BPO Backlash

[Guest]

[url="http://business.rediff.com/slide-show/2010/jan/25/slide-show-1-h-1b-visa-holders-being-deported-from-port-of-landing.htm"]H-1B visa-holders being deported from port of landing![/url]

George Joseph in New York

Several Indians who arrived with an H-1B visa at Newark and John F Kennedy airports were deported based on a new rule, immigration attorneys and activists have reported.



The new rule stipulates that those who arrive on a work visa should 'arrive at the place of work'.



The rule could seal the fate of thousands of Indians who have applied for Green Card too.



[size="5"]It could bring an end to consultation, termed by some as 'body-shopping'[/size]. Airport deportations have frightened those on work visas and many have canceled their travel plans, too.



"The airport deportations," Morley Nair, an immigration attorney based in Philadelphia, "have sent shockwaves through the H-1B community. H-1B employers, employees and their attorneys alike are flabbergasted by this brazen act of official highhandedness where individuals arriving on H-1B visas were singled out even before their primary immigration inspection, put through sham questioning, forced into making coercive statements, issued expedited removal orders, and sent back."

New York attorney Cyrus Mehta explained what happened in Newark in his column. 'On one fateful day, January 11, when Continental Airlines Flight 49 landed in Newark from Mumbai, we know that CBP officer Matt McGirr and his colleagues, hunted through the lines for Indian H-1B workers even before they showed up for primary inspection. Their minds were made up. No detailed questions were asked.'



'The moment they found Indian H-1B workers who uttered that they were working at a client site in the IT field, their fates were sealed. They were subjected to expedited removal (ER) orders and sent back to India. Some were luckier and escaped the ER order, but still had to withdraw their applications for admission to the US. Nevertheless, they were all coerced into making statements under threat of being detained. Officials also made remarks as to why the H-1B workers, earned more than US workers and (said) should not be paid so much.'



When one is sent back by an ER order, he cannot come back for another five years. Those who withdraw their application to enter the United States and go back with their money can come back soon with a new visa stamp or for a new employer. Attorneys have decided to take up the issue with the authorities.