wbyeats@ireland.com wrote:
> On Wed, 22 Nov 2006 14:08:01 -0500, T Jr Hardman
> wrote:
>
>
>>wbyeats@ireland.com wrote:
>>
>>>On 21 Nov 2006 07:03:47 -0800, "SwampMidget"
>>>wrote:
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>>That's a shame. We should be more welcoming to guests of our country.
>>>>I think the first thing we should do is expel the illegal immigrants so
>>>>we have greater resources for the legal welcomed guests and there'd be
>>>>reduced crime.
>>>
>>>
>>>Ummmmm..... all these "welcomed" guest would be waiting hours just to
>>>have their rooms made up, their clothes washed, and their tables
>>>cleared. There would be little food on their dining table and no wine
>>>to speak of.
>>
>>That's frankly bizarre. The Maryland resort Ocean City has a large
>>hospitality industry which is effectively staffed by H-1B/H-2B workers,
>>mostly vacationing students from Eastern Europe. Romanians, Poles,
>>Ukrainians, etc., are well represented. They come here and work long
>>hours for pay far less than the average American would require for that
>>sort of work, get little benefits, and somehow manage to return home at
>>the end of the summer with the sort of savings on hand that one could
>>get in their homelands only with the best private-sector jobs. These
>>eastern-european workers come with good recommendations from solid
>>working class US employers, learn some of our ways and improve their
>>grasp of English. Hotel visitors arrive to find fresh clean rooms
>>waiting for them, and are often fascinated to discover that the pretty
>>concierge with the green eyes and dark hair speaks with a pronounced
>>accent and will, if she passes all of her courses, be a medical doctor
>>in two years back in Bulgaria. You may wonder what she's doing
>>registering guests at a seaside resort and try to engage her in
>>conversation; she may practice her English for a while and then start
>>wondering when you'll go to your room and let her get on with her studying.
>>
>>Etc etc. We get this all of the time around here. Her friend, the lady
>>who makes the beds and vacuums, is working to pay for her postgrad
>>studies in theater and related arts, etc etc. All of this is slightly
>>fictionalized... mostly to protect identities the names have been
>>omitted and descriptions slightly changed.
>
>
> Anecdotal at best.
http://atbinternetgroup.com/studentguide/
This guide is primarily intended to assist students who plan to visit on
a J1 Visa for 3 to 5 months duration. The primary focus of this web
site is to provide factual and informative information prior to
departing your home country, and also as an ongoing assist informational
web site during your stay in one of our local communities. Other
Community information is available for Ocean City, Ocean Pines, Snow
Hill, Berlin, and Salisbury MD and the Delaware beach resorts including
Fenwick Island, Bethany Beach, Dewey Beach, Rehoboth Beach and Lewes,
Delaware on our At The Beach Website.
International Students from Poland, Slovakia, Russia, Bulgaria, Romania,
Brazil, Lithuania, Thailand, and other countries frequent our resort
communities during the year on student J1 Visa to work and learn in our
vacation destination towns and cities.
Further,
http://www.aamc.org/advocacy/library/workforce/work0004.htm
Currently, there is no set limit or cap on the total number of J-1
exchange visitor visas issued each year; however, J-1 visas do require
that foreign physicians receiving graduate medical education return to
their home countries following completion of their residency training
program for at least two years before they are permitted to apply for
reentry into the United States. J-1 visitors are also ineligible to
apply for permanent residency.
> [ ... ] There aren't enough vacationing students on the
> entire continent to staff California's hotel and restaurant
> industries. BTW - what happens when summer's over and all the students
> go home? Self service? The honor system?
US-VISIT is a Federal system which tracks the arrivals and departures of
visa visitors. so is SEVIS.
From the AAMC site cited above:
Laws passed after September 11, 2001, focused on ways to improve border
security in the United States, including supplemental applications,
additional interviews, biometric requirements, and the Student and
Exchange Visitor Information System (SEVIS).
Most visa applicants can expect to be interviewed and must now have two
index finger scans collected as part of the visa application process.
These finger scans are normally collected by the consular officer at the
visa interview window, but in some posts they are collected prior to the
visa interview.
All male nonimmigrant visa applicants between the ages of 16-45,
regardless of nationality or other factors, must now complete a
supplemental application form which helps inform the consular officer's
judgment about visa eligibility. In addition to being satisfied that the
applicant intends to honor the terms of the visa by returning home, the
consular officer must carefully evaluate the security risk presented by
the applicant.
All student and exchange visitors, regardless of nationality or other
factors, must complete a supplemental application form which helps
inform the consular officer's judgment about visa eligibility.
Applicants must also get an authorization form from their sponsoring
institution in the US before a visa can be issued. The sponsoring
institution must authenticate the applicant by opening and maintaining
an electronic SEVIS file on a Web-based data management system managed
by the Department of Homeland Security.
SEVIS enables schools and program sponsors to transmit electronic
information and event notifications via the Internet, to the US
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Department of State (DOS)
throughout a student or exchange visitor's stay in the United States.
The system will reflect international student or exchange visitor status
changes, such as admission at Port of Entry (POE), change of address,
change in program of study, and other details. SEVIS will also provide
system alerts, event notifications, and basic reports to the end-user
schools, programs, and immigration related field offices.
In some cases, the consular officer decides that the applicant will need
a Security Advisory Opinion (SAO), a response from the federal
government on whether to issue a visa to the applicant. While these visa
applications may take longer to process, a US Government Accountability
Office (GAO) report issued February 18, 2005, found that the Department
of State has significantly reduced the time required for processing of
visa applications from international travelers coming to the United
States to work or study in scientific or technical fields.
An SAO based on sensitive technology transfer concerns is known as Visas
Mantis and, according to State officials, is the most common type of SAO
applied to science applicants. In deciding if a Visas Mantis check is
needed, the consular officer determines whether the applicant's
background or proposed activity in the United States could involve
exposure to technologies on the Technology Alert List (TAL). The list,
published by the Department of State in coordination with the
interagency community and based on US export control laws, includes
science and technology-related fields where, if knowledge gained from
research or work in these fields were used against the United States, it
could potentially be harmful. The Technology Alert List can be provided
by the consulate or by the institution of attendance.
Once the clearance process is complete and a visa is issued, the
individual may apply for admission at a US port of entry. The GAO report
stated that processing a visa under this procedure now requires about 15
days. Temporary workers and exchange visitors can receive Visas Mantis
clearance valid for the duration of their approved activity to a maximum
of two years.
Additionally, all Consular posts have also been instructed to give
priority scheduling to persons applying for student and exchange visitor
visas in order to accommodate mandatory registration deadlines.
As to your remark that there aren't enough visa students present to
staff all of California's hotels, etc., please note that there is no
legal cap on the J1 visa. Thus, if they don't have enough students
present, they can ask for more.
Much more information is available at
http://travel.state.gov/visa/temp/types/types_1267.html
> This year's g. harvest in Sonoma County was lengthened due to a
> lack of workers. The pay was anywhere between $12 and $16 an hour. The
> USA has many industries that couldn't run without illegals whether we
> like it or not.
That's ridiculous. Last year in central California, so many workers were
replaced by newly deployed automation that something like 9 out of ten
raisin harvester workers were permanently displaced from that position.
Why they didn't find jobs in Sonoma county is beyond me.
See also the excellent essay "How Much is That Tomato in the Window", a
very well-done scholarly paper which tells us that there would be a
brief, but ultimately small, price hike in produce at the grocer's shelf
if all illegal aliens were replaced by US workers.
That decade-old paper is helpfully archived at:
http://www.cis.org/articles/1996/back296.htm
--
http://thomashardman.com/ Centrist, Moderate, Republican in Maryland
A true Conservative isn't about to let
the enemies of America ruin his streams for Trout.
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