Shilpa S. came to the US a year ago to be with her husband.
By Raif Karerat
WASHINGTON, DC: FWD.us — the Washington-based organization founded by Silicon Valley power players such as Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg to lobby for immigration reform — has applauded President Barack Obama for his executive action that paved the way for EAD, work permit cards, to be issued to certain H4 visa holders.
The organization released a 2:31 minute long video – that can be seen here – of an Indian woman on H4 visa, identified as Shilpa S., eager to return to work, after the announcement of Obama’s Executive Action.
In the video interview, Shipla S. conveyed unbridled excitement about the prospects of being able to work in the US. An H-4 visa holder, she is barred from working or applying for student loans to study, while her husband, who is here on an H1-B visa, has a successful career in the tech industry.
https://vimeo.com/114814174
As a result of her situation, in which she was often left stranded at home, Shilpa says she began to lose confidence and eventually started taking out her frustration on her husband.
“I’m on the H-4 visa, which doesn’t allow me to work, doesn’t allow me to intern at an otherwise paid job. If I want to study, if I want to do a Master’s degree I’m not eligible for a student loan,” says Shilpa.
“I’m a people person, I’m not someone who can just stay at home and just watch TV all day. I need to be amidst people … to be myself truly,” she says.
“Him getting to work and me not getting that opportunity — I felt it was very unfair,” she lamented. “There were times when I resented my husband, and I can’t imagine how terrible he must have felt when I told him about it.”
Shilpa continued: “These limitations have cast a shadow on what I am capable of doing and I [can] imagine how difficult it must be for people who have the skills and have the talent but aren’t allowed to apply them.”
Shilpa also reveals she and her husband even considered packing their bags and moving back to India, so she could her put her career on track.
All that will change now, once Shilpa gets her EAD card this year, and can scout for the job she has been waiting for,
According to the organization, the national gross domestic product will increase by $90 billion to $210 billion and the federal deficit will decrease by $25 billion by 2024, if Obama’s reforms are actualized. Furthermore, average wages for all workers, both U.S.-born and immigrant, are projected to increase by $170 across the board as a direct result of the immigration action.
2 Comments
She just came from India and started complaining about not getting loans? Many people have been waiting for years.There ladies needs to have patience. Her husband can pay for her education, instead they want to subvert the systems with demands.
Meanwhile, elsewhere in America (i.e. outside the propaganda machine financed by over $2B from tech corporations on “lobbying” and propaganda), Jennifer Wedel now has her answer.
As do citizens in STEM professions and their families across a once great nation. And that message could not be more clear and direct.
The US government says, “FU and your husbands too.”