Post by Nick Draught. Colgate class of 2021.

Source: Shen Lu, f. (2020). “No job, no way home: The Chinese workers in the US left in limbo by coronavirus.” CNN, 8 May. 2020.

This article gives insight into the story of an Asian woman that was living in the United States on an H1-B work visa. Tang Chen has lived in American since 2013 and was in a stable position and was in the midst of completing her paperwork so she could in the United States permanently. However, the coronavirus has rattled her plans. She is now jobless, and her visa is coming to an end. Unfortunately, there are harsh punishments for overstaying your visa which could result in a ban from reentering the United States. Chen had hopes of returning to China, but it has now become virtually impossible due to get a flight home due to an exponential decrease in flights entering the country. On top of economic struggles, Chinese immigrants have grown increasingly uncomfortable in the country due to the way the United States has handled the coronavirus. Another person in the article, Walton Wang shared his own thoughts on the situation. Wang said that he came to America in 2015 to chase the American dream but “has changed his mind after seeing the US government’s handling of the crisis and increased racial animosity and violence against Asians in the US”. President Trump has made comments on national TV as well as social media calling COVID-19 the “China virus”. China is largely responsible for the H1-B work visas as they usually make up about 15% of the given. The actions of some may have ended up having a long-term effect on future relations with high and low skilled immigrants.

Often when we discuss the troubles that come with being an immigrant, we often only look at an undocumented point of view.  This article goes well with our class. This was a great article that goes well with one of the group presentations we watched. Group 5, Miles, Ian, and Cole recommended an extension and a much easier method for H1-B workers to maneuver through jobs. The article states Tang Chen “didn’t just lose her source of income — she lost her visa status. Now her former employer has decided not to proceed with her green card application”. Group 5 discussed how employers held too much power over the lives of their visa workers. The article also goes on to discuss how it is very hard for Tang to find a job in the coronavirus environment and on top of that to find an employer willing to shoulder the load for her visa cost and paperwork.

Overall, this article gave insight into a real-world example of some of the things that we only look at numbers in class. It discusses the issues that are involved with being a legal immigrant.