NEW YORK: Indian American group GOPIO have called for a campaign on immigration issues affecting the Indian diaspora including use of H-1B visa by technology companies from India and growing backlog of family visas.
An immigration seminar was organized by Global Organization of People of Indian Origin (GOPIO-New York), South Asian Council for Social Services (SACSS) and the Kerala Centre in Elmont, New York on Sep 27. The panelists included attorneys Michael Phulwani and David Nachman of NPZ Law Group, P.C. (Ridgewood, NJ) and Anand Ahuja (Law Offices of Anand Ahuja, Hicksville, NY) and was moderated by GOPIO International Founder President Dr. Thomas Abraham.
Attorney Anand Ahuja, who also serves as GOPIO-New York president, spoke on business and investment visas and special immigrant juvenile status. Attorney Michael Phulwani spoke on the topics such as how to read the visa bulletin which is available to everyone, H-1B alternatives, present status of DACA and DAPA. Attorney David Nachman spoke on AC-21, STEM OPT issues/changes, provisional wavers, President Obama’s immigration reform initiatives and consular processing issues.
Grass-root actions were also required to support President Barack Obama‘s executive actions that were announced in November 2014, participants said.
While immigration reform holistically seems to be stalled, Obama’s executive actions are designed in a piecemeal manner aimed at improving the overall immigration law system.
The participants also hoped that extreme backlogs for Indian nationals in many visa classifications may be reduced in some fair manner.
These backlogs have resulted in families being separated for long periods of time despite one of the major tenets underlying US immigration law being family unity.
H-1B non-immigrant professional and specialty occupation work visas continue to be scrutinized heavily by such agencies as the US Homeland Security, State, and Labour departments, the seminar noted.
Additionally, many of the largest users of the H-1B visa are very significant technology companies from India, the seminar noted.
Grassroots efforts should be made to help the government understand that India is not the only user of these technology visas, it suggested.
Attempts to avert a form of reverse discrimination should be undertaken soonest, the participants suggested.
Among other issues raised was India’s exclusion from Treaty Investment and Treaty Trader category for the immigration visa purpose.
It is not clear why Bangladesh, Pakistan and Sri Lanka all have E visas but India does not, the participants noted.
It was resolved that GOPIO and other community groups must campaign on these issues.
“It is important for the Indian American community to take up such issues with Obama administration and elected officials and make them aware of importance of such issues for the country as a whole,” said GOPIO’s Founder President Thomas Abraham.
By “very significant technology companies from India” they mean body shops like Infosys, Wipro, Tata, and Cognizant. Talk about spinning the issue and twisting facts.
It is public knowledge that most, more than half, of the H-1b visas are used by Offshore Outsourcing companies, in order to facilitate the removal, of entire departments, to other countries.
The H-1b is a non-immigrant visa. And the Offshore Outsourcing companies take that to heart, by sponsoring, literally, only a handful of people for a Green Cards (1st step to citizenship). Unlimited H-1b visas will simply be taken up by the Offshore Outsourcing companies, because of the great salary disparity between the U.S. and other countries.
The main reason why the currencies of India, Mexico, and China are low compared to the Euro and the Dollar, is because these countries do not allow Foreign Direct Investment. FDI is a great job creator in the Europe and North America. But hey, that’s not a problem of people in the United States to be worrying about.
If this group is truly interested in immigration issues then they should forget about the H-1b visa. Besides the fact that the H-1b visa is a net job-destroyer in the United States, it doesn’t create permanent residents. Only a Green Card does that, lets concentrate on getting Green Cards into the hands of skilled workers, so they can feel a sense of permanence and a willingness to invest their lives into the U.S.
Instead you should, in Good Conscience, be lobbying for Green Cards and Citizenship.
Increasing the number of H-1b visas will simply speed up the removal of White collar jobs from the United States, to other countries. This will, in the long run, decrease opportunities for All (including Indian) Americans.
Let’s get the H-1b visa right, and instead keep it focused on companies that make jobs in the United States and enhance opportunities for All Americans. That kind of spirit is what makes American great for all Americans.