Another victim of the Visa Bulletin!

The stories on the backlogged Visa Bulletin keep coming and people are feeling helpless. Until we compile all the stories, we are giving you a sample of some of the thoughts of people who writing to us to denounce the outrageous situation with the Visa Bulletin.

First of all, thank you for all you are doing for our cause. It will definitely bear good results.
I am a public school teacher in Georgia on H1 through a 3rd party. My labor for green card petition was obtained in July 2009 on eb3. The struggle has been intense for the past 9 years.
1. My sponsoring agency has taken charges for visa as well as lawyer fees for my visas, green card processing and all extensions. With a teachers salary and a single earner in the household, I’ve had to compromise on various things in order to do that. They refuse to convert it into eb2.
2. My husband has not been able to work, except now. He is a medical doctor from India. After 10 years gap, it’s extremely  difficult getting a job, despite him having various certifications from US institutions.
3. My son is now 18 and is joining college this fall. Despite having 4.2 gpa, he is not eligible for any state or federal scholarships. This is putting a really big burden on my finances now, since I will have to pay more than half my salary towards his college fees. The alternative is to send him to a substandard community college.
4. My job is completely dependent on my agency. In the past 9 years I’ve had to change schools 6 times and run around desperately giving interviews each time. This has been either because my agency lost the contract with the school county, or because they placed me at distant towns away from my family. I was either paying rent and upkeep for two houses or commuting for 160 miles a day. This has taken toll on my health and marital happiness. I’ve had to literally beg my agency to place me close to my family. I still travel 56 miles a day.
5. The schools take advantage of our situation by harassing us in various ways and keeping the expectations higher than usual. Despite working hard and devoting extra time after school hours, we do not get any promotions. I am at the same level as I was 9 years back. So are all the other international teachers.
6. My agency deducts 10% from my gross salary as admin charges. We also do not get any benefits, except medical, which we pay half of the premium.
7. I’m living like a robot now… Have lost interest in life itself. I see no future for myself, except work, eat and sleep. I am so exhausted mentally, physically and emotionally.
I hope US does something about our plight.

Tania

If you are a ‘victim’ of the Visa Bulletin, please write to us by emailing [email protected]