Indian tech workers in Silicon Valley protest immigration discrimination

SAN JOSE — With 1000’s of Central America refugees converging on the U.S. southern border, the difficulty of immigration is heating up this week.  It is a struggle that often facilities on a worry of People dropping their jobs. However there are some immigrants who have been invited right here particularly as a result of their abilities are wanted and so they say even they’re being let down by the system.

The thirty or so individuals who marched in San Jose Sunday weren’t immigrants demanding to enter this nation. They’ve already been right here — some for many years. They have been recruited from India to work within the Silicon Valley tech business utilizing H1B visas.  Utilizing H1Bs, employers can legally rent overseas staff who’ve particular abilities and, as soon as right here, they often qualify for a everlasting inexperienced card inside a yr or two.  Until, that’s, they arrive from India…

“All of us have utilized for a inexperienced card and it has been accepted.  Solely factor is, we have to wait 150 years to get a inexperienced card,” stated Akhilesh Malavalli.  “100 fifty years!  I will be useless.  I will be useless by the point we see a inexperienced card.”

There’s a cap on the variety of skills-based inexperienced playing cards that may be issued to anybody nation of origin and there are such a lot of staff from India, getting one has develop into virtually not possible.

Sunday, the employees protested in entrance of the San Jose residence of congresswoman Zoe Lofgren, demanding that she fulfill a promise to deliver a invoice to the Home flooring for a vote.  HR 3648 would take away nationwide origin as a consideration for getting a skilled-worker inexperienced card.  

“What we’re combating for is primary equality,” Malivalli stated. “Deal with us primarily based on what abilities we deliver to this nation and never essentially primarily based on the place we have been born.”

That is very important to the protesters as a result of, with H1B visas, staff who lose their jobs for any purpose have solely two months to discover a new employer who could be keen to use for a brand new H1B on their behalf.

“You realize, there might be layoffs and abruptly you are misplaced,” stated Prashant Prasad. “You have got 60 days to seek out one other job and keep within the U.S. and in any other case you develop into unlawful.”

Even when they preserve their jobs, beneath H1B kids of staff should go away the nation once they flip 21 even when they’ve lived right here their total lives. In contrast to green-card standing — which additionally covers dependents — if an H1B employee ought to die, their total household should go away the nation.  

“Each month, there’s somebody who passes away,” Prasad stated, “And their dependents at the moment are abruptly — their lives are in disarray as a result of, legally, they can not keep right here.  So, they’ve to return.”

It would not sound like the right solution to deal with an invited visitor.

“You do every little thing proper to be right here. You most likely are among the many greatest within the business by way of ability units,” Prasad stated.  “However, on the subject of this, you are caught.”

Consultant Lofgren is the lead sponsor of the HR 3648 and chair of the Home subcommittee on immigration.  The protesters stated they need her to deliver the invoice up for a vote within the coming week.