[Stop-traffic] Visa Portability and Trafficking

[Gregory Carlin]

> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Message: 1
> Date: Fri, 4 Jun 2004 10:44:53 -0700 (PDT)
> From: Mie Lewis <mie_lewis at yahoo.com>
> Subject: [Stop-traffic] Visa Portability and Trafficking
> To: stop-traffic at friends-partners.org, stop-traffick at yahoogroups.com
> Message-ID: <20040604174453.62916.qmail at web12009.mail.yahoo.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
>
> Hi everyone,
>
> Can anyone recommend reports, articles, etc. that look
> at the link between visa portability and trafficking?
>
> By "portability" I mean the extent to which temporary
> employment visas tie the worker to his/her employer.
> In the U.S., the non-portability of certain visas
> contributes substantially to worker exploitation and
> slavery, because workers and employers know that if a
> worker quits for any reason, including abuse, that
> worker falls out of legal status.
>
> I'm told that this is also a major problem in other
> countries.  Are there papers out there that describe
> the work visa regimes in one or more other countries?
>
> Thanks very much!
>
> Mie Lewis
> New Voices Fellow / Attorney at Law
> Asian Pacific Islander Legal Outreach
> 1188 Franklin Street, Suite 202
> San Francisco, CA  94109
> Ph:  415.567.6255 x30
> Fx:  415.567.6248
> email:  mlewis at apilegaloutreach.org
> website:  www.geocities.com/apilegaloutreach


Ms Lewis

There are theoretical schemes allowing transfer in Europe. It is easier to
put in an asylum application or to go illegal.

It is fairly common for criminal gangs in Europe to get officials to help
them out.  The threat of deportation is a key weapon for traffickers. The
same 'abuse of process' issues are frequently encountered in London, Dublin
and Prague etc.

In Europe the 'traffickers' have generally simply become 'businessmen'. In
some countries the 'ordinary' businessmen have also become traffickers. They
like the leverage the permits give them. It offers a 19th century style of
control.

Gregory