Hi everyone
We had a surge in the number of petition signatures in support of the IRE Irish Immigration Bill at the recent Jobs Expos back in Ireland. Although these signatures were not uploaded on www.change.org , they are in hard copy format and will count when given to the Senators who we hope will be supporting our bill. This is indicative of serious interest in this type of bill. Although the number of signatures on a petition is the main indication of its level of support, similarly the rate at which people sign up is just as strong an indication. We had over 700 people sign our petition over the two day Jobs Expo.
Aside from some light coverage in Irish and Irish American press these past few months, the proposed IRE Bill has been passively promoted, relying predominantly on word of mouth. However, whenever we have proactively promoted the Bill, we have always gotten a significant uptick in signatures, and in this particular instance we got a huge response at the Jobs Expo.
Everyone who was asked to consider signing the petition chose to sign up. The only limitation on the number of petition signatures seems to have been the number of attendees at the Jobs Expo. Had there been another 1000 attendees, we would likely have had 1000 more sign ups. Had there been 5000 attendees, we would likely have reached our first major milestone of 5000 signatures. Right now, we have over 1300 signatures in support of the IRE Irish Immigration Bill.
Therefore, serious consideration should be given to this proposed immigration bill as at least an intermediate solution to the current exodus from Ireland to the U.S. The IRE visa will enable Irish citizens, skilled and unskilled, to work legally in the U.S. for up to 6 years, and then return home to a brighter future. The bill is designed to be an immediate solution, and act as a buttress to other immigration efforts i.e. a staged approach to achieving a solution to the immigration problem.
“Failte 32 understands the importance of comprehensive immigration reform, particularly for those who are currently undocumented, but it also wants to make sure that the number of undocumented coming from Ireland (which keeps feeding the problem) lessens significantly over the coming years by focusing attention on tackling the problem at the very earliest stage i.e before our people emigrate. Therefore, the ‘undocumented’ problem has to be dealt with in a ‘comprehensive’ way by everyone working together on both sides of the Atlantic.”
According to our immigration attorney, Caro Kinsella, it was shocking to see the queues of people outside the expo who are desperate to leave Ireland at the present time and find employment elsewhere. There is terrible publicity in Ireland at the moment about it being impossible to get a visa in the States. Australia and Canada are giving it very bad press and completely misleading the Irish in hopes to capitalize. This is bothering on two levels: One first preference is the States for the Irish – every person who came to our stand stated this. The Canadians had their Minister over on all the media talking negatively about America, and even though Canada had at least 10 separate stalls at the expo I attended, my stand was the busiest – we had the longest queues and nearly every person stated they thought it was impossible to get over here. Secondly it is predicted the bubble will burst in Canada and Australia within the next 2 years, where does that leave these people. America may have its rules and regulations but it may be a more stable option, and its steady stream of immigrants can help the U.S. ecomony.
Fortunately, Failte32.org is one of only a few if any U.S. organizations that can offer immigration assistance on both sides of the Atlantic, thanks to our immigration attorney, Caro Kinsella. Therefore, we can offer some insightful legal guidance to people before they even leave Ireland, which we have been told has been of great value to our new arrivals being that they are more prepared when they arrive in the U.S.
For help answering your questions on the current DV-2014 Diversity Immigrant visa program and other immigration matters, please contact our immigration attorney: https://www.failte32.org/visa-
Please note that online registration for the DV-2014 Program begun on Tuesday, October 2, 2012 at 12:00 noon, Eastern Daylight Time (EDT) (GMT-4), and will conclude on Saturday, November 3, 2012 at 12:00 noon, Eastern Daylight Time (EDT) (GMT-4).
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Failte 32 inquiries:
We always ask the community to try to help our newest arrivals from Ireland in their search for employment. As always, we thank you for your kind support.
1
From:
Anton McGonnell
[email protected]
Message:
Hi,
I am currently finishing up with year-long role with the New York
eHealth Collaborative in New York. I am on a J-1 visa after graduating
from Queen’s University, Belfast in the summer of 2011. My company
missed the H1-B deadline and therefore I am force to return home until
next October. My company cannot commit to bringing me back out on a
H1-B next year and so I am currently trying to line up interviews for
myself with various NYC companies in hope of securing a job here for
next year.
I work within the IT industry and am a member for the Future Leader’s
Board of the IIBN. I was wondering if you had any potential advice on
who I should contact within the Irish-American community in New York.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Regards,
Anton McGonnell
2.
From:
Katrina McGuinness
[email protected]
Message:
Hi there
I am an Irish citizen living in Dublin and hoping to move to the
states. I have a daughter also and will be taking her with me. I am
hoping to travel to Los Angeles where i have family there. Is it
possible for me to get sponsored and how do i go about finding a
company that would sponsor me and give me a job? I’m not sure how i am
to go about all of this and wondering if you could help me with some
advice please.
If you need to know more please contact me and i will give you the
relevant details.
Kind regards
Katrina McGuinness
3.
From:
Anna O’Malley
[email protected]
Message:
Hi there I am looking to move from Ireland to new york and study full
time and work part time,can u tell me if this is possible and what
visa would I need that will allow me to do both? also if studying
wasn’t an option for me due to finances how hard is it to get a job
while u are waiting on visa to come through? or if you don’t have a
degree whats the chances of getting a job in a bank etc (as I have
over 8 years banking experience) and them sponsoring me? If you can
offer any advice I’d really appreciate it as its my dream to get there
legally one way or another
Thanks
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Kind regards
Failte 32 Committee
