It’s no secret that the <abbr title=”United States”>U.S.</abbr> economy is in a recession, or that that recession has affected financial markets worldwide. This in turn has seriously affected the number of people seeking <strong>foreign degree evaluations</strong>. More and more people are trying to ensure their job security or explore new employment options after cutbacks and mergers have left many without positions.

People with <strong>foreign education credentials</strong>, including foreign degrees from college or high school, are usually required to prove the U.S. equivalency of their degrees to potential employers in the United States. This is also true for people seeking work or employment-based (<strong>EB visas</strong>), as well as for those persons who want to go back to college to earn an advanced degree.

Additionally, the rate at which H1-B visa numbers are filled this year may be affected by the current economic state. Many companies are extremely dependent on the use of temporary foreign workers to meet their labor needs. Because <em>H1-B visas</em> are issued on a first-come, first-serve basis to qualified applicants with sponsors, it is possible that those companies most depended on this source of labor may decide to start filing as soon as possible.

There has been discussion of increasing the cap on the number of H1-B visas issued. Moreover, persons such as Janet Napolitano, whom President Obama has nominated for a cabinet post, are in favor of increasing the number of H1-B visas offered each year. Due to the recession, however, proposals such as these may face a lot of resistance as Americans increasingly protest the presence of <em>foreign workers</em> when <abbr title=”United States”>U.S.</abbr> jobs are in short supply and high demand.

These protestors, though, need to remember that employment-based visas such as the <em>EB visas</em> and H1-B visas are offered to foreign workers who fill American jobs that cannot be filled by <abbr title=”United States”>U.S.</abbr> workers. These people either have specialized education or experience that <abbr title=”United States”>U.S.</abbr> employers require and cannot find in this country. American workers are not in fact being denied jobs because of these <em>non-immigration visas</em>; they lack the qualifications to fill these jobs.

It’s impossible to predict what will happen as President Obama takes office and begins to enact his planned policies. The effect of these policies on EB and H1-B visas remains to be seen. Hopefully, he will introduce policies that increase the availability of <abbr title=”United States”>U.S.</abbr> jobs, while maximizing the availability of temporary employment to American companies. The citizens of this country are waiting anxiously to see what will happen.

SUNRISE, FL, JANUARY 7, 2009:  The American mortgage crisis in reaching unexpected heights, and the problem is only growing with each passing month. Ms. Sheila Danzig, a first generation American, is extremely familiar with the characteristics and demographics of persons seeking foreign degree evaluations for EB-2 and EB-3 visas to the United States. After careful analysis, this expert on international education has chosen to support a proposal first presented on the Immigration Voice chat board. This proposal could help to significantly relieve America’s current housing problem while encouraging billions of dollars in economic growth.

Workers holding employment-based visas are already residing within the United States. Those applying for permanent resident status have been living in the United States for more than five years. All have professional degrees in their fields of employment, and a sizable percentage hold Master Degrees or PhDs. None are taking American jobs; these visas are issued precisely because no U.S. workers are available to do the work required by the sponsoring businesses and organizations.

The average income earned by workers holding EB visas is $65,000 yearly. The majority of these individuals have good or excellent credit ratings, and secure incomes. They are highly motivated to purchase homes and settle in family friendly neighborhoods. Unfortunately, however, they remain in limbo while they are waiting for the USCIS to approve their green card applications.

In fact, some workers are forced to wait for up to seven years before receiving a response to their application. They hold foreign credentials U.S. equivalency of professional degrees, and are workers critically needed by our society, yet they wait to learn whether they have the right to remain in this country!

More than 200,000 immigration visa numbers have been lost as workers wait for their application to be processed. This has resulted in millions of lost dollars for the economy. In the meantime, approximately 800,000 wage earners wait to see whether they will be permitted to remain in the United States. Consider, for example, the possibility that half of these persons wish to purchase a home.  If they were permitted to make a 20 percent down payment on a private home (and the average cost of a home in the U.S. today is approximately 200,000), this would result in a net financial gain of 1.6 billion dollars in immediate gain for American banks!

Immigrants are highly motivated to succeed and make themselves part of the culture that welcomes them to remain in their country. Offer your support for a solution that works for potential immigrants as well as for the U.S. economy today. The 30 years needed to pay off most mortgages will allow these persons to more than demonstrate their commitment to the stability of the U.S. economy. Finally, these stable, risk-free mortgages will help to reverse the downward spiral into which our housing market has slumped and help it to soar upward again.

Is your company getting ready for the annual H1B visa race? Are you hoping to process enough visas to meet personnel needs? Or are you one of the professionals waiting to see whether the <abbr title=”United States Citizenship and Immigration Services”>USCIS</abbr> will allow you to enter the U.S. on a temporary work visa? How will President-Elect Barack Obama’s advisors impact the cap for these work visas? What kind of visa reforms will take place?

Meet Department of Homeland Security nominee Janet Napolitano. Her confirmation hearing will be overseen by Senator Joseph Lieberman, a sometime friend and sometime foe of the H1B Visa Program and its reform. While both Ms. Napolitano and Mr. Lieberman have strongly pushed for an increase in the number of <em>H1B visas</em> issued each year, Mr. Lieberman is also a strong supporter of visa reform.

Ms. Napolitano’s push for increasing the cap on the number of visas issued each year is based on her argument that the United States lacks skilled workers to fill the technology needs experienced by American companies. Although she couldn’t change the cap (this is controlled by Congress, and is currently set at 85,000), she could push to streamline the process, making the application much easier for persons with foreign degrees.

Another possible outcome of Napolitano’s nomination as Director of Homeland Security is that students who earn <abbr title=”United States”>U.S.</abbr> Degrees would have no difficulty obtaining an H1B visa after passing a background check. In fact, she advocates attaching a green card to these students’ diplomas! She believes that this solution would help to keep technology workers, as well as the resultant innovations in design and technology, within the United States.

In order to successfully promote her program, however, Ms. Napolitano will probably be forced to address the many abuses that have become a part of the H1B program. In reviewing several applications over the last two years, <abbr title=”United States Citizenship and Immigration Services”>USCIS</abbr> officials found that more than one-fifth of these applications violated federal rules and regulations. Further, they noted certain trends with regard to these violations.

First, some <strong>foreign degree evaluations</strong>, which are required for persons seeking <strong>H1B visas</strong>, reference fake diplomas or universities. Some applications contain forged signatures, while some applications were processed for shell companies. In addition, some companies hired workers to perform job duties not listed on the labor certificate.

<a href=”http://www.thedegreepeople.com”>Career Consulting International</a> is a <em>foreign education credential evaluation</em> agency whose experts take care to ensure that their foreign degree evaluations meet <abbr title=”United States Citizenship and Immigration Services”>USCIS</abbr> requirements. By keeping the agency’s standards high, executive director Sheila Danzig ensures the agency’s excellent reputation among immigration attorneys, <abbr title=”United States Citizenship and Immigration Services”>USCIS</abbr> officials, and business corporations. She is currently preparing for another booming H1B season rush.