Somewhat Confused

I've been doing a lot reading on this forum and see that there can be alot of complications with employment in the USA. Now I'm not trying to be rude or offend anyone, but my husband was just in Las Vegas and stated that most of the taxi drivers did not speak english that well, now my question is how do all the qualified Canadians i see here on the board have such a difficult time with employment in the USA? I mean is it easier to become a taxi driver over an accountant?

Depends on how they got to the US in the first place doesn't it? If they're there as refugees, or students, or whatever. For Canadians the options for visas are different. Canadians are not eligible for the green card lottery, and the options for work visas completely different under NAFTA than they are for the rest of the world.

most of the taxi drivers did not speak english that well

There's no language competency test. Like Reba says they may be political refugees, there illegally or I suspect most likely they got in via family re-unification.

The US is a bit odd as immigration goes as it places so much emphasis on visas for family re-unification.

What happened is that back in 1986 there was an amnesty for people there illegally for a number of years. They got permanent residency, and then they sponsored their relatives via I-130s to come in.

If you watch the visa bulletin: http://travel.state.gov/visa/frvi/bulle ... _3953.html you'll notice that in the last couple of years the wait time has started to shorten because the number of people applying has started to tail off as their family is now largely in the US.

There are tons of illegal immigrants in Las Vegas as well, they just go in as B-2 and overstay.

Just because there is all this paperwork doesn't mean people actually follow it. ICE does very little serious enforcement, espcially against Canadians, well more than half of people who are deported are Mexicans. Other nationalities that are deported are mainly people picked up after committing a criminal offence.

The reason enforcement is so hopeless is because it's a federal agency that's enforcing it and State and local agencies don't usually bother to contact them except in border areas.

What's happened recently is that some States, such as Arizona, have incorporated Federal law into State law, so now if an employer in Arizona fails to get an employee to fill in an I-9, breaking that law can be enforced by a State agency. Also, some States are making the use of the "E-verify" system mandatory, this is an electronic system that employers can use to verify the validity of a social security number.

So things are tightening up.

Also the case in the US is that the IRS is hopeless at enforcing the tax laws, which is why the personal tax rates are so low and the corporate rates are so high, because it's easier to go after companies than individuals.

The difference for Canadians is that if you're in a skilled occupation and you want to work for a reputable company or reputable clients, you have to make sure you have all your ducks in a row. You can't get away with working under the table. Or giving a bogus SSN to your employer.

I'm sure if you wanted to go in and work as a day labourer, you could, but working as an accountant is a different kettle of fish.

The Real ID Act is also having an impact as States are now making the documentation requirements for getting a DL much tougher. I watched a bit on NBC a few weeks ago about the number of Mexicans that have started applying for work permits in Canada, and it's blamed on that Act as they cannot get ID anymore.

What I personally think will happen (and it's the only political issue that Bush has been particularly astute about) is that as they ramp up all the enforcement, which is now happening, all the cracks in the immigration system will become glaringly apparent. Construction companies and farmers are already having a hard time getting labour.

Bush basically tried to get the system improved and then held up his hands after all the opposition and said: "Okay, we'll go with walls and more border agents." Because he knew it would lead to the problems in the immigration system that he pointed out being highlighted.

But I do know for example that a lot of UK people illegally in Florida have left since Florida tightened up the requirements to get a DL and also to get the homestead exemption to property taxes.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/5240644.stm