The INS Officer

asaleh1: Thanks for the info.

arjun_m #57: You are correct about the low level of jobs in Canada. That and the weather, is primarily why people don`t migrate to Canada. Also, adjusted for the cost of living, the salaries in Canada are about 10% lower, and taxes about 7% higher.

I think the whole Canadian market is the size of Pennsylvania, or some small figure like that.

At the same time, not counting USA, it is a pretty good market. Interestingly, a lot of the top notch Canadian IT folks actually migrate to the USA and work there, due to higher salaries. In that sense, once you reach a certain level of experience and seniority, and are willing to accept a lower salary than in USA, one can progress quite quickly.

From a entrepreneaural point of view, establishing an office in Canada is good. It is like being in between Pakistan (or India) and USA. The labor costs are much cheaper than USA, though higher than in India and Pakistan. I plan to start hiring from Pakistan, when the market picks up, and instead of bringing people to the USA, where the visa problems area hassel, bring them straight to the Canada office.

Let`s see how it goes.

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#53 by Romair on January 31, 2003 2:11pm PT

I would like to add that Canada, like the US has something similar to H1 visa. For more information you might want to log on to the following website.

http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/work/index.html

Working Temporarily in Canada

Overview

Every year over 90,000 foreign workers enter Canada working temporarily to help Canadian employers address skill shortages in Canada. Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) and Human Resources Development Canada (HRDC) ensure that these workers will support economic growth in Canada and create more opportunities for all Canadian job seekers.

In almost all cases you must have a valid work permit to work in Canada.

These steps must be followed before you apply for a work permit:

An employer must first offer you a job.
HRDC must normally provide a labour market opinion or `confirmation` of your job offer. However, some types of work are exempt from this process.
After HRDC confirms that a foreign national may fill the job, you apply to CIC for your work permit.

<>

You cannot immigrate with a work permit. If you want to come and live in Canada as a permanent resident based on your work skills or experience, see if you qualify for the Skilled Worker Program.

<> emphasis added by me >>

Foreign workers may do some jobs in Canada without a permit. Check to see if you can work in Canada without a permit.

The Worker`s Role: Temporary workers must also meet the requirements that apply to all temporary residents in order to come to Canada. Find out what you must do before working in Canada.

The Employer`s Role: Before a foreign national may work in Canada, you, as an employer, must check with HRDC to confirm the job offer you have made to the foreign worker. Find out what you must do before you can hire a foreign national.

What HRDC will do: HRDC`s role is to provide advice to CIC regarding the impact on the Canadian labour market that the entry of a foreign worker will have.

The Live-In Caregiver Program:
A live-in caregiver is someone who provides care to children, the elderly or the disabled in a private household. After working two years as a live-in caregiver you can apply to be a permanent resident in Canada. Learn how you can apply for the Live-In Caregiver Program.

#53 by Romair on January 31, 2003 2:11pm PT

Another thing. If you are a landed immigrant (eqv. green card) you are not entitled to Welfare if you have been sponsored for upto 10 years. and free medical is available only in certain provinces, provided you have been a resident in those provinces for at least 3 months.

Happy landings.

Great read Rozaiba. The registeration process, which wreaks of discrimination of the highest order sucks, however, INS (let`s just say it does not have a good track record as a government agency) implementing it, makes it a scary proposition.....

Here`s an excerpt and a link to an NY Times article from today about the efficiency (or lack thereof) of INS...

http://www.nytimes.com/2003/01/31/national/31FILE.html


I.N.S. Shredder Ended Work Backlog, U.S. Says

LOS ANGELES, Jan. 30 — Tens of thousands of pieces of mail come into the huge Immigration and Naturalization Service data processing center in Laguna Niguel, Calif., every day, and as at so many government agencies, it tends to pile up. One manager there had a system to get rid of the vexing backlog, federal officials say. This week the manager was charged with illegally shredding as many as 90,000 documents.

Among the destroyed papers, federal officials charged, were American and foreign passports, applications for asylum, birth certificates and other documents supporting applications for citizenship, visas and work permits.....

(use the link for the full story).

MJ

stuka #44: Has the delayed priority process changed? I think a lot of Indians will breath a sigh of relief, if it has. I have had quite a few Indians who worked for me, whose green card applications I had an input in. The American managers they worked for could never make heads or tails of the INS visa processes, so being a desi, I would get brought in, even if the guy wasn`t working for me.

Indians and Chinese cases were the most difficult. Pakistanis got their cards, much quicker. I believe there used to be a quota of something like 14,000 Green cards per country per year. Indians kept filling up their quotas so quickly, that they had to wait extra years. Some couldn`t get their green cards, within six years.

There were truckloads of Indians (and rickshaw loads of Pakistanis) who had to leave the US after 9/11 and due to the .com crash. I think Indians were effected by far, the worst. I was consulting for a company, and I had two Indian contractors working directly for me, who were just months away from getting into the third stage of their green cards (after which I believe, one cannot be kicked out of the country). One of them had a wife who was close to finishing some big qualification in finance. Their contracting company, owned ironically by an Indian, laid off something like sixty people in one day - nearly all Indians on H-1 visas.

These two guys knew the moment their contract ended with us, they would go back and get laid off. We decided to hire these two guys onto my company to save them from getting the boot. We were able to hire one, but could not hire the other guy (with the wife in college). I think he went back and I think eventually ended up in India. I have never seen anyone so worried in my whole life. Quite sad, I guess. His whole life shaken up, due to no fault of his own.

The Canadian system is much better and humane. One is not treated like highly paid slave on H-1 status. I think if you want someone to work for your company, then make them a part of the country`s system, or don`t hire them.

The moment you set foot in Canada, you are a Canadian green card holder and are part of the system. You can change jobs, apply for welfare, get free medical, since you are a taxpayer. In three years, you are a citizen. That is how it should be everywhere.

Stuka

I am glad you asked. Yes I was proponent of handing over Osama Bin Laden to a neutral Europen country because attack on WTC etc. was criminal act, no matter who did it. As a victim US had every right to seek justice for the murder of its innocent. US pointed its fingers towards OBL, so OBL should be brougt to trial. And so was proposed by Taliban government that he be handed over to a neutral country. But US didn`t accept their offer and chose the way of murder and mayhem unnecessarily. It was revenge and not justice.

Had the US chose a civilized way of dealing with the issue, the handing over of OBL was possible with a right combination of military pressure, blockade, embargo and international diplomacy. In that case Paksitan would have been able to play a key role in resolving this issue without murder of 10s of thousands of Afghans.

Was the blockade and military pressure possible without surrounding Afghanistan? And was that possible without giving bases to US Army? You do the math. But instead US put a gun on Paksitan`s head and chose the way of Gangez Khan`s hordes.

I still stand by my Vietnam comment too. Dont you read newspapers?

faisaluno #86 This example you provide was not profiling - this was literally hate-mongering against muslims, and hate-mongering of any kind against any community is to be condemned.
PROFILING, on the other hand, is a practical measure undertaken as a security measure. If as muslims we care about law and order in the community we live in, we should be fully supportive of this practice. And ultimately, such responsible behavior would be too the advantage of the muslim community.
Crying ``wolf`` at every opportunity (e.g. on profiling) is NOT the way to gain credibility. As the boy who cried wolf discovered in due course.

Urstruly:

Hmm, I guess the Taliban and Mullah Omar forgot to heed your advice. Mullah Omar is now reduced to riding around Afghanistan on a motorcycle and his relatives get bombed to pieces at weddings.

BTW, I do admire your slipperiness about your own contradictions...betraying fellow Muslims at the altar of Pakistani Nationalism???? What gives?? Were you not the one wanting to make a deal with goras to help them out, Ummah brotherhood be damned to hell for a few F16s??

Some good news for Indians....

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/cms.dll/html/comp/articleshow?artid=36102464



Indian-American to head iconic US lab
CHIDANAND RAJGHATTA
TIMES NEWS NETWORK[ SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 01, 2003 12:27:42 AM ]

WASHINGTON: A distinguished Indian-American scientist and IIT alumnus has been named to head the Brookhaven National Laboratory, one of the world`s great research institutions. ...

AlephNull #35

``Behind the deceptive reasonableness of his columns he was wont to discuss the finer points of how Pakistan could extract strategic advantage from the Kashmir jehad, which basically amounts to the murder of Indian citizens by his country`s trained killers. He may be `liberal` in his personal life, but that is pure humbug in the context of his views. ``

I know what you mean. Once I even wrote to him on the subject, and he was nice enough to reply :). This contradiction is visible among many `liberals`, even wrt something not linked with India or Kashmir, for example Afghanistan.

You could be right about the FBI.

Hinduo

If in 1942 someone would have said that Nazis would be brought to justice in Nuremburgh he would have been laugh of the town. But it did happen. Similarly, Milosovich never would have thought in 1995 that he would be standing for trial for crimes against humanity. But it did happen. And why go too far. Look at Indra Gandhi. She was so confident that she would get away with the genocide of sikhs that she didn`t bother to remove her guards. Every pharao has a fall. The blood of innocent and curse of widows have never been turned down by God. It only takes time. So while you have the time and the time when your children will pay for your hatred in near future is still away enjoy this joke:

a paki named hamidm was fast asleep in his apartment when he was awakened by the loud bang on his front door. someone was feverishly knocking at his door. He feared the worst that it might be the new homealnd security force; he reluctantly goes near the door and asks

``Who is it?``

the man on the other side shouts back ``hamidm bhai it is me abdul. It is ok. It is not FBI raiding to capture Muslims.....nothing to fear....relax....it is only that the whole building is on fire and we are trapped inside``

Romair:

``Interestingly, the people effected the worst by INS are Indians and Chinese professionals, applying for green cards. I don`t know if the law has changed yet, but Indians and Chinese fall into a special category of green card applicants. Since every country can only have a few thousand green cards per year in its quota, the Indian and Chinese quota fills up immediately, due to their very large numbers. Due to this, Indians and Chinese have to wait for years for green cards, some ending up not getting one within the six year period of their H-1s. ``


You are talking about delayed priority dates. That used to affect Indians, Chinese and Filpinos. That was a while back though and was not affected by the Sept 11 INCIDENT.

Actually, even after Sept 11, the GC process was running smoothly till the INS approved the visas of two of the hijackers a few months after Sept 11. That when it really hit the fan. Past 2 months, approvals have slowed to a trickle. Now in March, the INS as it exists is being dissolved so it will lead to more delays. That has affected all legal immigrants regardless of nationality.

Arjun_M:

That`s what bugs me about Paki Islamists. They want the best of both worlds, Paki nationalist as well as spokesmen for the Ummah. If they are truly Islamic, the concept of nations should not apply to them.

I am glad you exposed UrsTurly`s hypocricy towards his own co-believers. Imagine him trying to explain to Allah that he shafted his Islamic brothers coz the Americans gave him F 16s. HAHAHAHA!!!

tahmed sahib:

still think profiling is a good idea?

http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A3956-2003Jan30?language=printer

At the Conservative Political Action Conference, which featured Vice President Cheney as its opening luncheon speaker yesterday, one of the various exhibition booths hawking paraphernalia had some virulently anti-Muslim vinyl bumper stickers, for $3.95, including one that said: ``No Muslims -- No Terrorism.``

PAK DESTINY,

A few monmths ago pakistanis were so proud that they got elected to the security council. Now they want to quitt. They do not want to support the US on iraq, that would anger the mulsims, they cannot oppose because of spineless mindset, they cannot abstain that is as bad as opposing uncle sam.

The same happened with the bomb. Now the pakistanis are certain that uncle sam will leave the country only with the bomb and all other infrastructure destroyed.

A country with vlues of a desert a few thousand years ago, with a modern bomb. well something has to give up.