I have been reading Greg Siskind’s blog, and he has many articles on the growing hue and cry over the USCIS Visa debacle. [here and here, as examples]

Based on everything I have read, I might benefit from this scam. However, it makes me ill to think that a group of bureaucrats broke their own rules in order to boost their Visa acceptance rate, which is what it sounds like.

Tags: Greg Siskind, USCIS, Green Card, immigration

Tags: app, blog, EAD, Green Card, HTML, HTTP, IM, Immigration, it, Om, Technorati

As many readers know, I am going through the process — if you call filing a bunch of paperwork and not hearing anything for 2 years a process — of obtaining Permanent Residency in the United States, often referred to as the Green Card.

This morning, on NPR, there was a story about a foul-up in the processing of Green Cards that is suspicious, to say the least.

I have started referring to this process as the Dream Card because it leaves one thinking that the application they completed was done in a dream, a long time ago. An like most dreams, it is a fable of the subconscious mind and as likely to come true as those blue, flying penguins in my dream last night.

The degree of complexity that accompanies the application process has made bureaucrats from the Byzantine Empire write letters of complaint to their members of Congress, saying that the USCIS is giving them a bad name. Kafka has been seen rising from the dead at night, and penning a new tale based on this experience.

Other people covering this story.

NY Times
The Guardian
Times Of India
Miami Herald
San Jose Mercury News
Sacramento Bee Editorial

A few media outlets have grabbed this story as an example of just how broken the US system is when it comes to immigration, especially given the irony of the recent debate over the immigration bill that was tossed out of Congress. How could the immigration system have hoped to deal with the new regulations, if thousands, perhaps tens of thousands, of valid visas go unused every year, due to government inefficiency.

Why would an illegal immigrant bother to go through a legal process that punishes the very people who are taking the time to follow the rules?

I would raise my voice in protest; but it would do no good. Drawing a pool of highly skilled, well compensated indentured servants from around the world to these shores to keep the wheels of innovation and development rolling appears to have become the American way.

And like indentured servants everywhere, we are a disposable commodity, to be teased by the promise that some day, we could, we might, just maybe be able to live here (and still not be able to vote) as Permanent Residents.

Tags: Green Card, fiasco, scandal, State Department, USCIS, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, indentured, servants, work visa, visa

Tags: app, application, ARIN, dreams, EAD, government, Green Card, HTML, HTTP, IE, IM, Immigration, India, IP, ISP, it, leave, live, media, NY Times, Om, One, opinion, permanent resident, PHP, pr, Technorati, United States

I just remembered something this morning. Starting October 7, 2006, I will be officially a man without a Visa. My final H1-B renewal expires on October 6, 2006, and although they have applied for an extension, and I am at some indeterminate point supposed to get a Green Card, I will be of no status as of that date.

If you have any conferences or camps or seminars you want me to attend, better get me before October 6!

Technorati Tags: DHS, Immigration, H1B, H1-B, Canada, Visa, Green+Card, Permanent+resident

Tags: app, Canada, DHS, extension, Green Card, H1, H1-B, HTTP, IE, IM, Immigration, it, Om, Technorati

Patrick McGoohan created the amazing character of “Number Six” a year before I was born. But sitting here in my beautiful home in Massachusetts, I understand the feelings that the character must have experienced.

The premise, for those who don’t know the show, is that Number Six is a top agent for an unnamed spy agency who resigns for reasons that are never clear. He is then suddenly kidnapped and placed in this remarkably serene village by the sea, where all his needs are fulfilled. However, this comes at a price: he is no longer free.

I live that every day.

I have had people say that this view is extreme.

But it is also true.

I am free to go about my business in any way I chose, but the US government or my current employer can revoke my status at any time.

Then I am free to return to Canada poor, but free.

It is crazy to think that borders mean so much. Working on the internet has made boundaries meaningless to me. I have contacts all over the US, and around the world. But I am trapped by borders.

Now, I know that this may not always be the case. One of the senior executives at the company I work for is also Canadian, but with a Green Card. He has complete freedom to go where he wants, and do what he wants, and work for whomever he wants.

I miss that freedom.

The life of a “guest worker” is starting to wear on both Samantha and me. We are concerned that our eldest may be discriminated against in later life simply because he is Canadian. We are also worried about what may happen to our youngest because he is a US citizen.

They are simply our children. How can we raise them in such an atmosphere of uncertainty?

Samanatha is going to Victoria to visit her parents in April. When she comes back, I know that the distance between where we are (Massachusetts), and where we want to be (Washington, Oregon, British Columbia) will need to be bridged.

I know that we must return to the West Coast.

But here I am, trapped in the netherworld that the “guest workers” inhabit.

I cannot recommend this experience to anyone. A job in the US seems like a good idea, but consider the costs.

You will be trapped by a job, be trapped in a job, and be chained to one job.

That is the compromise you have to accept.

I can no longer accept it.

I am NOT a number…

Technorati Tags: h-1b, guest worker, green card, canada, the prisoner, management, outsourcing

Tags: app, business, Canada, children, current, government, Green Card, HTTP, IE, IM, Internet, it, live, Massachusetts, Om, One, pr, Technorati

As a person who falls into the category of a resident alien, I was sickened when I heard the following story on NPR last week (PART 1 and PART 2). Somehow, I just knew that this was going on, and was most likely condoned at the highest levels of the administration, but did not want to believe it.

The twisted loophole in all of this is that like the "enemy combatants" at Gitmo, these detainees have not committed a crime, so they have no right to be provided with an attorney to defend them. One comment was that the detainees would have been better off if they had actually committed a crime, as they would enjoy a greater level of legal protection.

So, if you are a resident alien in the US, even one with a Green Card, you can be treated this way just for being too loud at a house party, and then being charged with a misdemeanor.

God help America.

Tags: DHS, Green Card, HTTP, IE, IM, it, Om, One, PHP, pr