Peru Hope

Many Americans complain about jobs going over seas to people who are paid one to two dollars a day. Other people complain that workers who cross our borders illegally are taking our jobs by working for less. There are pockets of desperation all around the globe. People do work for a bowl of rice, literally.

To come to this country we have a set of laws that are uniform. Each State follows the Federal Laws on Immigration, and an Immigration attorney can practice in all fifty States. The rules are actually pretty simple. You apply for a Visa, go through an interview process, and are either accepted, or denied. There is also a lottery system where a certain number of people are picked, by lottery, to come to this country.

Once accepted to be invited to the United States you have a process of, work permission, resident alien, resident, then citizen. It takes about two years. You must avoid jail time, or convictions, your character should be unblemished.

There are a variety of Visas to come here. The most common would be the tourist Visa. A student Visa for people who come here to study. The fiancée Visa is for people who intend on being married. A lot of latitude is allowed for people in love. Then you have business Visas for people to come here, create jobs, or help American business. A little known fact is that sheep herding is a highly prized talent for people who immigrate here from Peru. Models have a whole bunch of concessions for Visas.

Once in this country the Visas have a time frame that ask for an extension, or they expire. Some people stay here years after an expiration of a Visa. In many cases the people have found a job, or fell in love. Students especially find jobs that they want to keep. Some students happen to fall in love and get married in that process. Tourists may meet some one by chance, fall in love, and want to stay.

There are business people, or students of a trade, like computer science, or a health professional, like a researcher, who are on to a discovery and chose to stay. There are all kinds of people who stay here in the United States for a lot of reasons that are good causes with an expired Visa.

People cross our borders for a variety of reasons also, but mostly to work. Many of those people send money home to extended families. People with Visas may also be here to support family back home, but one of the main criteria for getting that Visa is that you have money.

In a way this immigration process brings us the very rich and very poor from other countries. The rich have Visas and the poor just cross.

There is a day worker center in down town Seattle that was for years based out of a lot on Western Avenue across from the Millionaires Club. It is the same concept of putting homeless people to work except these workers are Hispanic, many are not homeless, and language may be a barrier.

They are currently on South Jackson Street above Rainier Avenue. The non profit organization owns the building where the offices now are. Hilary Stern has done an admirable job of keeping the whole thing together. There are many more resources now than there ever have been.

My dad had started using the Millionaire’s Club for labor when my brothers and I got too old, and busy, to he;p around the house. Robert was one guy who was a constant in our lives for about seven years. He was quasi homeless, always had some drama, but did good work. I had Larry for about ten years until alcohol took over completely.

I started using labor from Casa Latina in about 1999. Most of the workers were sober, diligent, and knew what they were doing, some were a challenge. At first I needed some one who spoke some English, but now I’m pretty comfortable with my Spanish to get a job completed. If i get stuck i can call the office, or I have other resources.

Casa Latina is a working model of the things we would like to accomplish with this site. They are currently doing business classes for those workers who want to be in business for themselves. It is a struggle to explain the American Way of doing business. There are some contractors that have made it.

This is a good local resource to become involved in a world larger than you. Most of these families stretch from here down into Mexico, to Central, to South America. Money gets wired back home from work that is done here. One gentleman has been working here for twelve years, some longer, and return home seldom to see wives or children. The goal is to provide a better life, a chance that the father may have never been able to provide if he had stayed home.

It’s a hard thing to explain to Americans. Sacrifice can mean a lot of things. It’s worth the time, money, or other donation, to glimpse into this organization. To become involved would be great, if you can make that commitment. It is a learning curve.