Legal Immigration

Necessary Steps in Carrying Out Legal Immigrant Status

By Charmaine Joy Bruan

Despite the fact that there are illegal immigrants who get paid under the table and don’t have to claim taxes and thus take advantage of living in this country, there are those who help this country, too. The men and women who reside here permanently and earn a decent and consistent living contribute positively to the U.S. economy.

If this were compared to a movie epic, being a “legal citizen” or “legal immigrant” then it would involve time and patience for the individual.

In an article by the editors of the New Republic criticizing illegal immigrants, “They are just Aliens. Yet, those workers are preyed upon by unscrupulous employers; worse, because of their illegal status, they make slow progress, if any, toward incorporation in America’s cultural and political systems.” (Unknown editors, New Republic).

The question is what are the necessary steps to obtain a legal status, one way or another, in order not to be cast off upon by the hard working class of the American people?

The first step is obtaining a sponsor. If you have family that live here and who are American citizens, they can sponsor your request under two conditions: individual has to be unmarried and under the age of 21 years old.

The second step is to process the paperwork, which can take up to 2 years, and from there what is needed is to obtain a United States Permanent Resident Card (USCIS Form I-551), formerly Alien Registration Card or Alien Registration Receipt Card (INS Form I-151). This is an identification card verifying the permanent resident status of an alien in the United States. There are a few other important necessities needed besides a permanent card, for instance: a Social Security card, a U.S. Driver’s License, and Tax information (http://www.foreignborn.com/visas_imm/immigrant_visas/1immigration_homepage.htm).

Should anyone not meet these conditions; the individual has to wait up to 20 years due to the high flux of applications that are constantly received through the INS everyday.

It seems ONLY fair that men and women who reside here permanently earn a decent and consistent living so that they can help the U.S. economy.

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How Wage Affects Documented Workers and Their Influence On California Agriculture

By Charmaine Joy Bruan

Within the last few decades, LEGAL immigrants have been needed here in California and as the market demands, it cuts down on the flow of ILLEGAL immigration. By supply and demand as many jobs open, these people are needed for various positions.

According to The Supply of Agricultural Labor as a Factor in the Evolution of Farm Organization in California, “ a succession of immigrant groups such as: the Chinese, Japanese, Filipinos, ‘dust-bowl Oklahomans,’ Texas Chicanos, and Mexicans have performed most of the work in California’s labor-intensive specialty crops” (Fuller, 1939).

Public policy has been a controversial issue in this nation and economic conditions in other nations have consistency to due diligence of labor-intensive technologies in U.S. agriculture. Many farmers have emphasized that only immigrants are willing, or even able, to do seasonal agricultural work. On account of a U.S. Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service, Rural Development research report, a seasonal job entails working for about 25-149 days of the year that make up approximately one-third of the labor force and it puts in one-quarter of the days worked (Smith &Coltrane, 1981).

In addition, most immigrants are not so picky when it comes to their job title. According to Hall, et al in the article, “Legal Status and Wage Disparities for Mexican Immigrants” they said, “To benefit them in the long run, corresponding growth curve model estimates for low-skill female workers, separately by ethnicity and legal status. As was true for men, document Mexican immigrant women receive significantly higher wage returns to education than undocumented women. They receive a starting-wage increase of only .7 percent for each additional year of schooling” (Hall, et al 2010 p. 497). It is their interpretation that a documented woman who clearly has a high school or higher education does have a certain advantage of being paid more than an undocumented worker of the same sex.

For this purpose, it is motivating for men and women to obtain a high school and/or college degree in order to work in the United States. It is very important to have an education since hiring recruits would rather prefer experience and multiple skilled workers. Also, this discourages the influx of illegal’s arriving in the U.S.