Immigration Voice is a
501(c)(4)
A 501(c) organization is a nonprofit organization in the federal law of the United States according to Internal Revenue Code (26 U.S.C. § 501(c)) and is one of over 29 types of nonprofit organizations exempt from some federal income taxes. ...
nonprofit organization
A nonprofit organization (NPO) or non-profit organisation, also known as a non-business entity, not-for-profit organization, or nonprofit institution, is a legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public or social benefit, in co ...
that claims to work to alleviate problems faced by high-skilled
foreign workers in the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., federal district, five ma ...
, but has mostly advocated for the
Fairness for High Skilled Immigrants Act
The Fairness for High Skilled Immigrants Act is proposed United States federal legislation that would reform U.S. immigration policy, primarily by removing per-country limitations on employment-based visas, increasing the per-country numerical l ...
that benefits Indian employment-based immigration applicants.
Some of the problems that Immigration Voice claims to work on include delays due to visa number unavailability for certain employment-based categories, delays due to
United States Citizenship and Immigration Services
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) is an agency of the United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) that administers the country's naturalization and immigration system. It is a successor to the Immigration and Naturalizat ...
processing backlogs, and delays due to Labor Certification Application backlogs. Immigration Voice works to remove these and other regulations by supporting changes to immigration law for high-skilled legal employment-based immigrants.
Neil Patel, co-founder of the conservative
The Daily Caller and Robert Hoffman, a longtime tech executive and lobbyist, sit on the advisory board of Immigration Voice.
History
Immigration Voice is a
501(c)(4)
A 501(c) organization is a nonprofit organization in the federal law of the United States according to Internal Revenue Code (26 U.S.C. § 501(c)) and is one of over 29 types of nonprofit organizations exempt from some federal income taxes. ...
non-profit organization
A nonprofit organization (NPO) or non-profit organisation, also known as a non-business entity, not-for-profit organization, or nonprofit institution, is a legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public or social benefit, in co ...
that claims to help immigrants and legislative and executive branches of government, solving problems in the employment-based immigration process due to delays, USCIS processing, and Labor Certification. Immigration Voice's stated purpose is to improve immigration laws and employment where high-skilled immigrants can enter into the United States economy easier and faster, but it has mostly advocate for legislation that benefits Indian employment-based immigration applicants.
Immigration Voice is known as a national organization of legal, majority Indian high-skilled immigrants living in the United States. The organization has almost 100,000 members all around the country and represents the interests of the nearly one million immigrants and their family members, the overwhelming majority from India, stuck in green card backlogs.
Goals and accomplishments
On March 3 and March 4, 2014, Immigration Voice members held over 300 meetings with lawmakers and congressional staff over two days. Participants advocated for action on immigration that year and a greater focus on stopping the green card backlogs faced by employment-based immigrants. Immigration Voice's primary goal is to reduce delays with green cards for Indian high-skilled immigrants in order to work legally within the United States. Currently, the green card system takes about 12 years before an Indian high-skilled national may be granted
permanent residence.
One of the biggest accomplishments for Immigration Voice was being involved in the movement of the
DREAM Act
The Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors Act, known as the DREAM Act, is a United States legislative proposal to grant temporary conditional residency, with the right to work, to illegal immigrants who entered the United States ...
. The DREAM Act was first suggested in 2001 and has recently been reintroduced in the
United States Senate
The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States.
The composition and ...
. The Act would allow conditional residency to
students who are illegal aliens, arrived in the U.S. as minors, graduated from U.S. high schools and lived in the country for five or more years, prior to the bill's enactment. California has embraced a version of the DREAM Act that would allow illegal alien children living in the United States to be given private college scholarships to state schools.
On May 8, 2014, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security announced proposed regulations that will allow dependent spouses of certain principal workers to be able to request employment authorization. The current rules are stopping thousands of immigrant spouses living legally in the United States from working while waiting on their permanent residency. The extreme backlogs are making families from certain countries struggle, most notably
India
India, officially the Republic of India ( Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the ...
; current rules cause financial stress over many years and denying the U.S. economy of the talents of these high-skilled future Americans.
References
External links
The New York Times: The Other Immigration*
ttps://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/10/AR2007071002055.html The Washington Post: A Gift From Gandhibr>
BusinessWeek: Skilled Immigrants' March on WashingtonBBC News: Skilled immigrants suffer US limbo
{{DEFAULTSORT:Immigration Voice
Non-profit organizations based in the United States
Immigration to the United States
501(c)(4) nonprofit organizations