Immigration Post
46 India Post
April 25, 2014
www.indiapost.com
Charlotte weighs immigrant-friendly city policies CHARLOTTE, N.C.: North Carolina's biggest city is looking at ways to boost growth by attracting new immigrants to the United States, a move some complain would include welcoming people living in the country illegally. The Charlotte City Council created a group last fall to study what other cities are doing to encourage immigrants to start businesses and get involved in civic life, though other cities have not yet proved whether those policies work, The Charlotte Observer reports. The task force of economists, school leaders, law-enforcement officers and business representatives will hold its first public listening session next weekend. The end result of the yearlong study
will be a series of recommendations to council members that could help immigrant families, cochair Emily Zimmern said. ``It's about the economic and
Louis and Nashville, Tenn. In 2012, Nashville had the fastestgrowing immigrant population of any American city, with 12 percent of its population born outside the
“Americans don't realize they are getting the best of people from foreign countries, because hard-working people are the ones who come to make a better life. The lazy people don't want to leave their countries,'' social benefits of being immigrant friendly,'' Zimmern said. ``Addressing the broader issue of immigration reform is not what we're asked to address.'' Cities that already are trying more immigrant-friendly policies include Detroit, Louisville, Ky., St.
United States. Nearly half were recent immigrants who entered the country since 2000. But the head of a North Carolina group demanding tougher enforcement of immigration laws said Charlotte officials seem as eager to entice people in the coun-
Outsourcing giants prefer H-1B visa holders FREMONT, C.A: Every year there are thousands of aspirants who migrate into the U.S. with the expectation of making it big. U.S too houses the power generator of success through multinational I.T companies and top notch universities, where Indians flock by
hordes every year. According to reports of USCIS five outsourcing IT companies namely Cognizant, Tata Consultancy Service (TCS), Wipro Limited, Infosys Limited and Accenture hire a large percentage of graduates many of them on H-
Scott and Bush want in-state tuition bill passed Cont'd from Page 45
He also said that the break should only go to students who are U.S. citizens and Florida residents. The in-state tuition rate is roughly one-quarter of the rate paid by out-of-state students. Scott came out in favor of the Senate bill (SB 1400) earlier this year because it would also place limits on how much universities could raise tuition rates. Scott's turnabout is a vast change from 2010 when he urged a strong crackdown on illegal immigration. Scott's move comes during an election year when Hispanic voters could play a key role in deciding his reelection. The legislation has already cleared the Florida House by an 81-33 vote. The House bill could be taken up by the Florida Senate but it would require waiving Senate rules by a supermajority vote. That may be difficult given the level of Republican opposition. A spokeswoman for Gaetz said Scott has never contacted the
Senate president about the instate tuition bill. Katherine Betta added that Gaetz ``will follow the Senate rules'' which means he would not support taking any further action to help the legislation.
Jeb Bush
The Senate bill (SB 1400) would offer the tuition break to anyone who had attended a Florida high school for three years prior to graduation. The legislation would also require any student seeking the tuition break to show proof that they had applied for citizenship.-PTI
1B visa. The percentage of graduates hired to postgraduates is much larger in all the above mentioned companies and this is sourced to the convenience of a less pay scale. Although the H-1B visa is granted to highly skilled immigrants with special knowledge mainly in the fields of technology, science and medicine, reports by the Centre for Immigration Studies (CIS) say that, many of these visa owners are lowskilled workers. American technology companies have constantly urged the government to increase the quota on H-1B visa as it is difficult for them to find enough skilled workers to fill the posts in their organization. Five labor outsourcing companies accounted for 37 percent of the 65,000 temporary work visas approved, excluding the 20,000 reserved for special categories, according to federal immigration data. One of the eminent outsourcing company, TCS gained permit from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services for 6,184 of the H-1B visas during the fiscal year 2013. Tata Consultancy spokesman Benjamin Trounson told IBTimes that, "TCS is among the top job creators in the US within the IT services industry and has actively recruited more than 5,000 Americans over the past three years, many of whom are working on technologies and systems that support critical client needs and help to drive America's innovation economy". However the figures clearly show that immigrants are given more importance than locals. Out of the top 10 companies that received the largest share of H-1B visas, only, Microsoft Corp was a tech company and the rest were all outsourcing firms. -Courtesy siliconindia.com
try illegally as legal immigrants. ``There is no problem embracing legal immigrants in this country, so what are they trying to fix?'' said Ron Woodard of NC Listen. ``What this committee is trying to do is lump legal with illegal immigrants together as if they were one and the same.'' The city could help immigrants by hiring more government employees who are bilingual, said Manolo Betancur, who is from Colombia. He and his wife, Zhenia
Martinez of Mexico, run Las Delicias Bakery. Betancur operates a second business that picks up people from bars and chauffeurs them and their car home. Betancur said he works up to 80 hours a week, long hours which can be typical for immigrants. “Americans don't realize they are getting the best of people from foreign countries, because hardworking people are the ones who come to make a better life. The lazy people don't want to leave their countries,'' Betancur said. -AP
Obama again urges Congress to pass immigration reforms Cont'd from Page 44
Obama said that many Republicans in the House and Senate are supportive of the immigration reform. "I know it is hard politics for Republicans because there are some in their base that are very opposed to this. But what I also know is that there are families all across the country who are experiencing great hardship and pain because this is not getting resolved," he said.
"I also know that there are businesses around the country that could be growing even faster, that our deficits could be coming down faster, that we would have more customers in our shops, if we get this thing resolved. We know what the right thing to do is", Obama said. It is a matter of political will. It is not any longer a matter of policy. And I am going to continue to encourage them to get this done," Obama added.-PTI
Why we should all be mad about the H-1B visa cap Cont'd from Page 44
Seventh, the While House very recently announced that it would allow a limited number of spouses on H-4 visas the ability to work. The whole purpose is to encourage highly skilled people to work in the United States on H-1B visas. What is the purpose of such an announcement when the cap eliminates the ability of people to enter the United States on H-1B visas in the first place? It all feels like a joke, rather like flatulence, on this day when it was announced that 172,500 people applied for a meager 85,000 visas. Eight, even the lucky ones who have gotten selected are by no means guaranteed that their H-1B cases will get approved. The USCIS applies rigidly impossible standards, and also reviews the cases unevenly, the California Service Center being far more cruel than the Vermont Service Center. And even those whose H-1B visa petitions get approved may not be issued visas at the US Consulates overseas, especially
consuls in India who use the visa process as a trade barrier to curb the flow of Indian IT professionals from making it to the United States. Then, those who finally make it will also likely get subjected to oppressive green card quotas down the road. Ninth, one should also really be incensed at Congress for not doing anything about the 65,000 cap since 2003. Tenth and lastly, even when Congress does get into the act of doing something, it may make things worse rather than better. The H-1B proposals in the Senate bill, S. 744, make the H-1B visa far more difficult to use and have an outer limit of 180,000. In other words, Congress may not be capable of fixing the problem. Postscript: I am actually an optimist, but the only way we can bring about positive change to the H-1B visa cap problem, is to collectively get mad about it! * Cyrus D Mehta, may be contacted at 212-425-0555 or info@cyrusmehta.com