The Endless Wait | The Spectator

?Oh, my God, Risham, you?re an illegal immigrant??

Every time I explain to someone that I am not a U.S.citizen, I almost always get this response. Though I pretty much know this is coming, two things never fail to surprise me. First, the way people look at me in a new light, as if I?m a completely different person, when I tell them I?m not a citizen. And second, how most people assume that I?m illegal and not an Indian-born legal immigrant in the process of attaining a green card.

To be fair, I should note that illegal immigration has been a hot topic in legislation and in the news for quite a while.? Because of this, legislators haven?t put enough effort into understanding problems and issues that legal immigrants, specifically employment-based legal immigrants, face. The lack of legislation has resulted in a lack of media coverage and, therefore, a lack of general awareness on these matters. The common perception these days is that if you aren?t a citizen, you are most probably an illegal immigrant.

Employment-based (EB) legal immigrants (specifically third preference or EB-3), who are waiting for a green card, face many issues. But perhaps the most prominent ones are the extremely long wait times, as well as the cost of maintaining the legal immigrant status. Furthermore, EB immigrants can?t accept promotions at work, as this can jeopardize their green card application.

But it isn?t just the EB legal immigrants that get hit hard; the effect trickles down to their children, who must also learn to live in the limits of their legal status. As the child of an EB immigrant, I?ve had my fair share of saying good-bye to opportunities that I feel I deserved to have had a shot at, such as summer internships that are open only to citizens and permanent residents. Don?t get me wrong; there are plenty of internships and jobs that are open to non-citizens like me. But to be eligible for such programs and scholarships, students must file extensive paperwork and documentation to prove their legal status. Sometimes, such as to qualify for an ID from the NYS Department of Motorized Vehicle or even for federal student aid (FAFSA), students like me have to travel out of the country and re-enter on a specific document known as an advanced parole, just to prove beyond doubt our legal status.

Furthermore, legal immigrant students like me need more than just school-issued employment papers to participate in internships or jobs. We have to apply and wait for an employment authorization card (EAD) before we start to work. It requires a lot of paperwork and around $380 each year just to get the card. To do the math, that means that a student would have to work 53 hours at a minimum-wage job just to pay off the card that enables him or her to work in the first place.

As a legal immigrant to America, I sometimes feel punished for coming here legally. My mother was offered a job in New York City, and my father, brother, and I were allowed into the country on dependent visas. My mother was assured she would get her green card in two years?it?s been more than eight. And the government, due to the numerous applications fromIndia, still hasn?t processed our green-card application. We are homeowners; we pay taxes; we celebrate the Fourth of July and root forAmericain the Olympics. We came here legally. And yet, eight years later, we still haven?t received our green card.

In fact, a report by the National Foundation for American Policy suggests that it may take up to 70 years for an Indian-born immigrant to get one. (Backlogs like this only exist for certain countries likeIndiaandChina, from which many employees are hired for American companies experiencing shortages. Therefore, since applications are processed based on country of origin, and not on a first-come first serve basis, wait times for these immigrants terribly increase.)

Recently, a new bill, the Fairness for High Skilled (Legal) Immigrants Act (HR 3012), has entered congress. If it?s passed, it means that my family and others like mine won?t have to sift through useless documents each year, or spend close to $2,500 for the government to process our paperwork. It means that as a student, I?ll be able to apply for more internships with less paperwork involved. It means I won?t have to travel out of the country and re-enter, just to prove to programs like FAFSA that I am a legal immigrant, not someone who has legally entered and illegally overstayed the duration of the visa. It means I?ll finally?legally?be able to callAmericahome.

Many organizations have suggested initiatives that theUnited States Citizenship and Immigration Services can take to make the green card application process for EB immigrants from backlogged countries faster and easier. Among these include eliminating the quota for EB immigration green card applications and processing them on a first-come-first-serve basis (instead of processing them on a country-of-origin basis). Revising the immigration policy to make it more efficient and rational isn?t just a benefit for immigrants, but also for the economic well-being ofAmerica. The immigration system needs to be fixed before it is too late?beforeAmericaloses a dedicated legal workforce who feels cheated and unwelcome and beforeAmericais seen as a country that deports irrationally.

It?s sad that opportunities of hard-working kids who have done nothing wrong in regards to immigration status must be subject to irrational and inefficient immigration policies. TheUSimmigration system is broken. It needs to be fixed for both legal and illegal immigrants.

Some say that we should just wait. Maybe they are right. Maybe we, legal immigrants, should let numerous years of our life go by with fewer opportunities than we believe we deserve. Because, of course, waiting the seemingly endless wait is truly realistic? perhaps even as realistic as today?s immigration policy.

?

Source: http://stuyspectator.com/2012/09/09/the-endless-wait/

Megan Rossee NASA grenada grenada Sikh andy reid McKayla Maroney