I'm a patriot. It's true, I even posted a entry to the capitalist on the July 4th to talk about things that are truly American to me. But I'm also a realist. Here's what a train wreck looks like at the government level:
This story began on June 12. The State Department announced it would process 60,000 visas for aspiring,
high-skilled immigrants. The visas would be processed during a two-month window starting on July 2, and visas would be handled on a first-come first-serve basis. Immigrants, their lawyers, and employers went into scramble mode.
There was precious little time to gather the documents necessary to prove job skills, to provide proof of employment, to undergo the mandatory medical examination, and to gather all family members in the US as required. Thousands of dollars were spent. Then on July 2, the State Department reversed itself. It said the visas it expected to offer were no long available. The department said it would begin accepting visa applications again on October 1 for the 2008 fiscal year.
If you have quality employees you are sponsoring in the immigration process (we do), the result is confusion and anger, followed by more confusion. Apparently, it's enough to make the pricey district of Vancouver look appealing to US companies. That stinks.
BTW - these aren't illegals flowing over the border. These are the best and the brightest, here legally. Exactly the types you want in the melting pot... They got their hopes up via a formal annoucement on the intent to grant the additoinal visas, then the rug got pulled out from them. Not good.
If Uncle Sam were a real person, I'd send him a card on this one saying, "Sam - stay classy. You're better than this." Unfortunately, it seems like Bob in Accounting forgot to run the 60,000 visas up the old flagpole, then got caught up in the politics of the unrelated immigration bill (these folks are here legally, no need for amnesty) being voted down.
We'll see what happens next.
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