http://irishecho.com/?p=68441

Time for E3 visa

When Congress set to changing the nature and practice of U.S.
immigration laws back in the mid-1960s, the intention was to diversify
the annual influx of immigrants. At that time, a system of quotas still
applied and it strongly favored European countries, Ireland included.

By the time the 1965 reform act came into force, the Irish were not
taking up their annual quota but the effect of the new law was to
drastically reduce the number of legal Irish immigrants to the point of
negligibility, a negative quota if you will.

In the intervening years, as immigration, quite rightly, became more
diverse, the Irish largely watched from the sidelines. The nature of
Irish migration to the U.S. meant that very few from the island could
take advantage of the new emphasis on family reunification. Most Irish
immigrants tended to be single individuals.

Many of these single individuals made tracks for America anyway and
would eventually make up the hidden army of the undocumented Irish
during the 1980s. Campaigns were waged on their behalf and relief was
found, to a degree, in the Donnelly and Morrison visa programs.

But the bigger picture for the Irish has remained bleak. Under
current laws, the Irish are largely confined to non-immigrant working
visas and a smattering of diversity lottery green cards.

A campaign has been underway for some years now to facilitate more
legal Irish immigrants but it has stalled because of the inability of
Congress to grasp the nettle of comprehensive immigration reform.

In recent days, however, Congress has grasped the immigration issue, though in a limited way.

In a rare show of unity, the House of Representatives passed H.R.
3012, a bill that will allow highly skilled immigrants from several
countries, though not Ireland, to gain legal entry to the U.S.

The bill, penned by Representatives Jason Chaffetz, a conservative
freshman Republican from Utah, and Lamar Smith, a Texas Republican and
chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, passed the House by 389 votes
to 15.

Wow!

The bill will primarily benefit would-be immigrants from India and
China with high level technology skills. It will eliminate limits on the
number of green cards based on employment available annually to each of
these countries. It will, in effect, establish quotas, albeit with very
specific requirements.

The bill also includes a measure that will more than double the green
cards based on family ties available for Mexicans and Filipinos, the
two national groups facing the longest backlogs on the family side of
the legal immigration admission system.

It should be stated that both these initiatives appear both sensible
and humane. The U.S. economy needs highly skilled workers. Presumably,
Congress feels there are not enough of them available within America’s
borders, even despite the current sky high unemployment levels.

And if family unification is a cornerstone of the immigration system
it is only fair that families don’t have to wait entire lifetimes to be
actually united.

Nevertheless, if the pre-1965 laws were criticized for being narrowly
selective, indeed discriminatory, some are going to sense the same when
it comes to H.R. 3012.

The campaign for greater legal access for the Irish, led primarily by
the Irish Lobby for Immigration Reform, has focused in most recent
times on securing an E3 visa program for Ireland that would permit a
specified number of E3 holders annually. The E3 is a two-year renewable
visa that allows family members to accompany the primary visa holder. On
Friday Senator Charles Schumer told members of the ILIR that he would
add the Irish E3 to the H.R. 3012 bill; if H.R. 3012 fails he will
introduce a new bill in which an E3 for the Irish is already included.
Things may be looking up.

The E3 program, which already applies to several countries including
Australia, does allow for the possibility of ultimate full legalization.