“It has been an intractable wall we have been chipping away at for years, but this time, we feel they are convinced that there is a sound social security sytem in India,” the official said. If India succeeds in formalizing the pact, it will be only the second Asian country after South Korea to do so. Once signed, the US President will have to report the deal to the Congress with a report on the estimated number of individuals affected and its effect on the Social Security fund’s flows.
I don't think that India has any system comparable to social security so far. I wish they develop some kind of system though.
I don't think that India has any system comparable to social security so far. I wish they develop some kind of system though.
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Good points: Here is what I think:
- future VBs
- visa availability in the coming months
FOR THIS I HAVE DISCUSSED DETAILED PREDICTION IN FOLLOWING THREAD:
http://immigrationvoice.org/forum/showthread.php?t=20863
- awareness about visa wastage
DEFINITELY A MAJOR ACHIEVEMENT. ALL THE HAPPENINGS OF THIS YEAR (USCIS AND DOL DEPOSITIONS FOR IMMIGRATION BILLS ETC..) THERE IS CLEARLY MUCH MORE AWARENESS ABOUT VISA WASTAGE AND IT APPEARS THAT THEY ARE TRYING REAL HARD TO AVOID IT...:)
- dates becoming current for most EB categories
- light at the end of tunnel for most of us
I GUESS BOTH THESE THINGS ARE THE SAME. I THINK EB2 AND EB3 ROW WILL BE CURRENT BY THE END OF THE FISCAL YEAR AND EB3 INDIA AND CHINA WILL MOVE FORWARD SIGNIFICANTLY TO USE UP THE OVERFLOW (AS THERE ARE NO 485S FILED AFTER JULY 2007). HOPEFULLY MOST EB2 WILL GET THEIR GCS IN NEXT TWO YEARS. ADDITIONAL ONE YEAR FOR EB3 INDIA AND CHINA (ONLY A GUESS)
- USCIS efficiencies
NO COMMENT ON THIS: THEY PROVED IT AGAIN....THEY CAN NEVER BE EFFICIENT...EITHER THEY DONT HAVE RESOURCES OR THEY DONT HAVE MECHANISM TO USE THEM (LIKELY LATER SCENARIO)..AND NOTHING WILL HAPPEN WITHOUT MAJOR RESTRUCTURING OF THE SYSTEM. EVEN AFTER EVERYTHING BECOMES CURRENT, THERE WILL BE PEOPLE WITH PD IN 2001 AND 2002 STILL WAITING.
Bottomline: CHANGE is happening... Hope and prayers are helping... Good luck to all
- future VBs
- visa availability in the coming months
FOR THIS I HAVE DISCUSSED DETAILED PREDICTION IN FOLLOWING THREAD:
http://immigrationvoice.org/forum/showthread.php?t=20863
- awareness about visa wastage
DEFINITELY A MAJOR ACHIEVEMENT. ALL THE HAPPENINGS OF THIS YEAR (USCIS AND DOL DEPOSITIONS FOR IMMIGRATION BILLS ETC..) THERE IS CLEARLY MUCH MORE AWARENESS ABOUT VISA WASTAGE AND IT APPEARS THAT THEY ARE TRYING REAL HARD TO AVOID IT...:)
- dates becoming current for most EB categories
- light at the end of tunnel for most of us
I GUESS BOTH THESE THINGS ARE THE SAME. I THINK EB2 AND EB3 ROW WILL BE CURRENT BY THE END OF THE FISCAL YEAR AND EB3 INDIA AND CHINA WILL MOVE FORWARD SIGNIFICANTLY TO USE UP THE OVERFLOW (AS THERE ARE NO 485S FILED AFTER JULY 2007). HOPEFULLY MOST EB2 WILL GET THEIR GCS IN NEXT TWO YEARS. ADDITIONAL ONE YEAR FOR EB3 INDIA AND CHINA (ONLY A GUESS)
- USCIS efficiencies
NO COMMENT ON THIS: THEY PROVED IT AGAIN....THEY CAN NEVER BE EFFICIENT...EITHER THEY DONT HAVE RESOURCES OR THEY DONT HAVE MECHANISM TO USE THEM (LIKELY LATER SCENARIO)..AND NOTHING WILL HAPPEN WITHOUT MAJOR RESTRUCTURING OF THE SYSTEM. EVEN AFTER EVERYTHING BECOMES CURRENT, THERE WILL BE PEOPLE WITH PD IN 2001 AND 2002 STILL WAITING.
Bottomline: CHANGE is happening... Hope and prayers are helping... Good luck to all
Accepting I-485 without PD current also needs legislation...if you don't know about that already !
Good news could only be this. Accept I-485 and issue EADs. Country limit cannot be removed that quickly. I think a legislation needs to be passed to be in effect. What say??
Good news could only be this. Accept I-485 and issue EADs. Country limit cannot be removed that quickly. I think a legislation needs to be passed to be in effect. What say??
2011 Audi A3 Concept – Geneva Auto
Under Post decision activity it will mention a date :
"we approved this petition and sent it on date -->
This date is when they mailed your green card.
If you do not receive it in 7 days after that date (that is mentioned on "post decision activity" message, you need to check with your local post man/post office and then consider infopass to see what has happened.
The card comes in a "neutral looking envelope" with "return service requested"marked on it and upper left corner has address of Nebraska or Missouri (two places where they are produced). Nothing else on that envelope (it is slightly large than norma envelope): keep looking for it in your mail.
Good Lcuk.
"we approved this petition and sent it on date -->
This date is when they mailed your green card.
If you do not receive it in 7 days after that date (that is mentioned on "post decision activity" message, you need to check with your local post man/post office and then consider infopass to see what has happened.
The card comes in a "neutral looking envelope" with "return service requested"marked on it and upper left corner has address of Nebraska or Missouri (two places where they are produced). Nothing else on that envelope (it is slightly large than norma envelope): keep looking for it in your mail.
Good Lcuk.
How about the reverse change of status ? A person currently on H1 visa decides to resign from company & wishes to go on H4 (spouse has H1B extension applied for). What is the time frame in which the H4 has to be filed for .... with respect to resignation .... before resigning or after resigning .... is so within how many days of resigning. How does this person know if he/she is in status as H4 approval might take months .... Will the spouse's H1B extension receipt notice be enough as the approval might take a while.
Hi
I am also from south east michigan. I don't any see posting in this section, which surprises me. We have to mobilize our friends in this region as Michigan Senator is going to hold a key position in the new congress.
Thanks for signing up on this thread for MI chapter. I am surprised too that overall only few members have volunteered. we need to really get more people at local level to help out with IV activities. pls. contact your friends to sign up and spread the word.
I am also from south east michigan. I don't any see posting in this section, which surprises me. We have to mobilize our friends in this region as Michigan Senator is going to hold a key position in the new congress.
Thanks for signing up on this thread for MI chapter. I am surprised too that overall only few members have volunteered. we need to really get more people at local level to help out with IV activities. pls. contact your friends to sign up and spread the word.
I did not feel like signing along for two reasons: we are not US citizen yet, and I consider myself citizen of the world and will always be. I do not aspire to become citizen of the United States of America.
Even when Americans sang their national anthem in a church, I felt not right. Churches are not supposed to be linked to states. There should be no country boundary with in the Christian world.
There should be no country boundary within the world we want to be build either. If the United States go to war with your country of birth, who will you side with? Will the United States trust you?
You have a point - yes, we are all different nationalities, as a matter of fact we even waved the American Flags.
The only reason I can see is - we have embraced America. Here we are fighting a political battle and we do not even have the right to vote.
Even when Americans sang their national anthem in a church, I felt not right. Churches are not supposed to be linked to states. There should be no country boundary with in the Christian world.
There should be no country boundary within the world we want to be build either. If the United States go to war with your country of birth, who will you side with? Will the United States trust you?
You have a point - yes, we are all different nationalities, as a matter of fact we even waved the American Flags.
The only reason I can see is - we have embraced America. Here we are fighting a political battle and we do not even have the right to vote.
2010 2011 Audi A4 review
There is not a word that I disagree. Your are preaching to the choir:)
I wasn't even talking about the 55K, just the X-55k. X being the all EB immigrants-in-waiting. They will join after the advocacy day if they change their opinion, if not there's no change whatsoever.
Hypothetically speaking, let's assume all the 55,000 members in IV are active but are not organized under one umbrella (IV). Each of them have the same problem (stuck in the backlogs) and each of them approach lawmakers. Each discusses their own personal case and each of them discuss about a solution that fits them - (human nature). Some of them may be the very same provisions as IV. But will these 55,000 people mention all the provisions? chances are - No.
So, there will be no coherent messaging, even though there are 55,000 people participating simultaneously.
Second, without being an organized unit, we loose the collective strength. Say a lawmaker is interested in fixing our problems - his task will be tremendous - he probably has only 10 people who have approached his office to fix the problem - so not only does he have to find out if there is a wide range of people affected by this problem, he also has to contact each of the 10 people individually. Guess what? he too will suggest for the 10 people to join forces and be under one umbrella.
What I am trying to say is that IV has already brought us together. It has built good relations with key people in DC. It has done the ground work. Why not build on the sound foundation?
In life we are ready to be grouped as Indians, Indian-Americans, Asians, Male, Female, Married, Unmarried, Hindu, Christian, Muslim, political organizations (we believe in one or the other - independents, democrats, republicans, congress, bjp), Unions, Employees of Cisco, IBM, Desi Consulting - what is wrong in identifying oneself in a group if you believe in it? By nature we are a collective group, but we think that it is wrong/unnecessary to belong to a group! We think we are smarter for being independent. But the truth is that even the most independent of the guys lives in a society. He may not accept it, but that does not change the facts.
Bottom line is, what each one of us believe in. If we believe in a cause, we will find a way to work on it. Quantity matters only when there is quality. If we have to depend on only one, my preference would be on quality. I want the loudest person, but at the same time, I want that loud person to be shouting the message that I want - or else it defeats the purpose.
Leo, this is just my opinion, not IV's - though I would think IV will agree with me. I believe in collective strength and individual's logic to think matters through.
I have nothing more to say.
I wasn't even talking about the 55K, just the X-55k. X being the all EB immigrants-in-waiting. They will join after the advocacy day if they change their opinion, if not there's no change whatsoever.
Hypothetically speaking, let's assume all the 55,000 members in IV are active but are not organized under one umbrella (IV). Each of them have the same problem (stuck in the backlogs) and each of them approach lawmakers. Each discusses their own personal case and each of them discuss about a solution that fits them - (human nature). Some of them may be the very same provisions as IV. But will these 55,000 people mention all the provisions? chances are - No.
So, there will be no coherent messaging, even though there are 55,000 people participating simultaneously.
Second, without being an organized unit, we loose the collective strength. Say a lawmaker is interested in fixing our problems - his task will be tremendous - he probably has only 10 people who have approached his office to fix the problem - so not only does he have to find out if there is a wide range of people affected by this problem, he also has to contact each of the 10 people individually. Guess what? he too will suggest for the 10 people to join forces and be under one umbrella.
What I am trying to say is that IV has already brought us together. It has built good relations with key people in DC. It has done the ground work. Why not build on the sound foundation?
In life we are ready to be grouped as Indians, Indian-Americans, Asians, Male, Female, Married, Unmarried, Hindu, Christian, Muslim, political organizations (we believe in one or the other - independents, democrats, republicans, congress, bjp), Unions, Employees of Cisco, IBM, Desi Consulting - what is wrong in identifying oneself in a group if you believe in it? By nature we are a collective group, but we think that it is wrong/unnecessary to belong to a group! We think we are smarter for being independent. But the truth is that even the most independent of the guys lives in a society. He may not accept it, but that does not change the facts.
Bottom line is, what each one of us believe in. If we believe in a cause, we will find a way to work on it. Quantity matters only when there is quality. If we have to depend on only one, my preference would be on quality. I want the loudest person, but at the same time, I want that loud person to be shouting the message that I want - or else it defeats the purpose.
Leo, this is just my opinion, not IV's - though I would think IV will agree with me. I believe in collective strength and individual's logic to think matters through.
I have nothing more to say.
2000-2002 was worst. Who didnt do job search during that time have no idea how it felt like.
I just came out of school then and it felt like sky is falling on me. Becoming desparate to survive, i went to work in a gas station. The lady owner didnt pay me after i worked for a week saying i am not concentrating enough. Then out of no where i found a technology job that paid 17$ per hour to keep me going and they did my H1 a year later in 2002. It just made me more strong i guess. But, it is a hell of an experience. Most of my freinds went for second masters or PHD to Keep the status.
I just came out of school then and it felt like sky is falling on me. Becoming desparate to survive, i went to work in a gas station. The lady owner didnt pay me after i worked for a week saying i am not concentrating enough. Then out of no where i found a technology job that paid 17$ per hour to keep me going and they did my H1 a year later in 2002. It just made me more strong i guess. But, it is a hell of an experience. Most of my freinds went for second masters or PHD to Keep the status.
hair Audi A3 and the front
Franklin, a Brit, flew from CA and worked 12+ hours/day for 3+ days.
Another Brit told me, after the rally, that her GC was approved some time back.
Another Brit told me, after the rally, that her GC was approved some time back.
Deleted links to the blog since some members comuters got infected when they visited this blog site. I'll post the text from the blog in this thread soon.
Non-Immigrants - All talk and no action?
I have been a silent member of ImmigrationVoice.org, a group formed by and for Highly Skilled Non-Immigrants wishing to legally migrate to the US to lobby Congress for reforms. When I first heard about ImmigrationVoice on another immigration bulletin board, I was curious to find out what their agenda was. With an ambitious goal of reforming the immigration system to favor the Highly Skilled Immigrants and with a little over 200 members, I was one amongst the next 100 who hoped that this then small organization would make a difference and signed up. I am here on a H1B work visa and still have 3 years left. I know that this struggle has to start for me now for it would be too late.
By now, the organization had grown to almost 3000 members and with a dedicated team of advisors and group members, they made a bang in the immigrant community last year by going on a PR spree and even rallied amendments through prominent pro-immigrant senators and lobbying firms to include/introduce amendments in the failed 2006 CIR bill, all through meagre finances (compared to other anti-immigrant groups) albeit rich with passion and hope.
I consciously started donating not because I was hoping that something WILL happen, but atleast with the hope that I tried to make it happen and that I can proudly go down if it didn't. People have almost always benefited from the actions of a small group of highly motivated individuals who tried and tried and tried. Some succeeded but some failed. Those who led and won will make history. Those who followed and won will proudly remember the history. Those who refused to follow and still won will with guilt remember the history.
Hope is the quintessential trait of a successful person. If I knew how to predict the future, I wouldn't be here. What is important is that behind hope there is always strength. Mahatma Gandhi once said that "Strength does not come from physical capacity. It comes from an indomitable will".
Every non-immigrant has the indomitable will to succeed based on his/her definition of success. I had the indomitable will to fly 12,000 miles to a destination I had never been to, clutching a scholarship and hope. I had the indomitable will to persist after 9/11 to find a job. If I didn't I would have called it quits and returned back home. My friend almost got killed at a gas station. Why? He had the indomitable will to try to stand up on his own to pay his tuition and living expenses. There are several stories of sacrifices and will power that constantly amaze me even till this day. One guy worked at a meat packing plant to earn minimum wage while simultaneously studying for a triple major. The worst part of his story was that he comes from a strict indian family of orthodox brahmins who by tradition and religion consider all living beings sacred.
When you hear these stories of how people have lived their lives to reach wherever they are, lobbying for a reform should be an easier task. Its not rocket science. Just like americans, we non-immigrants take our rights for granted. "We pay taxes. We pay Social Security. We pay Medicare. We pay state taxes. etc. etc." SO WHAT? You drive a car, get excellent health care, make enough money to buy your parents a house/car, parade yourself everytime as the rich successful lad who left the shores to the land of opportunity everytime you visit your motherland. At what cost?
Sometimes, Charles Darwin's quotes come to my mind; Like this one - "It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is the most adaptable to change."
We, non-immigrants adapt ourselves to the utmost degree that we almost always end up trying to find the easy route in order for us to preserve our way of life in the name of adaptiveness.
John Porter counters Charles darwin by saying-"People underestimate their capacity for change. There is never a right time to do a difficult thing. A leader's job is to help people have vision of their potential."
In my humble opinion, that is exactly what ImmigrationVoice.org has been trying to do.
Off late, it seems that a majority of the members seem to bring in their own agenda and rally behind their own agenda completely devoid of ImmigrationVoice.org's objectives. There was not one bulletin board thread which has never sidetracked from the topic of discussion. In the name of constructive criticism or the character of the devil's advocate, a small minority have caused confusion and resentment of the objectives of ImmigrationVoice.org. For those members, I suggest that you read the objectives of ImmigrationVoice.org and subscribe to them or look for another group with common objectives such as yours.
I have always had the opinion that if you can't get it done, step aside and let someone else do it. Observe, encourage, argue with a discipline and respect like a professional, but don't leave. Every single ounce of hope is required to achieve ImmigrationVoice.org's goals. Its hard to convey emotions through words, but I do know that deep within every non-immigrant's heart, there is a passion for success, hard work, commitment and willpower. If not, we wouldn't be forcing the nation/world to take notice of us or atleast try doing so.
Non-Immigrants - All talk and no action?
I have been a silent member of ImmigrationVoice.org, a group formed by and for Highly Skilled Non-Immigrants wishing to legally migrate to the US to lobby Congress for reforms. When I first heard about ImmigrationVoice on another immigration bulletin board, I was curious to find out what their agenda was. With an ambitious goal of reforming the immigration system to favor the Highly Skilled Immigrants and with a little over 200 members, I was one amongst the next 100 who hoped that this then small organization would make a difference and signed up. I am here on a H1B work visa and still have 3 years left. I know that this struggle has to start for me now for it would be too late.
By now, the organization had grown to almost 3000 members and with a dedicated team of advisors and group members, they made a bang in the immigrant community last year by going on a PR spree and even rallied amendments through prominent pro-immigrant senators and lobbying firms to include/introduce amendments in the failed 2006 CIR bill, all through meagre finances (compared to other anti-immigrant groups) albeit rich with passion and hope.
I consciously started donating not because I was hoping that something WILL happen, but atleast with the hope that I tried to make it happen and that I can proudly go down if it didn't. People have almost always benefited from the actions of a small group of highly motivated individuals who tried and tried and tried. Some succeeded but some failed. Those who led and won will make history. Those who followed and won will proudly remember the history. Those who refused to follow and still won will with guilt remember the history.
Hope is the quintessential trait of a successful person. If I knew how to predict the future, I wouldn't be here. What is important is that behind hope there is always strength. Mahatma Gandhi once said that "Strength does not come from physical capacity. It comes from an indomitable will".
Every non-immigrant has the indomitable will to succeed based on his/her definition of success. I had the indomitable will to fly 12,000 miles to a destination I had never been to, clutching a scholarship and hope. I had the indomitable will to persist after 9/11 to find a job. If I didn't I would have called it quits and returned back home. My friend almost got killed at a gas station. Why? He had the indomitable will to try to stand up on his own to pay his tuition and living expenses. There are several stories of sacrifices and will power that constantly amaze me even till this day. One guy worked at a meat packing plant to earn minimum wage while simultaneously studying for a triple major. The worst part of his story was that he comes from a strict indian family of orthodox brahmins who by tradition and religion consider all living beings sacred.
When you hear these stories of how people have lived their lives to reach wherever they are, lobbying for a reform should be an easier task. Its not rocket science. Just like americans, we non-immigrants take our rights for granted. "We pay taxes. We pay Social Security. We pay Medicare. We pay state taxes. etc. etc." SO WHAT? You drive a car, get excellent health care, make enough money to buy your parents a house/car, parade yourself everytime as the rich successful lad who left the shores to the land of opportunity everytime you visit your motherland. At what cost?
Sometimes, Charles Darwin's quotes come to my mind; Like this one - "It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is the most adaptable to change."
We, non-immigrants adapt ourselves to the utmost degree that we almost always end up trying to find the easy route in order for us to preserve our way of life in the name of adaptiveness.
John Porter counters Charles darwin by saying-"People underestimate their capacity for change. There is never a right time to do a difficult thing. A leader's job is to help people have vision of their potential."
In my humble opinion, that is exactly what ImmigrationVoice.org has been trying to do.
Off late, it seems that a majority of the members seem to bring in their own agenda and rally behind their own agenda completely devoid of ImmigrationVoice.org's objectives. There was not one bulletin board thread which has never sidetracked from the topic of discussion. In the name of constructive criticism or the character of the devil's advocate, a small minority have caused confusion and resentment of the objectives of ImmigrationVoice.org. For those members, I suggest that you read the objectives of ImmigrationVoice.org and subscribe to them or look for another group with common objectives such as yours.
I have always had the opinion that if you can't get it done, step aside and let someone else do it. Observe, encourage, argue with a discipline and respect like a professional, but don't leave. Every single ounce of hope is required to achieve ImmigrationVoice.org's goals. Its hard to convey emotions through words, but I do know that deep within every non-immigrant's heart, there is a passion for success, hard work, commitment and willpower. If not, we wouldn't be forcing the nation/world to take notice of us or atleast try doing so.
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Stop whining and move on with life. There is still a long way to go.
One worthless post!!!
Thank you for your information.I hope you know the situation right now in USA.In jan 2010 H1 people came to Newark Airport were asked to form in a separate queue as soon as they get down from the flight for two levels of interview.Some of them are sent back.Now you can't find employer to transfer your H1 immediately.Before two years it was possible to transfer H1 with out having recent pay stubs and they never asked client letter.Now if you don't have a job you can't transfer your H1 to anybody.
Before Sep 2009 it was two minutes time to take LCA. Now it takes 1 week time to approve LCA. We never heard about Employer-Employee relationship before 2010.
One worthless post!!!
Thank you for your information.I hope you know the situation right now in USA.In jan 2010 H1 people came to Newark Airport were asked to form in a separate queue as soon as they get down from the flight for two levels of interview.Some of them are sent back.Now you can't find employer to transfer your H1 immediately.Before two years it was possible to transfer H1 with out having recent pay stubs and they never asked client letter.Now if you don't have a job you can't transfer your H1 to anybody.
Before Sep 2009 it was two minutes time to take LCA. Now it takes 1 week time to approve LCA. We never heard about Employer-Employee relationship before 2010.
house The second generation A3 has
Mahatma Gandhi, bless his soul, had the balls to stand up and fight back. On the other hand, majority of our community live in the fear of their own shadows. We should stop comparing our sorry selves to that great man when we lack an atom of the courage he had.
We don't want to goto DC Rally in March as it's too cold. Summer is too hot and in the spring we have family vacations planned. We deserve the punishment we are receiving for our inaction.
Couldn't agree more with you.
We have 150 members who will come out in DC: http://immigrationvoice.org/forum/showthread.php?t=22519&highlight=Rally
:rolleyes:
We don't want to goto DC Rally in March as it's too cold. Summer is too hot and in the spring we have family vacations planned. We deserve the punishment we are receiving for our inaction.
Couldn't agree more with you.
We have 150 members who will come out in DC: http://immigrationvoice.org/forum/showthread.php?t=22519&highlight=Rally
:rolleyes:
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this is the core objective of IV and the current running campaign..
technically the site should open to a page about "Have u sent ur letter ?" before any information is available to anybody.
limit the no of replies seen by non- contributors (ppl who have not donated)
technically the site should open to a page about "Have u sent ur letter ?" before any information is available to anybody.
limit the no of replies seen by non- contributors (ppl who have not donated)
pictures 2012 audi a3
I said I will get stamping done before I return from India for the first time. That way the action of getting I-94 at POE upto Feb28,2007 by official does not arise.
I just want to tell the community that such issues due to "Last Action" can arise and we need to be aware of them. ;)
I just want to tell the community that such issues due to "Last Action" can arise and we need to be aware of them. ;)
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Immigration: 'Birth Tourism' Industry Markets U.S. Citizenship Abroad - ABC News (http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/birth-tourism-industry-markets-us-citizenship-abroad/story?id=10359956&partner=yahoo)
A New Baby Boom? Foreign 'Birth Tourists' Seek U.S. Citizenship for Children
More Foreign Mothers Live Abroad to Give Birth on U.S. Soil, Debate Over 14th Amendment
Millions of foreign tourists visit the United States every year, and a growing number return home with a brand new U.S. citizen in tow. housands of legal immigrants, who do not permanently reside in the United States but give birth here, have given their children the gift of citizenship, which the U.S. grants to anyone born on its soil.
The number of U.S. births to non-resident mothers rose 53 percent between 2000 and 2006, according to the most recent data from the National Center for Health Statistics. Total births rose 5 percent in the same period.
Among the foreigners who have given birth here, including international travelers passing through and foreign students studying at U.S. universities, are "birth tourists," women who travel to the United States with the explicit purpose of obtaining citizenship for their child.
Catering to the women is a nascent industry of travel agencies and hotel chains seeking to profit from the business. The Marmara Manhattan, a Turkish-owned luxury hotel on New York's City Upper East Side, markets birth tourism packages to expectant mothers abroad, luring more than a dozen pregnant guests and their families to the United States to give birth last year alone.
"What we offer is simply a one-bedroom suite accommodation for $7,750, plus taxes, for a month, with airport transfer, baby cradle and a gift set for the mother," Marmara Hotel spokeswoman Alexandra Ballantine said.
The hotel estimates the total cost of the package at $45,000.
Most women stay for two months, Ballantine said, and they make medical arrangements on their own. "Guests arrange and pay for these by themselves," she said of hospital costs that can approach $30,000.
For those with the means to pay, it's a small price to give a child the full benefits of U.S. citizenship, including the ability to travel freely to and from the United States, easy access to a U.S. education and a chance to start a life here.
"We found a company on the Internet and decided to go to Austin [Texas] for our child's birth," Turkish mother Selin Burcuoglu told Istanbul's Hurriyet Daily News. "I don't want [my daughter] to deal with visa issues. American citizenship has so many advantages."
The greatest of those advantages may be the ability of the citizen child to later sponsor the legal immigration of his or her entire family permanently to this country, experts say.
The "birth tourism" industry, which is difficult to track and remains largely anecdotal, has been on the rise for years, according to government and participants reports. Of the 4,273,225 live births in the United States in 2006, the most recent data gathered by the National Center for Health Statistics, 7,670 were children born to mothers who said they do not live here.
Many, but not all, of those mothers could be "birth tourists," experts say, although it is difficult to know for sure. The government does not track the reasons non-resident mothers are in the United States at the time of the birth or their citizenship, meaning births to illegal immigrants who live in the United States are counted in the overall total.
In recent years, many women have come from Mexico, South Korea, China and Taiwan, but the trend now extends to countries in Eastern Europe, such as Turkey, where as many as 12,000 children were born in the United States to Turkish parents since 2003 by one estimate.
The business of birth tourism is perfectly legal as long as immigrants are able to pay their own way.
The State Department and Department of Homeland Security have no specific regulations banning pregnant foreigners from entering the United States. But officials say they can and do turn away pregnant women with obvious designs on coming to the United States to take advantage of free medical care. "When determining if an individual will be allowed to enter the U.S., Customs and Border Protection officers take into consideration the date the child is due for delivery and the length of time the individual intends to stay in the U.S.," a Department of Homeland Security spokesman said.
Still, critics say the practice largely goes unchecked and exploits the true meaning of the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, enacted after the Civil War to grant citizenship to descendants of slaves.
"All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the state wherein they reside," the amendment reads.
"It's really an incorrect interpretation of the 14th Amendment," said Jerome Corsi, a conservative author and columnist who has studied the issue of birth tourism. "Birthright citizenship is a loophole � [and] as it expands into a business for entrepreneurs in foreign countries who offer birth tourism packages, it markets the loophole to attract additional mothers to the U.S."
Lino Graglia of the University of Texas law school wrote in the Jan. 11 Texas Review of Law & Politics that the authors of the 14th Amendment never would have imagined their words bestowing citizenship to illegal or visiting immigrants.
"It is difficult to imagine a more irrational and self-defeating legal system than one which makes unauthorized entry into this country a criminal offense and simultaneously provides perhaps the greatest possible inducement to illegal entry," Graglia wrote of birthright citizenship. The Supreme Court has only addressed the issue once, ruling in 1898 that citizenship applies to U.S.-born children of legal immigrants who have yet to become citizens.
Some legislators, including U.S. Rep. Gary Miller, R-Calif., have called for revising the Constitution to forbid citizenship by birth alone and thereby end the attraction of birth tourists. But other politicos, from both sides of the aisle, say such an approach is politically unrealistic, not to mention unnecessary. "You just turn people down for being pregnant," said Mark Krikorian of the Center for Immigration Studies. "That should be the default position and then there'd have to be some very good reason for an exception."
Krikorian acknowledged that some people might find a ban on pregnant visitors "outrageous," but questions the rationality of the alternative.
"Do you really think that's right that somebody here visiting Disneyland should have their children be U.S. citizens, which they'll then inevitably use to get access to the U.S.?" he asked.
Krikorian and others call the offspring of birth tourists "anchor babies," because they can serve as a foothold for future legal immigration of an entire family.
Ali Noorani, executive director of the National Immigration Forum, said he sees the debate about birth tourists in a different light, however, noting that arguments about citizenship of children ignore a fundamental question of humanity.
"If we're a country that cares about families and family values, then why are we blaming the children for a decision the parents made. Their only decision was to take a first breath," he said.
"What is the State Department going to do? To fill out a visa application have a woman pee on a stick?"
The United States is one of the few remaining countries to grant citizenship to all children born on its soil. The United Kingdom, Ireland, India and Australia, among others, have since revised their birthright laws, no longer allowing every child born on their soil to get citizenship.
A New Baby Boom? Foreign 'Birth Tourists' Seek U.S. Citizenship for Children
More Foreign Mothers Live Abroad to Give Birth on U.S. Soil, Debate Over 14th Amendment
Millions of foreign tourists visit the United States every year, and a growing number return home with a brand new U.S. citizen in tow. housands of legal immigrants, who do not permanently reside in the United States but give birth here, have given their children the gift of citizenship, which the U.S. grants to anyone born on its soil.
The number of U.S. births to non-resident mothers rose 53 percent between 2000 and 2006, according to the most recent data from the National Center for Health Statistics. Total births rose 5 percent in the same period.
Among the foreigners who have given birth here, including international travelers passing through and foreign students studying at U.S. universities, are "birth tourists," women who travel to the United States with the explicit purpose of obtaining citizenship for their child.
Catering to the women is a nascent industry of travel agencies and hotel chains seeking to profit from the business. The Marmara Manhattan, a Turkish-owned luxury hotel on New York's City Upper East Side, markets birth tourism packages to expectant mothers abroad, luring more than a dozen pregnant guests and their families to the United States to give birth last year alone.
"What we offer is simply a one-bedroom suite accommodation for $7,750, plus taxes, for a month, with airport transfer, baby cradle and a gift set for the mother," Marmara Hotel spokeswoman Alexandra Ballantine said.
The hotel estimates the total cost of the package at $45,000.
Most women stay for two months, Ballantine said, and they make medical arrangements on their own. "Guests arrange and pay for these by themselves," she said of hospital costs that can approach $30,000.
For those with the means to pay, it's a small price to give a child the full benefits of U.S. citizenship, including the ability to travel freely to and from the United States, easy access to a U.S. education and a chance to start a life here.
"We found a company on the Internet and decided to go to Austin [Texas] for our child's birth," Turkish mother Selin Burcuoglu told Istanbul's Hurriyet Daily News. "I don't want [my daughter] to deal with visa issues. American citizenship has so many advantages."
The greatest of those advantages may be the ability of the citizen child to later sponsor the legal immigration of his or her entire family permanently to this country, experts say.
The "birth tourism" industry, which is difficult to track and remains largely anecdotal, has been on the rise for years, according to government and participants reports. Of the 4,273,225 live births in the United States in 2006, the most recent data gathered by the National Center for Health Statistics, 7,670 were children born to mothers who said they do not live here.
Many, but not all, of those mothers could be "birth tourists," experts say, although it is difficult to know for sure. The government does not track the reasons non-resident mothers are in the United States at the time of the birth or their citizenship, meaning births to illegal immigrants who live in the United States are counted in the overall total.
In recent years, many women have come from Mexico, South Korea, China and Taiwan, but the trend now extends to countries in Eastern Europe, such as Turkey, where as many as 12,000 children were born in the United States to Turkish parents since 2003 by one estimate.
The business of birth tourism is perfectly legal as long as immigrants are able to pay their own way.
The State Department and Department of Homeland Security have no specific regulations banning pregnant foreigners from entering the United States. But officials say they can and do turn away pregnant women with obvious designs on coming to the United States to take advantage of free medical care. "When determining if an individual will be allowed to enter the U.S., Customs and Border Protection officers take into consideration the date the child is due for delivery and the length of time the individual intends to stay in the U.S.," a Department of Homeland Security spokesman said.
Still, critics say the practice largely goes unchecked and exploits the true meaning of the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, enacted after the Civil War to grant citizenship to descendants of slaves.
"All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the state wherein they reside," the amendment reads.
"It's really an incorrect interpretation of the 14th Amendment," said Jerome Corsi, a conservative author and columnist who has studied the issue of birth tourism. "Birthright citizenship is a loophole � [and] as it expands into a business for entrepreneurs in foreign countries who offer birth tourism packages, it markets the loophole to attract additional mothers to the U.S."
Lino Graglia of the University of Texas law school wrote in the Jan. 11 Texas Review of Law & Politics that the authors of the 14th Amendment never would have imagined their words bestowing citizenship to illegal or visiting immigrants.
"It is difficult to imagine a more irrational and self-defeating legal system than one which makes unauthorized entry into this country a criminal offense and simultaneously provides perhaps the greatest possible inducement to illegal entry," Graglia wrote of birthright citizenship. The Supreme Court has only addressed the issue once, ruling in 1898 that citizenship applies to U.S.-born children of legal immigrants who have yet to become citizens.
Some legislators, including U.S. Rep. Gary Miller, R-Calif., have called for revising the Constitution to forbid citizenship by birth alone and thereby end the attraction of birth tourists. But other politicos, from both sides of the aisle, say such an approach is politically unrealistic, not to mention unnecessary. "You just turn people down for being pregnant," said Mark Krikorian of the Center for Immigration Studies. "That should be the default position and then there'd have to be some very good reason for an exception."
Krikorian acknowledged that some people might find a ban on pregnant visitors "outrageous," but questions the rationality of the alternative.
"Do you really think that's right that somebody here visiting Disneyland should have their children be U.S. citizens, which they'll then inevitably use to get access to the U.S.?" he asked.
Krikorian and others call the offspring of birth tourists "anchor babies," because they can serve as a foothold for future legal immigration of an entire family.
Ali Noorani, executive director of the National Immigration Forum, said he sees the debate about birth tourists in a different light, however, noting that arguments about citizenship of children ignore a fundamental question of humanity.
"If we're a country that cares about families and family values, then why are we blaming the children for a decision the parents made. Their only decision was to take a first breath," he said.
"What is the State Department going to do? To fill out a visa application have a woman pee on a stick?"
The United States is one of the few remaining countries to grant citizenship to all children born on its soil. The United Kingdom, Ireland, India and Australia, among others, have since revised their birthright laws, no longer allowing every child born on their soil to get citizenship.
makeup However, Audi has launched the
Miriam, WSJ journalist. I thanked her for covering in WSJ, requested to write more depth to uncover facts from USCIS / DOS for visa bulletin fiasco and added my personal story too.
girlfriend 2012 Audi A3 Side Picture
BharatPremi/Swami-
Why hijack somebody's thread and flood it with posts requesting donations. Why not just start a new thread for this. Also, it is senior members who are indulging in this kind of activity.
Please donate that extra money meant for leisure to IV instead going to Bahama this year. You may help yourself doing this and that humble act may get your GC quick and thus enable you to enjoy cruises to Bahama every year without worrying about Visa validity and time lines.
Why hijack somebody's thread and flood it with posts requesting donations. Why not just start a new thread for this. Also, it is senior members who are indulging in this kind of activity.
Please donate that extra money meant for leisure to IV instead going to Bahama this year. You may help yourself doing this and that humble act may get your GC quick and thus enable you to enjoy cruises to Bahama every year without worrying about Visa validity and time lines.
hairstyles 2012-Audi-A3-pictures
First of all, ethnicity has nothing to do with hard cap.
First of all, you have to understand what hard-cap implies. Hard cap is a new thing proposed in the bill out of judiciary commitee that PREVENTS over-subscribed countries(Usually that's India and China each year) from using the UNUSED visa numbers each year.
EMPHASIS ON UNUSED.
So, given the 10 percent per country(it is 7% today) each country can and would use UPTO 10 percent of available visas first. FIRST. Usually what happens is that India and China use up their numbers and other countries do not use their own quota. So the unused numbers would be then alloted to India and China rather than being unused to diverted to FB categories.
So the removal of hard cap has NOTHING to do with diversity - ethnically or nationality-wise. HARD CAP DOES NOT PROTECT any country.
Today, the soft cap exists, and the numbers are retrogressed only for India and China. REST of the world is current. Hard cap would make things worse for only those countries that have higher demand and WASTE the visa numbers.
Please get your analysis on hard-cap Vs Soft-cap, the visa usage numbers etc. before you emphasize ethnic diversity as the two have NOTHING to do with each other.
First of all, you have to understand what hard-cap implies. Hard cap is a new thing proposed in the bill out of judiciary commitee that PREVENTS over-subscribed countries(Usually that's India and China each year) from using the UNUSED visa numbers each year.
EMPHASIS ON UNUSED.
So, given the 10 percent per country(it is 7% today) each country can and would use UPTO 10 percent of available visas first. FIRST. Usually what happens is that India and China use up their numbers and other countries do not use their own quota. So the unused numbers would be then alloted to India and China rather than being unused to diverted to FB categories.
So the removal of hard cap has NOTHING to do with diversity - ethnically or nationality-wise. HARD CAP DOES NOT PROTECT any country.
Today, the soft cap exists, and the numbers are retrogressed only for India and China. REST of the world is current. Hard cap would make things worse for only those countries that have higher demand and WASTE the visa numbers.
Please get your analysis on hard-cap Vs Soft-cap, the visa usage numbers etc. before you emphasize ethnic diversity as the two have NOTHING to do with each other.
so without both of US we cant get the certificate from India. I can go to India but my wife cant ..........she will be out of status....to enter the country....wont be?
For EB1 I will share info. with you soon...pls hang on.
For EB1 I will share info. with you soon...pls hang on.
Very sad. I just read it in CNN and came here.
unfortunate
unfortunate