As most people now know, the Priority dates of Second Preference for India and China are advancing rapidly, and many people with Priority dates in 2010 can file their I-485s.  This has presented a small but important problem for Indian beneficiaries. Many of them are young , unmarried and will get married through the traditional  arranged marriage system.  Under the traditional Indian system mixing between girls and boys are frowned upon. Usually the families pick out several  ’suitable mates”, the prospective bride and groom talk to each other, decide as to who to marry, and if both parties are willing, they get married.

With their child in America, working on the H-1B visa, and many of them not visiting India because of the highest rates of H-1B visa denials from the consulates in India, many parents were reluctant to start looking for a suitable mate for their children. Yet the looming prospect of getting their Green cards fast has produced a rush.

This is because almost every immigrant visas in the United States depend on per country quotas.  And the wait for  a green card holder from India to bring in their spouse is currently almost three years.  That means that once the beneficiary gets the green card,  and before they become a citizen, (in 5 years)  if they marry, they cannot bring in their spouse for 3 years. This of course creates a lot of strain especially in an arranged marriage situation for the newly weds.

If they have their H-1B , they have to go to India, get their visas (a huge If in Indian consulates) get their spouses an H-4 visa and come back and file for adjustment of status for their spouse. Deciding to marry one person from the list given to them by their parents in a hurry can be harrowing.

If they don’t get the H1B visa, the beneficiary can travel back with the travel permit, wait and get their Green card and then file a following to join petition. In this situation, the green card holder can file a following to join application, once he gets the Green card, but cannot travel during the process.  This is also not easy.

Unfortunately such is the price of US Immigration.

Contact Houston Immigration Lawyer, or Houston Immigration Attorney Annie Banerjee, for more information

Mitt Romney walked into a storm when he used the term, “self deportation” ie don’t give illegal people jobs, and they will self deport themselves. This idea was already present in America, with a different (better sounding) term: Attrition Through Enforcement.” The blog by Immigration Policy Center talks about how research shows that immigrants will not leave even if they don’t have a job, because many have lived here for more than 10 years, and have roots here.

Well, let’s just assume Mitt Romney is right. If we demand to see “papers” for every job, that illegal immigrants will simply leave and go away. What will happen then to the American economy?

Construction costs will go up, and construction will take forever.  Because Americans will simply not do the job. No one will pick fruits and vegetables, so as Stephen Colbert pointed out, “we should simply stop eating fruits and vegetables.” And maybe build our own houses. I wonder if Romney’s grand kids would mow the White House lawns.  And yes, no one will cut up chickens and eggs.

Or maybe, as the Conservatives so often want, we can go back to the lifestyles of the original founders of the country. Work with our hands, make this country white only, and preserve our guns. And then we can simply sit and watch all other nations bypass us.

Contact Houston Immigration Lawyer, or Houston Immigration Attorney Annie Banerjee, for more information

Everyone from India or China who is waiting for a green card number knows that the Employment based second preference visa numbers are moving very fast.  And the good news is that it is predicted to move fast, at least by 6 months, for the March Visa Bulletin that will come out in the middle of February. Every Country is allocated a fixed visa number and the numbers are distributed according to categories.

The First Categories consists of PhDs with a high level of research experience.  They either have “extraordinary ability” or are Outstanding Researchers. The other group consists of International Managers and Executives generally with an L-1A visa. These people are deemed to have the highest priority and are given the visa first.

The number of visas left over are given to the Second Preference, who are either Master’s degree holders, or have a Bachelors and five years of experience. Also included in this group are researchers, whose institutions just use them as slave labor and don’t petition for them. They have to prove that it is in the National Interest to waive the requirement of a labor certification. Since China and India are huge countries, and there are huge numbers of EB-1 and Eb-2, they use up their quota very quickly.  Thus if you were born in India and China, and are in EB-2 you had to wait for 5 years to get the visa, as opposed to people born in other countries.

However since October of 2011, the numbers for Eb-2 for India and China had been advancing rapidly. And that movement is expected to continue for the next several months.

Mr. Oppenheim of the Visa Office of the State Department said that the rapid movement is because there is very little Eb-1 petitions filed. That is probably because EB-1 has become much harder. The standard for Extraordinary has been increased, simultaneously as the average in our country has dumbed down.

However with so many filings, the USCIS will take forever to adjudicate these petitions. The visa numbers are expected to increase for some months; if after that the numbers retrogress, then all applicants will probably not be able to get their Green cards, and have to wait. However at least the H-4 dependents can work with their EAD cards.

EB-3 however will still remain retrogressed.

Meanwhile there is no progress to the Fairness and High Skilled Immigrant Act, (HR 3012) which sought to do away with per country quotas and passed with overwhelming majority in the House. Senator Grassley (R-Iowa) and anti Indian placed a permanent hold on the bill. Senator Grassley has a Master’s degree in Arts from Iowa State Teacher’s College. I’m sure like his Republican colleague, Ted Stevens, he thinks that the internet is a “bunch of tubes” and can be programmed by humanities majors from Iowa State Teacher’s College.

Contact Houston Immigration Lawyer, or Houston Immigration Attorney Annie Banerjee, for more information