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☆ A proposed H-1B visa fee increase threatens to kneecap Silicon Valley's ability to hire the foreign talent it needs to compete
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-12 | by ( Paayal Zaveri | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

The tech industry relies on skilled-work visas for foreign hires in a system critics say is broken. Now the USCIS is proposing fee hikes for visa applications, at a time when it's already challenging. It would be another hurdle on top of recent tech layoffs and scarce visa availability, experts say. While the proposed fee hikes are presented as a solution to end backlogs and address bureaucratic headaches, experts say they would make it more difficult to hire foreign talent. Are you an H-1B visa holder and have a story to share?

☆ Biden on immigration: We will continue efforts to address root causes of migration
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-10 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: 1 min

Share Share Article via Facebook Share Article via Twitter Share Article via LinkedIn Share Article via EmailBiden on immigration: We will continue efforts to address root causes of migrationPresident Joe Biden joins Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, at a press conference in Mexico and discusses U.S. efforts to improve immigration services.

☆ Canada and the U.S. both face labor shortages. One country is increasing immigration.
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-07 | by ( Https | Media-Cldnry.S-Nbcnews.Com Image Upload Newscms Julia-Ainsley-Circle-Byline-Template.Jpg | Julia Ainsley | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +6 min

In as little as a decade, there will be one retiree for every two workers in Canada. How outdated U.S. immigration policies push top talent to other countries,” Lofgren said, “The last major overhaul of our legal immigration system occurred in 1990. University Health Network began a program this year to bring in more internationally educated nurses and help them get the additional training they need in Canada. New immigrants to Canada and new Canadians take part in the 5th Annual Newcomer Day at Nathan Philips Square in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, on May 16, 2019. Citizenship and Immigration Services said it "is committed to fairly and efficiently administering the lawful immigration system, increasing access to eligible immigration benefits, restoring faith and trust with immigrant communities and breaking down barriers in the immigration system, and the agency will continue to uphold America’s promise as a nation of welcome and possibility with fairness, integrity, and respect for all we serve."

☆ Advocates Urge Congress to Pass Permanent Residency Status for Afghans
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-15 | by ( Oma Seddiq | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +12 min

Drew Angerer/Getty ImagesConvincing Republican senatorsThe House version of the Afghan Adjustment Act has 143 co-sponsors, including 10 Republicans. Demonstrators gather to support Afghan evacuees outside the Capitol on Nov. 16, 2022. At the moment, one prospect to advance the Afghan Adjustment Act is by attaching it to that larger spending bill, advocates say. But negotiations on the omnibus are ongoing, and whether the Afghan Adjustment Act will be included is up in the air. Yet without a deal by then, passage of the Afghan Adjustment Act appears doomed, advocates say, keeping Afghan evacuees in perpetual legal limbo.

☆ How one family’s struggle illustrates problems with the program meant to help Afghans who helped the US
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-13 | by ( Jim Sciutto | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

CNN —For more than a year, I have been trying to help a family leave Afghanistan for safety and a new life abroad. However, SIV approval does not equal freedom for him and other Afghans with similar status – far from it. And last week, Congress removed language from the National Defense Authorization Act that would have extended the program for another year. To get to one of those countries, Afghans need passports – a relative luxury for many. The State Department tells CNN it had been managing to get only about 250 Afghans and their family members out of the country per week.

☆ Tech firms sponsored 45,000 H-1B workers in the past 3 years, report says. Many are now laid-off and struggling to stay in the US.
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-25 | by ( Sawdah Bhaimiya | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Major tech firms sponsored 45,000 H-1B workers in the past three years, Bloomberg reported. Some H-1B workers are staying at Twitter out of fear of being "forced out of the country," per CNN. The US allows 65,000 H-1B workers per year who are permitted to stay between three to six years. USCIS did not immediately respond to a request for comment about H-1B workers being laid off by tech firms, made outside normal working hours. "You have to spend months preparing for some of these jobs," he told Bloomberg over the phone.

☆ Foreign workers laid off from Big Tech face a deadline: Find a job ASAP, or leave the country
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-17 | by ( Brahmjot Kaur | Sakshi Venkatraman | Sakshi Venkatraman Is A Reporter For Nbc Asian America. | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +10 min

Under the umbrella of a tech giant, not only would he have job security, he thought, but visa security as well. Originally from China, he needed the sponsorship of an H-1B work visa to stay in the U.S.A year went by in his new role and everything seemed to be going well. immigration policy has amplified the uncertainty for immigrant workers in times like this. “It’s definitely harder trying to find a job or trying to find a company that’s willing to sponsor you. “This really helped drive the tech boom in the U.S. and made the U.S. the big tech hub,” Khanna said.

☆ Hot machine learning firms like Hugging Face, Snowflake, and Databricks are still hiring as the AI market heats up. Here are the skills and certifications needed to land a job in the field.
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-17 | by ( Matthew Lynley | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Data scientists and other roles can make upward of $160,000. That includes several different roles, like data scientists that analyze massive datasets for trends to inform company decisions. Data scientists for production models earn $143,960, according to the H-1B data. Advanced data scientists generally build machine-learning models that work within products, like personalization algorithms. These employees often have extensive experience, education, or both, and they earn $161,944, according to H-1B data.

☆ U.S. extends protected migrant status to mid-2024 for six nationalities
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-11 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

SAN SALVADOR, Nov 10 (Reuters) - The United States has extended a protected status program that prevents migrants from being deported to mid-2024 for citizens of six countries, including Haiti and three Central American nations, its immigration service said on Thursday. The Temporary Protected Status (TPS) will be extended to June 30, 2024, for citizens of Haiti, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Sudan, Honduras, and Nepal, according to a document filed by the U.S. The TPS program provides recipients work permits and can protect them from deportation if their home countries go through extraordinary events such as natural disaster or armed conflict. The extension will affect about 392,000 people, of whom some 242,000 are citizens of El Salvador, according to USCIS data. "Thanks be to God," said Salvadoran Ambassador to the United States Milena Mayorga, tweeting a link to the document.

☆ Hundreds of Twitter employees on H-1B visas fear being deported if Elon Musk fires them
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-06 | by ( Ryan Hogg | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Hundreds of Twitter employees on special visas could be deported after Elon Musk's job cuts. A Forbes report suggests nearly 700 Twitter employees were on H-1B employment-tied visas. According to data from the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), Twitter has given "initial approval" to 168 H-1B visas since 2020. It is unclear what departments visa-tied Twitter employees work for, or how susceptible their positions are to layoffs. He previously reprimanded Donald Trump in 2017 for the then-President's decision to suspend the special work visas.

☆ Resentment is mounting as some employees are forced back to the office and some are allowed to work from home
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-01 | by ( Samantha Delouya | Avery Hartmans | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Some workers are being forced to return to the office while others are allowed to stay home. "If you're offering two different types of employees different access to work, you potentially create an issue of equity," said Thomas Roulet, an associate professor of organizational theory at the University of Cambridge. To be sure, not all workplaces unevenly apply in-person work requirements: Some allow workers the choice of returning to the office and, if so, how often. Why are some employees allowed to work from home while others are required to come into the office? "Companies are experimenting to see if something works, and many employees need to be just as flexible in giving it a shot," she said.

☆ Venezuelans stranded in Panama by U.S. policy change return home
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-27 | by ( Associated Press | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +4 min

The policy change shut the door on Venezuelan asylum seekers, many of whom previously were being paroled into the United States. We began to call relatives in the United States, in Chile and they us yes, it was true. We all lost the little that we had.”Some 900 Venezuelans have returned on charter flights from Panama since the U.S. policy change, according to Panama’s National Immigration Service. The U.S. policy change was driven by a surge in Venezuelans arriving at the U.S. border that put them second only to Mexicans this year. The program, which requires pre-registration online and that applicants have a sponsor in the United States, is similar to one set up for Ukrainians earlier this year.

☆ A record number of Americans now have bank accounts
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-25 | by ( The Associated Press | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +6 min

The number of Americans who do not have a bank account fell to a record low last year, as the proliferation of online-only banks and an improving economy is bringing more Americans into the traditional financial system. The benefit programs largely needed a bank account to send the funds quickly to those impacted. The benefit programs largely needed a bank account to send the funds quickly to those impacted. While Americans kept their bank accounts through the coronavirus recession, there is a chance the number of unbanked Americans could rise in the future if inflation continues to damage the economy and unemployment increases. Cash checking services, utility payment services, rent payments without a bank account often come with fees, money that a person with a bank account would not be subject to.

☆ Rich Russians offered a Caribbean shortcut to US visas by paying their way to a Grenadian passport
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-23 | by ( Joshua Zitser | Sam Tabahriti | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +9 min

"Grenada is called 'little Switzerland,'" United Passport wrote in a Telegram message on September 25. Screenshot of United Passport Telegram. In the Telegram channel, United Passport advertised the possibility of getting to the US on an E-2 visa. In multiple exchanges on WhatsApp, United Passport told Insider Wednesday that one business opportunity would get us a Grenadian passport and, in turn, a US visa. The total cost, therefore, realistically starts at $200,000 for Russians when the $150,000 United Passport fee is factored in.

☆ Malawi police find more bodies near mass grave that contained 25 Ethiopians
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-21 | by ( Nimi Princewill | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

CNN —Four more bodies of suspected illegal migrants from Ethiopia have been found near the site of a mass grave in northern Malawi that contained the remains of 25 Ethiopian nationals, according to police in the southern African country. The four bodies were discovered a day after the corpses of 25 Ethiopian migrants were exhumed from a mass grave in northern Malawi’s Mzimba district. The 25 victims were males aged between 25 and 40 years, police found. Malawi's Minister of Homeland Security, Jean Sendeza visited Mtangatanga forest where villagers discovered a mass grave with 25 bodies, and five more bodies were found after further search around the forest. More than 200 illegal migrants were intercepted in the last eight months, he stated, adding that 186 of them were Ethiopian nationals.

☆ Florida officials made fake 'official-looking' brochure advertising refugee benefits for migrants, lawsuit against Ron DeSantis says
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-21 | by ( Lloyd Lee | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Migrants who were flown to Martha's Vineyard filed a lawsuit against Gov. Migrants were made to believe that they would receive refugee benefits upon arrival, lawsuit says. For example, just before they arrived on the island, migrants were given a "shiny, red folder" filled with "official-looking materials," including a brochure titled "Massachusetts Refugee Benefits." Lawyers for Civil Rights says migrants bound for Martha's Vineyard received this brochure promising cash, job placement and more. According to the lawsuit, the brochure also took language from an existing state program, the Massachusetts Refugee Resettlement Program, which none of the migrants were eligible for.

☆ Donald Trump would 'probably not' pass this Florida civic literacy exam, academics say
▼ + stars: | 2022-08-07 | by ( Kayla Gallagher | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +13 min

Florida high schoolers attending a public college are required to meet civic literacy requirements. Academics in the Sunshine State are unsure if Donald Trump could pass the exam. Insider asked four college professors whether they think Trump could pass the test. Rick Bowmer/AP'Real history and civic responsibility'Since 2019, many future college students in Florida are required to take the Florida Civic Literacy Examination — a test modeled after the US Citizenship and Immigration Services Naturalization Test to encourage civic literacy in the Sunshine State. To pass the Florida Civic Literacy Examination specifically, students must answer 48 out of 80 questions correctly — 60% or higher.

☆ Workforce at Alabama chicken plants includes migrant teens
▼ + stars: | 2022-02-07 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +20 min

At Amelia’s request, Reuters agreed not to identify her hometown, the chicken plant where she now works, or the exact job she performs there. She said she was determined to get here because Rosa told her she could find work quickly. Amelia provided her new credentials to a staffing firm that supplies laborers to a local chicken plant, she said. Some firms deduct as much as $40 a week from employees’ paychecks for the service, four workers told Reuters. She rarely leaves Rosa’s trailer except to head to and from the chicken plant.

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