Wednesday, June 24, 2009

The conspiracy of Green card

This month the priority date of EB2 green card application has fallen back to 2000. I am in this category and that means I will need to wait another 8 years according to the current processing speed. My H1B will be extended next year for another 3 years so I won't be worried about my staying just yet. But what about after that? I've heard that the longest time a person can hold H1B status is 9 years. By then, I will still be waiting for my green card! This is happening to thousands of people who were educated in the US, often obtained an advance degree, and want to stay here. Probably most of us will have to leave after working for this country for 9 years due to the visa situation.

This is brilliant, from the government point of view. First of all, the most productive time of these highly educated people is used by the US enterprises, creating billions of profits for them and equally large amount of tax revenue for local governments. Then, if these people can't stay, their social security benefits won't need to be paid in the future. In the long run, when these people go back to their own country, they will bring with them the American ideology and business ties. It's a no lose situation for this country! Squeeze the hell of them and kick them out, great capitalism.

But how about those illegal immigrants? Sure it looks like this country needs more low-skilled labor more than the better educated crowd (except the cream of the crop, who can apply for EB1 without a waiting period). Every one should start pumping out American citizens so we can stay here, I guess.

Tuesday, June 16, 2009

The Banana Effect

Chinese call those who have yellow skin but westernized minds "banana". Am I also a banana? I started to listen to western music since I was 10, before I could even speak more than 10 English sentences. But isn't it too restricted to label a person? Who can tell what is strictly western or eastern? There are people everywhere thinking differently, regardless of skin colors, age, or gender. People also grow and mature, change every day. Nobody thinks the same forever.

Well, I guess this perception of conformity of minds is quite "Eastern"!

Thursday, June 4, 2009

Glass Ceiling?

I haven't got to the top of management so I haven't really encountered the "glass ceiling" issue that many immigrants complain about. However, I do feel frustrated from time to time when fighting with the stereotyping of immigrant. Somehow some Americans just automatically assume that as a foreigner you are not as competent as an American. Of course, there is the language barrier. I still learn new English words every day, probably will never speak as well as a native born. Just as a stutter will not earn much respect, neither will a foreigner who is trying hard to communicate in a very different language.

As an immigrant from a developing country, I can't help but being very sensitive about other people's respect, sometimes even over sensitive about it. But if I am comparing myself with my colleagues, race is inevitably an issue.