gjoe
02-13 04:57 PM
I liked your concept of approaching "fresh law school grads" but...
If we are planning to approach with such a big task which I would think needs lot of experience in the law field and not sure if its worth taking an approach with fresh out of law school grads...I personally feel this experiment of working with fresh law school grads might be risky and I doubt if they even know any in's & out's of USCIS tricks,rules and dramas which they keep changing now & then quite often....
As always experience counts one would choose to see how much experience they have and in this case if we go with these BRAND NEW.. fresh out of law school grads who may or many not have any winning track records might be not worth it I guess..
No one would learn to walk if their parents were afraid they would fall.
The young grad has more fire in him than a seasoned vetran. I think we need more fire in this case than just experience.
If we are planning to approach with such a big task which I would think needs lot of experience in the law field and not sure if its worth taking an approach with fresh out of law school grads...I personally feel this experiment of working with fresh law school grads might be risky and I doubt if they even know any in's & out's of USCIS tricks,rules and dramas which they keep changing now & then quite often....
As always experience counts one would choose to see how much experience they have and in this case if we go with these BRAND NEW.. fresh out of law school grads who may or many not have any winning track records might be not worth it I guess..
No one would learn to walk if their parents were afraid they would fall.
The young grad has more fire in him than a seasoned vetran. I think we need more fire in this case than just experience.
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485Mbe4001
01-23 04:50 PM
what happens to the people who got their GC's using labor from this guys company? Hopefully they are not affected, it will be sad to see their lives in trouble because of him.
greensignal
09-23 02:43 PM
can somebody PM me the message and email addresses to send.
Thank You!
Thank You!
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NNReddy
04-03 01:12 AM
1. Mayawati.
2. Sharad Pawar.
3. ManMohan Singh.
one of these for sure
2. Sharad Pawar.
3. ManMohan Singh.
one of these for sure
more...
Legal
07-21 10:55 PM
http://www.dhs.gov/xlibrary/assets/statistics/publications/LPR_FR_2007.pdf
(AC21). This Act resulted in the recapture of 130,107 unused employment-based visa numbers from 1999 and 2000 to be made available to first, second, and third preference employment-based immigrants once the annual limit had been reached. Approximately 94,000 of those recaptured visa numbers were used in 2005, none were used in 2006, and 7,312 were used in 2007
(AC21). This Act resulted in the recapture of 130,107 unused employment-based visa numbers from 1999 and 2000 to be made available to first, second, and third preference employment-based immigrants once the annual limit had been reached. Approximately 94,000 of those recaptured visa numbers were used in 2005, none were used in 2006, and 7,312 were used in 2007
sledge_hammer
05-29 11:11 AM
1] To date there are 60K EB2I and another 60K EB3I I-485 applictaions pending.
2] 3.2K visas were available for EB2I for FY2009.
Assuming 3.2K visas are available every year from now on, it will take 60/3.2=18.75 years for all EB2I applicants upto today to be granted GC.
Unbelievable!
2] 3.2K visas were available for EB2I for FY2009.
Assuming 3.2K visas are available every year from now on, it will take 60/3.2=18.75 years for all EB2I applicants upto today to be granted GC.
Unbelievable!
more...
rajuram
05-31 01:47 PM
Do these figures include dependents??
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valuablehurdle
08-18 12:03 AM
I would rather discuss about Dr Koelhe than SRK:
Extraordinary Indians: The doctor who charges only Rs 2: Rediff.com news (http://news.rediff.com/slide-show/2009/aug/17/slide-show-1-extraordinary-indians-ravindra-koelhe.htm)
Let us close this unnecessary thread....
Extraordinary Indians: The doctor who charges only Rs 2: Rediff.com news (http://news.rediff.com/slide-show/2009/aug/17/slide-show-1-extraordinary-indians-ravindra-koelhe.htm)
Let us close this unnecessary thread....
more...
StillonH1B
03-27 03:56 PM
I just now posted that how no one mentioned Dr. JayaprakashNarayan. Well someone did mention.
I guess that's not enough. There are lot of people who are not aware of this great leader.We need to spread the word about LokSatta.
My vote is for Dr. Jaya Prakash Narayan. He has done good things as a doctor and then as a collector in AP.
Of course he stands no chance, but I think he started a movement (grassroots) - hopefully it is the beginning of some positive change.
Check out his speech at a Mumbai university.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t4xFCdOYTv4 - Part 1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Q6s1R9iBjw - Part 2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k6ZHak1lEr8 - Part 3
Cheers.
I guess that's not enough. There are lot of people who are not aware of this great leader.We need to spread the word about LokSatta.
My vote is for Dr. Jaya Prakash Narayan. He has done good things as a doctor and then as a collector in AP.
Of course he stands no chance, but I think he started a movement (grassroots) - hopefully it is the beginning of some positive change.
Check out his speech at a Mumbai university.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t4xFCdOYTv4 - Part 1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Q6s1R9iBjw - Part 2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k6ZHak1lEr8 - Part 3
Cheers.
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vdlrao
07-21 05:46 PM
vdlrao,
There could be one problem with the above interpretation of overflow from FB category. I think the numbers shown in the document are from last year- end of Sep 07, not sure this applies to what is available for 2008. what do you think?
These Unused Family Based Visas are from 2007. These Unused Family Based Visas of 2007 would be added to the following year (2008) Employment Based Visas.
The Unused Family Based VISAS from a perticular fiscal year made available to the Employment Based VISAS of the Follwing Fiscal Year. And the Unused EB4 and EB5 VISAS of a perticular fiscal year would be made available to the same year's
EB1 category.
There could be one problem with the above interpretation of overflow from FB category. I think the numbers shown in the document are from last year- end of Sep 07, not sure this applies to what is available for 2008. what do you think?
These Unused Family Based Visas are from 2007. These Unused Family Based Visas of 2007 would be added to the following year (2008) Employment Based Visas.
The Unused Family Based VISAS from a perticular fiscal year made available to the Employment Based VISAS of the Follwing Fiscal Year. And the Unused EB4 and EB5 VISAS of a perticular fiscal year would be made available to the same year's
EB1 category.
more...
ramus
06-27 10:04 PM
Sorry my number was wrong...
Its not 80,000 , it is 129,973.. That is also as of March 2007..
look at link http://www.shusterman.com/pdf/permstats407.pdf
Are you sure about 80000 PERM?
I recall seeing somewhere that for the entire 2006, there were about 6000 PERMs.
Its not 80,000 , it is 129,973.. That is also as of March 2007..
look at link http://www.shusterman.com/pdf/permstats407.pdf
Are you sure about 80000 PERM?
I recall seeing somewhere that for the entire 2006, there were about 6000 PERMs.
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longq
02-13 03:53 PM
Before AC21, the spill over goes vertically.
After AC21, the spill over should go horizontally. But it is not going so. There is something going behind the screen. There is some reason for DOS is doing so. The law is not gray in this respect. It can be easily litigated, if they issued less than 40,000 EB2 visas and more than 40,000 EB3 visas. Nov 2005 VB is not a law. It is a statement by DOS. The law is section 202 of INA.
In both cases (before and after AC21) allocation of unused visas should go in a last month of calnder quarter. Both sec 202 3 a and 202 a 5 says "in a calender quarter" ..
Before AC21
3) Exception if additional visas available. - If because of the application of paragraph (2) with respect to one or more foreign states or dependent areas, the total number of visas available under both subsections (a) and (b) of section 203 for a calendar quarter exceeds the number of qualified immigrants who otherwise may be issued such a visa, paragraph (2) shall not apply to visas made available to such states or areas during the remainder of such calendar quarter.
After AC21..
(A) EMPLOYMENT-BASED IMMIGRANTS NOT SUBJECT TO PER COUNTRY LIMITATION IF ADDITIONAL VISAS AVAILABLE- If the total number of visas available under paragraph (1), (2), (3), (4), or (5) of section 203(b) for a calendar quarter exceeds the number of qualified immigrants who may otherwise be issued such visas, the visas made available under that paragraph shall be issued without regard to the numerical limitation under paragraph (2) of this subsection during the remainder of the calendar quarter.
Now ROW experts, post your comment for this hypothitical example ..
Lets assume there are 100 unused visas in EB2 catagory in a calender quarter. Worldwide EB damand is more than 140,000. Now, how will you assisn those numbers if it is before AC21 period and if it is after AC21 period.
If you say in both cases it goes to EB3-ROW, then we are not stupid to listien.
After AC21, the spill over should go horizontally. But it is not going so. There is something going behind the screen. There is some reason for DOS is doing so. The law is not gray in this respect. It can be easily litigated, if they issued less than 40,000 EB2 visas and more than 40,000 EB3 visas. Nov 2005 VB is not a law. It is a statement by DOS. The law is section 202 of INA.
In both cases (before and after AC21) allocation of unused visas should go in a last month of calnder quarter. Both sec 202 3 a and 202 a 5 says "in a calender quarter" ..
Before AC21
3) Exception if additional visas available. - If because of the application of paragraph (2) with respect to one or more foreign states or dependent areas, the total number of visas available under both subsections (a) and (b) of section 203 for a calendar quarter exceeds the number of qualified immigrants who otherwise may be issued such a visa, paragraph (2) shall not apply to visas made available to such states or areas during the remainder of such calendar quarter.
After AC21..
(A) EMPLOYMENT-BASED IMMIGRANTS NOT SUBJECT TO PER COUNTRY LIMITATION IF ADDITIONAL VISAS AVAILABLE- If the total number of visas available under paragraph (1), (2), (3), (4), or (5) of section 203(b) for a calendar quarter exceeds the number of qualified immigrants who may otherwise be issued such visas, the visas made available under that paragraph shall be issued without regard to the numerical limitation under paragraph (2) of this subsection during the remainder of the calendar quarter.
Now ROW experts, post your comment for this hypothitical example ..
Lets assume there are 100 unused visas in EB2 catagory in a calender quarter. Worldwide EB damand is more than 140,000. Now, how will you assisn those numbers if it is before AC21 period and if it is after AC21 period.
If you say in both cases it goes to EB3-ROW, then we are not stupid to listien.
more...
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saileshdude
05-28 11:35 PM
EB2 and EB3 will be in queue for sometime, fact being the latest fraud by Indian IT firms.
Please read then post comments.
I personally know 7 people who came to US in 2008 via Indian IT firm - designations [Sr Project managers or Program manager]....
Applied for GC under EB1 and every one of them have a GC now....not to mention few MNC's based out in India have done the same...one of my friends who works for an US based consulting firm in Hyd is here in US on H1B [12 months] he has a GC.....EB1
Before it was Labor Substitution cases that caused suffering everyone who is waiting in line for years. Now it is this fraud EB1 cases. I am planning to write to Ombudsman to bring this to the attention of USCIS to process EB1 cases from India with extreme scrutiny.
Indian IT firms make designation as multinational executives where in actuality these people are just bunch of clowns. This needs to be controlled now before we have another year of misuse of EB1 cases. Is IV going to do something to make sure EB1 cases really get scrutinized and are given to only who really deserve it. I think thats one of the things IV should be pushing for.
I am pretty sure Cognizant is one of the companies who is doing this.
Please read then post comments.
I personally know 7 people who came to US in 2008 via Indian IT firm - designations [Sr Project managers or Program manager]....
Applied for GC under EB1 and every one of them have a GC now....not to mention few MNC's based out in India have done the same...one of my friends who works for an US based consulting firm in Hyd is here in US on H1B [12 months] he has a GC.....EB1
Before it was Labor Substitution cases that caused suffering everyone who is waiting in line for years. Now it is this fraud EB1 cases. I am planning to write to Ombudsman to bring this to the attention of USCIS to process EB1 cases from India with extreme scrutiny.
Indian IT firms make designation as multinational executives where in actuality these people are just bunch of clowns. This needs to be controlled now before we have another year of misuse of EB1 cases. Is IV going to do something to make sure EB1 cases really get scrutinized and are given to only who really deserve it. I think thats one of the things IV should be pushing for.
I am pretty sure Cognizant is one of the companies who is doing this.
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newtoearth
05-02 05:35 PM
...
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newtoearth
05-03 01:36 AM
...
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krish2005
01-14 12:15 PM
To the poster of this thread.
Voted your thread as 5 stars given the severity. The info provided by you is so very critical to our survival as H1B in US.
Voted your thread as 5 stars given the severity. The info provided by you is so very critical to our survival as H1B in US.
more...
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kaisersose
07-17 10:50 AM
Assuming that the spill overs are effected only in the last (JAS) quarter, there wont be any significant movement for EB2. Until and otherwise the supply is more than demand, EB2 will not move forward significantly.
But I wish EB2 becomes current in the near future. Correct me if i am wrong.
How "near" is near? For EB2 to become current, the current policy of horizontal spillover should reamin in effect through Fiscal 2009. if that holds true, then as spillover takes effect typically after the first 6 months, we should see movement in India EB2 again, starting from April/May 2009 and there is good possiblity that EB2-India may reach somewhere close to July 2007, if not current.
But I wish EB2 becomes current in the near future. Correct me if i am wrong.
How "near" is near? For EB2 to become current, the current policy of horizontal spillover should reamin in effect through Fiscal 2009. if that holds true, then as spillover takes effect typically after the first 6 months, we should see movement in India EB2 again, starting from April/May 2009 and there is good possiblity that EB2-India may reach somewhere close to July 2007, if not current.
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InTheMoment
07-15 10:04 PM
vdlrao,
True Eb2 will move and would not retrogress taking the new FY as a whole..but it becoming current by next Oct is a bit far fetched.
Remember in the first quarter of FY07 EB2 was U with all 01, 02, 03, and Jan-Mar 04 (mostly 03 as 01 and 02 were current for long and didn't have many in the labor backlog centers) used all the numbers. With several EB2's issued during the fiasco + 1st and 3rd quarter and into the 4th quarter, we are now slowly seeing everything till Mar 04 cleared up. It took almost a year to have 03 cleared up.
And you guess is 04-08 would get cleared in another year :p hard to believe!
I presume EB2 India will be current by next October. Till now for EB2 India there are only 7% of 140K visas. Due to the new change of horizontal fall outs EB2 India exclusively getting about 50k visas, very little share to china. So this change making an availability of additional 50k visas to EB2 India along with regular 9.8k. So total About 60K visas for EB2 India. This includes unused Family Visa Numbers as well.
And due to the change to Horizontal Fall out of Visa Numbers from Vertical Fall outs, Its not the India which loses but its EB3 ROW.
True Eb2 will move and would not retrogress taking the new FY as a whole..but it becoming current by next Oct is a bit far fetched.
Remember in the first quarter of FY07 EB2 was U with all 01, 02, 03, and Jan-Mar 04 (mostly 03 as 01 and 02 were current for long and didn't have many in the labor backlog centers) used all the numbers. With several EB2's issued during the fiasco + 1st and 3rd quarter and into the 4th quarter, we are now slowly seeing everything till Mar 04 cleared up. It took almost a year to have 03 cleared up.
And you guess is 04-08 would get cleared in another year :p hard to believe!
I presume EB2 India will be current by next October. Till now for EB2 India there are only 7% of 140K visas. Due to the new change of horizontal fall outs EB2 India exclusively getting about 50k visas, very little share to china. So this change making an availability of additional 50k visas to EB2 India along with regular 9.8k. So total About 60K visas for EB2 India. This includes unused Family Visa Numbers as well.
And due to the change to Horizontal Fall out of Visa Numbers from Vertical Fall outs, Its not the India which loses but its EB3 ROW.
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venetian
05-17 12:27 AM
Your statement completely misleads and not true.
SL Tamils are not immigrants but are the native sons of northern part of the present geographical area known as Sri Lanka. Before Europeans came more than 500 years ago to Sri Lanka, SL Tamils had their own kingdom but when finally British left, they left the Tamils land and fate with the hands of the narrow minded majority, who started to discriminate ingenious Tamils left and right.
Of course as you said, there are Indian Tamils in Sri Lanka who were taken by British to work in the tea plantations. Besides, Muslims in Sri Lanka also speak Tamil but they don’t usually associate racially with Tamils and maintain separate identity
Current issue in Sri Lanka is between native Tamils and Sinhalese. Indian Tamils factor very minimal in this conflict.
Please do some research before putting things in historical puerspective.
We all have heard about great war of Kalinga in Which Samart Ashoka's army killed almost 2 hundred thosand people in a very short span of time. At the time thosands of people fled from Patliputra to current Odissa and many from that lot kept on pushing them till they found their last destination which is Sri Lanka. Decendents of these people today call them Sinhaleese. In the last 2 centuray British colonized Sri Lanka like India and ruled it. British take tamils to sri lanka for labor. Thus the ancestors of present day Sri Lankan's tamils have fairly recently migrated to Sri Lanka.
SL Tamils are not immigrants but are the native sons of northern part of the present geographical area known as Sri Lanka. Before Europeans came more than 500 years ago to Sri Lanka, SL Tamils had their own kingdom but when finally British left, they left the Tamils land and fate with the hands of the narrow minded majority, who started to discriminate ingenious Tamils left and right.
Of course as you said, there are Indian Tamils in Sri Lanka who were taken by British to work in the tea plantations. Besides, Muslims in Sri Lanka also speak Tamil but they don’t usually associate racially with Tamils and maintain separate identity
Current issue in Sri Lanka is between native Tamils and Sinhalese. Indian Tamils factor very minimal in this conflict.
Please do some research before putting things in historical puerspective.
We all have heard about great war of Kalinga in Which Samart Ashoka's army killed almost 2 hundred thosand people in a very short span of time. At the time thosands of people fled from Patliputra to current Odissa and many from that lot kept on pushing them till they found their last destination which is Sri Lanka. Decendents of these people today call them Sinhaleese. In the last 2 centuray British colonized Sri Lanka like India and ruled it. British take tamils to sri lanka for labor. Thus the ancestors of present day Sri Lankan's tamils have fairly recently migrated to Sri Lanka.
hebbar77
05-29 07:18 PM
nothing came easy for immigrants here including europeans immigrants in early 1500's! They silenced the people to make their way!, we are standing in line!
swo
07-12 09:29 PM
I have to tell you, I read this report in the paper when it was on the front page. While it may be true that some people are always impacted, those that have applied for Canadian PR after living in the states have been successful and had results in less than 2 years from beginning to end, and without the shadow of being employed by a given employer hanging over them.
No, sorry. It's just not typical. The Canadian "Backlog" does not even BEGIN to compare to the broken, extended, in-status, out-of-status, this form, that form, this queue, priority date, receipt date, labor cert workflow that is the US immigration system.
Reading this article you would think the Canadian system was a disaster. And yet, the amazing thing is, nowhere was there a mention of EXISTING problems with the US system. Just a criticism of the point system.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/27/washington/27points.html?ex=1184385600&en=d3301beecf778d15&ei=5070
June 27, 2007
Canada’s Policy on Immigrants Brings Backlog
By CHRISTOPHER MASON and JULIA PRESTON
TORONTO, June 26 — With an advanced degree in business management from a university in India and impeccable English, Salman Kureishy is precisely the type of foreigner that Canada’s merit-based immigration system was designed to attract.
Yet eight years went by from the time Mr. Kureishy passed his first Canadian immigration test until he moved from India to Canada. Then he had to endure nine months of bureaucratic delays before landing a job in his field in March.
Mr. Kureishy’s experience — and that of Canada’s immigration system — offers a cautionary tale for the United States. Mr. Kureishy came to this country under a system Canada pioneered in the 1960s that favors highly skilled foreigners, by assigning points for education and work experience and accepting those who earn high scores.
A similar point system for the United States is proposed in the immigration bill that bounced back to life on Tuesday, when the Senate reversed a previous stand and brought the bill back to the floor. The vote did not guarantee passage of the bill, which calls for the biggest changes in immigration law in more than 20 years.
The point system has helped Canada compete with the United States and other Western powers for highly educated workers, the most coveted immigrants in high-tech and other cutting-edge industries. But in recent years, immigration lawyers and labor market analysts say, the Canadian system has become an immovable beast, with a backlog of more than 800,000 applications and waits of four years or more.
The system’s bias toward the educated has left some industries crying out for skilled blue-collar workers, especially in western Canada where Alberta’s busy oil fields have generated an economic boom. Studies by the Alberta government show the province could be short by as many as 100,000 workers over the next decade.
In response, some Canadian employers are sidestepping the point system and relying instead on a program initiated in 1998 that allows provincial governments to hand-pick some immigrant workers, and on temporary foreign-worker permits.
“The points system is so inflexible,” said Herman Van Reekum, an immigration consultant in Calgary who helps Alberta employers find workers. “We need low-skill workers and trades workers here, and those people have no hope under the points system.”
Canada accepts about 250,000 immigrants each year, more than doubling the per-capita rate of immigration in the United States, census figures from both countries show. Nearly two-thirds of Canada’s population growth comes from immigrants, according to the 2006 census, compared with the United States, where about 43 percent of the population growth comes from immigration. Approximately half of Canada’s immigrants come through the point system.
Under Canada’s system, 67 points on a 100-point test is a passing score. In addition to education and work experience, aspiring immigrants earn high points for their command of languages and for being between 21 and 49 years old. In the United States, the Senate bill would grant higher points for advanced education, English proficiency and skills in technology and other fields that are in demand. Lower points would be given for the family ties that have been the basic stepping stones of the American immigration system for four decades.
Part of the backlog in Canada can be traced to a provision in the Canadian system that allows highly skilled foreigners to apply to immigrate even if they do not have a job offer. Similarly, the Senate bill would not require merit system applicants to have job offers in the United States, although it would grant additional points to those who do.
Without an employment requirement, Canada has been deluged with applications. In testimony in May before an immigration subcommittee of the United States House of Representatives, Howard Greenberg, an immigration lawyer in Toronto, compared the Canadian system to a bathtub with an open faucet and a clogged drain. “It is not surprising that Canada’s bathtub is overflowing,” Mr. Greenberg said.
Since applications are not screened first by employers, the government bears the burden and cost of assessing them. The system is often slow to evaluate the foreign education credentials and work experience of new immigrants and to direct them toward employers who need their skills, said Jeffrey Reitz, professor of immigration studies at the University of Toronto.
The problem has been acute in regulated professions like medicine, where a professional organization, the Medical Council of Canada, reviews foreign credentials of new immigrants. The group has had difficulty assessing how a degree earned in China or India stacks up against a similar degree from a university in Canada or the United States. Frustrated by delays, some doctors and other highly trained immigrants take jobs outside their fields just to make ends meet.
The sheer size of the Canadian point system, the complexity of its rules and its backlogs make it slow to adjust to shifts in the labor market, like the oil boom in Alberta.
“I am a university professor, and I can barely figure out the points system,” said Don J. DeVoretz, an economics professor at Simon Fraser University in British Columbia who studies immigration systems. “Lawyers have books that are three feet thick explaining the system.”
The rush to develop the oil fields in northern Alberta has attracted oil companies from around the world, unleashing a surge of construction. Contractors say that often the only thing holding them back is a shortage of qualified workers.
Scott Burns, president of Burnco Rock Products in Calgary, a construction materials company with about 1,000 employees, said he had been able to meet his labor needs only by using temporary work permits. Mr. Burns hired 39 Filipinos for jobs in his concrete plants and plans to hire more. He said that many of the temporary workers had critically needed skills, but that they had no hope of immigrating permanently under the federal point system.
“The system is very much broken,” Mr. Burns said.
Mr. Kureishy, the immigrant from India, said he was drawn to Canada late in his career by its open society and what appeared to be strong interest in his professional abilities. But even though he waited eight years to immigrate, the equivalent of a doctoral degree in human resources development that he earned from Xavier Labor Relations Institute in India was not evaluated in Canada until he arrived here. During his first six months, Canadian employers had no formal comparison of his credentials to guide them.
Eventually, Mr. Kureishy, 55, found full-time work in his field, as a program manager assisting foreign professionals at Ryerson University in Toronto. “It was a long process, but I look at myself as fairly resilient,” Mr. Kureishy said.
He criticized Canada as providing little support to immigrants after they arrived.
“If you advertised for professors and one comes over and is driving a taxi,” he said, “that’s a problem.”
Christopher Mason reported from Toronto, and Julia Preston from New York.
No, sorry. It's just not typical. The Canadian "Backlog" does not even BEGIN to compare to the broken, extended, in-status, out-of-status, this form, that form, this queue, priority date, receipt date, labor cert workflow that is the US immigration system.
Reading this article you would think the Canadian system was a disaster. And yet, the amazing thing is, nowhere was there a mention of EXISTING problems with the US system. Just a criticism of the point system.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/27/washington/27points.html?ex=1184385600&en=d3301beecf778d15&ei=5070
June 27, 2007
Canada’s Policy on Immigrants Brings Backlog
By CHRISTOPHER MASON and JULIA PRESTON
TORONTO, June 26 — With an advanced degree in business management from a university in India and impeccable English, Salman Kureishy is precisely the type of foreigner that Canada’s merit-based immigration system was designed to attract.
Yet eight years went by from the time Mr. Kureishy passed his first Canadian immigration test until he moved from India to Canada. Then he had to endure nine months of bureaucratic delays before landing a job in his field in March.
Mr. Kureishy’s experience — and that of Canada’s immigration system — offers a cautionary tale for the United States. Mr. Kureishy came to this country under a system Canada pioneered in the 1960s that favors highly skilled foreigners, by assigning points for education and work experience and accepting those who earn high scores.
A similar point system for the United States is proposed in the immigration bill that bounced back to life on Tuesday, when the Senate reversed a previous stand and brought the bill back to the floor. The vote did not guarantee passage of the bill, which calls for the biggest changes in immigration law in more than 20 years.
The point system has helped Canada compete with the United States and other Western powers for highly educated workers, the most coveted immigrants in high-tech and other cutting-edge industries. But in recent years, immigration lawyers and labor market analysts say, the Canadian system has become an immovable beast, with a backlog of more than 800,000 applications and waits of four years or more.
The system’s bias toward the educated has left some industries crying out for skilled blue-collar workers, especially in western Canada where Alberta’s busy oil fields have generated an economic boom. Studies by the Alberta government show the province could be short by as many as 100,000 workers over the next decade.
In response, some Canadian employers are sidestepping the point system and relying instead on a program initiated in 1998 that allows provincial governments to hand-pick some immigrant workers, and on temporary foreign-worker permits.
“The points system is so inflexible,” said Herman Van Reekum, an immigration consultant in Calgary who helps Alberta employers find workers. “We need low-skill workers and trades workers here, and those people have no hope under the points system.”
Canada accepts about 250,000 immigrants each year, more than doubling the per-capita rate of immigration in the United States, census figures from both countries show. Nearly two-thirds of Canada’s population growth comes from immigrants, according to the 2006 census, compared with the United States, where about 43 percent of the population growth comes from immigration. Approximately half of Canada’s immigrants come through the point system.
Under Canada’s system, 67 points on a 100-point test is a passing score. In addition to education and work experience, aspiring immigrants earn high points for their command of languages and for being between 21 and 49 years old. In the United States, the Senate bill would grant higher points for advanced education, English proficiency and skills in technology and other fields that are in demand. Lower points would be given for the family ties that have been the basic stepping stones of the American immigration system for four decades.
Part of the backlog in Canada can be traced to a provision in the Canadian system that allows highly skilled foreigners to apply to immigrate even if they do not have a job offer. Similarly, the Senate bill would not require merit system applicants to have job offers in the United States, although it would grant additional points to those who do.
Without an employment requirement, Canada has been deluged with applications. In testimony in May before an immigration subcommittee of the United States House of Representatives, Howard Greenberg, an immigration lawyer in Toronto, compared the Canadian system to a bathtub with an open faucet and a clogged drain. “It is not surprising that Canada’s bathtub is overflowing,” Mr. Greenberg said.
Since applications are not screened first by employers, the government bears the burden and cost of assessing them. The system is often slow to evaluate the foreign education credentials and work experience of new immigrants and to direct them toward employers who need their skills, said Jeffrey Reitz, professor of immigration studies at the University of Toronto.
The problem has been acute in regulated professions like medicine, where a professional organization, the Medical Council of Canada, reviews foreign credentials of new immigrants. The group has had difficulty assessing how a degree earned in China or India stacks up against a similar degree from a university in Canada or the United States. Frustrated by delays, some doctors and other highly trained immigrants take jobs outside their fields just to make ends meet.
The sheer size of the Canadian point system, the complexity of its rules and its backlogs make it slow to adjust to shifts in the labor market, like the oil boom in Alberta.
“I am a university professor, and I can barely figure out the points system,” said Don J. DeVoretz, an economics professor at Simon Fraser University in British Columbia who studies immigration systems. “Lawyers have books that are three feet thick explaining the system.”
The rush to develop the oil fields in northern Alberta has attracted oil companies from around the world, unleashing a surge of construction. Contractors say that often the only thing holding them back is a shortage of qualified workers.
Scott Burns, president of Burnco Rock Products in Calgary, a construction materials company with about 1,000 employees, said he had been able to meet his labor needs only by using temporary work permits. Mr. Burns hired 39 Filipinos for jobs in his concrete plants and plans to hire more. He said that many of the temporary workers had critically needed skills, but that they had no hope of immigrating permanently under the federal point system.
“The system is very much broken,” Mr. Burns said.
Mr. Kureishy, the immigrant from India, said he was drawn to Canada late in his career by its open society and what appeared to be strong interest in his professional abilities. But even though he waited eight years to immigrate, the equivalent of a doctoral degree in human resources development that he earned from Xavier Labor Relations Institute in India was not evaluated in Canada until he arrived here. During his first six months, Canadian employers had no formal comparison of his credentials to guide them.
Eventually, Mr. Kureishy, 55, found full-time work in his field, as a program manager assisting foreign professionals at Ryerson University in Toronto. “It was a long process, but I look at myself as fairly resilient,” Mr. Kureishy said.
He criticized Canada as providing little support to immigrants after they arrived.
“If you advertised for professors and one comes over and is driving a taxi,” he said, “that’s a problem.”
Christopher Mason reported from Toronto, and Julia Preston from New York.
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