#u.s. immigration

[alwaysbewoke]

[kenyatta]

Harini, who is from the west Indian city of Pune, is one of roughly 600,000 workers hired in the U.S. on an H-1B visa, a “non-immigrant work visa” that allows people in certain professions to stay and work in the country. The visa is linked to their employer; if their employment ends, workers have only 60 days to find a new job to retain their visa status, or leave the country. Indians form the majority of H-1B visa recipients in the U.S. In the 2021 financial year, more than 300,000 Indians had an H-1B petition approved, either for new or continued employment, accounting for almost 75% of the total number of H-1B visas approved that year.

While finding a new tech job in the U.S. is often a scramble, it is particularly difficult now. Following a Silicon Valley hiring boom during the pandemic, a surge of layoffs in recent months has devastated the tech industry. That means many people are fighting for the same positions. According to Layoffs.fyi, a website that has been tracking reported layoffs since the early days of the pandemic, more than 180,000 tech workers have been laid off globally since November. That month, Elon Musk announced that he planned to cut Twitter’s 7,500-person workforce. Some days later, Meta announced 11,000 job cuts. In January, Microsoft said it planned to let go of 10,000 employees. Two days later, Google’s parent company, Alphabet, announced that it was laying off 12,000.

[...]

For Indians on H-1B visas, in particular, there is almost no alternative way to stay on in the U.S. Their estimated wait time for most employment-based green cards — which would allow them to stay in the country for longer — is about 90 years. That’s partly because the number of green cards available through employment — around 140,000 a year — is capped at 7% for each country. The number of Indians on H-1B visas is much higher than the number of employment-based green cards allotted for their nationality, creating a massive backlog. According to Grode, many laid-off H-1B visa holders from other countries may be able simply to transfer to a visitor status and wait for a green card, but that isn’t an option for most Indians.

Rest of World spoke to 10 people on H-1B visas — who had been laid off from companies including Twitter, Amazon, Microsoft, and smaller startups in the past few months — to follow their journeys as they raced against the 60-day countdown.

[acquestadvisors]

In light of the changing U.S. immigration policy, many are concerned about the future of work visas, specifically the H-1B Visa program and L-1 Visa. Trump’s previous administration introduced significant changes to immigration policies aimed at protecting American jobs, which included stricter requirements and higher denial rates for H-1B and L-1 visas. The H-1B Visa Impact was substantial, affecting thousands of professionals, especially in the tech industry. For companies using the L-1 Visa to transfer employees to U.S. offices, the added scrutiny and tightened eligibility created numerous challenges.

As Trump’s potential return raises questions about the future of these programs, some individuals are exploring the EB-5 investor visa as an alternative route to U.S. residency. The EB-5 Visa program allows foreign nationals to gain permanent residency by investing in projects that generate U.S. jobs, aligning well with Trump’s focus on job creation and economic growth. With EB-5 currently authorized until 2027, it offers a stable pathway to residency amidst uncertain changes in H-1B and L-1 visa policies. For those able to invest, the EB-5 investor visa may be a viable alternative in an evolving U.S. immigration landscape.

[unicornbeck]

Headline: Biden extends legal protections to undocumented spouses of U.S. citizens

The story is not that the president granted protections to these people. The story is that they didn’t already have them, y’all.

[minnesotafollower]

Minnesota Will Suffer from a Crackdown on U.S. Immigration  

Today “Minnesota is home to about 480,000 foreign-born residents, comprising about 8.5% of the population, according to the state Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED). Those residents tend to be younger than Minnesota’s native-born population, and most are in their prime working years, filling jobs from agriculture to education to health care. Between 2011 and 2021, immigrants…

[princessag-tv]

Simon Guobadia's Citizenship Journey: A Story of Identity Theft, Fraud, and the Search for the American Dream. Will this be a Storyline for Porsha Williams?

A Story of Identity Theft, Fraud, and the Search for the American Dream Immigration legislation is complicated, as demonstrated by Simon Guobadia’s attempt to get US citizenship through deception and adopting multiple identities. The difficulties of seeking atonement and a new life are highlighted by his recent rejection in court. In a plot twist that sounds like it could have been taken…

[yodasec-expose-news]

Large numbers from the Middle East, mostly from Syria and Afghanistan, flying directly into Tijuana airports heading to America.

Large numbers from the Middle East, mostly from Syria and Afghanistan, flying directly into Tijuana airports heading to America

While U.S. immigration authorities carried out 2.38 million migrant encounters (a term encompassing apprehensions and expulsions) at the southwest border in FY 2022, the statistic includes significant numbers of migrants who attempted to enter the United States multiple times without authorization[5]. This recidivism has been partially incentivized by the general lack of consequences that is the…

[biglisbonnews]

Where are Immigrant Founders of U.S. Unicorns From? The majority of billion-dollar startups in the U.S. have at least one immigrant founder. Here is where those founders are from. The post Where are Immigrant Founders of U.S. Unicorns From? appeared first on Visual Capitalist. https://www.visualcapitalist.com/immigrant-founders-us-billion-dollar-companies/

[fiercynn]

okay, if you have ever made or reblogged a “hold your nose and vote for biden” post, this is for you.

here’s the fucking thing about these kinds of posts. i've been seeing them since i first returned to tumblr in, I think, late 2022? they've certainly increased in frequency since october 7, but they were there before too, ready to counter any kind of opposition to biden that has cropped up. many of them are not just trying to educate people about what positive things biden has done, which, like, at least I can understand the motivation behind those ones? but so many of them are directly in response to people criticizing biden, and their only real point is “sure you’re upset at this thing biden did, but have you considered the election?” starting YEARS before the next presidential election, mind you.

and october 7 only made that clearer. i don’t think it had been a week before i saw these posts cropping up. can you not see how fucking ghoulish that is? to look at the rightful pain and anger of those whose relatives and communities are being slaughtered with active american support, to respond to one of the few pieces of agency most americans have in influencing what their governments do – their vote – by saying “yes but trump would be worse.” as if the primary people you’re lecturing – palestinians, muslims, arabs, black people, indigenous people, disabled people, other marginalized people – don’t remember exactly how bad it was under trump!

and even if you think not voting is an empty gesture – something i, who studied political science at a mainstream american lib college, who has worked as a field organizer on a previous democratic presidential campaign and for several policy campaigns, who currently works in public policy in america, used to believe, but have absolutely changed my mind on – what is in no way an empty gesture is saying publicly that you will not vote for someone. the arguments people usually have about why simply not voting is bad are that you can’t tell why someone is not voting, so it is as likely to be apathy or disenfranchisement as it is a political statement. but saying publicly that you will not vote for someone, and why you will not vote for them, absolutely is a political statement, and potentially a powerful one! but you choose to negate and/or ignore that by trotting out the “lesser of two evils” bullshit.

and then there’s the whole “yes but people will DIE under trump”. PEOPLE ARE DYING NOW. even if you’re fucking racist and have decided that palestinian lives don’t count, have you forgotten biden’s ongoing covid minimalism and dismantling of the CDC’s covid research and prevention infrastructure? have you forgotten his increase in spending for law enforcement scant years after the murder of george floyd and his administration's surveillance of protesters, including cop city protesters? have you forgotten his recent ramp-up in deportations of undocumented immigrants, including the active continuation of many trump-era policies?

maybe you have forgotten all those things and do purport to care about palestinians, but you just think that biden is doing his best to influence netanyahu and is getting nowhere! but then you must have forgotten all of the things that biden and his administration themselves have done to further this fucking genocide, including:

continuing to send arms to israel

putting together a military task force within days of yemen’s red sea blockade and attacking yemeni ships

bombing yemen

bombing syria

bombing iraq

vetoing three ceasefire resolutions at the united nations

testifying to defend israel and its genocide and occupation at the international court of justice

refusing to rescue palestinian-americans stuck in gaza

halting funding to the united nations relief and works agency for palestinian refugees (UNRWA) based on israeli claims that 12 of UNRWA’s over 30,000 staff were hamas agents, even though u.s. intelligence has not been able to independently verify this

lying that he’s personally seen photos of babies beheaded by hamas when he hadn’t because they didn’t exist (and even when his own staff cautioned him that reports of beheaded babies may not be credible)

questioning the number of palestinian deaths reported by the gaza ministry of health (when even israel has not questioned them, since they are in fact proud of those numbers)

perpetuating lies about hamas having committed the attack on al-aqsa hospital

questioning united nations reports of adults and children raped by israeli soldiers while claiming to have proof (that no one else has seen) of hamas doing the same

honestly so many more things that i can’t remember them all but others feel free to add

or maybe you haven’t forgotten any of that, and think that you’re still justified in lecturing people about why they should vote for biden, because you genuinely believe trump would still be worse. if that is the case, you have still failed to see that by saying you will vote for biden no matter what, you are part of the problem of biden continuing to act like this. because biden is counting on fear of trump to win him this next election no matter what else he does. despite his appalling polling numbers, despite the knowledge that he is losing the palestinian-american vote, the arab-american vote, the muslim-american vote, the black american vote, the youth vote – despite all of that, he is secure in the idea that he will still win because he is better than trump. can you not see how that allows him to act without impunity? how it becomes increasingly impossible for his base to influence what he’s doing if he thinks that they will be with him no matter what? this is how you make yourself complicit to biden’s actions, by not affording anyone even the slightest power to hold him accountable for anything.

and in most cases, the “hold your nose and vote for biden” thing is the response of people who aren’t even being instructed by others not to vote for biden. it is their response to people saying they themselves are choosing not to vote for biden. fucking ghoulish.

[milk-lover]

Dying at this typo on an immigration form my sister is filling out

[stevenrich-mba]

I just updated this article for 2023.

[gallusneve]

I paid for one of my employee's U.S. citizenship test awhile back and he just got scheduled for next month and wants me to be there for when he swears in ❤️I'm incredibly overjoyed

[allthecanadianpolitics]

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security says people seeking asylum at the northern border with Canada will have less time to consult a lawyer before making their case. The department says it reviewed the Safe Third Country Agreement with Canada and concluded that it could streamline the process. The agreement states that Canada and the U.S. are considered safe countries for asylum seekers and it requires people to make a refugee claim in the country where they first arrive. [...] Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and President Joe Biden updated the Safe Third Country agreement last year, closing a loophole that allowed people who skirted official border crossings to make a claim. [...]

Continue Reading.

Tagging: @newsfromstolenland, @vague-humanoid

[minnesotafollower]

U.S. Fertility Rate Falls to Record Low 

On April 25, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released its report on U.S. fertility rates that showed the total fertility rate fell to 1.62 births per woman in 2023, a 2% decline from the prior year and the lowest rate since the government began tracking that data in the 1930’s.[1] This is attributed to women having fewer children, later in life; to women having fulfilling…

[griseldagimpel]

Trump As the Default Choice

Going to start this by saying that a.) There are things the Democratic Party needs to do better on and b.) This post is specifically about Trump voters, not third party voters or voters who stayed home.

There is this framing that I kinda see, that's nagging at me, which is the idea that Trump was the default choice.

Harris has to win votes, didn't win enough voters over, should have been more this or less that.

But Trump, in this framing, doesn't have to do any of those things. He doesn't have to have good policy positions - or policy positions at all, in the case of health care - or reach out to voters or act professional or take questions. He just wins, by default, if Harris doesn't thread the needle well enough.

Tens of millions of voters voted for Trump. And I don't think "Well, Harris was only so-so on [insert issue here], so half of voters just had to do a fascism, don'tcha know?"

Like, I refuse to believe all these Trump supporters compared their policies side by side and decided Trump was better.

And I think what this framing elides is the deeper issues in this country -- that Trump campaigned on racism and ethic cleansing, and tens of millions of Americans said "Hell yeah."

[so-much-for-subtlety]

tomorrow officially starts my 15th year in the “United” States. I’m gonna make a cake. Not to celebrate- I was just gonna make one anyway🥕