Chicago, IL—I recently got a call from Europe. It was from an elegant lady friend and mother of a lad in his 20’s who possesses two Master Degrees and is close to winning his PhD. The young scholar has already been educated at a prestigious American university wants to live and work in the United States. I foolishly thought that since he reads, writes and speaks impeccable English, is superbly educated, and is destined for greatness my country would accept him with open arms. Unfortunately, he’d be much better off as an illiterate, non-English speaking citizen of Mexico or some other Central American banana republic.
I was shocked to learn the only options available for this very desirable potential immigrant are as follows:
1. Find and marry an American citizen.
2. Apply for a Green Card from Europe and wait in line behind millions including those undesirable aliens that have already broken American law by sneaking into the country.
3. Investing no less than $500,000.00 cash into an Obama approved company that must remain untouched for five years. Setting that application in motion requires legal services of an immigration lawyer. One well-know Chicago immigration lawyer quoted me $75,000.00 fee to facilitate the application process and set up the investment.
I can’t help but be frightened by the investment required especially when our economy is tanking at a rapid rate. Will this investment be stolen or otherwise devoured? The legal fees to process the application are also astronomical.
I’m shocked and embarrassed that my own country would extort money from such a promising young man. This is not the country I was raised in, nor the one whose call to duty in the military I answered four decades ago.
Someone please tell me what went so wrong?
By pure coincidence I was at a legal seminar yesterday and over lunch someone mentioned the "investor exception" to the immigration law. No one else had ever heard of it or dreamed there was such a thing..
ReplyDeleteI know there's some type of a visa, called something like H10, that gives you high priority IF you want to work in a field where there is a shortage of trained people. That's how we get all those doctors from India. A friend who is in the sciences (electro-optical engineering) found it annoying, because in her field there isn't a shortage but the companies wrangle that status anyway so they can pay cheaper wages.
Paul, he can also try the H1(B) visa route. This means he finds an employer willing to sponsor him, and then he can land a working visa. After I believe 5 years, he can then start the green card application process. I personally know many, many people from all nationalities who have started on H1(B).
ReplyDeleteIf he is a national of a country which historically is under-represented, he is eligible to enter the visa lottery. I know two people who won this, so it is possible.
Finally, he may also qualify as an alien of 'exceptional ability'.
I'd strongly advise him NOT to give up, but to consult with a REPUTABLE immigration attorney. I used Robert Perkins of Chicago who I recommend highly.
Alternatively he can try Canada which operates a points-based system like Australia (you get points for skills & qualifications). This may be the best route, provided he has never suffered from a life-threatening illness. These countries have socialized medicine and do not want anybody who might add to the burden on the health system. (A friend failed to get into Canada because his wife had survived lymphoma.)
Paul I love U and respect your courage on your blog.
ReplyDeleteBut that kind of stinken thinken is what angered Republicans when George W Bush allowed cronyism and nepotism to emotionally fog his views and principles on immigration and our borders.
Bushs great compromise as well as the majority of the GOP, is the reason I am no longer a Republican, and am to right of the GOP.
I do agree all should speak English. However he and ALL others must wait in line.
Shut the borders
Remove all illegally aliens
Then re-open and enforce the borders.
Remember the 19 terrorists that bombed us on 911 were supposed to be nice students on a VISA
I give Zero tolerance and you bet my sweet white ass, my relatives can also wait to come in from Europe.
Over the many years of this country's existence, talent has ebbed and flowed across our border. There are many who came to this country as immigrants, received their academic and then practical education here who then later moved out of the country to directly build up other parts of the world.
ReplyDeleteThat contribution of the United States to the rest of the world is, while debatable in its specific terms and conditions, nonetheless one of the hallmarks of our society.
And behind it, and enabling it, and allowing it to succeed on a worldwide basis, is our system of free enterprise.
What you and I can accomplish is, in the American system, up to us as individuals. We succeed or fail by your own efforts. What each of us makes of our individual lives is completely up to each person.
That philosophy, that way of life, is what has propelled the United States to its world leadership position. It is why they come here. It is what they seek to learn, and it is what they take with them that then brings up the rest of the world.
Our leadership role is founded in Free Enterprise. That philosophy of "my life is what I make of it" is the core-essential belief of the American way.
When programs such as H1(B) threaten my own employment as has happened on more than one occasion over the past several decades, I must rail against it. But I should also acknowledge that, to some extent, it is a necessary downside to the role we must play on a worldwide scale.
So, yes, I am willing to sacrifice some (note "some") personal security in the overall interest of the world.
But I am confident there are a great many who are shocked and outraged at many of our current leaders who are ignorant of, who choose to turn a blind eye to, and who now attempt to plunder this most fundamental component of our culture.
The power does remain in the people, but they must pick it up and use it lest the vultures pick us clean.