For educational purposes only

BTW, the H-1B visa was supposed to be for temporary workers only, not a step towards a Green Card. The idea is that H-1B visa holders would return to their own country when the visa expired, or their contract ended.

http://www.ocregister.com/business/visa00503cci3.shtml

'Green card' suit Laid-off Chinese worker demands $3.5 million because he missed a chance to be a U.S. resident. May 3, 2001 By JOHN GITTELSOHN The Orange County Register How much is it worth to become a permanent U.S. resident? For Xija "Frank" Chen, a Chinese computer scientist living in Irvine, about $3.5 million, according to a lawsuit filed in Orange County Superior Court. Chen is suing his former employer, PricewaterhouseCoopers, for belatedly filing his application for a "green card" to become a permanent resident. "It's not really about the money," Chen, 33, said Wednesday. "It's about freedom and opportunity." In 1998, Chen began working as a computer scientist with an H-1B visa - a temporary work permit granted to foreigners with special skills. His current visa restricts his freedom to move, change employers or become his own boss. Chen was laid off Monday. His termination notice said he must find a new employer - and visa sponsor - in 30 days or take the company's offer of a one-way ticket back to China. PricewaterhouseCoopers does not comment on pending litigation, but a spokeswoman said the consulting company, responding to the national economic slowdown, has cut about 2,300 jobs this year from a work force of 160,000. "This gentleman wasn't treated any differently than other employees," said Sehra K. Eusufzai, a company spokeswoman in New York. Chen's attorney, Patrick Grannan of Newport Beach, based the $3.5 million claim on Chen's $102,000 annual salary and an expectation that he could work about 35 more years. Chen, who came to the United States as a graduate student in 1995, estimated he would earn $10,000 to $12,000 a year in China. Experts on employment and immigration could cite no precedents to establish the value of being able to work in the United States. The closest things are so-called investor visas, which grant permanent residency to immigrants who invest $1 million in a company and create at least 10 jobs. Legal experts say Chen faces an uphill struggle in court. Michelle Reinglass, a Laguna Hills employment lawyer, said Chen must prove his company broke a clear promise to promptly apply for his green card. Only the government - not an employer - determines who gets permanent residency, said Kathryn Terry, a Costa Mesa immigration lawyer. "Especially for Chinese, it's not a slam-dunk getting through," she said. "Some people have been waiting for five or six years." Companies can hire foreign workers on H-1B visas after proving a shortage of domestic workers with similar skills. Many American engineers complain the foreign workers drive down wages or steal jobs. But many H-1B workers complain about restrictions on their mobility. Last month, a San Mateo County judge ordered a Silicon Valley recruiting firm, Compubahn, to stop penalizing H-1B workers who quit to take a full-time job. Chen, a fresh-faced engineer from the Chinese city of Nanjing, worried that publicity over his lawsuit might hurt his chances of finding a new job. But important principles are at stake in his suit, he said. "Before, I trusted American culture and companies, that they had very high ethics," he said. "These days, I am very disappointed." Chen took his job only after language was inserted in his contract that the company would consider sponsoring his green-card application if he proved to be a good worker over 90 days. According to e-mail in the court file, the company filed the green-card application in July 1999, a year after Chen's first 90 days and six months after promising to file. As a software architect and team leader, Chen received corporate commendations, promotions and raises. He said he is not political, not opposed to the Chinese government, not a troublemaker and has no plans yet to become a U.S. citizen. "My dream is success," he said. "And a green card will give me the freedom to pursue it."

-- K (infosurf@yahoo.com), May 04, 2001