Abstract
One of the most dynamic demographic transitions that have been shaping and reshaping the population characteristics of various countries in recent years is that of human migration. Since many years, United States has been seen as the land of opportunity by millions of people. It attracts people from across the world due to economic, political, and social reasons resulting in migration to United States.
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- 1.
The year 1965 is seen as ushering in a landmark phase in the migration history of the US, as the new amendment of the Immigration and Nationality Act in 1965 removed the race barrier to entry and encouraged skilled workers from Asian nations to migrate to the US (Sahay 2009).
- 2.
The annual cap on H1B visa allotments depends upon the business cycle, the demand for workers in the US labor market, and the prevalent government policy. During the years 1990 and 2000, the US Congress passed Immigration Acts for these respective years. These Acts drastically increased the number of H1B visa permits, which more than doubled the pool of nonimmigrant skilled labor visas available to US employers. These Acts thus changed the composition of US immigration and provided an opportunity to a large number of immigrants from Asian nations to enter the US under different visa categories. It has been documented that over 50% of the H1B visa petitions during these years were filled with regard to the computer-related and engineering occupations.
- 3.
L1 visa is another very restrictive kind of professional temporary work visa category granted to the employees of the corporation that has offices in the US and abroad ( in our case, India). At one time, L1 visa is granted for maximum of 5 years.
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According to the recent estimate, wait time for anyone who is in queue to EB2 category of green card—permanent residency category for these professionals is 20–151 years.
- 5.
http://h4-visa-a-curse.blogspot.com/p/survey-results.html This blogpost came in limelight when Obama government was getting ready for new immigration rule. Finally, in 2015, under the Obama administration, there was a policy change that helped spouse of H1B holder (H4 visa) to acquire work permit in the United State, if they have moved ahead in the green card application (permanent citizenship).
- 6.
The total sample for the study consisted of 103 Indian IT professionals working in the temporary work visa category in the US There were 20 professionals among these 103 who agreed to participate in the in-depth interview too.
- 7.
A joint-family system in India refers to a co-living or multi-generational dwelling.
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Sarmistha, U. (2019). Land of Opportunity: Life Beyond Hollywood Movies. In: Transnational Immigrants. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-8542-1_2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-8542-1_2
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