- Robert Litan, vice president of research at the Kauffman FoundationIt's so refreshing to see that the government is focused on making life easier for unskilled immigrants who jumped ahead in line, are either committing fraud or tax evasion, and snuck into the country illegally. I mean, why bother trying to bring in the highly-skilled, intelligent individuals who have worked through the system, have skills and abilities our country needs, and are living here legally?
1 Million Skilled Workers Stick in 'Immigration Limbo'
ABC NewsEight years ago, India-born Sacheen Kamath was hired by a U.S. technology start-up that was so successful it was quickly gobbled up by a California networking giant.
Although Kamath's work as a computer engineer has been stellar - he's led the development of a next-generation networking product - his life here has begun to fall apart.
With his temporary visa, he can't get a promotion because any change in his job description, or even his salary, would force him to reapply for a new visa. The temporary status makes it difficult to plan ahead and do simple things like look for a new job or even buy a house.
Kamath's wife is unhappy because under his visa she is considered a dependent and cannot work. It's a stressful situation, enough so that he has developed hypertension.
Kamath is caught in "immigration limbo" - like 1 million other talented legal immigrants waiting for a mere 140,000 permanent residency visas that are parsed out each year to highly skilled workers.
He applied for his so-called green card, which would give him legal resident status, in 2004, but when his company was bought out, he was forced to reapply, throwing him to the back of the line, meaning another four- to five-year wait.
Now Kamath wants to take his expertise and brain power home to India.
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