[Image via The Washington Post.]
The Washington Post ran an article recently highlighting the human side of how this recession (depression?) is affecting architects in the DC area.
One of the people they interviewed is a former co-worker of mine from a few years back. I’m saddened to hear that she is also going through what I am dealing with. Like most of us unemployed architectural professionals, she is a hard worker and team player and does not deserve to be jobless. Unfortunately she is in a worse situation than I. She’s a foreign national and when she lost her job she lost her work visa. I can’t imagine having to deal with the pressure of knowing that not only do you need a job to pay the bills, but also to keep living here.
In a time such as this, when illegal immigration has become such a hot button issue, you would think there would be some outcry for the legal immigrants who came through all of the right channels. Now face a horrible decision; give up all that they have accomplished and move back because someone let them go, or overstay their visa and risk deportation. I think there should be some sort of federal stimulus based amnesty/leniency for work visa holders who have been laid off through no fault of their own. The immigrants rights groups need to address this before we start to lose all the foreign talent we have attracted.