The big apple has always been luring the best talents from across the world with its vast wealth, comfortable and lucrative way of life and the best facilities to its citizens.
But, the provision of all the premium comforts to its people was not easy; it has been a tale of harsh regulations, strictest security arrangements, properly managed controls; in effect, the United States of America has been able to seal its borders against unorganized exodus of immigrants, imposing strict norms and enforcement to keep undesirable aliens from arriving and becoming a burden on the state and its resources.
The promised-land has simultaneously been busy in consolidation of its fight against:
- Illegal immigration;
- Entry of unqualified people,
- People not having the required skill-sets which the country requires due to shortages of skilled people in those trades. This balancing of intake of people with only the required skills is a vital aspect of immigration laws the world over. For example, if Philippines normally employs ten thousand software professionals to allow for filling up the available vacancies in the marketplace and ten thousand hairdressers.
Allowing 15,000 Computer professional and 5000 hairdressers will lead to an imbalance of skilled workforce for hairdressing.
Similarly, permitting undergraduates, who are neither Hairdressers nor Computer engineers, will result in increasing unemployment for some of them, result in some increase in illegal activities including criminal activities since an idle person will resort to all options to fill his belly.
- That is exactly why the system has introduced the system of Green cards; the first aim being to enable only professionally qualified people who possess the qualifications that are in shortage in their country and it is in the best interests of both the candidates and the country where they are migrating to.
But, it can be a vexing problem when you seek a Green card; the tales of unforeseen and unprecedented delays which are narrated by immigrants are an eye opener.
It is not unusual for some applicants to wait for as long as twenty years or more in your quest for the cherished card of your dreams; and, it is unfortunate, though not rare that the applicant expires before the good news of success in your application for a Green card reaches them.
Some immigrants end up losing thousands of dollars to get the green card but still find themselves unsuccessful in their quest. This is also the reason why some simple folk try to avoid the hassles of applying for naturalization; their fear of being sidelined if they fail the interview or that the language barrier may come in the way of their success.
The cost of the application also dissuades certain people from trying for naturalization even though they may be eligible under the current norms.
However, Green Card holders who are eligible for naturalization are able to run through the process of their citizenship with relative ease because they have access to various services that are in place to provide all the help that they need to make the whole process smooth and obstacle-free.
In this they are provided certain exemptions with regards to the requirements of language proficiency as well as in the amount of fees that they are required to pay for the process; in addition, the new Americans Campaign which provides them all help with their application process.
In addition to this, there are many clinics and workshops that strengthen and guide them to achieve success.
In fact immigration organizations are of the considered opinion that the system has many flaws including the wrong implementation of the provisions of the immigration and naturalization service rules; a vast majority of facilities like fee waivers, that the applicants are eligible for, are not given to them.
Since the applicants are having a lack of knowledge of the rules and the language barrier is also a big impediment, these groups are providing a yeoman humanitarian service to the hapless applicants who are often quite poor.
These communities even provide language learning programs to empower the applicants.
The advantages of citizenship include:
- Right to vote,
- Free travel to and from the country without hassles,
- Get consular protection while abroad,
- You cannot be deported from any country,
- Better payment terms, permanent and government jobs,
- Right to sponsor relatives to visit,
- Eligibility for running for public offices, and
- Hold dual citizenship.
Author: Umrao Singh
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