educationcareerimmigration

RAISE ACT is an acronym for the Reforming American Immigration for Strong Employment (RAISE) Act. The bill is introduced in US Senate in 2017. The bill proposes, among other things, the two most important items for professionals are (a) reduction in the overall number of green cards issued each year and (b) changes in eligibility for professional and family sponsored immigration seekers It is expected, if passed in the senate, these changes would result in nearly halving the overall number of green cards issued each year In case of professional immigrant visa seekers, RAISE ACT proposes that those who are seeking for immigrant visa with doctoral or professional degrees are preferred over others and English Language proficiency. If all else equal, young adult applicants are preferred over others. All eligible applicants will be placed in a pool and those who are accepted will be invited to file a Visa petition.  In case of immigration visa seekers under family ...

Studies after studies have pointed in one direction that those who have left the comforts of home have achieved success. Moving away from a place in which one stayed significant formative years acts like a sorter. Those moved away were likely to be achievers in academics and got ahead in life. Moving is associated with risk taking.   Moving involves living with people who are not like us and hence unsettling. Those who do not move away perhaps have insulated themselves to such vulnerability. It is just like you leave 10 kids out there near their hometown and start observing over the years. Whoever moves away is enterprising and the rest cling to home. Those who move have intrinsic motivation to take risk & achieve. History of civilization is replete with the success of people who migrate and civilization in turn has developed due to such migrations. It is progressive to move. Those who move also exhibit a liberal outlook. In a manner in which they are tolerant ...

Article 1(A)(2) of the 1951 Convention defines a refugee as an individual who is outside his or her country of nationality or habitual residence who is unable or unwilling to return due to a well-founded fear of persecution based on his or her race, religion, nationality, political opinion, or membership in a particular social group. Applying this definition, internally displaced persons (IDPs) – including individuals fleeing natural disasters and generalized violence, stateless individuals not outside their country of habitual residence or not facing persecution, and individuals who have crossed an international border fleeing generalized violence are not considered refugees under either the 1951 Convention or the 1967 Optional Protocol. (http://www.ijrcenter.org/refugee-law/) What if one is not a refugee but wants to move from one country to another live & work at will just as an expression of life. Is it not a value that should be universally desired? Is it not a value tha...

Education in USA is arguably the costliest compared to anywhere in the world including such frequented traditional destinations like UK, Australia, Singapore as well as emerging education destinations such as Germany & France. This is because, cost of education in USA has increased at a rate above its domestic inflation rate over the decades and foreign students have borne this cost almost entirely. Full semester tuition in USA varies between US$10K & US$15K depending on the university and the program. Summer tuition varies anywhere between US$ 6K & US$12K. In addition, students have to pay for housing, living, textbook, insurance, visa & SEVIS and airfare. Foreign students in USA can work on campus up to 20 hours a week @ roughly $14 per hour wages. Skilled and talented foreign students can part pay for their non-tuition expenses by this way.  Foreign students can also take up a paid internship (OPT or Optional Practical Training) up to a year and students ...

Kohl was chancellor for 16 years. He worked tirelessly for the reunification of West and East Germany. The country divided at the end of World War II was united. Citizens were united. There are several reunification still pending well into 21 st century. No one knows whether citizens chose to live in separate countries or it was just an idea floated by a few. Initial fears of East Germans flooding the West and subsequently EU was quickly allayed. Formation of EU and its subsequent strengthening by allowing mobility of citizens within EU seeking work allowed citizens to choose where to live and where to work. Brexit is a response of a fear of Polish citizens flooding UK for work. UK missed Kohl’s moment. The idea of a country demarcated by a geographical boundary is an old idea. Modern day countries are demarcated by ideas. Ideas and fear won’t go together. It requires courage to express and pursue an idea. Idea is not the same as culture as in tribe but culture as in free soci...

SOP is a fashionable thing to ask from candidates seeking higher education for student recruitment officers and is an item to be ticked off in the admissions packet for aspiring candidates. Beyond that one has to think what is the ‘Purpose” in SOP? Purpose cannot be your desire to acquire such and such degree from such & such university of reputation in such and such country. It can’t be a desire to be part of an alumni club of an elite school? Similarly, the purpose cannot be your desire to get a job in such and such company with such & such title and with such & such salary & perks. The purpose needs not be anything with outward manifestation of accomplishment. In fact it is opposite. The purpose is anything but the outward manifestation of success in any dimension. Education is a facility for self-discovery and self-satisfaction. It is a process by which one becomes useful to society and oneself. University is a platform that offers that facility. And you are...