newbie2020
05-02 07:22 AM
I watched the video and One of the things I noticed was the difficulty the State dept is facing to keep the numbers within limitation so they tend to achieve 90%-95% because the legislative limitation doesn't allow them to go beyond even by few numbers
When i compare the same situation with that of an IPO of a company. Typically a company coming out with an IPO will have certain number of shares authorized to sell, In addition to that they also reserve certain small number in addition to these to accommodate any excess shares issued by the underwriters.
Why don't we have some numbers similar to that. This would make the life of the State dept much easier.
Any thoughts
When i compare the same situation with that of an IPO of a company. Typically a company coming out with an IPO will have certain number of shares authorized to sell, In addition to that they also reserve certain small number in addition to these to accommodate any excess shares issued by the underwriters.
Why don't we have some numbers similar to that. This would make the life of the State dept much easier.
Any thoughts
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srhari
07-14 01:27 PM
here is my response thru my Bank Onlie pay
Immigration Voice
Immigration Voice
$ 5.00 07/18/2008 7Y9YG-2BT90
Please Help IV to help us
Thanks
Bestofall
PD-EB2 Mar 2005 India
AP-EAD received
Do you know how to pay online from my bank account? I checked the contributions page, but it discusses about paying through Paypal (and for $100+).
Immigration Voice
Immigration Voice
$ 5.00 07/18/2008 7Y9YG-2BT90
Please Help IV to help us
Thanks
Bestofall
PD-EB2 Mar 2005 India
AP-EAD received
Do you know how to pay online from my bank account? I checked the contributions page, but it discusses about paying through Paypal (and for $100+).
Aah_GC
06-10 10:09 AM
My suggestion - Do your best to support IV - contribute and make those calls. Rest: Leave it to the man above - and move on with your priorities.
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andy007
07-18 12:00 AM
Receipt date is not the date when the application reaches the service center. It is infact the date when your application is entered into their internal system which could be several days after the application has reached the service center.
And all application they enter into the system.. then give us a Receipt Date Right ... from that time we can apply for EAD / AP (will take time again)
And all application they enter into the system.. then give us a Receipt Date Right ... from that time we can apply for EAD / AP (will take time again)
more...
eastindia
04-29 05:40 PM
Can I call now? When will office close?
pappu
03-12 12:39 PM
With this model can IV still claim to be a non-profit organization? It seems you are exchanging information in return of cold hard cash? :p
Being a non-profit does not mean everything is free. Even some of our profession's organizations are non-profits and they want subscription to even login to their site. We are being very generous and providing everything for free and we will continue to do so to provide free access to immigrants on our site. Only a small donor area is for donors so that such members can have easy access to information and admins.
Being a non-profit does not mean everything is free. Even some of our profession's organizations are non-profits and they want subscription to even login to their site. We are being very generous and providing everything for free and we will continue to do so to provide free access to immigrants on our site. Only a small donor area is for donors so that such members can have easy access to information and admins.
more...
Libra
09-10 03:09 PM
thanks manugee for contribution and consideration for rally.
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yabadaba
07-06 01:13 PM
there is a new post on aila
"July 2, 2007, State Department Notice to USCIS Regarding EB Visa Availability"
members only
"July 2, 2007, State Department Notice to USCIS Regarding EB Visa Availability"
members only
more...
gccovet
10-20 12:03 PM
The thread needs to float on top
^^BUMP^^
^^BUMP^^
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ronhira
07-06 02:04 AM
lahiribaba - you are my hero. this is the best idea yaar :D
Instead of hiring a full time lobbyist why dont we hire a full time manager who will contact IV members and drive funding drives , organize campaigns , send and spam USCIS with emails flowers and faxes and keep it moving. Heck may be we can even offshore and outsource it. Take a look at YourManInIndia (http://www.yourmaninindia.com/) . At 7$ per hour this wont take much. Lets take the help of our brothers and sisters in Inda to get GC .. let them help us while we help them..
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
But we're never gonna survive, unless...
We get a little crazy
No we're never gonna survive, unless...
We are a little...
Crazy...crazy...crazy...
~~~~~~~ Seal ~~~~~~~~~~
Instead of hiring a full time lobbyist why dont we hire a full time manager who will contact IV members and drive funding drives , organize campaigns , send and spam USCIS with emails flowers and faxes and keep it moving. Heck may be we can even offshore and outsource it. Take a look at YourManInIndia (http://www.yourmaninindia.com/) . At 7$ per hour this wont take much. Lets take the help of our brothers and sisters in Inda to get GC .. let them help us while we help them..
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
But we're never gonna survive, unless...
We get a little crazy
No we're never gonna survive, unless...
We are a little...
Crazy...crazy...crazy...
~~~~~~~ Seal ~~~~~~~~~~
more...
isedkeem
03-06 10:11 AM
Sorry to hear about your ordeals. The good news is that EB3- ROW should move forward at a good clip in a few months - some estimates from a lawyer I talked to seem to indicate a jump into early 2006 by the end of this year, so hang in there and remember that it is darkest before dawn.
If you are keen on a backup, have you considered immigrating to New Zealand? It is a great option if you need a peaceful life and the weather is just like California (unlike Canada) and they have universal health care too. For people who have worked in the US for a few years in recognized fields, NZ is quite easy to immigrate to and very quick. Your English seems to be quite good so I don't see why you should be so disheartened. I guess this advice also applies to Indians who are frustrated with the delays.
Good luck!
Immigrating legally to the U.S seemed like a gold opportunity when I was offered to work here six years ago with an H1B visa. As a matter of fact, all my friends and family considered that it would have been crazy not to take advantage of the "opportunity" to live and work in the most developed country on Earth.
It's been six long years of challenges and learning experiences, but mostly it's been six years of financial distress, anxiety, paralysis and uncertainty.
We applied for PR four years ago, but in the process my wife and I have eaten all our saving in lawyer fees - and at this point we're just one more number in the long list of EB3 applicants who don't have the remotest idea of when visa numbers will become available so we can have a normal life. I don't even consider traveling to my country cause I don't have the money to pay for APs for me and my wife. My career has been also frozen since I cant take promotions to higher positions that will fall off the job description stated in my PERM.
If I had known about this ordeal, I would have never come to the US. I would have looked for other options, in countries that have a more sincere and generous immigration policies instead. If the US is not interested in allowing people to legally immigrate through visas based on employment, they simply should eliminate these visas and make clear that they don't want us to stay. Wouldn't that be easy for everyone?
I would return to my country if we didn't have a nasty political turmoil and the social decay that comes with it. Yet, I feel that the days go by and our lives are entangled in this absurd situation.
If you are keen on a backup, have you considered immigrating to New Zealand? It is a great option if you need a peaceful life and the weather is just like California (unlike Canada) and they have universal health care too. For people who have worked in the US for a few years in recognized fields, NZ is quite easy to immigrate to and very quick. Your English seems to be quite good so I don't see why you should be so disheartened. I guess this advice also applies to Indians who are frustrated with the delays.
Good luck!
Immigrating legally to the U.S seemed like a gold opportunity when I was offered to work here six years ago with an H1B visa. As a matter of fact, all my friends and family considered that it would have been crazy not to take advantage of the "opportunity" to live and work in the most developed country on Earth.
It's been six long years of challenges and learning experiences, but mostly it's been six years of financial distress, anxiety, paralysis and uncertainty.
We applied for PR four years ago, but in the process my wife and I have eaten all our saving in lawyer fees - and at this point we're just one more number in the long list of EB3 applicants who don't have the remotest idea of when visa numbers will become available so we can have a normal life. I don't even consider traveling to my country cause I don't have the money to pay for APs for me and my wife. My career has been also frozen since I cant take promotions to higher positions that will fall off the job description stated in my PERM.
If I had known about this ordeal, I would have never come to the US. I would have looked for other options, in countries that have a more sincere and generous immigration policies instead. If the US is not interested in allowing people to legally immigrate through visas based on employment, they simply should eliminate these visas and make clear that they don't want us to stay. Wouldn't that be easy for everyone?
I would return to my country if we didn't have a nasty political turmoil and the social decay that comes with it. Yet, I feel that the days go by and our lives are entangled in this absurd situation.
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CADude
07-05 12:46 PM
I used AILA site to send the mail. May be some one else provide the email info. Thanks
It would be helpful if you few addresses for senators so that everyone can send letters right away.
It would be helpful if you few addresses for senators so that everyone can send letters right away.
more...
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CaliHoneB
09-08 10:29 AM
Came here in july 1997
filed LC in 2003 thinking it would be useful to stay on H1 as long as possible!! and the rest is on my profile..
I wonder if anybody thinks it makes sense to create a law which simply says after 15 (or some X years) of legal presence in the US you will be given a GC no matter the back ground! In that way we know exactly where the deadline is irrespective of some government agency's whim.
filed LC in 2003 thinking it would be useful to stay on H1 as long as possible!! and the rest is on my profile..
I wonder if anybody thinks it makes sense to create a law which simply says after 15 (or some X years) of legal presence in the US you will be given a GC no matter the back ground! In that way we know exactly where the deadline is irrespective of some government agency's whim.
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gc_check
07-11 12:28 PM
Hi,
My wife is on H4 and she has her H4 extension approval. But the local DMV says that they need to see a visa stamp in her passport to issue a DL. Its actually exchanging her out of state DL! Can anyone from NC (Raleigh, Cary, RTP, Durham etc) share their experiences please.
This was introduced very recently and unfortunately they are asking for a VISA Stamp in Passport. Earlier they were not issuing the DL without an ITIN if you do not have SSN; my wife had to wait for almost a year as you cannot apply for ITIN unless you send the W7 with your tax returns due to new regulations. Now they are NOT concerned on ITIN, but are looking for VISA stamp. Only thing that can be done online in NC with regards to DL is you can get a Duplicate DL online if lost or your address is changed. Try writing to Congressman David Price and see if you can get assist from him. I know this office has helped folks here on Visas before for other issues.
My wife is on H4 and she has her H4 extension approval. But the local DMV says that they need to see a visa stamp in her passport to issue a DL. Its actually exchanging her out of state DL! Can anyone from NC (Raleigh, Cary, RTP, Durham etc) share their experiences please.
This was introduced very recently and unfortunately they are asking for a VISA Stamp in Passport. Earlier they were not issuing the DL without an ITIN if you do not have SSN; my wife had to wait for almost a year as you cannot apply for ITIN unless you send the W7 with your tax returns due to new regulations. Now they are NOT concerned on ITIN, but are looking for VISA stamp. Only thing that can be done online in NC with regards to DL is you can get a Duplicate DL online if lost or your address is changed. Try writing to Congressman David Price and see if you can get assist from him. I know this office has helped folks here on Visas before for other issues.
more...
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mirage
08-17 01:20 PM
Guys please send out these letters, It needs 20 minutes of your time & about $2 stamps. But it can really save us lot of time and anxiety, as, if it goes well with Rep. Zoe Lofgren or Senator Cornyn they can mandate USCIS to publish these statistics. Rep. Logfren has done this in the past(mandating USCIS & DOS) she may do it for us....
-----
To,
Charles Oppenheim / Visa Section
U.S. Department of State
2201 C Street NW
Washington, DC 20520
From,
Your Name/Your Address/EB-3 India Applicant
Priority Date: May 2003
Some City,
OK-2#####
Dear Sir/Madam,
Sub: Statistics on Employment Based AOS(Adjustment of Status) applications pending at USCIS under various categories
I am writing to you to express my sense of helplessness over the unpredictability of Visa Number allotment to various employment based category. I want to bring to your attention that it�s been nearly a �Decade� since we saw any meaningful Visa Date movement from year 2001 for EB-3 Green Card applicants from India.
It is important to know that despite of severe visa retrogression and random visa cutoff date movements, USICIS or DOS hasn�t released any official information on how many Adjustment of Status applications are pending at USCIS under various categories which leaves thousands of AOS(Adjustment of Status) applicants in complete darkness and dependent on guessing games by various Law firms.
A green card application requires enormous amount of efforts and money from the beneficiary and his/her employer. People who are waiting for 7-8 years now would have had already spent average $15,000-$20,000, in maintaining their statuses and keep the Green Card process going on. Being stuck in a green card process keeps us bonded with 1 employer, job type etc.
We need to know if there is any light at the end of the tunnel. We need to know for how long we have to live our life in limbo. If there is hope than we need to be patient and plan to live like that for another 1-2 years. But if there�s no light at the end of the tunnel than we need to move on with our careers and other family commitments. Only your office and USCIS can help us by releasing statistics on the number and categories of applications pending with USCIS people waiting in this category can plan their lives accordingly.
It will be a great help if DOS or USCIS could tell us about the number of AOS application pending at USCIS along with their Categories(EB-3, EB-2, EB-1) and chargeable country.
We have been waiting for a decade and continue to wait would it be reasonable to request you for some guidance with regards to the Visa allotment. I request your office to provide some statistics on home many Adjustment of Status applications are pending at USCIS.
We understand that you work with in the limits of the law as set by the Congress and are limited by various constraints that are beyond your agency realm of work. We appreciate your hard work and sincerely thank you for all the hard work.
God Bless America!
Thank you for you attention,
(Your Name OR EB-3 India Applicant )
Priority Date: April 02
Category: EB-3
Member ImmigrationVoice.Org
Copy Sent to
Honorable Secretary of State
Dr. Condoleezza Rice
U.S. Department of State
2201 C Street NW
Washington, DC 20520
Honorable Director, USCIS
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service
20 Massachusetts Avenue, NW
Washington, D.C. 20529
Citizenship and Immigration Services Ombudsman
Department of Homeland Security
Attention: Case Problems
Mail Stop 1225
Washington, D.C. 20528-1225
Senator John Cornyn
Chairman - United States Senate Judiciary subCommittee on
Immigration, Border Security and Citizenship
517 Hart Senate Office Bldg.
Washington, DC 20510
Main: 202-224-2934
Fax: 202-228-2856
Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren
Chairwoman - United States House Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration, Citizenship,
Refugees, Border Security, and International Law
102 Cannon HOB
Washington, D.C. 20515
Telephone (202) 225-3072
-----
To,
Charles Oppenheim / Visa Section
U.S. Department of State
2201 C Street NW
Washington, DC 20520
From,
Your Name/Your Address/EB-3 India Applicant
Priority Date: May 2003
Some City,
OK-2#####
Dear Sir/Madam,
Sub: Statistics on Employment Based AOS(Adjustment of Status) applications pending at USCIS under various categories
I am writing to you to express my sense of helplessness over the unpredictability of Visa Number allotment to various employment based category. I want to bring to your attention that it�s been nearly a �Decade� since we saw any meaningful Visa Date movement from year 2001 for EB-3 Green Card applicants from India.
It is important to know that despite of severe visa retrogression and random visa cutoff date movements, USICIS or DOS hasn�t released any official information on how many Adjustment of Status applications are pending at USCIS under various categories which leaves thousands of AOS(Adjustment of Status) applicants in complete darkness and dependent on guessing games by various Law firms.
A green card application requires enormous amount of efforts and money from the beneficiary and his/her employer. People who are waiting for 7-8 years now would have had already spent average $15,000-$20,000, in maintaining their statuses and keep the Green Card process going on. Being stuck in a green card process keeps us bonded with 1 employer, job type etc.
We need to know if there is any light at the end of the tunnel. We need to know for how long we have to live our life in limbo. If there is hope than we need to be patient and plan to live like that for another 1-2 years. But if there�s no light at the end of the tunnel than we need to move on with our careers and other family commitments. Only your office and USCIS can help us by releasing statistics on the number and categories of applications pending with USCIS people waiting in this category can plan their lives accordingly.
It will be a great help if DOS or USCIS could tell us about the number of AOS application pending at USCIS along with their Categories(EB-3, EB-2, EB-1) and chargeable country.
We have been waiting for a decade and continue to wait would it be reasonable to request you for some guidance with regards to the Visa allotment. I request your office to provide some statistics on home many Adjustment of Status applications are pending at USCIS.
We understand that you work with in the limits of the law as set by the Congress and are limited by various constraints that are beyond your agency realm of work. We appreciate your hard work and sincerely thank you for all the hard work.
God Bless America!
Thank you for you attention,
(Your Name OR EB-3 India Applicant )
Priority Date: April 02
Category: EB-3
Member ImmigrationVoice.Org
Copy Sent to
Honorable Secretary of State
Dr. Condoleezza Rice
U.S. Department of State
2201 C Street NW
Washington, DC 20520
Honorable Director, USCIS
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service
20 Massachusetts Avenue, NW
Washington, D.C. 20529
Citizenship and Immigration Services Ombudsman
Department of Homeland Security
Attention: Case Problems
Mail Stop 1225
Washington, D.C. 20528-1225
Senator John Cornyn
Chairman - United States Senate Judiciary subCommittee on
Immigration, Border Security and Citizenship
517 Hart Senate Office Bldg.
Washington, DC 20510
Main: 202-224-2934
Fax: 202-228-2856
Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren
Chairwoman - United States House Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration, Citizenship,
Refugees, Border Security, and International Law
102 Cannon HOB
Washington, D.C. 20515
Telephone (202) 225-3072
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desi3933
07-06 03:03 PM
I checked 2007 return and it has only 100K asset. I am not sure we accumulated 350K since then. I think you got confused with revenue vs. cash on hand / asset.
>> I checked 2007 return and it has only 100K asset.
It is 165k. But, still, 450k for current asset value seems high.
.
>> I checked 2007 return and it has only 100K asset.
It is 165k. But, still, 450k for current asset value seems high.
.
more...
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texanguy
09-10 05:23 PM
What this means, is that the december visa bulletin is the correct time to expect a major jump on the priority date. since the leftover visas (EB1 & EB2) from other countries for the first quarter will be used for the oversubscribed countries.
Considering 7% country quota and 26.7% EB2 quota of 140k, we get 2800 visa for EB2 annually. For first month this number comes out to be 234. Considering 1.2 dependents this means 106 families get GC under EB2.
I am sure they have more than 106 cases before the cutoff of 1 April 2003. This may also include people delayed by background checks.
Considering 7% country quota and 26.7% EB2 quota of 140k, we get 2800 visa for EB2 annually. For first month this number comes out to be 234. Considering 1.2 dependents this means 106 families get GC under EB2.
I am sure they have more than 106 cases before the cutoff of 1 April 2003. This may also include people delayed by background checks.
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485Mbe4001
08-04 01:13 PM
FYI ..sorry to be blunt...your profile contains significant factual errors, please correct those first...just trying to help you as you are trying to help us. together we shall overcome.:p
Read in red above and comments on it below:
1- You are telling the person writing visa bulletin that he does not do his job right.
Sorry to be blunt, but I find this letter factually incorrect and lacks a purpose that will help us.
Read in red above and comments on it below:
1- You are telling the person writing visa bulletin that he does not do his job right.
Sorry to be blunt, but I find this letter factually incorrect and lacks a purpose that will help us.
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haddi_No1
06-26 10:52 PM
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/06/25/AR2008062501945.html?hpid=opinionsbox1
Building a Wall Against Talent
By George F. Will
Thursday, June 26, 2008; A19
PALO ALTO, Calif. -- Fifty years ago, Jack Kilby, who grew up in Great Bend, Kan., took the electrical engineering knowledge he acquired as an undergraduate at the University of Illinois and as a graduate student at the University of Wisconsin to Dallas, to Texas Instruments, where he helped invent the modern world as we routinely experience and manipulate it. Working with improvised equipment, he created the first electronic circuit in which all the components fit on a single piece of semiconductor material half the size of a paper clip.
On Sept. 12, 1958, he demonstrated this microchip, which was enormous, not micro, by today's standards. Whereas one transistor was put in a silicon chip 50 years ago, today a billion transistors can occupy the same "silicon real estate." In 1982 Kilby was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame, where he is properly honored with the likes of Henry Ford and Thomas Edison.
If you seek his monument, come to Silicon Valley, an incubator of the semiconductor industry. If you seek (redundant) evidence of the federal government's refusal to do the creative minimum -- to get out of the way of wealth creation -- come here and hear the talk about the perverse national policy of expelling talented people.
Modernity means the multiplication of dependencies on things utterly mysterious to those who are dependent -- things such as semiconductors, which control the functioning of almost everything from cellphones to computers to cars. "The semiconductor," says a wit who manufactures them, "is the OPEC of functionality, except it has no cartel power." Semiconductors are, like oil, indispensable to the functioning of many things that are indispensable. Regarding oil imports, Americans agonize about a dependence they cannot immediately reduce. Yet their nation's policy is the compulsory expulsion or exclusion of talents crucial to the creativity of the semiconductor industry that powers the thriving portion of our bifurcated economy. While much of the economy sputters, exports are surging, and the semiconductor industry is America's second-largest exporter, close behind the auto industry in total exports and the civilian aircraft industry in net exports.
The semiconductor industry's problem is entangled with a subject about which the loquacious presidential candidates are reluctant to talk -- immigration, specifically that of highly educated people. Concerning whom, U.S. policy should be: A nation cannot have too many such people, so send us your PhDs yearning to be free.
Instead, U.S. policy is: As soon as U.S. institutions of higher education have awarded you a PhD, equipping you to add vast value to the economy, get out. Go home. Or to Europe, which is responding to America's folly with "blue cards" to expedite acceptance of the immigrants America is spurning.
Two-thirds of doctoral candidates in science and engineering in U.S. universities are foreign-born. But only 140,000 employment-based green cards are available annually, and 1 million educated professionals are waiting -- often five or more years -- for cards. Congress could quickly add a zero to the number available, thereby boosting the U.S. economy and complicating matters for America's competitors.
Suppose a foreign government had a policy of sending workers to America to be trained in a sophisticated and highly remunerative skill at American taxpayers' expense, and then forced these workers to go home and compete against American companies. That is what we are doing because we are too generic in defining the immigrant pool.
Barack Obama and other Democrats are theatrically indignant about U.S. companies that locate operations outside the country. But one reason Microsoft opened a software development center in Vancouver is that Canadian immigration laws allow Microsoft to recruit skilled people it could not retain under U.S. immigration restrictions. Mr. Change We Can Believe In is not advocating the simple change -- that added zero -- and neither is Mr. Straight Talk.
John McCain's campaign Web site has a spare statement on "immigration reform" that says nothing about increasing America's intake of highly educated immigrants. Obama's site says only: "Where we can bring in more foreign-born workers with the skills our economy needs, we should." "Where we can"? We can now.
Solutions to some problems are complex; removing barriers to educated immigrants is not. It is, however, politically difficult, partly because this reform is being held hostage by factions -- principally the Congressional Hispanic Caucus -- insisting on "comprehensive" immigration reform that satisfies their demands. Unfortunately, on this issue no one is advocating change we can believe in, so America continues to risk losing the value added by foreign-born Jack Kilbys.
georgewill@washpost.com
Building a Wall Against Talent
By George F. Will
Thursday, June 26, 2008; A19
PALO ALTO, Calif. -- Fifty years ago, Jack Kilby, who grew up in Great Bend, Kan., took the electrical engineering knowledge he acquired as an undergraduate at the University of Illinois and as a graduate student at the University of Wisconsin to Dallas, to Texas Instruments, where he helped invent the modern world as we routinely experience and manipulate it. Working with improvised equipment, he created the first electronic circuit in which all the components fit on a single piece of semiconductor material half the size of a paper clip.
On Sept. 12, 1958, he demonstrated this microchip, which was enormous, not micro, by today's standards. Whereas one transistor was put in a silicon chip 50 years ago, today a billion transistors can occupy the same "silicon real estate." In 1982 Kilby was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame, where he is properly honored with the likes of Henry Ford and Thomas Edison.
If you seek his monument, come to Silicon Valley, an incubator of the semiconductor industry. If you seek (redundant) evidence of the federal government's refusal to do the creative minimum -- to get out of the way of wealth creation -- come here and hear the talk about the perverse national policy of expelling talented people.
Modernity means the multiplication of dependencies on things utterly mysterious to those who are dependent -- things such as semiconductors, which control the functioning of almost everything from cellphones to computers to cars. "The semiconductor," says a wit who manufactures them, "is the OPEC of functionality, except it has no cartel power." Semiconductors are, like oil, indispensable to the functioning of many things that are indispensable. Regarding oil imports, Americans agonize about a dependence they cannot immediately reduce. Yet their nation's policy is the compulsory expulsion or exclusion of talents crucial to the creativity of the semiconductor industry that powers the thriving portion of our bifurcated economy. While much of the economy sputters, exports are surging, and the semiconductor industry is America's second-largest exporter, close behind the auto industry in total exports and the civilian aircraft industry in net exports.
The semiconductor industry's problem is entangled with a subject about which the loquacious presidential candidates are reluctant to talk -- immigration, specifically that of highly educated people. Concerning whom, U.S. policy should be: A nation cannot have too many such people, so send us your PhDs yearning to be free.
Instead, U.S. policy is: As soon as U.S. institutions of higher education have awarded you a PhD, equipping you to add vast value to the economy, get out. Go home. Or to Europe, which is responding to America's folly with "blue cards" to expedite acceptance of the immigrants America is spurning.
Two-thirds of doctoral candidates in science and engineering in U.S. universities are foreign-born. But only 140,000 employment-based green cards are available annually, and 1 million educated professionals are waiting -- often five or more years -- for cards. Congress could quickly add a zero to the number available, thereby boosting the U.S. economy and complicating matters for America's competitors.
Suppose a foreign government had a policy of sending workers to America to be trained in a sophisticated and highly remunerative skill at American taxpayers' expense, and then forced these workers to go home and compete against American companies. That is what we are doing because we are too generic in defining the immigrant pool.
Barack Obama and other Democrats are theatrically indignant about U.S. companies that locate operations outside the country. But one reason Microsoft opened a software development center in Vancouver is that Canadian immigration laws allow Microsoft to recruit skilled people it could not retain under U.S. immigration restrictions. Mr. Change We Can Believe In is not advocating the simple change -- that added zero -- and neither is Mr. Straight Talk.
John McCain's campaign Web site has a spare statement on "immigration reform" that says nothing about increasing America's intake of highly educated immigrants. Obama's site says only: "Where we can bring in more foreign-born workers with the skills our economy needs, we should." "Where we can"? We can now.
Solutions to some problems are complex; removing barriers to educated immigrants is not. It is, however, politically difficult, partly because this reform is being held hostage by factions -- principally the Congressional Hispanic Caucus -- insisting on "comprehensive" immigration reform that satisfies their demands. Unfortunately, on this issue no one is advocating change we can believe in, so America continues to risk losing the value added by foreign-born Jack Kilbys.
georgewill@washpost.com
sujijag
07-19 01:16 PM
count me in too..:), I live in Orange County
audelinom
02-23 11:26 PM
Immigrating legally to the U.S seemed like a gold opportunity when I was offered to work here six years ago with an H1B visa. As a matter of fact, all my friends and family considered that it would have been crazy not to take advantage of the "opportunity" to live and work in the most developed country on Earth.
It's been six long years of challenges and learning experiences, but mostly it's been six years of financial distress, anxiety, paralysis and uncertainty.
We applied for PR four years ago, but in the process my wife and I have eaten all our saving in lawyer fees - and at this point we're just one more number in the long list of EB3 applicants who don't have the remotest idea of when visa numbers will become available so we can have a normal life. I don't even consider traveling to my country cause I don't have the money to pay for APs for me and my wife. My career has been also frozen since I cant take promotions to higher positions that will fall off the job description stated in my PERM.
If I had known about this ordeal, I would have never come to the US. I would have looked for other options, in countries that have a more sincere and generous immigration policies instead. If the US is not interested in allowing people to legally immigrate through visas based on employment, they simply should eliminate these visas and make clear that they don't want us to stay. Wouldn't that be easy for everyone?
I would return to my country if we didn't have a nasty political turmoil and the social decay that comes with it. Yet, I feel that the days go by and our lives are entangled in this absurd situation.
It's been six long years of challenges and learning experiences, but mostly it's been six years of financial distress, anxiety, paralysis and uncertainty.
We applied for PR four years ago, but in the process my wife and I have eaten all our saving in lawyer fees - and at this point we're just one more number in the long list of EB3 applicants who don't have the remotest idea of when visa numbers will become available so we can have a normal life. I don't even consider traveling to my country cause I don't have the money to pay for APs for me and my wife. My career has been also frozen since I cant take promotions to higher positions that will fall off the job description stated in my PERM.
If I had known about this ordeal, I would have never come to the US. I would have looked for other options, in countries that have a more sincere and generous immigration policies instead. If the US is not interested in allowing people to legally immigrate through visas based on employment, they simply should eliminate these visas and make clear that they don't want us to stay. Wouldn't that be easy for everyone?
I would return to my country if we didn't have a nasty political turmoil and the social decay that comes with it. Yet, I feel that the days go by and our lives are entangled in this absurd situation.
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