Thousands of Indian Women Find Their American Dreams in Jeopardy

[desiboys]

Thousands of Indian Women Find Their American Dreams in Jeopardy

By MIRIAM JORDANAPRIL 6, 2018

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Deepika Jalakam held her daughter Reya with her parents Rukmini, left, and Sada Nand Rao Jalakam, right, at her home in Fremont, Calif. Ms. Jalakam fears that she will be forced to give up her job because of changes in visa programs by the Trump adminstration. CreditJim Wilson/The New York Times

LIVERMORE, Calif. — For seven years, Deepika Jalakam sat at home. Bored, unfulfilled and dependent on her husband for every dime, she struggled with the notion that her professional life was doomed in the land of opportunity.

So when the employment card arrived in the mail in 2015, Ms. Jalakam did what she often does when good fortune comes her way: She placed it before the gods in the Hindu shrine mounted in her kitchen cabinet, blessed it with a dab of red “kum kum” powder and recited a prayer of gratitude.

Within weeks, Ms. Jalakam, who has a degree in biotechnology, landed a job as an analyst at an insurance company. The next year, she and her husband, Vinay Kumar, a software engineer, bought a house. In 2017, the finances of the Indian immigrant couple were secure enough that they decided to have a second child.

All that planning, though, is in jeopardy. Ms. Jalakam and thousands of other spouses of skilled workers have been told that their special work permits — authorization that can mean the difference between struggling and thriving in their adopted homeland — are likely to be revoked.

The Trump administration announced last fall that, as part of a crackdown on H-1B visas issued for skilled workers to enter the United States, it plans to rescind an Obama-era program that allowed spouses to work. The change, expected in June, would force thousands of mainly Indian women who followed their husbands to the United States to give up their jobs — even though many are highly educated workers with sought-after skills.

“We were happily working and feeling settled down with the life we wanted. Suddenly, this announcement came and there is instability,” said Ms. Jalakam, 32, who now finds herself worrying about everything from day-to-day spending to vacation plans.

Across the country, thousands of Indian families are caught in a similar dilemma because of the outsized role that they play in the H-1B visa program.

The annual visa scramble began this week, with applications delivered by the truckload to government processing centers. The petitions represent tens of thousands of foreigners vying for the opportunity to work in the United States for three years or longer.

Many are Indian software engineers and computer programmers recruited by American technology companies that say they cannot find enough talent in this country. Among the applicants are Indian math and science teachers headed for rural schools, as well as physicians and other professionals.

But the H-1B program has spawned controversy. During his campaign, President Trump invited Americans displaced by H-1B workers to his rallies. Since taking office, he has ordered the program’s overhaul, and his administration has taken steps to tighten scrutiny of applications.

Yet demand for the visas continues unabated. In 2017, for the fifth consecutive year, the federal government was so flooded with petitions it stopped accepting them within a week. This year, officials say they will almost certainly have to resort again to a computer lottery to select 85,000 recipients, the maximum allowed each year. Universities and research organizations are exempt from the cap.

Most recipients are from India. In 2017, Indians received 129,097 of the coveted visas; an additional 22,993 went to Chinese nationals.

Their success has been a mixed blessing. Tens of thousands of Indians on the temporary visas were later sponsored by their employers to remain permanently in the United States, but their families are in limbo, stuck in a ballooning backlog of green cards that are approved but cannot yet be issued.

While skilled workers from most countries receive permanent residency a year or two after applying, Indians must wait a decade or longer because of their large numbers. The delays have meant that thousands of women, many highly educated, had until recently been forced to stay at home while their husbands worked.

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Ms. Jalakam kept her government-issued employment authorization document in a makeshift Hindu shrine in her kitchen. CreditJim Wilson/The New York Times

Children must also wait. If their family’s green card is not approved before they turn 21, the children are no longer eligible for legal residency as dependents and must leave the country, though they may have spent much of their lives in the United States. The much-debated legal protection for so-called Dreamers, the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, applies to children who entered the country illegally, not to the offspring of legal immigrants.

The Obama administration attempted a partial fix to the problem in 2015, authorizing temporary work permits for spouses of H-1B visa holders who were in the pipeline to get a green card. Under the program, known as H-4EAD, an estimated 100,000 spouses, overwhelmingly women, have obtained work permits.

“I felt like I was free from a cage to fly in any direction I want,” Ms. Jalakam said of her work authorization that year.

Last fall’s announcement that the temporary work program would soon be scrapped has energized Indian women. Many who had sunk money into property and other investments with earnings from their jobs took to Twitter, using #standwithh4ead and #saveh4ead to raise awareness of their plight.

“We’re determined to save our jobs,” said Jansi Kumar of Seattle, a founder of a Facebook page started in December, “Save H4EAD,” which has attracted nearly 5,000 followers. In early February, about 500 Indians descended on Capitol Hill to press for a solution to the green card backlog. At a rally, they hoisted posters that read, “Legal Immigrants Matter Too” and “#H4EAD Let Spouses Work.”

On the other hand, a group of information technology workers who claim they lost their jobs to imported workers has filed suit to overturn the spousal work authorization program. The Department of Homeland Security, the federal agency which oversees it, said it was completing an economic analysis and was likely to render its decision in June.

L. Francis Cissna, director of United States Citizenship and Immigration Services, the Department of Homeland Security agency that issues the permits, said the Trump administration’s priority was to protect American workers. “The reason there is a lot of concern about Americans being displaced is because it is happening,” he said in a recent interview.

In January, the Information Technology Industry Council, which represents titans like Apple, IBM and Microsoft, argued in a letter to the administration that revoking spousal work permits could prompt foreign talent to leave the United States and put American companies at a competitive disadvantage.

“Their valued, long-term employees will choose to leave their companies for other employment opportunities in countries that allow these workers and their families to raise their standard of living,” the council warned.

[Quickgun_murugan]

Biotechnology degree tho Analyst ga job aa? Is it Quality Analyst?

[Idassamed]

32 minutes ago, Quickgun_murugan said:

Biotechnology degree tho Analyst ga job aa? Is it Quality Analyst?

 

[Amrita]

58 minutes ago, Quickgun_murugan said:

Biotechnology degree tho Analyst ga job aa? Is it Quality Analyst?

Psychology chaduvukoni literature lo majors Enta mandi IT lo undatledu ? Degree ki sambandham emundi to get into IT ? Anduke speciality occupation rfe’s padutunnayi as IT field ki asalu Nijam ga kuda Degree akkarledu kabatti .

PS: I didn’t read above article mari anta Pedda article ante opika died I only replied to your post .

[tennisluvr]

Just now, Amrita said:

Psychology chaduvukoni literature lo majors Enta mandi IT lo undatledu ? Degree ki sambandham emundi to get into IT ? Anduke speciality occupation rfe’s padutunnayi as IT field ki asalu Nijam ga kuda Degree akkarledu kabatti .

Yes, valid point

[Amrita]

1 minute ago, tennisluvr said:

Yes, valid point

Hey how are you doing ? Desa sancharam lo unnattu unnaru  or moved from current place ? 

[Ara_Tenkai]

she has to depend on her husband for every dime ani rasadu... vallu vachina visane dependent visa kada (H4)... malli badha padatam enduku... you signed up for it so face the consequences...

[greensboro]

7 minutes ago, Amrita said:

Psychology chaduvukoni literature lo majors Enta mandi IT lo undatledu ? Degree ki sambandham emundi to get into IT ? Anduke speciality occupation rfe’s padutunnayi as IT field ki asalu Nijam ga kuda Degree akkarledu kabatti .

PS: I didn’t read above article mari anta Pedda article ante opika died I only replied to your post .

Anduke kada thatha it jobs only cs degree valla ki ivvamani cheppedi. H4 ead emi special category kadu.

[Android_Halwa]

1 minute ago, Ara_Tenkai said:

she has to depend on her husband for every dime ani rasadu... vallu vachina visane dependent visa kada (H4)... malli badha padatam enduku... you signed up for it so face the consequences...

Time to face the reality..! Vachina visa dependent aina ashalu matram baredu...

may be, desis need to realize that we are aliens here this is not our country, we came here for money and status symbol which is worth back home..!! Time to face the realities...

a reality okasari face chesthe, I guess ilanti leni poni dreams emi petukoru, vundalsinatha lo vuntaru

[TampaChinnodu]

3 minutes ago, Ara_Tenkai said:

she has to depend on her husband for every dime ani rasadu... vallu vachina visane dependent visa kada (H4)... malli badha padatam enduku... you signed up for it so face the consequences...

H4 visa is curse Ani dialogs malli. US match chesukunnappudu teliyada adi. 

[Amrita]

 

5 minutes ago, greensboro said:

Anduke kada thatha it jobs only cs degree valla ki ivvamani cheppedi. H4 ead emi special category kadu.

But CS vallaki kuda speciality occupation rfes padutunnayi why this job need a skilled worker ani . Ppl having CS Degree are not exempt from getting screwed when applied for H1b . 

[Ara_Tenkai]

Just now, TampaChinnodu said:

H4 visa is curse Ani dialogs malli. US match chesukunnappudu teliyada adi. 

ade kada teesukuneppudu u thought that is the best decision at that point of time... tarvatha malli edusudu endi... kavalante malla masters chesi h1 teesukovachu kada... edusthu kurchoni vella desanni thidithe em vastadi...

[tennisluvr]

11 minutes ago, Amrita said:

Hey how are you doing ? Desa sancharam lo unnattu unnaru  or moved from current place ? 

Videshi sancharam ki flanning, ledu akkade unna good old charlett

[Amrita]

Thousands of Indian women is wrong phrasing it should be Thousands of Indian dependent women .

Generalize Chesi padesadu all Indian women are dependents and are on h4 ani .

[Amrita]

1 minute ago, tennisluvr said:

Videshi sancharam ki flanning, ledu akkade unna good old charlett

Awesome . WFH baga sadviniyogam chestunnaru kada !!