8 ms·

Tell HN: WH Petition for portable work authorization for legal immigrants

32 points by mavelikara 10y ago

Petition Link: https://goo.gl/FB7DTm At the time of writing, the petition needs 3,619 signatures by August 10, 2016 to reach its goal of 100K signatures. ---- On Nov 25th 2014, President Obama signed an executive action (https://goo.gl/wPP4K9) that would make it possible for the highly-skilled workers to obtain portable work authorization (I140 EAD and AP). Close to two years since then, there have been no updates on this action. Thousands of green cards are being wasted every year, with an estimated 500,000 green cards wasted so far, while the highly-skilled workers continue to wait in a queue that may take 20-50 years. We urge you to review and take necessary actions to recapture unused green cards, and provide portable work authorization.

smt88 10y ago
I don't know much about this topic, but Obama is now a lame duck and not likely to do something immigration-related before he leaves office (since Clinton is positioning herself as more protectionist than Obama has been).
- mavelikara 10y ago
  President Obama's Executive Action promised relief for legal immigrants stuck in GC backlogs. There seems to have been efforts to remove the backlogs too, but those have not been acted upon. This petition urges to take up on those actions. The backlogs are getting worser every year. Here is an article postulating that it might take "somewhere between half a century and three and a half centuries" for many legal immigrants to get a GC : http://www.cato.org/blog/no-one-knows-how-long-legal-immigrants-will-have-wait http://www.cato.org/blog/no-one-knows-how-long-legal-immigra... It is interesting to note what this petition does not ask for - it does not ask for increase in H-1B numbers, which by and large is the only legal immigration issue which gets any discussion. Finally, a video of a meeting of desi-consulting shop heads surfaced recently in which they were scheming to challenge the Executive Action plans so that they can keep legal immigrants on their leash longer and extract profits. Here is the video - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lj1bHpPvSuE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lj1bHpPvSuE
  - smt88 10y ago
    From some initial reading, I learned the following (correct me if any of these conclusions are wrong): 1) The executive action you mentioned would take "more than a year" to plan, so there was never a promise for a timeline. 2) Obama's executive actions related to immigration are working their way through the courts and will be ruled legal or illegal by the Supreme Court soon. 3) The President doesn't actually have the power to change anything substantially. For example, only Congress can increase the number of immigration judges. Also, just my own thought: I don't support this petition, nor do I support Obama's executive action in any situation that increases the President's power. Sure, Obama is suggesting things we generally like. What if the next President is someone terrible or dangerous? What if the President after that is terrible or dangerous? I'm strongly opposed to anything that gives any branch of government enough power to eliminate the checks and balances that prevent tyranny.
xl76 10y ago
we should make more intelligent people work for united states
xl76 10y ago
we should make more intelligent people work for us
- pmm_ind_h1b 10y ago
  Very true... only best should deserve and priority should be given to citizens of this country first. I am working on H1B and I can feel the pain of fellow US workers. However, one should look at their past and must understand that people have migrated from all over the world in past when there were no visa restrictions. May be even now citizens some countries enjoy a free passage to the main stream job market. Please do not blame, hate us (H1B workers) coming to this country through legal channel. We all coming here in the search of better career opportunity, earning good money, having good quality of life. It is responsibility of the law makers to ensure that proper due diligence is done before any foreign worker is to be hired. There is a process in place, minimum education criteria before anybody can be hired on h1B visa. So I can say confidently that 90% H1B candidates comes with good education, higher skills. For some of them English may not be the first language so they may not be as savvy in spoken English as the US Born people but don't make a mistake of writing them off as unskilled, uneducated fake candidates. We are also victims of some greedy, unethical companies with whom we have to work just because they hold our H1B visa. We have to follow unethical practices otherwise our Visa’s will be cancelled. We have to stick to these employers for years and years while we wait for Green cards. We have to manage with low salaries, no benefits. If US Government streamlines it Green card processing rules then many of us would be willing to work with good companies and have good career growth, have a good pay instead of working as a low pay worker. US employers will then hire foreign workers only due to its competency and not for low rates. It will be a level playing ground for all. So I sincerely request all my US friends, brothers and sisters to helps us free from this modern day slavery. Please sign the petition. https://goo.gl/FB7DTm https://goo.gl/FB7DTm Thanks
Kliment 10y ago
Clickable non-shortened link: https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/no-respite-highly-skilled-americans-waiting-need-portable-work-authorization-recapture-500k-green-cards https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/no-respite-highly-...
ActsJuvenile 10y ago
The current slow process ensures that corporations get reliable workers who can't quit. This bill will convert immigrant workers to free-agents who can quit at anytime. Why would any corporation back this? I am betting a tenner this will never pass in congress.
- tsaprailis 10y ago
  If anything, it's always worth fighting for the things you believe in even if you think it's going to fail anyway.
  - afarrell 10y ago
    This is only true if the resources you have to spend fighting are not limited.
crypto5 10y ago
> while the highly-skilled workers continue to wait in a queue that may take 20-50 years. According to https://travel.state.gov/content/visas/en/law-and-policy/bulletin/2016/visa-bulletin-for-august-2016.html https://travel.state.gov/content/visas/en/law-and-policy/bul..., the only category which is waiting for 12 years are indians, because consulting companies like infosys (aka bodyshops) bring large number of low skilled engineers to US, using scam schemes, creating backlog. High skilled engineers from rest of the world are waiting for green cards for 2-3 years only.
- mavelikara 10y ago
  > the only category which is waiting for 12 years are indians, because consulting companies like ... There is a small fixed number of GC's allocated to each country, irrespective of the population of that country or the number of people applying from that country. So Iceland gets the same allocation as India or China. If you randomly pick six humans alive on this planet now, one of them is likely to be Indian and one of them is likely to be Chinese. And hence, the allocated GC numbers (~ 7K per year IIRC) don't suffice for these countries resulting in huge backlogs. I think this has very little to do with consulting companies etc. > High skilled engineers from rest of the world are waiting for green cards for 2-3 years only. High skilled Indian or Chinese engineers who applied 12 years ago are getting their GCs now. Those that apply now will likely get it in a few decades only. You seem to suggest that this is somehow OK because "well, it is after all just the Indians!". Why is that so?
  - crypto5 10y ago
    > Indian or Chinese engineers who applied 12 years ago are getting their GCs now Backlog for Chinese engineers is 6 years, not 12. > Those that apply now will likely get it in a few decades only. Is word "likely" here based on any analysis? Or you throw random statements as usually? > Why is that so? Perhaps per country cap was implemented for a reason: immigrants to US are culturally and nationally diverse, not just all Indians. Also I suggest you to spend your energy fighting against h1b and l1 scam from Indian consulting companies. It will relax situation for real Indian high skilled engineers significantly.
crypto5 10y ago
> while the highly-skilled workers continue to wait in a queue that may take 20-50 years. According to https://travel.state.gov/content/visas/en/law-and-policy/bulletin/2016/visa-bulletin-for-august-2016.html https://travel.state.gov/content/visas/en/law-and-policy/bul..., the only category which waits for 12 years are indians, because consulting companies like infosys (aka bodyshops) are bringing large number of low skilled engineers to US, using scam schemes. High skilled engineers from rest of the world are waiting for green cards for 2-3 years only.
pmm_ind_h1b 10y ago
Only best should deserve and priority should be given to citizens of this country first. I am working on H1B and I can feel the pain of fellow US workers. However, one should look at their past and must understand that people have migrated from all over the world in past when there were no visa restrictions. May be even no,w citizens some countries enjoy a free passage to the main stream job market. Please do not blame, hate us (H1B workers) coming to this country through legal channel. We all coming here in the search of better career opportunity, earning good money, having good quality of life. It is responsibility of the law makers to ensure that proper due diligence is done before any foreign worker is to be hired. There is a process in place, minimum education criteria before anybody can be hired on h1B visa. So I can say confidently that 90% H1B candidates comes with good education, higher skills. For some of them English may not be the first language so they may not be as savvy in spoken English as the US Born people but don't make a mistake of writing them off as unskilled, uneducated fake candidates. We are also victims of some greedy, unethical companies with whom we have to work just because they hold our H1B visa. We have to follow unethical practices otherwise our Visa’s will be cancelled. We have to stick to these employers for years and years while we wait for Green cards. We have to manage with low salaries, no benefits. If US Government streamlines it Green card processing rules then many of us would be willing to work with good companies and have good career growth, have a good pay instead of working as a low pay worker. US employers will then hire foreign workers only due to its competency and not for low rates. It will be a level playing ground for all. So I sincerely request all my US friends, brothers and sisters to helps us free from this modern day slavery. Please sign the petition. https://goo.gl/FB7DTm https://goo.gl/FB7DTm Thanks
- outworlder 10y ago
  I don't think this will get you any sympathy. If anything, you are going to be shot down for the 'slavery' bit. It is not slavery in the sense that you can quit and go back home. Doesn't matter if you are living in the country for years and don't even identify with your place of origin anymore. Also, many won't care that you are "earning good money". In fact, that gets you the opposite reaction: you are "stealing" jobs from them and making a killing as a result. You'll get more sympathy by saying that you pay your taxes just like everyone else. > have a good pay instead of working as a low pay worker This is also a thorny issue. You see, one of the main complaints regarding immigration is that people will come from abroad and still american's jobs. It is true though that a company can do whatever they want with such a big carrot (which doubles as a stick). Including reducing salaries in at will states. > There is a process in place, minimum education criteria before anybody can be hired on h1B visa. So I can say confidently that 90% H1B candidates comes with good education, higher skills. There is. The problem is that a handful of companies keep throwing candidates at the US until some stick. Mainly from India. And that is a problem. The employees are the ones that get the short end of the stick every time, the companies bringing massive amounts of workers to throw around at "client sites" are almost never held accountable. I'm in a similar situation myself (different visa). I would strongly support a law that drastically reduced the number of available visas, in exchange for giving the ones that are actually approved some leeway. Even if that means that my own would get dropped. In other words, operate just like many countries already do: once you get a work permit/authorization/what have you, you are already deemed valuable to the country. Meaning you can change jobs (under a few restrictions). Or maybe have a hobby on the site earning you some money. Why not? Add a clause saying that you cannot have a criminal record or you get thrown out, for all I care. You know what would be better? The ability for people legally employed to self-sponsor their green cards. Let people make the case for themselves, without having to resort on the good will of the employer. In many cases, they will only start the green card process when your visa is close to expiring and cannot be renewed anymore.

32 points by mavelikara 10y ago

smt88 10y ago

I don't know much about this topic, but Obama is now a lame duck and not likely to do something immigration-related before he leaves office (since Clinton is positioning herself as more protectionist than Obama has been).

mavelikara 10y ago
President Obama's Executive Action promised relief for legal immigrants stuck in GC backlogs. There seems to have been efforts to remove the backlogs too, but those have not been acted upon. This petition urges to take up on those actions. The backlogs are getting worser every year. Here is an article postulating that it might take "somewhere between half a century and three and a half centuries" for many legal immigrants to get a GC : http://www.cato.org/blog/no-one-knows-how-long-legal-immigrants-will-have-wait http://www.cato.org/blog/no-one-knows-how-long-legal-immigra... It is interesting to note what this petition does not ask for - it does not ask for increase in H-1B numbers, which by and large is the only legal immigration issue which gets any discussion. Finally, a video of a meeting of desi-consulting shop heads surfaced recently in which they were scheming to challenge the Executive Action plans so that they can keep legal immigrants on their leash longer and extract profits. Here is the video - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lj1bHpPvSuE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lj1bHpPvSuE
- smt88 10y ago
  From some initial reading, I learned the following (correct me if any of these conclusions are wrong): 1) The executive action you mentioned would take "more than a year" to plan, so there was never a promise for a timeline. 2) Obama's executive actions related to immigration are working their way through the courts and will be ruled legal or illegal by the Supreme Court soon. 3) The President doesn't actually have the power to change anything substantially. For example, only Congress can increase the number of immigration judges. Also, just my own thought: I don't support this petition, nor do I support Obama's executive action in any situation that increases the President's power. Sure, Obama is suggesting things we generally like. What if the next President is someone terrible or dangerous? What if the President after that is terrible or dangerous? I'm strongly opposed to anything that gives any branch of government enough power to eliminate the checks and balances that prevent tyranny.

xl76 10y ago

we should make more intelligent people work for united states

xl76 10y ago

we should make more intelligent people work for us

pmm_ind_h1b 10y ago
Very true... only best should deserve and priority should be given to citizens of this country first. I am working on H1B and I can feel the pain of fellow US workers. However, one should look at their past and must understand that people have migrated from all over the world in past when there were no visa restrictions. May be even now citizens some countries enjoy a free passage to the main stream job market. Please do not blame, hate us (H1B workers) coming to this country through legal channel. We all coming here in the search of better career opportunity, earning good money, having good quality of life. It is responsibility of the law makers to ensure that proper due diligence is done before any foreign worker is to be hired. There is a process in place, minimum education criteria before anybody can be hired on h1B visa. So I can say confidently that 90% H1B candidates comes with good education, higher skills. For some of them English may not be the first language so they may not be as savvy in spoken English as the US Born people but don't make a mistake of writing them off as unskilled, uneducated fake candidates. We are also victims of some greedy, unethical companies with whom we have to work just because they hold our H1B visa. We have to follow unethical practices otherwise our Visa’s will be cancelled. We have to stick to these employers for years and years while we wait for Green cards. We have to manage with low salaries, no benefits. If US Government streamlines it Green card processing rules then many of us would be willing to work with good companies and have good career growth, have a good pay instead of working as a low pay worker. US employers will then hire foreign workers only due to its competency and not for low rates. It will be a level playing ground for all. So I sincerely request all my US friends, brothers and sisters to helps us free from this modern day slavery. Please sign the petition. https://goo.gl/FB7DTm https://goo.gl/FB7DTm Thanks

Kliment 10y ago

Clickable non-shortened link: https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/no-respite-highly-skilled-americans-waiting-need-portable-work-authorization-recapture-500k-green-cards https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/no-respite-highly-...

ActsJuvenile 10y ago

The current slow process ensures that corporations get reliable workers who can't quit. This bill will convert immigrant workers to free-agents who can quit at anytime. Why would any corporation back this? I am betting a tenner this will never pass in congress.

tsaprailis 10y ago
If anything, it's always worth fighting for the things you believe in even if you think it's going to fail anyway.
- afarrell 10y ago
  This is only true if the resources you have to spend fighting are not limited.

crypto5 10y ago

> while the highly-skilled workers continue to wait in a queue that may take 20-50 years. According to https://travel.state.gov/content/visas/en/law-and-policy/bulletin/2016/visa-bulletin-for-august-2016.html https://travel.state.gov/content/visas/en/law-and-policy/bul..., the only category which is waiting for 12 years are indians, because consulting companies like infosys (aka bodyshops) bring large number of low skilled engineers to US, using scam schemes, creating backlog. High skilled engineers from rest of the world are waiting for green cards for 2-3 years only.

mavelikara 10y ago
> the only category which is waiting for 12 years are indians, because consulting companies like ... There is a small fixed number of GC's allocated to each country, irrespective of the population of that country or the number of people applying from that country. So Iceland gets the same allocation as India or China. If you randomly pick six humans alive on this planet now, one of them is likely to be Indian and one of them is likely to be Chinese. And hence, the allocated GC numbers (~ 7K per year IIRC) don't suffice for these countries resulting in huge backlogs. I think this has very little to do with consulting companies etc. > High skilled engineers from rest of the world are waiting for green cards for 2-3 years only. High skilled Indian or Chinese engineers who applied 12 years ago are getting their GCs now. Those that apply now will likely get it in a few decades only. You seem to suggest that this is somehow OK because "well, it is after all just the Indians!". Why is that so?
- crypto5 10y ago
  > Indian or Chinese engineers who applied 12 years ago are getting their GCs now Backlog for Chinese engineers is 6 years, not 12. > Those that apply now will likely get it in a few decades only. Is word "likely" here based on any analysis? Or you throw random statements as usually? > Why is that so? Perhaps per country cap was implemented for a reason: immigrants to US are culturally and nationally diverse, not just all Indians. Also I suggest you to spend your energy fighting against h1b and l1 scam from Indian consulting companies. It will relax situation for real Indian high skilled engineers significantly.

crypto5 10y ago

> while the highly-skilled workers continue to wait in a queue that may take 20-50 years. According to https://travel.state.gov/content/visas/en/law-and-policy/bulletin/2016/visa-bulletin-for-august-2016.html https://travel.state.gov/content/visas/en/law-and-policy/bul..., the only category which waits for 12 years are indians, because consulting companies like infosys (aka bodyshops) are bringing large number of low skilled engineers to US, using scam schemes. High skilled engineers from rest of the world are waiting for green cards for 2-3 years only.

pmm_ind_h1b 10y ago

Only best should deserve and priority should be given to citizens of this country first. I am working on H1B and I can feel the pain of fellow US workers. However, one should look at their past and must understand that people have migrated from all over the world in past when there were no visa restrictions. May be even no,w citizens some countries enjoy a free passage to the main stream job market. Please do not blame, hate us (H1B workers) coming to this country through legal channel. We all coming here in the search of better career opportunity, earning good money, having good quality of life. It is responsibility of the law makers to ensure that proper due diligence is done before any foreign worker is to be hired. There is a process in place, minimum education criteria before anybody can be hired on h1B visa. So I can say confidently that 90% H1B candidates comes with good education, higher skills. For some of them English may not be the first language so they may not be as savvy in spoken English as the US Born people but don't make a mistake of writing them off as unskilled, uneducated fake candidates. We are also victims of some greedy, unethical companies with whom we have to work just because they hold our H1B visa. We have to follow unethical practices otherwise our Visa’s will be cancelled. We have to stick to these employers for years and years while we wait for Green cards. We have to manage with low salaries, no benefits. If US Government streamlines it Green card processing rules then many of us would be willing to work with good companies and have good career growth, have a good pay instead of working as a low pay worker. US employers will then hire foreign workers only due to its competency and not for low rates. It will be a level playing ground for all. So I sincerely request all my US friends, brothers and sisters to helps us free from this modern day slavery. Please sign the petition. https://goo.gl/FB7DTm https://goo.gl/FB7DTm Thanks

outworlder 10y ago
I don't think this will get you any sympathy. If anything, you are going to be shot down for the 'slavery' bit. It is not slavery in the sense that you can quit and go back home. Doesn't matter if you are living in the country for years and don't even identify with your place of origin anymore. Also, many won't care that you are "earning good money". In fact, that gets you the opposite reaction: you are "stealing" jobs from them and making a killing as a result. You'll get more sympathy by saying that you pay your taxes just like everyone else. > have a good pay instead of working as a low pay worker This is also a thorny issue. You see, one of the main complaints regarding immigration is that people will come from abroad and still american's jobs. It is true though that a company can do whatever they want with such a big carrot (which doubles as a stick). Including reducing salaries in at will states. > There is a process in place, minimum education criteria before anybody can be hired on h1B visa. So I can say confidently that 90% H1B candidates comes with good education, higher skills. There is. The problem is that a handful of companies keep throwing candidates at the US until some stick. Mainly from India. And that is a problem. The employees are the ones that get the short end of the stick every time, the companies bringing massive amounts of workers to throw around at "client sites" are almost never held accountable. I'm in a similar situation myself (different visa). I would strongly support a law that drastically reduced the number of available visas, in exchange for giving the ones that are actually approved some leeway. Even if that means that my own would get dropped. In other words, operate just like many countries already do: once you get a work permit/authorization/what have you, you are already deemed valuable to the country. Meaning you can change jobs (under a few restrictions). Or maybe have a hobby on the site earning you some money. Why not? Add a clause saying that you cannot have a criminal record or you get thrown out, for all I care. You know what would be better? The ability for people legally employed to self-sponsor their green cards. Let people make the case for themselves, without having to resort on the good will of the employer. In many cases, they will only start the green card process when your visa is close to expiring and cannot be renewed anymore.