Red tape over green cards drives talent away from US
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The US Homeland Security Department has recently proposed a new rule to govern the online application process for the H1B visa, a type of visa sponsored by employers that allows foreign born students graduating from an American college to work in the US.
Under the new rule, employers won't have to file applications hastily to compete for the annual quota of 65,000 applicants. They can now register online and make sure the visas are available before filing in voluminous numbers of documents.
This may sound like bureaucratic trivia if you are someone who never needs to worry about a working visa. But for others, it could be life changing.
Ask my Chinese friend Jason. The computer science major found a job at a mid-sized company in New York after graduating from Pennsylvania State University. His employer filed an application for an H1B visa for him on April 1, 2007, the first day applications were accepted for the quota in the new fiscal year.
It was before the credit bubble burst and everyone was hiring. Many more applications were filed on day one than the quota for the entire year allowed.
A lottery was used to decide who could get the visas and Jason was lost out. When he learned the bad news months later he had no choice but to cut short his American dream and return to China immediately.
Under the new rule, Jason, and at least another 60,000 applicants sharing the same ill fate that year, would have at least known the result early enough to consider other options such as going back to school to keep their student status.
But this procedural improvement is not going to completely change the unfair situation many H1B visa holders face in the US.
As New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, an advocate for foreign-born highly skilled workers, said in a statement afterward, "We strongly believe the Administration (federal government) and Congress should go even further."
H1B holders such as myself have the same tax duties as green card holders and citizens but are not eligible for most of the benefits provided by the country.
A work visa lasts for three years but for Chinese, it used to be valid for three months when used as a document to reenter the US, until this period was extended to 12 months last year.
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