Charles M. Goldsmith Immigration Law Blog on Lawyers.com

Thoughts Regarding Chilean Miners

Tuesday, October 19, 2010 by Charles M. Goldsmith

Photo of Charles M. Goldsmith

America has always had a special relationship with Chile and its people. Not only in Chilean neighborhoods in New York but throughout the United States, people watched in horror the plight of the thirty three miners and then rejoiced when the rescue efforts proved successful.

Some of our immigration laws also reflect this “special relationship.” The rest of the world competes annually for the 65,000 H-1B visas granted by our government. These visas are for university graduates who would like to work in the U.S. in jobs that require university learned skills. Many foreign nationals are rejected for these H-1B visas because the 65,000 H-1B visa numbers are clearly not enough to meet the worldwide demand. In two out of the last four years, non-Chilean applicants who filed their applications during the first week possible, had to actually enter a lottery to determine who would get these visas and the chance of winning this lottery was less than 40%.  

Several years ago, the U.S. entered into a  special treaty with Chile (the only other country with this preferred treaty status is Singapore) which, in essence, sets aside enough H-1B1 visas for Chileans that they are basically guaranteed an H-1B1 visa number. These H-1B1  visas are similar to the H-1B visas but are actually easier to get and quicker to process.

Felicitaciones a nuestros amigos y vecinos Chilenos!


For more than 30 years, the law firm of Garganigo, Goldsmith & Weiss has been assisting people with immigration, green card or visa issues. For more information on how our immigration attorneys in NY can help, please call us at 212-643-6400, email us online, or visit our office at 14 Penn Plaza, Suite 1020, New York, NY 10122.

 
Posted at 09:44 AM
Topic: Immigration
Lawyers.com Blog

Lawyers.comSM Blog

Get an inside view of
Lawyers.com

Blog Topics

Bloggers

Archives

Recent...