Real News Story-LATE

Cisco held its annual conference on immigration on Wednesday, October 29. I was lucky enough to attend. In my mind, immigration is a huge issue for our country. Some are against it, some are for it, and others don’t understand it. My take has always been that we were all immigrants seeking a better opportunity at one point, so we should give people the right to come into this country for betterment of their education and careers. The sad fact is that not everyone feels this way and attending this conference opened my eyes up to the type of people who are struggling to become citizens of America.

Located in San Jose, Cisco is a large corporation that specializes in computer software. The buildings are numerous and I got lost looking for the right one. When I arrived to the right spot, I was let in by a Cisco worker who had an entrance key. I walked into the conference room which was smaller than I expected. Still, there was a good amount of people listening to the speaker. I snuck in quietly and gave my name to the door monitor, who then took 10 dollars from me for the admission price.

The speaker was Immigration Attorney David Zaritzky Brown. He specializes in immigration cases, primarily dealing with people who are working in the United States on a Visa or are seeking to. He had an easy-to-follow power-point presentation set up. I looked around the room. I noticed that there were people of many different backgrounds. I figured most of the audience members worked at Cisco, but came to find out that most of them were actually part of a virtual community of Canadians working in the Bay Area, called Digital Moose Lounge.

The major topics Brown discussed were pointers on how to deal with changes in immigration law. Due to the high number of people trying to obtain Visas versus the actual supply, waitlists have been extended and the chance of obtaining one is lower than it has been in the past. Members in the audience asked questions pertaining to their specific situations. It was almost like getting legal advice for free. Because he could not answer all of them, he set up a sign-up list in the back of the room for those who had more questions. Through his email, people could set up appointments or ask general questions.

Brown’s presentation was engaging and there was never a dull moment. I was probably the youngest person in this group. Most were between the ages of 30 and 45. Still, he was upbeat and informative. As the discussion came to a close, I looked around the room for people to talk to. My first response of what people thought of the conference was from a woman named Sharon Oswitz, who appeared to be in her early thirties. At first, she seemed hesitant to answer any questions about where she worked. She refused to give me the company’s name that she worked for, but did give me feedback. “I came to this last year too. It’s very helpful, especially because I am here on a Visa.” Sharon was from Canada, and part of Digital Moose Lounge. She knew about the meeting because of the website. Another guest, Pratik Singh, said, “I found out a lot more than I expected. His advice was very helpful because it is very hard to get approved for a Visa these days.” Singh is not a member of DigitalMooseLounge.com, but heard about the conference from a friend of his who works for Cisco.

What I noticed about many of these audience members was their high education levels and the impressive jobs they held. I thought to myself, these people are here being productive and helping our economy. It is truly unfortunate that they have to worry about losing their residency. Attorney Brown said change from the government has been slow, and not much has been done to fix the issue of having more applicants than Visas. Attending this conference was more than a learning experience on a topic I knew little about; it has made me so much more grateful for being a citizen of this country.