S2611 Immigration billl, passes in Senate

[saras76]

True ..

We can surely talk about plan B, but the reality is we are so heavily invested in this country that even a thought os plan B make me feel numb. I as most of the people on the forum want to stay in this country and enjoy the freedom and prosperity. We love our country (my case India) but we all know the fact is after staying in USA for 9 years, it's hard to move back there. I have spent 1/3 of my life in USA and have lot of attachment to this country. Well the politicians dont care but a lot of my good american friends feel sorry for my (our) situation as I educated a few of them about the lack of action by politicians and how difficult it is to get a legal greencard. I hope one day someone will hear our voice. All we can do now is SCREAM of deaf ears! Maybe a crack will form which can bring some hope. Right now it's just dead silence.

4

HowlingWild,

I totally understand what you are saying. A lot of immigrants who have been in the US for just 2-3 years can consider the posibility of moving with a little more ease than people who have been here for over 10 years or more. Take my case, I did my undergraduate degree here and have spent 12 years in this country. Its pathetic that I am still unsure about my future here? My friends are here, my life is here, for all practical purposes this is home for me. It is truly frustating to think about the possibility of leaving your home because some politician and a broken system forced you out ... that is probably why I come across a little more frustrated than others. I for one have given a considerable part of my life to this country an now I am unsure about my future here.

I have a plan B but its going to be very difficult and painful to implement.

regards,

saras

 

[Dallas03096]

Plan B could be in USA itself

I have a plan B but its going to be very difficult and painful to implement.

regards,

saras

Saras
Plan B does not necessarily involve relocation to someother country. We can have plan B in USA itself. Some of the options are:
1) Pool resources with friends in similar situation,incorporate and start working for your own company. (if you want to come out of the clutches of your employers)
2) Use AC21 if you can find better terms with another employer.

Without GC, the only irritation I see is the annual ritual of renewing EAD and AP. Otherwise we should be fine.
As one of my friends who is a naturalized US citizen now told me: Retrogression is a cyclic thing. He faced all the pains of retrogression in 1990s. Do not give up hope.
We will all get our GCs when our time comes (may be in a year or two).
We have a saying in my mother-tongue:
If you yearn for it too much, it will become very distant
If you ignore it, it will become within your reach.

Sustitute 'it' with GC in our cases.
This was very true when I was pursuing permanent residence in Singapore. I was finally granted PR in Singapore when I moved to USA
Now the cycle seems to be repeating itself in USA But I am definitely not going away

 

[mamamiax]

Oh Dear, I am completing 13.5 years!!!

4

HowlingWild,

I totally understand what you are saying. A lot of immigrants who have been in the US for just 2-3 years can consider the posibility of moving with a little more ease than people who have been here for over 10 years or more. Take my case, I did my undergraduate degree here and have spent 12 years in this country. Its pathetic that I am still unsure about my future here? My friends are here, my life is here, for all practical purposes this is home for me. It is truly frustating to think about the possibility of leaving your home because some politician and a broken system forced you out ... that is probably why I come across a little more frustrated than others. I for one have given a considerable part of my life to this country an now I am unsure about my future here.

I have a plan B but its going to be very difficult and painful to implement.

If you take the time then I am senior to you. Still stuck with retrogression

regards,

saras

 

[CoolTiger]

All True....

Its amazing to realize how much pain this broken system is making some of the finest professionals go thru.
But like somebody said "Life isn't fair".....
I'm going to sit back this weekend and think over 2 questions
1) If I were to get the GC in 2 days what'll I do....What is preventing me from doing all that without the GC..
2) If I don't get the GC in 2 years and find myself where I'm today what I'm gonna do..

I believe if I'm clear about these two my thought process would be a lot clearer and it will be much easier to put this crap in perspective.

 

[krishna_]

Thanks for the response Saras.

krishna,

If the CIR dies, which it probably will, I do not see the Senate or Congress taking up any other immigration related bill anytime soon. If the CIR fails then we can pretty much forget about this year. Actually we should forget about this year, its already June and nothing has changed. I don't see much happening in the next six months. In the near term, we are totally at the mercy of the visa bulletins. Its really depressing but true.

I tend to agree with CoolTiger. We need to either continue in this state of limbo for a few more years or take steps to change the situation by implementing Plan B (whatever that may be).

regards,

saras

 

[techy2468]

CoolTiger.......there are so many things which are 10 times difficult without gc.....and without which life is painful.....and there is no alternative....

i think most important is "GET A BETTER JOB"

1. i would like to settle down in a city where jobs are plenty so that i dont get tied to one shitty employer....
2. buy a house (which can happen only if 1 is true)
3. spend some money to get my extended family to be with me......spend some money to have a better lifestyle(right now only necessity gets funding)




all this is not impossible without GC but 10 times difficult.......(many companies wont sponsor H1....they get scared when they see the application which is almost 11 pages...)

 

[Chicago Desi]

CoolTiger.......there are so many things which are 10 times difficult without gc.....and without which life is painful.....and there is no alternative....

i think most important is "GET A BETTER JOB"

1. i would like to settle down in a city where jobs are plenty so that i dont get tied to one shitty employer....
2. buy a house (which can happen only if 1 is true)
3. spend some money to get my extended family to be with me......spend some money to have a better lifestyle(right now only necessity gets funding)




all this is not impossible without GC but 10 times difficult.......(many companies wont sponsor H1....they get scared when they see the application which is almost 11 pages...)

Well said, techy.

 

[puceml72]

Well said, techy.

it is hard! stressfull, tireing etc... I think now it's about the war and immigration is kind of dead at the house!

we need to stay positif and pray harder for all of us!

 

[CoolTiger]

House Oppn is official!

Folks
I just happened to be tuned into 'Lou Dobbs..' and its official now!
The House Republicans have written a formal letter to Pres. Bush expressing their complete disagreement with the Senate proposed bill.
This 'political circus' is as good as over. Nothing is coming out anytime soon!

I for one am of the firm opinion that if you see no other alternative brace yourself for a very LONG haul. If you do have a plan B, start getting serious about it.

May God bless the legal immigrants and may God bless the USA!

 

[Chicago Desi]

Folks
I just happened to be tuned into 'Lou Dobbs..' and its official now!
The House Republicans have written a formal letter to Pres. Bush expressing their complete disagreement with the Senate proposed bill.
This 'political circus' is as good as over. Nothing is coming out anytime soon!

I for one am of the firm opinion that if you see no other alternative brace yourself for a very LONG haul. If you do have a plan B, start getting serious about it.

May God bless the legal immigrants and may God bless the USA!

I think this 'political circus' as you put it, is not over. This is an election year and this 'circus' has to continue in order for the dozed citizens to vote for their leaders.

 

[kamrans]

I am very disappointed with the way this whole system works. Nobody cares about the legal immigrants and nobody is thinking about us.

I really dont know how to proceed and what to do.

Folks
I just happened to be tuned into 'Lou Dobbs..' and its official now!
The House Republicans have written a formal letter to Pres. Bush expressing their complete disagreement with the Senate proposed bill.
This 'political circus' is as good as over. Nothing is coming out anytime soon!

I for one am of the firm opinion that if you see no other alternative brace yourself for a very LONG haul. If you do have a plan B, start getting serious about it.

May God bless the legal immigrants and may God bless the USA!

 

[saras76]

Know where we stand ..

I am very disappointed with the way this whole system works. Nobody cares about the legal immigrants and nobody is thinking about us.

I really dont know how to proceed and what to do.

kamrans,

Do not lose hope. There is no doubt that the current situation looks bleak but atleast we know where we stand now. This system has proven to us legal immigrants that we are at the bottom of the barrel so far as our immigration is concerned. Its always better to know what we are up against. I have no problem in dealing with someone or some entity when I know clearly where I stand with them. Its better than hypocrisy. There are no false expectations there is no fake civilty. If this is how they have chosen to treat us then we will do what we have to in order to make our situation better. They owe us nothing and we owe them nothing. Thats fair enough.

You will find way to many immigrants that will come up with a thousand excuses to justify the treatment handed out to legals. I keep hearing excuses such as we legals are lucky (maybe we are to an extent compared to certain other people), GC is a previlege, go back home, improve your own country, no one really needs you here, stop complaining and deal with it. I am not sure why we legals have to conjure up excuses to justify our situation. Why waste our time making up excuses for them? We just need to know that we are on our own and we cannot expect any fairness from this system. We just need to lead our lives with this knowledge instead of living in some fake world where we come up with all sorts of creative ways to justify anything and everything that is handed out.

So in a way this whole retro and CIR issue has opened up my eyes with regard to where I stand in this society. I am better of knowing that and dealing with it rather than live in a fantasy world where I make excuses to justify the treatment handed out to me. I am currently trying to better my life in whatever way I can with the knowledge that there really will be no help from any quarter. Its better than singing praises for this system and trying to convince myself that I am lucky to be treated this way.

regards,

saras

 

[gravitation]

We all have to create our own place in the society, whether Indian or American

A man said to the universe:
"Sir I exist!"
"However," replied the universe,
"The fact has not created in me
A sense of obligation."

-- Stephen Crane

 

[tusharvk]

everyone has to fight their way out; legals have their struggles and illegals have theirs. whether one stays in their home countries or comes to find a different future in another country; it is always a struggle.

It is not an attempt to justify this situation; however, there will always be scarcity of visa numbers no matter how many visas (whether H1bs or GCs) are made available.

The only reason legals are getting some provisions to relieve their situation is because there is a bill for illegals. Potential Legal immigrants should oppose any and all the provisions for the illegals in this bill (if it is not dead already); as its future citizens, that is what this society expects of you.

kamrans,

Do not lose hope. There is no doubt that the current situation looks bleak but atleast we know where we stand now. This system has proven to us legal immigrants that we are at the bottom of the barrel so far as our immigration is concerned. Its always better to know what we are up against. I have no problem in dealing with someone or some entity when I know clearly where I stand with them. Its better than hypocrisy. There are no false expectations there is no fake civilty. If this is how they have chosen to treat us then we will do what we have to in order to make our situation better. They owe us nothing and we owe them nothing. Thats fair enough.

You will find way to many immigrants that will come up with a thousand excuses to justify the treatment handed out to legals. I keep hearing excuses such as we legals are lucky (maybe we are to an extent compared to certain other people), GC is a previlege, go back home, improve your own country, no one really needs you here, stop complaining and deal with it. I am not sure why we legals have to conjure up excuses to justify our situation. Why waste our time making up excuses for them? We just need to know that we are on our own and we cannot expect any fairness from this system. We just need to lead our lives with this knowledge instead of living in some fake world where we come up with all sorts of creative ways to justify anything and everything that is handed out.

So in a way this whole retro and CIR issue has opened up my eyes with regard to where I stand in this society. I am better of knowing that and dealing with it rather than live in a fantasy world where I make excuses to justify the treatment handed out to me. I am currently trying to better my life in whatever way I can with the knowledge that there really will be no help from any quarter. Its better than singing praises for this system and trying to convince myself that I am lucky to be treated this way.

regards,

saras

 

[PHSESAaug]

the playing field is not level.

no matter how good your plan B is, the playing field is not level till we have the GC.

1) you are stuck in the same or similar job situation.
2) employers are very wary of employing anyone without a GC/Citizenship.
3) your ability to lead your family life in a stable and stress free environment is severely dented.

this is a land of opportunity only if you have a GC / Citizenship.

 

[CoolTiger]

Out of ideas/hope

Folks
I've simply run out of ideas with this crap....Never before has anything pinned me down so heavily....I'm beginning to feel as if I've been going around in circles and feel nothing but dizzy......
Every morning I wake up promising myself I won't let this crap bother me on a daily basis only to find myself sulking over it for the whole day!

God! This sucks !!!!!

 

[saras76]

True ...

A man said to the universe:
"Sir I exist!"
"However," replied the universe,
"The fact has not created in me
A sense of obligation."

-- Stephen Crane

I totally agree that a person has to create a place for him/herself in society. However I believe that it is imperative that people know exactly where they start of in the society that they are trying to create a place for themselves. The final destination will be a lot clearer if one knows from where he/she starts his/her journey.

In the case of legal immigrants, we should now all be aware of where we stand and do what is needed to be part of this society in the ways and means we see fit.

regards,

saras

 

[saras76]

It bothers me to no end as well

Folks
I've simply run out of ideas with this crap....Never before has anything pinned me down so heavily....I'm beginning to feel as if I've been going around in circles and feel nothing but dizzy......
Every morning I wake up promising myself I won't let this crap bother me on a daily basis only to find myself sulking over it for the whole day!

God! This sucks !!!!!

CoolTiger,

This process bothers me to no end as well. But in the end, you and I chose this for ourselves and hence have to deal with the consequences. It does not make the situation fair just because we chose to go through it, however we are ultimately free to quit this process. Most people totally misunderstand my postings to be cries for help and pointless rants about the unfairness of the system. I am the first to admit that I am largely responsible for the situation I am in and no one is forcing this upon me. What I get disappointed about is the fact that I did not really know what I was getting into when I started this process years ago. I knew it would be hard but I had no idea that it would have such reprecussions on my career, my family life and my future. That is why I try to highlight the unfairness of this system so someone else can truly gauge the risks and rewards of this system and then decide as to whether it is worth it or not. Why make excuses for the process. It sucks, thats it, lets not sugar quote it. Lets try to just deal with it.

regards,

saras

 

[Chicago Desi]

...you and I chose this for ourselves and hence have to deal with the consequences...

You and I chose this path but not the screw ups caused by DOL/DHS/DOS. If you and I knew of whats gonna happen, I am pretty sure, I wouldn't have chosen to go through this.

 

[AGC4ME]

Saras76

You summed it up right buddy. The point is after having spent 5 years in the process you dont want to give up. But opportunities are going by everyday. After all this I don't think I want to become citizen of this country. All I want is freedom to chart my own career. Imagine being Programmer-Analyst for the past 5 years coding in COBOL/JCL blah blah....THIS SUCKS BIG TIME...