Before you go overboard with joy, rememeber yesterday's victory is only a small first step. We have won the battle but not the war. We cannot rest in peace until there is a permanent solution to this problem. Even if this bill becomes law, this will be only a one-time, minor relief for retrogression. Anyone who thinks that retrogression will go away if this bill passes and they will get their green cards is only dreaming. It will help for sure, but this is *not* a permanent solution.
What our strategy should be for a permanent solution.
1: Educating the public and the lawmakers about our problems.
2: Supporting certain provisions in certain bills.
3: Highlighting the benefits of legal immigration.
IMHO, we should act on the following steps for 1 & 2 above:
1: Send out 'Thank You' emails/faxes/letters to A: Senators and staff who voted 'Nay', B: Lobbying organizations on our side, C: AILA D: Matthew Oh, Rajeev Khanna etc.(After all this is Rajeev's board!)
2: Send out emails/faxes/letters to representatives in the House, especially thos who will be on the joint Senate-House conference committee. Can somebody clarify if _after_ the joint conference, there will be a vote in the house again? If so, then we need to send it to every House Rep. If not, then focus only on those who will be on the joint committee.
3: Send out emails supporting 'Comprehensive Immigration Reform'. This is to be taken up in Feb. 2006 as Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist has indicated. There are some new bills introduced, one of which has a "permament solution" to the retrogression problem. If you read Senator Chuck Hagel's bill, it says that people would be given their green cards if they worked in the US for > 3 years. There would be NO CAP at all. Though this bill has a small chance of passing, if we could get Congress to incorporate these clauses in the final immigration reform bill which is going to be a compromise anyway, we
win. It also favors removing H-1B cap. Smile.
The text of some of the clauses of S.1918(The Strengthening America’s Workforce Act of 2005) is:
* To address the need for high-tech workers and to reduce the existing worker visa backlog, this bill would allow foreign students who have earned an advanced degree in science, technology, engineering or math from U.S. universities to receive an H-1B visa without leaving the country and without regard to the annual cap of 65,000.
* In addition, high-tech workers who have worked in the U.S. for 3 years would be allowed to adjust to permanent resident status without regard to the annual employment-based immigrant visa cap of 140,000. The spouses and children of immigrant workers would also be allowed to adjust status without regard to this cap.
* To encourage more foreign students to study in the U.S., this bill would give full-time foreign college and graduate students the opportunity to work part-time while studying at U.S. universities.
What our strategy should be for a permanent solution.
1: Educating the public and the lawmakers about our problems.
2: Supporting certain provisions in certain bills.
3: Highlighting the benefits of legal immigration.
IMHO, we should act on the following steps for 1 & 2 above:
1: Send out 'Thank You' emails/faxes/letters to A: Senators and staff who voted 'Nay', B: Lobbying organizations on our side, C: AILA D: Matthew Oh, Rajeev Khanna etc.(After all this is Rajeev's board!)
2: Send out emails/faxes/letters to representatives in the House, especially thos who will be on the joint Senate-House conference committee. Can somebody clarify if _after_ the joint conference, there will be a vote in the house again? If so, then we need to send it to every House Rep. If not, then focus only on those who will be on the joint committee.
3: Send out emails supporting 'Comprehensive Immigration Reform'. This is to be taken up in Feb. 2006 as Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist has indicated. There are some new bills introduced, one of which has a "permament solution" to the retrogression problem. If you read Senator Chuck Hagel's bill, it says that people would be given their green cards if they worked in the US for > 3 years. There would be NO CAP at all. Though this bill has a small chance of passing, if we could get Congress to incorporate these clauses in the final immigration reform bill which is going to be a compromise anyway, we
win. It also favors removing H-1B cap. Smile.
The text of some of the clauses of S.1918(The Strengthening America’s Workforce Act of 2005) is:
* To address the need for high-tech workers and to reduce the existing worker visa backlog, this bill would allow foreign students who have earned an advanced degree in science, technology, engineering or math from U.S. universities to receive an H-1B visa without leaving the country and without regard to the annual cap of 65,000.
* In addition, high-tech workers who have worked in the U.S. for 3 years would be allowed to adjust to permanent resident status without regard to the annual employment-based immigrant visa cap of 140,000. The spouses and children of immigrant workers would also be allowed to adjust status without regard to this cap.
* To encourage more foreign students to study in the U.S., this bill would give full-time foreign college and graduate students the opportunity to work part-time while studying at U.S. universities.