This is going to be interesting to see what happens with the immigration law.
Washington Post
After working inside the system for 8 years I object to any kind of amnisty that allows people to switch from legal to legal without first leaving the country. If they introduce a cheap way to stay in the US then I want the option of using that as well. I have heard that one possibility is that before being able to convert you must pay back taxes, social security etc. This is a good idea but since the people were paid under the table in the first place how would you prove how much they were paid. It would be easier to assume that each person earn 2x min wage x40 hours a week for however long they have been in the US. The next question is how long do you say that someone has been in the US? Again there is no documented date of entry so I could just say I came across the border yesterday.
The USCIS would need to come up with an easy way to to check legal status. Then it would be easy for employeers to check that visa is valid. Then again how do you prove that a US citizen is a US citizen. This basically comes down to a birth certificate and each state issues their own and have probably changed the forms multiple times over the last 90 years. So even that becomes almost improssible.
All I know is that the legal way to stay in the US is broken. I have been waiting since sept 2002 for my labor cert (proves that my company can’t hire a US citizen) which is the first stage in getting an employment based greencard. Its 4 years later and don’t want to spend another 2 years waiting for a greencard. My last H1b extension was filed in September and it was approved last week, that six months for a 1 year visa.
As someone else who ‘went throught the system’, I too fail to see the rationale behind ‘legalizing the illegal’. At the moment, the Government is talking about ways to toughen the borders. Indeed, I read they are thinking about building a wall/fence in some parts. So, as far as I can tell, an amnesty validates the notion that as long as you get over/through/around the fence you will be ok. I know thats a gross exageration, and that many immigrants have a really hard time, but….thats the message.
My application for residence was based on me doing a particular job (that no american could do, or at least not very many Americans). Why no do the same for fruit pickers, farm laborers, etc? It might seem too politically incorrect to offer green cards for manual labor only……but, thats the job these fellas will end up doing.
The system is indeed broken, but, in my experience it does seem to be getting better in some regards. The last few interactions I had with the INS were pretty positive.
But, yeah, when Clinton (?) had an amnesty I was pretty pissed that people who were here illegally for 5 years got permenant resident status, and I was still waiting on mine, after being in the system and paying taxes for the same amount of time…….
It has got better, for example I am now allowed to extend my h1b year on year based on the fact I have a labor cert pending. If they hadn’t added that then I would have had to go home after 6 years. They have also added premium processing which allows an h1b to be processed in 15 days or your money back. I have used it a couple times and it works, I just refused to pay it this year given that I had already waited 5 months.
Going from preminant resident to US citizen seems to be a fairly painless process but then again you don’t mind waiting if you can work and travel freely.
Its going to be interesting to see what happens.
That would anoy me as well, infact just the thought of an amnesty gets me a little angry.