MANY IRISH emigrants to the United States are unwittingly falling foul of the law by failing to check their working visa options prior to travelling, according to the New York-based Irish Lobby for Immigration Reform (ILIR).
The organisation, which is the main lobby group for undocumented Irish in the US, says a growing number of people with qualifications are arriving in the United States on 90-day visa waivers and are unaware that programmes exist to allow most of them to enter legally to work.
Ciaran Staunton, a native of Westport, Co Mayo, who emigrated to New York in 1982 and is president of the ILIR, says Irish skilled emigrants can save themselves a lot of difficulties if they talk to embassy officials about the status of their qualifications.
“People who have papers for their skills, in particular graduates, should first explore their legal options for entry into the US instead of just arriving here and hoping for the best.
“A range of J-level visas are available for people with third-level qualifications and most emigrants who are suitably qualified are totally unaware of this.”
Mr Staunton made his comments as new data in the US shows that close on 15 million people, or just under 10 per cent of the workforce, are unemployed, while the number of undocumented people in the country is estimated to be close on 11 million.
While the bulk of that number are from Latin America, the number of undocumented Irish is believed to have increased significantly since 2008 from just over 40,000 to close on 60,000 today.
The rise in the number of Irish emigrating to the US has been driven mainly by the collapse of activity in the construction sector.
According to Mr Staunton, more and more skilled tradesmen and women are opting for the US but because they don’t have recognised qualifications or haven’t checked their options with the US embassy in Dublin, that in itself leaves them vulnerable to deportation if they overstay their 90-day visa waiver period.
“Lots of people who worked on building sites in the past number of years are arriving here on a daily basis but some did apprenticeships by the old-fashioned method while others have achieved their qualifications via various colleges, only some of which are formally recognised.
“It’s because these type of skills fall into a potential grey area, we in the ILIR are lobbying for reform of the 1965 US Immigration Act which doesn’t formally allow bricklayers, painters, carpenters, etc to enter here legally.”
He added: “Our advice to skilled people thinking of coming here is, exhaust all your avenues for legal emigration before you travel and even if people have already arrived they should get in touch with Irish advice centres in the big cities.”
Karyn Posner-Mullen, director of public affairs at the US Embassy in Dublin confirmed that various visa programmes are available in particular for young college graduates.