Immigrant workers' movements in the U.S.: Where are high‐skilled ‘nonimmigrants’?

Abstract

Immigrant workers in the U.S. mobilize through labor unions, worker centers and even autonomously for their rights.But existing literature on immigrant workers' movements mentions only low-wage, low-skilled and undocumented immigrants, who represent the majority of non-citizens in the country. There is no discussion on how high-skilled 'nonimmigrant' workers (or immigrants on temporary work visas) mobilize. A relatively small section of migration literature pays attention to high-skilled nonimmigrants' challenges. But scholars in this group, too, are silent about these workers' organizing capacities. In this critical review, I draw attention to this mutual silence in two groups of literature.I also refer to some empirical instances of mobilization by high-skilled nonimmigrants. I suggest that this is a potential field of research, which may contribute to social movement, migration and labor scholarship. Additionally, it may identify possibilities of solidarity across immigrant groups.

“We Cannot Go There, They Cannot Come Here”: Dispersed Care, Asian Indian Immigrant Families and the COVID-19 Pandemic

“…Most Asian Indian and Chinese applicants who come to the USA with employment-based visas take close to or more than a decade to receive their Green Cards. The multiple cycles of visa renewal without assured or expedited access to permanent residency hold even high-skilled nonimmigrant workers in a decades-long temporary status (Roy 2022). Until then, restrictions on travel and bringing family members prolong the agony of dispersed care for Asian Indian and Chinese immigrants, all under seemingly race-neutral laws and policies of immigration (see Purkayastha and Roy 2023).…”

“…Using the pandemic period as a lens, we discuss these topics with reference to migrants whom the US Government recognizes as "high-skilled." This group remains both understudied and mostly absent from political or media discourse about migrants (for some exceptions, see Banerjee 2022; Chakravorty et al 2017;Jacobs 2020;Purkayastha 2005;Roy 2022). Among these high-skilled immigrants, we chose Asian Indians, who, in the US, represent arguably the most privileged community 2 and are most apt to be labeled a "model minority" by the media.…”

Hidden in Plain Sight: “Neutral” Enclosures for High‐Skilled Immigrants During COVID‐191

“…As a result, specifically for Indians, who have always represented the largest group of H‐1B entries each year since 1990, the “backlog” for permanent residency approval keeps mounting. Their waiting time for permanent residency varies between over a decade for exceptionally qualified applicants (such as scientists, patent‐holders and prestigious award winners such as Nobel Laureates) in the EB‐1 subcategory to over a century for applicants in other high‐skilled subcategories like EB‐2 and EB‐3 (Banerjee 2022; IANS 2020; Roy 2022; also see US Department of State 2023, and its frequently updated visa bulletins). This means that for this entire waiting period, high‐skilled visa holders and their dependent family members exist in “legal liminality” (Banerjee 2022), beholden to the main visa‐holders' employers for their visa status, a key criterion of enclosures.…”

“…In reality both groups experience enclosures, but of different types. While migrants without requisite papers face constant threats of detention and deportation, the high‐skilled temporary migrants live with severe restrictions and continual surveillance (Banerjee 2022; Gonzáles 2022; Roy 2022), poised on the edge of legality and deportability (Das Gupta 2014). Menjívar's (2006) framework of “liminal legality” highlights the uncertainties of liminality between legal and illegal status.…”