Could Legal Immigrants help get us out of the subprime mess?
Like many America residents, I find the downturn in housing market and the ensuing subprime mortgage crisis disturbing. The quintessential American Dream – husband, wife with kids living in a house in the suburbs – is fading away for many, hitting the American economy and financial sector hard. Beyond observing the trends, reading and contemplating about it, I have also been asking myself the question: I am a well paid technocrat and a legal permanent resident who doesn’t (yet) own a home in America; what can I do to help? The answer is obvious: This would be an opportunity or me to go ahead contribute my bit by investing my savings to buy into the ‘American Dream’.
And what’s stopping me from doing that? Any façade of an American dream is incomplete without spouses living together. Though I am an educated professional and Green Card holder with a right to live and work permanently in the US, a quirk the current immigration rules require that my wife, an Indian citizen, wait for over five/six years before she is eligible to have her ‘immigration visa’ processed. And only after that will she be allowed to enter America to join me. Needless to say, I and thousands of Legal Permanent Residents in my predicament, are not be predisposed to the idea of investing in a partial American dream – buying an empty nest – till our nuclear families can be united with us.
Here is a proposition to the President and lawmakers: expedite or remove the wait time for spouses and minor children of Legal Permanent residents waiting in the Legal immigration queue in return for a promise to invest in the American dream. The appeal is not without basis.
- Even spouses of temporary visa holders including students (F1 visa), temporary workers (H1 and L1 visas) are allowed to sponsor and bring in their spouses along with them. Only spouses of Legal Permanent Residents have to endure inhuman wait time of five/six years to enter the country legally.
- Spouses and minor children of Green Card holders were eligible for a ‘V-Visa’ that would allow them to enter the US while awaiting their green card. However, the V visa, as enacted by the LIFE Act sunset on the date of enactment — December 21, 2000.
This proposition is not far fetched. If even a couple of thousand Legal Permanent Residents in my predicament – who are able and willing to invest in the American dream by buying houses -- were allowed to be united with their spouses in America, we are looking at a multi-billion dollar boost to the economy and the beleaguered housing, mortgage and financial sector. The advantages here are multifold and obvious:
- Financial institutions and builders, and even existing homeowners would get an immediate boost by the entry of a few thousand creditworthy homebuyers. This may do its bit towards lifting the weight of subprime losses.
- Legal Permanent Residents and their spouses, who are already in queue towards becoming American citizen would be motivated to continue to contribute to the economy as responsible stakeholders.
- The inhuman wait time that separates nuclear families of legal immigrants - spouses and minor children – would be a thing of the past
I know that I am willing to put my money where my mouth is and contribute to the American economy. In return, all I ask is to be united with my wife to enjoy the American Dream.
Author is a technology executive and a member of the grassroots lobby group UniteFamilies. More on this issue at UniteFamilies.org