many more). I know that you are a volunteer. But we need your help to control this forum. I don't think this forum is a lawless land, you can do anything as a moderator !!
Click to expand...
 
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