Immigrants left frustrated by green card delays
Maher Tamimi has been waiting for six years to apply for the coveted "green card" that would allow him to become a permanent resident of the US. Or rather, his wife has been waiting - literally, for she has little else to do.
Mr Tamimi, an Iraqi-born Canadian, works in Dallas as an electrical engineer for SunGard, which handles software and processing for large financial services companies. Since 2002, he has been allowed in the US on the H1-B visa granted to skilled foreign professionals.
But his wife of five years, Mariam Mouti, has not been so lucky. A Moroccan citizen and a trained doctor, she has been unable to work despite passing all the US medical exams and certification requirements. Until her husband is able to apply for a green card, she must live in the US on a visa that doesn't permit her to work.
"It is really affecting our lives," says Mr Tamimi. "I feel useless, hopeless. I cannot help her. I see her pain every day."
Both were hoping this year that Mr Tamimi would finally receive certification from the US Labor Department that his job could not be filled by a qualified American. That would then allow him to apply for a green card and, once the application was submitted, his wife would also finally receive a work permit.
But last month the State Department announced that, due to an overload of green card applications, workers in Mr Tamimi's position would not be allowed to seek a green card.
At a minimum, he appears to be facing a wait of two more years before he can apply, and the delay could be much longer.
The problem of "visa retrogression" - where there are simply not enough employment-based green cards to meet demand - has reached proportions not seen since the late 1980s, says Lynn Shotwell, executive director of the American Council on International Personnel. As an Iraqi-Canadian, Mr Tamimi's situation is far from the worst. Both Chinese and Indians face far longer delays, even for workers most coveted by US companies, such as scientists and engineers.
The US immigration system, which generally favours family members over unattached skilled workers, has a rigid annual cap of 140,000 on the number of employment-based green cards issued each year to foreign workers and their family members. That cap is further subdivided, so that citizens of any one country cannot receive more than 7 per cent of the total available, a restriction that particularly impinges on large developing countries such as China and India.
The State Department announced last month that, even for the category of "outstanding researcher" or "persons of extraordinary ability" - the highest priority for employment-based green cards - the quota had been filled from China and India.
No new applications will be taken from Chinese unless they had applied for their Labor Department certification before January 1, 2000, or from Indians before August 1, 2002. Waits for less skilled professionals are longer still.
The delays can be devastating for those caught out. Spouses and working-age children are barred from working, and those on temporary work visas are unable to change jobs for fear of losing their status in the US. Gary Endelman, immigration counsel for BP America, says that one employee at the company who recently applied for a green card wants to get married but because of the new waiting times his wife would be unable to join him in the US for years. "It's separating families," he says.
Ironically, the new delays have been caused in part by the US government's success in finally clearing out a large backlog of unprocessed green card applications. Lengthy processing delays had for many years kept the annual green card quota from being exhausted, but quicker processing has instead simply shifted the backlog to those waiting to apply for green cards.
The problem is also particularly acute now because Congress raised the cap on H1-B visas to 195,000 in 1998 to respond to high-technology labour shortages, and many of those workers are now seeking permanent residence in the US. The cap reverted to 65,000 at the end of 2003. "There's no doubt that part of what's happened in the additional numbers in the 1990s have created a huge bubble," says Sandra Boyd of the National Association of Manufacturers, which lobbied heavily for more H1-B visas.
Two immigration reform bills currently before the Congress would attempt to address the pent-up demands. Legislation sponsored by Senators John McCain and Edward Kennedy would increase employment-based green cards to 290,000 annually, while a rival bill from Senators John Cornyn and Jon Kyl would raised the cap to 190,000. But it is not clear that either bill can command a majority in the fractious House and Senate.
Large US employers are hoping for a quicker fix. They are lobbying Congress to amend the rules so that the 140,000 annual cap on green cards applies only to skilled workers and not to their family members. They are also urging that unused quotas from past years be carried forward to help relieve the current backlog.
美移民绿卡申请延期
马
厄?塔米米(Maher Tamimi)为申请“绿卡”已等了6年，他十分渴望获得绿卡，成为美国永久居民。而他的妻子名符其实地一直在“等待”，因为她几乎没别的事可做。
塔米米先生是伊拉克裔加拿大人，目前在达拉斯担任SunGard公司的电气工程师。SunGard公司为大型金融服务企业开发软件和处理数据。2002年以来，他一直居留在美国，持有发放给熟练外国专业人员的H1-B签证。
但和他结婚5年的妻子马理亚姆?穆蒂(Mariam Mouti)，就没那么幸运了。她是摩洛哥人，一名训练有素的医生，虽然她通过了美国所有的医学考试和证书要求，但她还是不能就业。在丈夫申请到绿卡之前，她只能持非工作签证在美居留。
“这的确在影响我们的生活，”塔米米先生说，“我觉得自己没用，绝望。我帮不了她，我每天看到她陷于痛苦。”
他们夫妻都希望，塔米米先生今年可以最终从美国劳工部(Labor Department)获得证明，表明找不到合格的美国人胜任他的工作。这样他就有资格申请绿卡，一旦提交申请，他的妻子也会最终获得工作许可。
但美国国务院(State Department)上月宣布，由于绿卡申请积压过多，将不允许塔米米先生这样的工作者申请绿卡。
看来，他至少要再等两年，甚至更久，才能提出申请。
美国国际员工协会(ACIP)执行主任林恩?肖特韦尔(Lynn Shotwell)表示，由于没有足够的工作绿卡可以满足需求，“签证退步”(visa retrogression)问题已达到80年代末以来最为严重的程度。作为伊拉克裔加拿大人，塔米米先生的情况还不是最糟糕的。中国人和印度人面临的等待时间更加长，即使是美国企业最需要的科学家和工程师也是如此。
美国移民制度通常更有利于家庭成员，而不是在美国没有亲属关系的熟练工作者。这个制度向外国员工及其家属发放的工作绿卡数量受到严格控制，每年的上限为14万人。这一上限还有进一步细分，规定任何一国的公民都不能获得超过总数7%的绿卡。这项限制对中国和印度等大型发展中国家的影响特别大。
美国国务院上月宣布，即使对于“杰出研究人员”或“具有特别能力者”等工作绿卡的最高优先级别，中国和印度移民的配额也已用完。
美国将不再接受中国人和印度人的新申请，除非是在2000年1月1日之前申请劳工部证明的中国人，或是在2002年8月1日之前申请劳工部证明的印度人。技术水平较低的专业人士必须等待更长时间。
对受牵连的人而言，等待可能产生毁灭性影响：配偶和到达工作年龄的孩子被禁止工作，持临时工作签证的移民因害怕失去居留资格而不敢跳槽。BP America的移民律师加里?恩德尔曼(Gary Endelman)表示，该公司一位最近申请了绿卡的雇员想结婚，但因为新的等待时间，他妻子将多年无法和他一起在美国生活。“这种情况正在拆散家庭，”他说。
讽刺的是，新的等待时间的部分原因，在于美国政府最终成功清理了大量未处理的积压绿卡申请。多年来，冗长的处理等待时间导致绿卡配额无法用完，但处理速度的提高，反而将延误转移到等待申请绿卡的移民身上。
目前这一问题特别尖锐，因为1998年美国国会将H1-B签证上限提高到19.5万份，以应对高科技劳动力短缺，现在这些人中有许多人正寻求美国的永久居留权。2003年底，这一上限重新压低至6.5万份。“毫无疑问，90年代额外的签证数量，导致了巨大的泡沫，”美国全国制造商协会(National Association of Manufacturers)的桑德拉?博伊德(Sandra Boyd)说。该协会为争取更多的H1-B签证进行了大量游说。
目前递交美国国会的两项移民改革法案，将尝试解决积压的需求。参议员约翰?麦凯恩(John McCain)和爱德华?肯尼迪(Edward Kennedy)提出的法案，将把工作绿卡增加到每年29万份，而参议员约翰?康宁(John Cornyn)和乔恩?基尔(Jon Kyl)的法案则将上限提高至19万份。但在派性严重的参众两院，这两项法案都没有把握获得多数票。
大型美国企业希望能加快解决问题。它们正游说国会修订法规，使每年14万的绿卡上限仅适用于技术工人，而不适用于他们的家属。它们还敦促，利用前几年未用完的配额，以减轻目前的申请积压。
