expired should we accept that this is how many of our own family and friends reached the u s soil to try and make them american dream this past january the u s department of homeland and the department of state removed the re countries from being eligible to receive h two a and h two b work visas this was the st year since this list started in two thousand and eight that the philippines was removed with two other countries the dominican republic and ethiopia the federal agency cites that almost forty percent of filipinos with do not return to the philippines after their visa expires unfortunately they also found that filipinos with may be easily trafficked into dangerous and slave like working conditions which is which was the reason why they banned the workers with that he says status there is so much to learn about this process the implications on our community and the future of filipino immigration to the us irish fellow campo i'm joined with my co host jen and christina pastore on t v to get a better idea of how the us denial of h two visas mean to the phil and community i am pleased to introduce a friend an advocate of the filipino community founding attorney in the cell as a leader in immigration law list sell represents clients from asia latin america europe and all fifty states she advises clients on legal and she teaches issues rising from the global movement of talents top executives and experts that additionally serves as a vice president and executive director for the filipino american legal defense and education fund also known as fel a she's also the co chair of cardoza laws master's alumni community she was named a time is now a trailblazer featured in the cordozar journal of outstanding alumni in june two thousand and eighteen life's movers and shakers involved two thousand and eighteen women today's women on the front rank and quoted in mashable and published in delaware lawyer magazine so listen let's get right to the basics what is the difference between age two a h two b work visas and how many filipinos actually apply for it every year so the difference between h two a  they're part of those programs either agricultural or non cultural and the employers recruiters with then have to wire and that there are guidelines proper standards that will be followed in terms of their wages the recruitment their hiring their conditions of work ok so and there's all those different types of visas there's the tourist visa yes h one visa yes h one i know is special occupation ok and to the nd point where how many filipinos apply for each to i can't really give you a specific figures but i know that there's been over seven hundred approved h thousand seven hundred and sixty seven i think exactly but for the applicants we can't really keep track except the figures given by their partner and of state was that it tripled and so those would be covered by the non agriculture so were do filipino screens what are the biggest there is a lot in the service industry we're not into agriculture and i would say there is a lot in the restaurant and hotel management and strike nurses for under age to no other special occupy just suddenly each one of their green card holders ok so how do you know most people they overstay because there is no option for them to renew and going back to the think it's large leave because it's so expensive to get that type of visa you know they're already on the hook for a lot of loans i must say just paying off the recruiter paying off and and of course busy they want to provide for their families so they ought to just violate the terms of their reasons like unfortunately that's that's what happens to the promised a certain way they were promised certain working conditions and they come here and they realize that it's very different for example there are people who would be working in those winter resorts and they would come here and the pay the promise of the salary was like fourteen dollars an hour or sixteen dollars and only to find out it's actually just like five dollars and then the living conditions are like very poor like they're not even provided a proper room it's a more while home where they don't even have and he so for those kinds of conditions clearly it's you know that there's a real a thin line between saying this is really a contract this person voluntarily signed up for that and there's not much discrepancy within like if you compare the salaries that were promised and what was provided but you also still need to prove that there was some kind of fraud  eligible for a t v which is the human trafficking so if they are here under those conditions they don't want to go home they would rather stay here and fight it in court is that what happens oh it's not a court procedure  attorneys who would help them process their trafficking so you're saying that with the this forty percent is like it's mind boggling of how many actually do overstay is there anything else that that is preventing people from getting trafficked other than stopping this this process i think it's a systemic problem it's not just like the visa it's like it's one of the solutions that you could see but there's so many other problems from the philippines like many recruiters who are unscrupulous busy or employers who are actually taking advantage of those programs and it's very hard to try well who are the people responsible and there are government agencies in the philippines that so forcibly gave clearance through these h two workers to come here and so there's like so many and yeah i'm so glad that you most want to and right up there are multiple factors because another factor is why are people leaving you know why is there so many people leaving the philippines where we see as a vacation and then they're coming here for a better life like why why are we having such a difficult time for people to understand that like we should be really fixing what's in the philippines and why do you  nationalities together with the europeans and the dominican people what does that say about how come there are no again i don't want to profile how come there are no latinos in this in this universe this little be considered for allowing a country to be designated as an aged two country should be considered and these factors are how many people are subject to removal  how many people have overstay how many people actually benefit the u s interests or is it in the u s interests to allow for this country to be part of that list for the aged to us and i guess at the end they've decided that it's not in their interests to allow for the philippines to be part of that list and from what i've seen the u s thinks that it might be a vehicle for human trafficking which you've already been discussing they don't want the age do visa route to become a vehicle for this particular human trafficking problem but this is function is only good for one year and one year i mean next year we could be back on or it could be continuous we don't really do you think that this might actually be the beginning of other denials of visas like is it because this is like the  punishing the philippines like is there any type of factor other than that because i feel like that yes human trafficking is bad but is that a cover up reason of why this is this i can't really speak to that accept a client who has immigration relief someone who's eligible qualified for a certain immigration relief not promising the mornin the star or like ok you're getting a work permit eventually there might be amnesty but actually that person is not qualified why would you file a certain petition right i think that could be because they want some money from the  ants who have friends and they want to consult about people who overstay their age and actually they've been trafficked and sometimes the lawyers take advantage of that too  they ask a huge retainer and then suddenly you realize that the t wasn't actually filed like you know like they actually don't have a status how are they really qualified busy you know s it's not just saying oh ok i've been trafficked of course there's like some evidence yuri requirements you need to prove so and so that's why it's really sad that some people and of course immigration wise you know you of there are some people who would go to these types of individuals simply because you know they're more affordable and may be they've created a trust a trust environment for those kinds of individuals and the potential clients so they have they just interest their future their lives through those people but sometimes they can't even find those people anymore after and there are even some lawyers who suddenly you realize they were already suspended or disbarred you know how do you how do you find this out like i'm trying to figure out how to warn some  members of the community like red flags about lawyers and and people who take advantage so one is a fixer how do you confirm that a fixer is actually a legitimate if they're trying to an active it would just be a picture and they would say like whether this lawyer is still active or he's renewed the registration or not or if there are some disciplinary  have you seen these types of really sad cases where people have been taken advantage of can you speak a little bit more about that yes so there there are cases where filipinos on  have been victims of human trafficking and a lot of nonprofit organizations also partner would fall down and these organizations help them not just legally but also economically  also when once their t v s is grounded of course there are the derivatives who can come to the united states like their wives and their their children and with the transition from the u s to hear those nonprofit organizations you don't have a status you don't have any other option i mean i would really say that not like promise the moon and the stars to somebody like i guess some other professionals fixers they try to that when a person consults them but for me once they see that there's no other route i would really just tell them the truth you will tell them like i'm sorry you're going to have another alternative except to go home probably go to another lawyer where they do do people really go back even after hearing that or do they just take the chance like i feel like that not many people raise one thousand dollars to go take philippine airlines to go back to the philippines i mean it's it's it's a hard decision and i think very large people even if you say that you you would of like that advice i think would you have really from having having gone through all the deportation there are other ways for them you know for us to be here and just waited our time i wish they would have told us and it was they've told us that yes you could be deported i suppose to appeal that certain way you know it's you know it's probably easier for me knowing when your time is right because there is a huge difference between three and ten years that's right yes yes well even then it's very discretionary upon the consul interviewing you for your new visa right it's hard to hear immigration history that's like a permanent stamp on you then look it up everything see now i mean gone are the days where they don't have records busy or you know you came into the country they can find your i ninety four or things that in the ninety's today everything is saying so once you apply for your new visa they're going to see all you overstayed i mean that's not going to look that if you're applying for a new tourist visa really you're just visiting this time you know like that's a problem i feel like the just the general message that i'd like to convey to both our viewers and just to you to your community is to both be educated in what your status is your visa is and to learn about the resources and also just have a sense of empathy for people that are going through this yes because yes they have overstayed but everyone has their own story and reasons of why they do things at corporate door and associates p l c a new york based female owned and operated law firm in new york city what is the one piece of advice that you'd like to share with filipinos who are questioning what they should do about their expiring or expired visa status the best advice i could give you should consult an immigration attorney a lot of immigration attorneys give free consultations don't hesitate to reach out to the email them call them make an appointment and that's the person who can tell you what you're supposed to do and make sure you get them ye to all of our viewers for your continued support