Dear Readers:

I hope all of you take the opportunity to read Gary Endelman's thought-provoking commentary this week regarding the coming debate on the H-1B visa in Congress. One of the more important points addressed by Gary is whether the basic assumption that the H-1B cap protects American jobs is flawed. There is growing evidence that employers will simply move jobs overseas if they cannot find the right workers in the US. And when an employer moves its operations overseas, so go the existing jobs already filled by American workers. Gary outlines how this process is already accelerating and why countries like India may secretly hope that the H-1B cap is lowered. The more American companies move their best jobs overseas, the more quickly countries like India can catch up, and eventually surpass, the US. The ability to hire H-1B workers gives American companies a reason to stay.

This week we also report on one of the most shocking examples to date of the horrors of the alien smuggling trade. 19 undocumented individuals from Mexico and Central America died from the heat when they were crammed into the back of a tractor trailer and abandoned in desert heat in Texas. Another sad story this week is China's shutting down of its adoption program because of the SARS crisis. More than 5,000 American families adopt unwanted children each year from China and the heartbreak being felt by families in the middle of the adoption process right now must be devastating.

This week you will also find in our ABC’s of Immigration column part 1 of a document I frequently present at seminars and conferences which provides a nutshell of the US immigration system. The article's goal is to give a very quick overview of the basic visa categories available for people seeking to come to the US temporarily or permanently. We hope you find it useful.

Finally, as always, we remind readers that we're lawyers who make our living representing immigration clients. We would love to discuss becoming your law firm. Just go to http://www.visalaw.com/intake.html to request an appointment or call us at 800-748-3819 or 901-682-6455.

Regards,

Greg Siskind