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“You can be kicked out at any time”: The life of US immigrants has been overturned by Covid
Many foreign-born workers have lost their jobs in a pandemic – and strict new visa rules have created a threat of dismissal’Lost your job is a big problem, and if you are an immigrant It also means losing your position, so it’s an even bigger deal. Photo: Hannah Kuprevic / Alami When Swaraj lost his job during last year’s recession, it caused a time bomb. Suddenly he had to find another employer to sponsor a visa or return to India to abandon the half-year life he had built in the United States. “That’s not right,” said Swaraj, who asked the Guardian to use only his first name to protect his career. “If you lose your job status, you have to leave this country within 60 days. I … I felt it wasn’t right.” Swaraj sent a message to his LinkedIn contacts and applied. I investigated in detail and contacted the reference. He dumped extra clothes in the trash and sold valuables (TVs, sofas, beds) in case he had to travel around the world during the crisis. Then he found a new position. But a few months later, his room in Madison, Wisconsin was still empty enough to hear the echo, and he slept on an air mattress and was too cautious to invest in replacement furniture. “This is not your home,” he said. “So you can be kicked out at any time.” Swaraji’s experience is not one-off. Many foreigners with advanced degrees and expertise, from data analysts and software consultants to project engineers and molecular biologists, have lost their jobs in the United States during the pandemic. And because they can legally live and work in the United States thanks to H-1B status (a coveted visa for skilled workers), regular severances that are not their fault are their lives. Can be completely confusing. “No matter who you are, there are many uncertainties and anxieties associated with losing your job, but when you are an immigrant, those uncertainties and uncertainties definitely get worse.” Jennifer Minia, president of the American Association of Immigration Bar Associations, said. “Loss of your job is a big problem, and if you are an immigrant, it also means you lose your position, so it’s an even bigger problem,” she added. As the economy was created and millions of Americans struggled to achieve their goals, former President Donald Trump used immigrants as scapegoats and suspended H-1B visas until early 2021. Candidates and employers. Swaraj soon lost his offer because the company that hired him couldn’t follow. “Today I may be relieved,” he said. “Tomorrow, the political situation may change the situation overnight, and I have to accept that fact.” Already, H-1B holders, if they lose their jobs, are different. I live in an unstable situation where I am only given a 60-day grace period to find a qualified role and regain my visa. Otherwise, they have few viable options other than leaving the country. “Living in the United States without a work permit and trying to get rid of books under the table doesn’t tend to give you the standard of living that many college-educated workers think, no matter where they come from. The world will want, “said Julia Gerat, senior policy analyst at the Institute for Transition Policy. Many online posts about layoffs in the economic downturn give foreign experts a glimpse of what was most affected last year. Many have graduated from college in the United States and often say that they can move anywhere in the United States. One engineer wrote that “based on my visa status”, “the most painful” was rejected by the recruitment manager. Another warned that there was only 20 days left to “pack everything with my dreams.” “It’s been about 48 hours since I learned that my role at Victoria’s Secret was influenced by company-wide restructuring,” writes a design researcher. “It’s tough, defeated, and crushing the soul.” The longer people spend in the United States, the more likely they are to take root. The JuliaGelatt H-1B Visa Program is intended to provide highly educated professionals with a temporary means of working for up to three years or in the United States. Probably six. However, visas have different caps than green cards, so Indian and Chinese workers, who make up the majority of H-1B petitions, are trapped in long Byzantine lines for permanent residence. According to a 2020 report from the Cato Institute, “Recently, delinquent Indian workers are facing an impossible wait of 90 years if they can all line up.” .. “As a result of a worker dying at an old age before receiving a green card, more than 200,000 petitions filed with Indians could expire.” Meanwhile, immigrant candidates said the instability it represents. Nevertheless, you will stay legally by extending your temporary visa. While they wait, they make friends, start relationships, buy homes, join the community of faith, and continue to have children. “The longer people spend in the United States, the more likely they are to take root,” Gelatt said. “It’s getting harder and harder to leave.” Swaraj may be worried about what happens when he marries a loved one who has an H-1B visa. They start a family together in the United States. His memory last year is so close that for now he is trying to live a minimalist life as much as possible. But in the last five years, he has already begun to take root. My friends are now like a family, and when he scrambled to figure out how to stay legally, his colleagues didn’t get in the way to help him. “I think that’s what I got in this country: people,” he said. “If I were working alone and had no friends, I wouldn’t have been connected. It’s just as easy.”