Senator Barack Obama (IL) reply

EB Visas

H1b provisions are very likley to make it through. The reason is simple, corporate power and money is behind it. Just look at recent history to see this. Each time the H1b quota is exhausted early, they have managed some sort of provision to accomodate an increase, just recently they added 20K for graduates with masters from US universities. The system is all geared toward corporate interests. The EB numbers are an afterthought. I strongly urge you guys not to ruffle the feathers. My feeling is what we say or don't say will matter very little in the end. It will come down to a senate house conference committee and hopefully EB provisions will survive. I am fairly confident H1b provisions will make it there, can't say I am that sure about the EB visas. Don't worry about the Big B, he will sign it if corporate america is for it, that has been his modus operandi thus far.
 
Here is what I for from Rep. Mark Steven Kirk (IL)

Here is what he wrote back to me:
<<
Thank you for your recent communication regarding nonimmigrant professional specialty visas, known as H-1B visas. I appreciate hearing from you.

The United States is a nation built by immigrants and I am proud of our nation's unparalleled cultural diversity. I welcome the diversity foreign nationals continue to bring to the United States. The H-1B visa program was designed when the United States experienced shortages in key labor sectors. During World War II, we saw a real labor shortages in the machine tool industry that served the needs of our military. The economic prosperity of the 1990s fueled a drive to increase the number of temporary foreign workers to fill critical jobs in the information technology (IT) sector, one of the engines of our nation's economy. We chose to let hi-tech workers temporarily into the country so that the work would not go offshore.

The current law limits H-1B visas to 65,000 annually. I agree that the H-1B visa program is an important tool to ensure that the U.S. can fill key sectors of our workforce. Nevertheless, it is critical that these visa applicants are closely scrutinized by the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of State to thwart terrorist from entering the U.S. Additionally, to ensure American workers are not disenfranchised, employers must adhere to the rules of this program which are enforced by the Department of Labor. I will continue to closely monitor economic data from the Department of Labor and the Department of Commerce to determine the need for an increase in H-1B visas. If legislation comes before the full House of Representatives, please be assured that I will take full account of your views.

Thank you for taking the time to contact me on this issue. Please feel free to contact me if issues of concern to you come before the Congress or visit my website at http://www.house.gov/kirk. >>

Clearly the text of our letters is not able to tell these law makers what we are asking them to do. They just get that we want to increase the H1 quota. That 's it.
These letters are useless unless we change the wording to clearly distinguish EB retrogression apart from H1.
 
Guys,

Just to let you know that there is a Call In session for "Budget Reconciliation Bill" on C-SPAN today starting 12:45pm in another 15 minutes. Michael Castle, U.S. Representative, R-DE will be there to talk the calls. I would urge more and more people to call so that atleast someone amoung us could get through and clearly explain the Retrogression issue.

I think most people who have read this and other threads know what to say. I would also request to please make sure that you mention that this is NOT about H1 increase issue, this is about green card retrogression issue where people will have wait for 4-5 years before being able to apply for adjustment of status even when Labor and I-140 (Petition for Immigrant Worker) has been approved.

Peace.

WaldenPond
 
Well......

If someone is confusing what we are intending with somehting else that he has pre-conceived what we are writing about, then it would greatly help if we write...in bold letters...before the actual letter begins.....something like this....

"THis Letter Discusses Issues that are Very Different From The Increase In H1B Visa Numbers. It Discusses The Need To Support Provisions In Bill "So And So" That Alleviate The Significant Backlog In Issuing Employment Based Permanent Residence Visa (EB Visas) By Recapturing Unused Visa Numbers From Previous Years, Not Counting Family Members Towards Visa Numbers and Allowing Pending Applicants To File For EAD (Employment Authorization Document) and Advance Parole"

What do you think?? If you were a Senator handling the H1B visa issue for the last 12 months, woudl you confuse a letter with the above disclaimer with the H1B visa issues? I wouldnt....So a disclaimer like this...edited further for general consensus would be very helpful in the letter we send.

Just sending a LOT of letters (Quantity) will not be enough. We have to also look at having a well-worded letter (QUALITY). If we have both QUANTITY and QUALITY, we can pack a great punch.

However, I do agree that if they (Senators) are going to summarily support all provisions because they only know about H1B, then I wouldnt stir a hornets nest. Anyways, its a bit late for this since they will most likely vote for it today. So lets wait and watch what they do and we can educate them later...if required......and lets tell this to the Techworkers Group too.

I have pointed out in so many previous posts that we should explain the difference to them very clearly. Imagine if you were one of the Senators. Do you really have time to go into the intricacies of what is H1B and what is EB visa? You just piggback on the most hyped term....which is H1B. As a "general" Senator, Immigration would be just a fraction of the total number of issues you would be dealing with. The burden would be on us to read how the Senators mind would work in handling our issues and then drafting something that wouldnt confuse our issues with something else.

Also, we should also begin to NAME what we want. Lets call our visas as EB-visas. When we give something a name (EB-visas from now on or anything else you want to suggest), then it becomes a distinct identity in itself and people wont use it interchangeable with something else that has its own name (liek H1B visa). And using fancy words like "retrogression" can be counterproductive. It is such a vague term.....and is not a part of the general polotical lingo. How about "Backlog"? Or using Backlog/Retrogression to keep the continuity? Backlog cannot be confused for H1B visas since the issue there is "quotas" not a "backlog".

Anyway, those are my thoughts.

Santosh
 
No point in lobbying Bush. The president has no line-item veto authority. That means he can either veto the whole bill or approve the whole bill. He cannot veto individual items (like the immigration provisions). There is zero chance that he will veto a budget bill based on some immigration provisions. The congress committees decide what to put in each bill, and that is where we should lobby.
 
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