[golgappi]

I understand citizens and residents of US have their own valid concerns regarding this issue. However, as a foreigner working on a temporary visa who was denied an H1B in last year's lottery, here's an alternate point of view - Imagine being born and raised in a country that does not have adequate research areas in the the field you love - computer science. What do you do? You move to a place that better encourages your dreams. You know you cannot directly get a guaranteed job in US that supports research and the field of work you love, so you take a hefty loan and come for a graduate degree to US. You live hand-to-mouth (remember that it is infinitely tougher for people from poorer countries to get the total sum needed for a master or a PhD in US.), struggle through all the cultural barriers, loneliness and constantly battle feeling alienated, all to finally one day achieve the life you dreamed of - a job you are passionate about, and a life that respects you as a human being.

Fast forward to job hunting - unlike residents and citizens, you know you don't have the luxury of 'not having a job' for more than 2 months after completing your graduation - imagine the stress it puts on you. But you battle it out and land up in a company. If you are lucky, it so happens that you are doing what you love. But for a lot of foreigners, the deadline to have a job and stay here just so you can at the very least repay you loans in USD is far greater than the original dream they have, and so they accept whatever is offered.

Well, we say "I've completed a graduate degree, taken up a job and now I have to repay my loan before I can continue with the American dream." But then within a year you have yet another deadline - H1B. And unlike previous deadlines, this one is out of your hands - utterly and completely. You are a highly educated person working as a skilled worker in a respected position, and now your whole life is dependent only on one thing - a lottery. A random lottery will decide your fate. At that point it hits home - all your life you thought your hard work was an investment towards a better future, but now you know its no different than if you were buying lottery tickets for the past two decades.

Imagine the helplessness, the crushing sensation of all your dreams shattering. That's what its like to have your whole life dependent on a lottery. Want to limit foreign workers? Make interviews tougher, change laws to reject the possibility of working after a graduate US degree. I mean it - do anything but please do not let our lives and fate be decided by a random lottery. It is humiliating.

P.S. What's funny is to realize that unlike all other categories of immigrants, H1B skilled workers are here on their own merit. I am not married to someone with a green card and dependent on him. I am not here illegally after crossing borders at midnight. I am not here because I have a lot of family wealth. And yet, for a country that prides itself on hard work, it is somehow toughest for people in H1B category to get a visa. I cannot help but wonder if today I decide to get married to anyone with a permanent status here, I will immediately be out of this agony, and can choose to be totally dependent on another person's income, contribute nothing to the economy, and easily get permanent residence. Can't help but chuckle at the absurdity of laws.

[PhantomGremlin]

Yup. That about sums up current US immigration policy. Luck is such a large part of life. I was born here, but both my parents managed to legally immigrate before it became so difficult. They met in the great melting pot that is New York City.