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For Green Card Applicants, Waiting Is the Hardest Part
Rajesh Poudyal, with wife Mala and five-week-old son Shreya, is still waiting for his green card. He arrived 15 years ago on a student visa and applied for his green card in November 2001.
(By Preston Keres -- The Washington Post)
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Companies have started speaking out about U.S. immigration policy, saying it affects their ability to hire the best people. Microsoft Corp. Chairman Bill Gates has repeatedly advocated removing caps on H-1B visas.
Immigration lawyer Liz Espin Stern of Baker & McKenzie LLP said, other countries are trying to make immigrating easier. "Canada, the U.K., Australia are passing foreign-employee-friendly policies," she said. "It's a very inviting program. Our program in the U.S. has shifted. It sends a message: Don't come."
Employers say the backlog also has become expensive. After six years, companies with employees who have been on an H-1B visa must apply for extensions -- and pay the associated legal and filing fees -- every year while the green card is being processed.
"There's a bit of an expense associated with it," said Cliff Sink, the chief executive of EastBanc Technologies LLC in the District. He said the cost of sponsoring one immigrant employee ranges from $3,000 to $5,000. "We stopped paying for the green card because the prices had gone up so much."
His reality might seem incongruous with an immigration policy that mandates that these green cards are employer-driven, but many immigrants do end up paying for their passage to permanent residency.
After paying nearly $10,000 for lawyers, Gopal Ratnam, a journalist from India, said he thinks he has made too hefty an investment to turn back. Besides, his daughters are accustomed to U.S. schools and ways.
"One stage of it has taken four years," said Ratnam, a staff writer for Army Times Publishing Co.'s Defense News in Springfield. "I've invested all the money, resources and time. Should I just say, 'All right, I will give it up and go back to where I came from?' "
Even after the backlog on the Labor Department's end is cleared, immigration attorney Michael Maggio warns, the wait might not be over. He worries the Homeland Security Department might not be able to meet the demand for employment-based green cards with current quotas.
"We're looking at a situation that's just ongoing," he said.
