A group of Jamaican teachers at a meeting in New York. - Contributed
NEW YORK:
THEY CAME, they worked, they saved, they upgraded themselves educationally by getting their master's degrees, both are teachers in the Crown Heights section of Brooklyn, but that is where the similarities end.
One will become a victim of new regulations governing the teachers' visa status, and return to Jamaica. The other will continue to live the American dream.
Diane's dream of being in the U.S. with her family and children will not be affected by the new regulations. Simone, however, has to go back to Jamaica, with little or no money as she has spent all of her savings in paying off her debt to the Government of Jamaica. Diane, a former teacher from Clarendon, is J$1.2 million poorer, but richer as, she said, she can find it again. She tells her story from her home in Brooklyn.
"For the first two weeks when I came here, there were teething pains, but I was prepared for the sacrifice and the culture shock. I assessed the situation I was coming into carefully and it was easy to adapt.
"My family, a husband and three children, stayed in Jamaica at first, and came only after I was settled. All those who are accusing us of running to the U.S. should look at the history. I am not going to throw stones behind me, as Jamaica will always be my home, and no matter what, no politician in Jamaica or anybody, can dictate when we leave, or when we come back.
"This is a global atmosphere and people will move just as they did in the 60s and 70s. Some of those politicians who are against us leaving they left Jamaica and it was only when the nationalistic movement started that they returned home. I will return home one day.
A RUSH
"At a meeting in October 2002 we were advised on the steps to change our status from the J-1 visas to H-1B. Our options then were to apply for an extension of the J-1 or go straight to the H-1B. We were advised to go straight to the H-1B as there were no guarantees of the situation as changes could occur.
"There was a rush to obtain the Letters of No Objection (NOL) from the Government, and while there are several reasons some teachers didn't get the NOL, Jamaica was slow initially in dealing with our requests.
"I sent off my letter on December 6, 2002, and some of my friends sent off in September, October and we didn't hear a word until February. If this is a time-sensitive issue, I am not satisfied they had the resources in place and they thought they were doing us a favour.
"It was not until I got a contact number in Jamaica and started to call did I get a response in February. I sent money and I received a reply to say that there was no money and that I needed to pay up. It was just carelessness. I sent another money order and in the end, my husband and I paid $1.3 million to the Government. At first it was $700,000 and then with interests and other things tacked on it was $1.3 million. We made the sacrifice to pay.
"If we were not pro-active and pushy, we would not have been given our waivers. Some teachers, however, were a little tardy and some thought that if they took the extension of the J-1 they would not pay any taxes; I think they were trying to outfox the system and the system outfoxed them.
"I have completed my master's degree in environmental science and my husband is completing his degree in accounts. The children, ages 15, 12, and five are doing great in school. I feel a sense of power at being able to do anything I want to do. I have the accessibility to achieve and go where I want to go. I am doing much, much better here than at home."
