Saturday, December 03, 2011
Bill removes country-specific green card cap
From The Hindu
The United States House of Representatives has passed a
bill eliminating country-specific caps on green card application
numbers in a move that left most people wondering whether it was a real
change in U.S. immigration policy or whether it was pure political
posturing.
For while H.R. 3012, the so-called
“Fairness for High-Skilled Immigrants Act,” would allow vastly greater
numbers of highly-skilled applicants to make permanent residency claims,
there is not likely to be any change in the actual numbers of green
cards granted.
What this implies is that countries
that were facing the highest demand-supply mismatch for green cards,
among which India ranks first and China second, will see a benefit in
terms of prospective green cards issuance, whereas the waiting time in
the queue for smaller nations such as Iceland would jump significantly.
While
some uncertainty remains in terms of what the Congress was trying to
achieve through this halfway measure, further doubt emanates from the
fact that it is only the Republican-controlled House that passed this
bill and it would require the Democratic Senate’s and White House’s
approval to become law.
Democrats are likely to ask
how the bill would benefit Americans, given the poor economic climate
and enduring job market weakness in the country. The bill, which passed
in the House by a majority of 389 to 15 following a debate on Tuesday,
was sponsored by Representative Jason Chaffetz, Republican of Utah.
It
aims to move away from the current law, under which immigrants from an
individual country who are in the U.S. on an employment visa such as the
H1-B cannot apply for more than seven per cent of the 140,000 green
cards issued annually by the State Department.
Discussing
the bill, Representative Steve Cohen, Democrat of Tennessee, noted that
the country caps applied in an identical manner to all countries
regardless of population size and “Removing the caps will enable U.S.
companies to retain more skilled immigrants from countries such as India
and China, which have a surfeit of scientists and technologists eager
to work in the U.S.”
Clarifying some of these matters Attorney Sheela Murthy, an immigration specialist, told The Hindu
that H.R. 3012 does not provide additional visa numbers, which is what
would be needed to fully address the employment-based visa backlogs.
“It
simply puts everyone in any particular category in the same queue,” Ms.
Murthy said, adding, “The net result would have to be something that is
a mix of the most and least favourable cut-off date in any particular
category.” For example, if EB3 rest of the world has a cut off date in
2006 and EB3 India has a cut off date in 2002, the legislation would
result in an EB3 cut off date somewhere better than the 2002 date, but
not as favourable as the 2006 date, she explained.
While
such a movement in the visa dates would likely make the bill less
favourable for nationals of all other countries other than India and
China, there is no certainty as to how the Visa Bulletin cut off dates
numbers would move forward if the bill were to pass into law.
Labels: Green card, U.S. immigration laws
Saturday, September 04, 2010
Arrested filmmaker "tied into procedural knot" by U.S. law
From The Hindu
In a turn of events that would appear baffling to most non-lawyers Vijay Kumar, the Indian filmmaker arrested at an airport in Houston for carrying brass knuckles, had his visa revoked by the immigration authorities and then was deposited in jail for not having a valid U.S. visa.
In his second interview with The Hindu Mr. Kumar’s lawyer, Grant Scheiner, said that U.S. legal rules had literally “tied him into a procedural knot, we are trying to untie that knot.” Mr.Scheiner said that while the U.S. government reserves the right to revoke visas at any time for any reason or no reason at all, the result for Mr. Kumar is that he not only has a criminal case to contend with, but an immigration case as well.
The criminal case against Mr. Kumar relates to his possession of a set of brass knuckles while in a secured premises, namely George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston. Under Texas law, such possession is tantamount to a third-degree felony with a prison sentence anywhere between two and ten years.
However Mr. Scheiner said that in Mr. Kumar’s case such a sentence may be unlikely because it was usually not applied when the defendant could show that he had made a mistake in interpreting the law as a result of misreading another official guideline.
In this case Mr. Kumar was carrying the brass knuckles packed within his checked-in baggage, and under federal law that is completely legal. Yet because federal law is not consistent with Texas law – which forbids carrying brass knuckles in any baggage or on one’s person – Mr.Kumar fell afoul of the latter.
Thus Mr. Kumar remains in jail awaiting his September 8 criminal hearing, Mr. Scheiner said, and on that day the legal team will attempt to have the third-degree felony charge reduced to a misdemeanour.
If the court agrees to this lesser charge, the sentence may be no more than “taking credit for time served,” which, according to Mr. Scheiner, implies that Mr. Kumar would simply have to remain in custody for as long as it takes for the authorities to put him on a flight back to his home in Mumbai.
Also, Mr. Scheiner emphasised, under this scenario Mr. Kumar would be departing voluntarily, an important step if Mr. Kumar was to have the right to ever reapply for a U.S. visa.
While an alternative scenario was not likely, Mr. Scheiner said that if the court decided not to reduce the charge to a misdemeanour or for some reason Mr. Kumar decided not to plead guilty and fight the case instead, it could go on for months and Mr. Kumar may face a much longer time in jail.
In any event if Mr. Kumar decided to fight the case, and it dragged on for more than 90 days, then Mr. Kumar would face involuntary, not voluntary departure – and in that case would never be able to obtain a U.S. visa again.
A further update is expected on or after September 8.
In a turn of events that would appear baffling to most non-lawyers Vijay Kumar, the Indian filmmaker arrested at an airport in Houston for carrying brass knuckles, had his visa revoked by the immigration authorities and then was deposited in jail for not having a valid U.S. visa.
In his second interview with The Hindu Mr. Kumar’s lawyer, Grant Scheiner, said that U.S. legal rules had literally “tied him into a procedural knot, we are trying to untie that knot.” Mr.Scheiner said that while the U.S. government reserves the right to revoke visas at any time for any reason or no reason at all, the result for Mr. Kumar is that he not only has a criminal case to contend with, but an immigration case as well.
The criminal case against Mr. Kumar relates to his possession of a set of brass knuckles while in a secured premises, namely George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston. Under Texas law, such possession is tantamount to a third-degree felony with a prison sentence anywhere between two and ten years.
However Mr. Scheiner said that in Mr. Kumar’s case such a sentence may be unlikely because it was usually not applied when the defendant could show that he had made a mistake in interpreting the law as a result of misreading another official guideline.
In this case Mr. Kumar was carrying the brass knuckles packed within his checked-in baggage, and under federal law that is completely legal. Yet because federal law is not consistent with Texas law – which forbids carrying brass knuckles in any baggage or on one’s person – Mr.Kumar fell afoul of the latter.
Thus Mr. Kumar remains in jail awaiting his September 8 criminal hearing, Mr. Scheiner said, and on that day the legal team will attempt to have the third-degree felony charge reduced to a misdemeanour.
If the court agrees to this lesser charge, the sentence may be no more than “taking credit for time served,” which, according to Mr. Scheiner, implies that Mr. Kumar would simply have to remain in custody for as long as it takes for the authorities to put him on a flight back to his home in Mumbai.
Also, Mr. Scheiner emphasised, under this scenario Mr. Kumar would be departing voluntarily, an important step if Mr. Kumar was to have the right to ever reapply for a U.S. visa.
While an alternative scenario was not likely, Mr. Scheiner said that if the court decided not to reduce the charge to a misdemeanour or for some reason Mr. Kumar decided not to plead guilty and fight the case instead, it could go on for months and Mr. Kumar may face a much longer time in jail.
In any event if Mr. Kumar decided to fight the case, and it dragged on for more than 90 days, then Mr. Kumar would face involuntary, not voluntary departure – and in that case would never be able to obtain a U.S. visa again.
A further update is expected on or after September 8.
Labels: Documentary filmmaker, U.S. immigration laws, Vijay Kumar
Subscribe to Comments [Atom]
