Workers
For immigration lawyers, we are entering the season of frantic filings for professional workers.
There is a visa for professional workers, the H-1B, and a visa for seasonal workers, the H-2B, that allows workers to come to the U.S. temporarily to work for specific employers.
Deadlines are short, and the legal work is expensive. But, employers need to find ways to bring legal workers - and the difficult/expensive process really does exist.
The reality is that an employer cannot sponsor an unskilled worker who is already here in the U.S. For example, a worker that the employer already knows is a good worker with a home/family here. The employer must bring in new workers, who have never violated the law by coming to the U.S. illegally or overstaying a prior visa.
This is just one area of our immigration law that has not kept up with the economic needs of businesses here in the U.S. Businesses need the workers, and need a way to get legal workers. The government is spending a lot of time tracking down employers who hire undocumented workers, to deport the workers and fine the employers.
To build our economy, maybe it would make more sense to fix the law, and make it possible for the employers to fill the jobs legally. Build, instead of outsource. Reward the employers and workers who do it right, and provide a shorter path to permanent resident status.
If you are an employer who knows the economic needs/workforce needs of this community, please take the time to pick up the phone and call your congressional offices in D.C. to encourage a fix.
