Mediaboss Marketing

Submitted by Sitara Nath

And what makes this country great for me, as an immigrant and now, a United States citizen, is really that America is a place I can finally call home, said Meenu Nath, a local Olympia constituent and one of the 12 community members who lobbied Congressmen Denny Hecks Lacey office for compassionate immigration reform on Thursday, May 18. The combination of leaders, local activists and faith-based organizations came together to ask Representative Heck to cosponsor the BRIDGE Act, a bipartisan bill which will protect young, undocumented immigrants if their protected status is revoked.

The visit was organized by Sitara Nath, a local community organizer who takes part in the Advocacy Corps Intern Program with the Friends Committee on National Legislation, a DC based Quaker lobbyist group in the public interest. Last year, after attending a conference in Washington D.C. just days after the presidential election, Naths interest in compassionate immigration reform grew stronger as anti-immigrant rhetoric continued emanating from the White House. Now back in Olympia, Nath has teamed up with the Strengthening Sanctuary Faith Network, a local coalition of faith activists who seek to support immigrant communities in the area. Dallas Roberts, the congressmans district representative, met with the constituents and reiterated the power of stories in immigration advocacy.

What we really need is people like all of you out there and sharing these stories with other members of Congress as well it would really support the Representative if other Washington leaders were united on this issue, said Roberts, who also noted that the Representative is supportive of the BRIDGE Act but, due to the bipartisan nature of the bill, needs a Republican congressional member to sign on alongside him.

At the visit, the constituents discussed their personal stories in relation to the BRIDGE Act in an effort to bring politics back to personal roots. Beth Halpern, a member of Strengthening Sanctuary and an ally through the Temple Beth Hatfiloh, shared a moving story of a young woman she is acquainted with who has excelled in her education but is restricted from further pursuing her dreams due to her undocumented status.

Charo Portaro, the Director of Educational Programs at CIELO (Central Integral Educativo de Olympia) also joined the visit to discuss how the Congressmans legislative decisions impact the immigrant communities she works with.

We are working to change lives through education, said Portaro of the programs which CIELO offers, including English classes, GED preparation courses and sewing classes, to build support for immigrant families in Olympia. Portaro concluded firmly that, This is an issue which comes down to our basic humanity and thats why I am here thats why we want the Representative to support this issue.

You can learn more about CIELO and their volunteer-based programs by visiting the CIELO websiteor by emailingcieloproject@comcast.net. You can also find information regarding the Strengthening Sanctuary Faith Network, which provides Know Your Rights training and Family Safety Planning, through the local Interfaith Works newsletter. To contact Sitara Nath about local lobbying opportunities for compassionate immigration reform, you can email her at sitaranath@gmail.com.

Excerpt from:
Olympia Community Members Advocate for Compassionate Immigration Reform - ThurstonTalk

U.S. Apple Association leaders met with top Trump administration officials in late May to press the case for reform to the H-2A program and expanding trade opportunities.

U.S. Apple vice chairman Mark Boyer, owner of Ridgetop Orchards LLC, Fishertown, Pa., was joined by U.S. Apple president and CEO Jim Bair and senior vice president Diane Kurrle at the White House meeting, according to a news release. They met with Ray Starling, President Trumps special assistant for agriculture, trade and food assistance and Richard Chalkey, associate director of the National Economic Council, according to the release.

Boyer said he was encouraged by the meeting.

We, the apple industry, represent one link in a long list of industries and the communities and families they support whose livelihood depends on labor and open trade, Boyer said in the release. The apple industry cannot sustain itself, and our business will not survive long term unless we address labor reforms and future trade implications now.

Topics raised during the meeting included the gains the apple industry has experienced with the North American Free Trade Agreement, the need for an overhaul of the H-2A visa program, and the continued importance of adhering to science-based rules in regulating trade in apples, according to the release.

Originally posted here:
Apple leaders make case for expanded trade, immigration reform - The Packer

Hiring in IT is already a challenge due to a small talent pool, and each day is an indication that this struggle will worsen. Turn on the TV or open an internet browser and youll quickly discover yet another news item regarding U.S. immigration policies. Flooded by so many proposed changes, opinions, analyzations, and court decisions, the topic has become a murky river that we are all floating down but cannot see through. In an effort to grasp a clearer picture of whats happening and what it means for you, lets take a step back and look at how immigration reform is impacting IT staffing.

The current H-1B visa process was designed as a lottery system allowing 85,000 total visas to be granted each year. While on the surface it sounds simple, this system has descended into chaos due to outdated laws that see poor monitoring and enforcement. There are widely known ways to abuse the system. Large offshore firms flood the program with tens of thousands of applications, greatly increasing their success rate in being granted H-1B visas compared to the U.S companies that are playing by the rules. And thats just the start.

These large Asian firms are not only receiving an unjustly large majority of the allotted visas, but they are blatantly violating U.S. law and treating genuinely hard-working immigrant workers unfairly. In many instances, they will pay a worker a fraction of the appropriate salary reported to the government. These workers also have seen their paychecks cut off until a client pays their employer, which is a distinct violation of labor law.

Still worse, firms with ill-intent have gone even further, knowingly bringing over workers that lack the necessary skills for success by faking resumes and references. A worker could be forced to live in a company-owned housing complex, pay 60% of their salary back to that company in rent, and have no idea that they are being taken advantage of. These workers are often abandoned by such firms, which wont sponsor them for an extension or green card so that the firm can profit from the turnover. Such turn-and-burn abuse has been allowed to flourish due to a lack of regulatory oversight.

Love it or hate it, there are many proposed H-1B visa changes meant to curb such abuse through stricter enforcement, raising fees, improving site visits, and more. Executive orders cannot change laws on their own and have simply been calling for congress to review how current legislation is being enforced, especially in relation to the lottery system. While 85,000 visas are granted each year, those three-year visas can be renewed for three more plus a one year extension, effectively making them valid for seven years.

Its currently estimated that there are up to 900,000 H-1B visas currently employed in the United States, a number that the government itself cant even pinpoint. On top of this, a large number of those visa holders have spouses that have been granted an H-4 visa, allowing them to work just like any American citizen. There are believed to be roughly 250,000 people on this type of spouse visa, and the government is currently looking to reverse the 2015 measures that made these visas possible.

Additionally, premium processing of H-1B visas has been suspended, curtailing the ability to pay a larger fee for an expedited visa. However, any larger-scale changes congress passes will take longer to be implemented, as its already too late to change processes for 2018. With court interpretations and rulings constantly being delayed and congress debating endlessly, the chaos has proliferated to dangerous levels.

Webcast, June 6th: Achieving More with Less: How Grammarly's Lean Growth Team Delivers Outsized Results

In the midst of potential change, organizations are already considering their hiring alternatives. Studies show 59% of companies will consider offshoring as a solution, as it can provide cheaper access to international tech talent. Major Asian firms such as Infosys and TCS are already preparing for an onslaught of offshoring requests by investing in and building new offshore data centers. Likewise, U.S. companies with global presences will consider hiring more employees in their non-U.S. locations.

Unfortunately, there is no practical way for the U.S. government to punish or curtail such activities. An employee of Walmart working abroad is still the employee of an American company. Likewise, combatting offshoring by issuing fines will paralyze entire organizations. If they cannot find talent inside the U.S. already, are not allowed to bring in the candidates they need on a visa, and cannot affordably outsource their work, then they would be left with zero options. Roles would never get filled, productivity would slow to a halt, and financial statements would quickly suffer.

Even before any major reform has become law, there has already been a distinct impact to IT hiring. A chilling effect is discouraging talented tech minds from coming to America. In fact, this years 199,000 H-1B visa applications are a distinct drop from the 236,000 received in 2016. Imagine all the bright IT talent from renown tech hubs such as India deciding to take their skills to Europe and encouraging their children to follow suit. The repercussions to the U.S. IT staffing landscape could be long-lasting.

Further, those great tech minds that are currently here are hesitant of transferring their visa to another company out of fear they will lose their work status. Many of these workers will be stuck, continuing to work for large offshore body shop firms that are mistreating them. Bright talent in these situations often receive unwarranted blame for a system that can work if regulated appropriately. The huge amount of H-1B and H-4 workers are contributing heavily to the U.S. economy, and calls for eliminating these legal, tax-paying workers that are purchasing homes, leasing cars, pursuing higher education, and buying local goods will have a massive negative effect on American businesses.

Overall, the chaos surrounding H-1B visa reform is making it harder for employers to quickly locate the right talent out of a smaller base of workers, magnifying the current talent shortage. As talk of changes scare newcomers away and current visas expire for others, the dwindling talent pool is likely to make skilled talent less available and more costly for tech employers. Businesses can attempt to offshore or ramp up their internal training and career path development, but without better regulation and thoughtful change, hiring in IT will become more of a struggle than ever.

Understanding immigration reform and deciding how to curb exploitative practices seems to be difficult for even lawmakers. Its an unclear and rapidly changing area that is already affecting every business in the country, especially those that hire tech workers. But why deal with the confusion surrounding IT staffing when you should be focusing on your core business? The right staffing partner can take this burden off your shoulders and provide you with the talent you need quickly, regardless of changing laws.

Read more here:
How Immigration Reform Is Impacting IT Staffing - Business 2 Community

Between 2010 and 2015, more than 3,200 H-1B visas were issued to Irish citizens. Photograph: iStock

Irish tech firms and skilled IT workers may be nervous about plans by US president Donald Trump to overhaul work-visa programmes, but they could ultimately benefit from any possible immigration reform, Irelands outgoing consul general for San Francisco has said.

Philip Grant said many individuals and companies are concerned about moves to amend the H-1B visa programme, which permits highly skilled foreigners to live and work in the US for up to six years.

We had expected prior to Trump that we might see some kind of comprehensive immigration reform that would allow us to address the issues that still exist around illegal Irish here. Thats not likely to happen now and we are probably going to see a move towards a more points-based, skills-based immigration system instead, said Mr Grant.

Looking at it selfishly, this is probably going to benefit Ireland more than other countries because thats exactly the sort of immigrant we have coming to the US at the moment, he added.

While the top recipients of the H-1B visas are outsourcers and come primarily from India, there is concern that any changes to the H1-B programme could be detrimental to Irish tech firms, many of whom avail of it when setting up operations in the US.

The US government issues 65,000 H-1B visas a year to US employers recruiting and employing professionals in speciality occupations, such as IT. Between 2010 and 2015, more than 3,200 such visas were issued to Irish citizens, with an average of 640 provided each year to IT professionals moving to the US.

Mr Grant, who is shortly leaving the role he has served in since December 2013, said the nature of immigration to the US, and in particular California, has changed beyond recognition in recent years.

In the early 1990s most of the Irish coming were coming in illegally to work on building sites and were connecting in with traditional core of networks. Over the last few years, though, the nature of Irelands relationship with California has changed substantially, principally due to the tremendous success of the IDA in attracting wave after wave of technology companies from this region into Ireland, said Mr Grant.

He was speaking at the start of a week-long retreat of chief executives being held in San Francisco. More than 80 entrepreneurs have travelled to the US to take part in the EY-sponsored event, which is believed to be the largest unofficial trade mission to leave Ireland.

No country in Europe has the connections with California that Ireland has. We tend to take it for granted and think it is a natural right that a global tech giant such as Google would have its European headquarters in Ireland. But in the normal course of events it wouldnt be the natural home for these companies, said Mr Grant.

Follow this link:
Irish could benefit from Trump's immigration reform - Irish Times

PHOENIX A new statewide coalition that advocatesfor the importance of immigrants, immigration and immigration reform for Arizona launched on Thursday.

Andrew Moriarty with Fwd.us, anational organization created by Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, said the coalition represents a broad and diverse group of voices.

Whether its agriculture, traditional business, high-tech business, students and teacherseveryone understands that the immigration system is broken, he said.

The national coalition is on the ground in 11 states and is made up of local groups like the Arizona Farm Bureau, Arizona Technology Council and Greater Phoenix Chamber of Commerce.

Moriarty said groups like these are highlighting the importance of immigrants, immigration, and immigration reform because those issues affect them directly.

Immigration has long been our nations greatest competitive advantage, he said. Thats true if were talking about high-skilled that has allowed us to build some of the most incredible companies that the world has ever seen.

Half of the billion-dollar value companies in Silicon Valley were founded by immigrants. But its also true, Moriarty continued, if were talking about the 80 percent of agricultural workers here in Arizona who are immigrants.

And thats true of the 750,000 Dreamers young undocumented people who came here at a young age, he said. Who have no way, as of right now, to come forward, get right with the law and pursue their dreams in this country.

Voters, and business, community and political leaders all agree itll take three things to fix this, he said.

Making sure that we have secure boarders, making sure that our immigration system makes sense for the 21stCentury and making that those who are living here without documentation, have a pathway to legalization, he said.

The coalition plans to call on Arizona legislators to make immigration reform a priority for Congress.

This is a really important time to being doing this work, he said. We are seeing record high support from American voters on both sides of the isle for common sense immigration reform.

Continued here:
Arizona launches statewide coalition to address immigration reform - KTAR.com