WSJ: The Other Hidden Immigrants

[question everything]

The Wall Street Journal

The Other Hidden Immigrants
By BARRY NEWMAN
May 18, 2006; Page B1

(snip)

People like Ms. Kennedy (a native of Mongolia with a degree in American-style accounting) are American classics: the Albanian doorman with a law degree; the Bangladeshi doctor who drives a cab. Well-educated and underemployed, they have populated immigrant families for generations, and more arrive every day as family members of citizens and permanent residents, refugees, asylum seekers and visa-lottery winners. Yet in a national struggle over immigration policy, largely driven by issues of unskilled and undocumented workers, they are the invisible bystanders.

Ms. Leu, 36 years old, has been working since 2003 to show big companies that this pool of immigrants is ready, willing -- and here. "We don't have to invest any money in educating these people," she says. "Business wants to bring in new talent. But are we even using the talent we have?" She says -- and the companies confirm -- that so far she has deals to screen, prep and funnel candidates to Google Inc., Bearing Point Inc. and Robert Half International Inc., among others.

(snip)

Today's immigration debate is about more than unskilled workers. U.S. companies also say they need more workers with skills. The U.S. issues 140,000 green cards to company staffers, but a "comprehensive" bill in the Senate would add an extra 175,000 every year for the next decade. Yet there are some 800,000 others who come to stay legally but not specifically for employment in most years who might be able to fill such jobs.

(snip)

Neither bias nor English fluency are the main issues, as she sees it. Immigrants who would otherwise qualify -- and arrive confident of picking up their careers where they left off -- have their hopes dashed by a failure to connect on other levels: "The American process of promoting yourself is so foreign," Ms. Leu says. American employers often find foreign diplomas baffling, too, and don't know how to compare them to U.S. equivalents. States rarely give credence to foreign licenses, often requiring immigrants to get local certification that may mean additional courses. Mostly, though, employers don't know this labor reserve exists. In 2003, Ms. Leu opened an office and began offering big companies a stream of candidates. Few went for it. That explains why her agency is a nonprofit. "We have the supply," she says. "Not the demand." Her supply filters in via local immigrant networks: a Kenyan public-relations man, a plant pathologist from Bulgaria, an Eritrean chemist, a guidance counselor from Cameroon.

(snip)


URL for this article:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB114791537461356165.html (subscription)

[question everything]

1. Self kick (nt)

[Disturbed]

2. There are millions of Illegal Immigrants from

many countries other than Mexico. Now the focus is mainly on Mexico.

[treestar]

3. Are they saying they are legal? Because if they are not, they are

not eligible to work and the employer risks the sanctions by hiring them.

Family based immigrants are mostly useless. In these days of easy travel, people could easily go back and visit their families. They are eligible whether they speak English or not, whether they have any skills or not, whether they even care whether they live in the US or not. But they are lucky enough to be related to the right person so a green card is handed to them.

Employment based immigrants are at least based on their employer proving to the Department of Labor that they were needed. The long exercise is very burdensome on the employer. If successful, then the employer has proved to the Department of Labor that there are no willing and able US citizens or permanent residents to take the job.