Guest Worker Programme

March 18, 2006

By Reynold E. Finnegan, Immigration Attorney

Guest Worker Program

Where Art Thou?

The Senate Judiciary Committee has been working the past several weeks to finalize a comprehensive immigration bill which will hopefully include the guest worker bill that President Bush has been pushing for years. Any bill that comes out of the committee would still have to be voted on by the entire U.S. Congress but should move through Congress very quickly in a matter of weeks if it is approved as anticipated.

What is the Guest Worker Program? The Guest Worker Program would allow those individuals who are productive members of society who have been here for a few years to apply for a work visa (probably through an employer) which would be valid for 3-6 years. It would include a path toward receiving one’s legal permanent residency. The bill will have some anti-immigration measures as well as some aspects designed to strengthen the borders; such as hiring more border patrol agents and building more fencing. While, immigration experts agree that border needs to be strengthened to increase security, most agree that such a proposal is ill-conceived unless there is also a mechanism in place to secure orderly legal immigration into the United States that is in high demand by businesses looking for cheap labor. In other words, such demand will be there and without addressing the issue of legal immigration, then the efforts to secure the border will be counterproductive to the overall goal of security. Those experts are correct. The immigration system is broken and must be fixed in a comprehensive manner and not just on enforcement issues.

Most Senators agree, but not all. There is also a sizeable portion of anti-immigration Congressmen and women in the House of Representatives who stated that they will fight any guest worker program proposal. They call it an amnesty and say that they will not support an amnesty, an argument which completely ignores the fact that the system is broken and at present does not allow for an orderly compassionate inflow of legal working immigrants. With an estimated 11 to 12 million illegal aliens present in the United States a proposal must be generated to initiate a program that allows these people to come in from the shadows and become taxpaying productive members of society. Fortunately, most Senators are realizing this point and the tide may be shifting to passing the guest worker program. Surprisingly and upsetting to Californians, democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein had earlier stated that she does not support a guest worker program and she is up for re-election later this year and may becoming around on this issue recently. Nevertheless, the committee that is working up the immigration bill is headed by Senator Arlen Specter, a Republican who strongly supports the guest worker program.

The latest news occurred on March 16, 2006 when Senator Specter’s committee announced that they were working on including the guest worker program in their proposal that will be voted on by the rest of the U.S. Congress. The deal is not complete though as the Senators work out the details of the proposal. For instance, how much time must an individual have been inside the United States before they are eligible to apply. The law will probably not apply to new arrivals in the United States. Another contentious issue is whether the applicants will need to return to their home country for a year to show good faith before receiving their Greencards. Senators Edward Kennedy, Arlen Specter, and John McCain have all argued that a return to home country requirement is not a good idea because it would break up families. Immigration attorneys view, that issue as a deal-breaker because who wants to return home for one year when their family, employment, and lives would remain in the United States? A compromise may have been reached to include a provision for a waiver from the one year return to the home country requirement may be filed by employers who view the alien employee as an “essential worker” and the company cannot afford to have them leave for a year. The important thing is that for an immigration bill to be approved by the House of Representatives it must have some anti-immigration measures to appease those anti-immigration representatives as well. The bill must be constructed in a way that it has a good chance of passing according to Senator Specter.

Another proposal is to come out with a new residency status called a “Gold Card”. The Gold Card would be exactly like a Green Card except the individual would be ineligible for citizenship, but only for Residency. Most immigrants who are currently illegal would probably jump at the chance to receive a gold card where they would be in legal status (forever) and be able to travel in and out of the country freely with the so called Gold Card.

Would a penalty fee be required? Quite possibly a fee of $1000 to $2000 may be required for those present in the country illegally. Will there be limit on how many people may apply for the guest worker program? There is talk that a cap of 400,000 persons per year will be in place. Placing these details aside for a minute, it is clear that any new immigration program that is passed into law is probably a better choice than remaining in illegal status and should be seriously considered by all those aliens who are now illegal (or soon to have their status expire).

There is a problem though as Senator majority leader Bill Frist has stated that the immigration bill must be put to the Senate floor by March 27, 2006. Senator Specter’s committee is not working next week and that leaves only Monday, March 27, 2006 to finalize the immigration bill to include the guest worker provision before Senator Frist moves to knock out the guest worker program and push the bill to the Senate floor without it. Senator Specter states that such a move would be disastrous and not productive to resolving the broken immigration system. Senator Specter says that he will work during the recess to make sure that the guest worker program will be included in the final version of the bill which will conclude on March 27, 2006. Immigration experts hope that he will succeed in that endeavor.

What should persons present in the United States without legal status be doing now? First they should be watching the news on March 27, 2006 to determine if the guest worker program is about to be included in the immigration bill. Secondly, they should act fast to contact competent professional attorneys to make sure they are included in those cases filed within the first several days of the guest worker program. With 12 million illegal immigrants in the country and a possible limit of 400,000 persons per year it easy to see that those who are prepared will be the early birds who will be eating all the greencard worms. Do not miss out on this once a decade opportunity and contact your immigration attorney today to discuss your potential future and to make sure that you and your family members are in the front of the line and not the back of the line waiting. Do not act slowly on this matter as timing will be critical to your success in early acceptance..

Reynold E. Finnegan has been an immigration attorney for 14 years. He is an active member of the State Bar of California as well as the American Immigration Lawyers Association. His office is located at 3660 Wilshire Blvd. , Suite 710, Los Angeles, CA 90010.

For consultations, please call at (213)480-0292 or fax your inquiry to (213) 480-0805. You may also e-mail him at reyfinn@pacbell.net An in-house Filipino staff is available to speak with you.