Immigration to Absurdistan... a.k.a India or Bharat

To the east of Pakistan lies the land of Absurdistan, where I come from. It is also known as India or Bharat in some circles. Immigration process to this wonderful place is painful.

I recently went to the Chicago consultate to collect the approved Overseas Citizen of India (OCI) papers of my daughter. Now, OCI for the uninitiated, is the screwed up version of dual citizenship that India offers. Basically, they decided that dual citizenship as offered by other nations was no good and created something unique and messy. Anyway, having successfully got three OCIs I felt that I was good at getting it right even though each of the consulates have their own set of instructions on how to apply and no two of them match (my favorite is the sample photo...photos should have light background goes the instructions and the sample photo has a dark red/maroon background).

It used to be that Chicago consulate never accepted applications in person, it had to be mailed in. And, when you mail in you have to mail them "mailing fees", probably, for them to mail it back. Only issue here is they never mailed it back. I had to go in person to collect it all three times. So, this time I sent in the forms, money (two money orders - one for $275 and other for $20), tracked the application process on the web (one of the better aspects of the process. Once it gets to India it can be tracked) and went to collect it when the website indicated that it was back at the Chicago consulate. The consulate has a great atmosphere - a combination of being at a funeral + Chennai railway station - loads of grumpy people ready to kill waiting in a passive aggressive mode. I got to the consulate and hurried to the OCI window. Once I got there I was told that I had to get a token ( First indication of change). So, I went looking for a token vending machine. I could not find one. So, I went back to the guy who said I need to get a token to find out where to get it. He said, I had to stand in line at the first counter to get a token from the person there. Yes,"...stand in line to get a token." I did. Then, when I got back to the waiting area I noticed that others (most of them) were waiting to submit the forms. So, I told the guy who told me to get a token that I was here to collect the approved forms. He said that might be at a different time, so I should check with the person who gave me the token. So, I got back in line. The lady there said both submission and collection are handled by the same window. When I pointed out that they had just managed to make an already painful process even more painful, she pointed out that they had a process and had "dedicated" one window for just OCI processing. Given that it takes about 3 minutes per person waiting to submit and less than 30 seconds per person waiting to collect, I realized that I would have to wait for over 90 minutes to drop the US passport and then return to collect it with the stamped visa about 3 hrs later effectively forcing me to be off work for the afternoon. So, I decided to enlist the help of my wife whose office is closer to the consulate. She tried doing it by herself the next week, got there at 5 minutes after the window opens (11am) on a Friday only to find that tokens are given any time after the consulate opens. So, she had about 40 people in front of her. After waiting for 90 minutes she gave up. The week after we decided to make a joint effort, she would get the token as soon as the consulate opens, then I would get the token from her around the time the window open and drop off the US passport. Then, she would go back about 3 hrs later to collect it. This time it worked. We were licking our OCI wounds in satisfaction when we heard another absurd story.

My wife's cousin, who was born in the UK and is a British citizen is getting married in India in Dec. His dad and sibilings were having a hard time to get visas to go to India. They were told it would take upto 3 months to get their visas approved. The reason, the dad was born in Karachi back when the Brits ruled undivided India. It did not matter that he had never lived in Pakistan, the fact that he was born in mordern day Pakistan made him eligible for the special treatment that India reserves for its favorite cousins. Of course, it is not the first trip to India. In fact, one of his children who is being subject to the same absurb procedure was in India last Dec. Hey, this is a new year so the process has to be applied with new rigor. I some times wonder if the folks in Govt. of India/ the embassies and consultates of GOI are plain dumb or just acting dumb.

Hypocrisy and Immigration go together

First off, let me congratulate the Governor of Arizona for a bold immigration bill. More about that later. And, before I get into it let me tell you where I stand - I believe illegal immigrants are illegals and a nation has the right to manage who moves in.

Now, to the specifics. The Arizona law is bold but I am not sure it will solve the problem. It does polarize the populace and bring more visibility to the issue. Maybe, that is what the governor wanted. Or, maybe it was just signaling to the people who tend to support that party just like the Healthcare "reform" that the federal government passed. Contrary to what has been reported, I don't think the law is racist. In fact, the law does not talk anything about race or color. But, as a recent Newsweek report said "Your baby is racist", we are all racist. So, the folks who are going to implement the law are going to do so with their own prejudices. So, its implementation might be. I wonder how many white people will be stopped. I wish they would stop the white illegal immigrants. Interestingly, the illegal immigrants that I have come across in Chicago have all been whites.

I wonder what those who feel that stopping people and asking them for ID is an infringement on this liberties and is racist feel about people asked to provide ID, present themselves for "random" security checks to board a flight. Ah, you are ok with that because your life depends on that. I have been subject to these random checks - about 6 out of 8 times I flew out of Detroit back in 2002. This is when my boarding pass had "CORPORATE" stamped on it. You want security; you have to give up some of the "liberties." This is an imperfect world.

For the folks from the Church and other religious institutions that have taken the case of illegal immigrants I wonder what your stance would be if Mexico had been an Islamic state and the guys crossing over are the ones with beards. I think I know the answer.

And, finally for the folks who repeatedly point out that the nation was built on immigrants, so illegal immigrants are ok why keep quotes on legal immigration then? Let’s do away with the border security, INS etc... we will save lot of money. The US has changed a lot and so has the world. The US now feels the need to manage the immigration process that means both legal and illegal.

I love to watch how the seats on the CTA "L" fillip. You see people's preferences for color. The seats next to African American males generally tend to go last. Over the last few years I have seen a better uptake on the seats next to Indians - coincides with India's emerging economic muscle. I think there is a statistically significant bias/preference to certain type of seat partners. I bet none of the people on the train will identify themselves as racist just like my former colleagues who quite often confused me for the other brown guy in the office (we were an office of 30 people with 2 brown guys).

I feel sorry for the illegal immigrants - their economic plight forces them to take risks. I wish any immigration reform treats companies and people who employ (and, exploit) illegal immigrants with strict fines. And, I think "Winner takes all" economic treaties do not work. There needs to be economic incentives that make sure that they have a reason to remain in their nation.

High Rate of H-1B Visa Fraud says BusinessWeek

High Rate of H-1B Visa Fraud - BusinessWeek

So, where is the news? What is new? The article is written in such a way that it makes you think that the companies using the H1-B program the most (i.e. Indian companies) are the ones most responsible for fraud without making explicit claims or citing evidence.

The story for H1-B folks being paid less than market rate is often quoted but hard to substantiate. The market rate is not a single figure but a range and I bet every one of these H1-B folks fall within the range. The companies that employ H1-B folks benefit financially without having to resort to lower wages. Most H1-B folks tend to amass their vacation for one large vacation trip. That makes it easy for companies to plan for their absence. Quite often these vacations happen between Thanksgiving and Christmas, when majority of the companies do not have any major initiatives happening. Then, there is the wait for "green card" which makes these folks bonded laborers to these firms without having to sign such an employement contract. And, finally, there is the Social Security taxes that these folks contribute but may not see unless they become a citizen and Social Security program is still solvent.

So, who is being had, by whom?

Who is a "legal" H1B candidate?

Crackdown on Indian Outsourcing Firms

I guess it would be hard to prove that outsourcers broke the law. I don't know if they did but I am certain that they broke the spirit of the law. But, then who gives a damn about the spirit of the law? What about the American companies who hire foreign students on F1 and then H1B? They know that these folks are pretty much stuck with them for the next five years - until their permanent residency application is approved.

The whole H1B program is about augumenting the workforce when there is a shortage of skills. However, it never makes mention of economic concepts - money and time value of money. There may be a shortage of resources at USD X/annum but not at USD 2X/annum. The law does not make any difference but businesses do. And, they need to.

The people who complain about H1B abuse often refer to "prevailing wages". What are the prevailing wages? In retail, is the prevailing wage what Wal-mart pays its workers or what Costco pays its workers? "Prevailing wages" is a scale with a huge range.

Illegal first... Immigrants next...

I guess May 1st which is celebrated as the International Workers' Day will soon become Illegal Immigrants Day in the US. Yesterday, like last year there was a huge rally in Chicago. The illegal immigrants claim that they are hardworking (which they are) and have right to the American dream (questionable). I heard reports that the law enforcement raid on a shopping mall in the Little village neighbourhood had mobilized the masses. So, why was there a raid? The law enforcement agencies wanted to shut down a fake id card operation that was also suspected to be involved in a few murders.

I guess what is lost on the people marching is the fact that they are illegal, have broken the law - the moment they crossed the border or overstayed the visa. The American dream is not just about building a better life but building it legally.

I don't think deporting illegal immigrants will solve the problem. They are here because they are able to find work - there are people to employ them. It is to some extent classic supply demand. It is these people who employ them who should be tragetted. They should pay for violating the law and exploiting people. If this does not happen no amount of deportation will help. There will be people back here illegally in no time. And, they will continue to be exploited by their employers.

And, those who play the race card are hitting below the belt. This is a law and order issue not a race issue. Same is true for the illegal immigrants in India from Bangladesh.

Why are these people not buying the India story?

Lies, grief and a ticket home for illegal Indian migrants - International Herald Tribune

Punjab is considered to be one of the richer states in India, yet most of the Indians who illegally immigrate to Europe seem to be from this state. And, Punjab also has the worst sex ratio indicating higher PBEF (pre birth elimination of females). It makes me wonder what ails the society.