New U.S. Amnesty Law Trips Foreign Students

BOSTON—Thousands of scientists and engineers who have been in the United States illegally over the past decade after arriving as students may not be able to gain amnesty under an interpretation of the new immigration law by Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) officials. The law, which promised amnesty to foreigners living illegally in this country since before 1982, is being applied "very liberally" to those who entered the country illegally—primarily undocumented workers from Central America who have taken menial and migrant jobs here, according to various sources. But many experts believe that educated aliens—many of whom are scientists and engineers—are being discriminated against by the new laws. Carolyn Fuchs, a Boston-based attorney who focuses exclusively on immigration law, cited the cases of two clients, both of whom requested anonymity, to demonstrate the vagaries of the new law. Each came to the United States in the late 1970s from Hong Kong and graduated in 1981. One client, Tim, was asked by a hospital to do medical research on AIDS and came to Fuchs to obtain a work permit through proper channels. Fuchs has handled the renewal of his work permit every year since then. Tim has worked for six years as an AIDS researcher, but he has violated his visa by moonlighting. Although Tim would like to stay, deportation proceedings have begun, based on a five-year cap on work permit renewals under the new law. The previous law contained no such limit. "Tim is going home," Fuchs predicted. A second client, Ronald, tried to "wing it" after graduation by working without certification for several large, high-tech firms and moving frequently. He came to Fuchs after receiving what she called "terrible legal advice." But Ronald, clearly in violation of his visa since 1981, is now eligible for amnesty. "Why should these cases be different?" Fuchs said. "The problem with the new law as it is being interpreted by the INS is that it rewards only those who have been grossly out of status." INS officials contend that people who have had valid visas but have failed to comply with the terms of those visas do not deserve amnesty because they have benefited from the full complement of U.S. laws. But, others disagree. "It is my understanding that the Simpson-Rodino bill was intended to bring forth foreign individuals living or working in this country without proper certification who were not intending to go back to their countries," said Houston immigration attorney Charles Foster. "A student who has hidden his stats is as much an undocumented worker as any migrant laborer." Foster's comments refer specifically to the immigration service's interpretation of the amnesty law as it applies to students in the United States on visas allotted on a "duration of status"—that is, until their studies are completed. Many thousands of students have come to the United States with "duration of status" visas after the crush of paperwork led INS to eliminate yearly renewals for students. These foreigners often violated their visas by working while they attended school, leaving school to work without certification, or taking a second job to augment the one they were authorized to hold when they entered the country. They should be denied amnesty, according to the INS, because the illegality of their status wasn't "known to the government." A closely watched case in U.S. District Court in Texas hinges on an interpretation of that phrase. Masoud Farzad, an Iranian national who came to the United States in 1976 to study engineering, acknowledges that he violated the terms of his student visa after the downfall of the Shah also meant an end to parental support. Although Farzad claims that he has been in violation of the status of his visa since 1979, he continued to attend some classes throughout the duration of his stay. Under the immigration service's interpretation of the Simpson-Rodino bill, Farzad is not eligible for amnesty. Brian Bates, Farzad's lawyer, anticipates more cases like Farzah's. "Foreign students number in the hundreds of thousands," he said. "They are second only to tourists as the largest group of foreigners in the country. And they are a valuable resource." Shulman is a freelance writer in Boston.

New U.S. Amnesty Law Trips Foreign Students

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