Second of two parts
The debate over immigration in the United States, rekindled last week by President Bush's announcement of proposed reforms, is often a concern to most Americans only in terms of illegal aliens and possibly terrorists crossing over porous borders.
In border states like Arizona and Texas - where Mr. Bush announced his proposals to tighten borders and get rid of illegal immigrants while allowing temporary guest workers - there is generally much more interest becauses of economic, social, and even direct family concerns.
Farmers and some other northwest Ohio and southeast Michigan residents also have economic, social, and family interests in immigration reform proposals, often as they impact migrant farm workers. These workers pick tomatoes, cucumbers, and other agricultural crops - usually performing manual labor most Americans aren't willing to do.
But a category of immigrants often overlooked in talk about reform and how it impacts American communities is the educated and highly skilled workers from around the world who compete for H-1B-type visas to live and work in the United States.
They, too, face the same immigration hurdles as most immigrants in the lower rungs because legally coming to America is never easy for anyone, said Gabriel Triculescu, a Detroit-based immigration and business attorney. A native Romanian, Mr. Triculescu, 36, has seen the intricacies of immigration law from both sides - as an immigrant and as an attorney working the system on behalf of other applicants.
Mr. Triculescu came to the United States on a George Soros Open Society scholarship to take a statistics course at the University of Michigan in 1994.
When his scholarship funding fell through, Mr. Triculescu was stranded with a nonimmigrant visa and stayed in the United States for a while as an undocumented worker working at a restaurant in Ann Arbor, Mich.
Fortunately, he got lucky and won a "green card," or permanent resident visa, through the Diversity Lottery Program, which makes 50,000 immigrant visas available to people in qualifying countries around the world every year.
But that was in 1996, before changes in America's immigrations law, many as a result of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. Today, a holder of a nonimmigrant visa who overstays his or her visa cannot apply for a family based or employment-based immigrant visa, even from within the United States," he said.
"There have been some changes in immigration procedures in the last few years, but the process is still very slow and expensive," said Mr. Triculescu, an attorney with the Detroit law firm of Beals Hubbard.
Navigating immigration procedures takes some patience, money, and a certain amount of luck because visas are not always available in the needed categories, Mr. Triculescu said.
Now only 140,000 green cards are issued annually and the number of H-1B visas - issued to educated, highly skilled workers - has been cut dramatically from nearly 200,000 three years ago to only 65,000 for the current fiscal year.
"After the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, legal immigration into this country became extremely bureaucratic," he said.
"It has since improved slightly, but if politicians want to implement change, they need to address the technocrats who work within the immigration system. They are the only ones who can streamline the process."
With the exception of international students who often change their status when they are still in-country, most immigrants in the United States go through consular and employment-based processing, Mr. Triculescu explained. That can be a "very cumbersome and impersonal process," he said, and there is no guarantee of being granted a visa at the end of the process.
The key hurdle in employment-based immigration is labor certification.
An American company must prove that it cannot find anyone willing or able to fill a certain position here before a visa can be granted to a foreigner to fill that position.
This is what has fueled a somewhat contentious debate between the American technology industry, the U.S. Department of Labor, and immigration officials in recent years.
The debate centers on the annual availability of 65,000 H-1B visas. One of the most competitively sought visas, they are often gone shortly after the start of each fiscal year's allotment.
In a panel discussion on immigration policy at the Library of Congress in April, Microsoft founder and Chairman Bill Gates said that Congress ought to end the visa cap because it ultimately hurts American companies and competition in technology.
The nation's dependence on computers and other high-tech gadgetry means there is a heavy demand for skilled Internet technology workers and engineers, areas not attracting enough American students.
For high-skilled foreigners, however, legally entering the United States in most cases is not as hard as trying to stay. While many of these highly educated, skilled workers would like to stay in the United States based on their ability to earn more here, the lack of opportunities to remain under the current immigration process means they are more likely to take their knowledge and skills back to their native lands or other countries willing to accept them.
At 25, Pawel Kalczynski impressed his family when he graduated with distinction after completing his PhD in economics, concentrating in business information systems, from Poznan University of Technology, in Poland. He immediately started interviewing and applying for jobs in the United States because "this country is the best place to be for someone in my field. It gives you endless opportunities."
An economics, Web databases, and programing teacher, Mr. Kalczynski interviewed at a number of American universities before settling in as an assistant professor at the University of Toledo's College of Business Administration in 2002.
"We chose Toledo for many reasons but also in part because of its extreme weather. It is so similar to Poland," Mr. Kalczynski, 28, laughed as he paced around his fourth-floor office in Stranahan Hall at UT. A father of two daughters, he and his wife, Gosia, were easily granted H-1B visas to come to the United States.
But after settling into his new position, Mr. Kalczynski decided he wanted to stay longer than the restrictions of his temporary nonimmigrant H-1B, which is only valid for three years at a time and can only be extended once.
"Poland only truly entered the free-market system 15 years ago. I cannot do the kind of research I can do here as a principal investigator. I would have to work three jobs just to support my family in Poland," he said.
So shortly after arriving in Toledo in 2002, Mr. Kalczynski decided to change his visa status and applied for an immigrant worker visa under the Outstanding Professor Category.
That is the process for a majority of high-skilled immigrants, said Pam Mills, director of the International Institute of Toledo. "Most of them enter the United States on nonimmigrant visas like temporary worker or student visas and then change their status to immigrant visas once they are already here," she said.
The process takes a certain level of affluence, however, for immigrants who in most cases have to endure what can be a very expensive and time-consuming transition, said Ms. Mills. The International Institute, which started in Toledo in 1919, processes about 4,000 clients who end up settling in northwest Ohio every year, she said.
"People often get frustrated with our immigration system because it can be so impersonal. They can never get a straight answer and when they do, it often takes a long time," she said.
As he settled down behind his expansive desk on a Tuesday morning, Mr. Kalczynski explained just how long the process can be and the toll it wears on the applicants. After two years of waiting for an answer on his application, he had just received a rejection notice. His visa will expire in 2008, after all, and then he and his family will have to leave.
"I don't understand. This must be a procedural mistake," he complained, "I am very frustrated that it took this long. We could have planned for this," Mr. Kalczynski said, noting that his wife, Gosia, who recently was accepted into a PhD program at UT, may have to drop out. The rejection of his application, he said, also nullified her work permit and may not qualify for funding for her program.
"This bureaucracy of the immigration system here is unthinkable. These decisions are made by one or two people who don't have time to really consider the applicants," said Mr. Kalczynski, noting that he had already spent more than $6,000 in immigration fees. He plans on appealing his failed visa application.
If that fails, "then I'll just look for a job in the United Kingdom," he said. "I can work anywhere in Europe. Poland is in the European Union."
Contact Karamagi Rujumba at: krujumba@theblade.com
or 419-724-6064.
First Published December 5, 2005, 3:18 p.m.
