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The topic of domestic violence advocacy with South Asian immigrants on temporary visas raises more questions than answers. In general, women who seek support from domestic violence agencies have a complex set of needs when responding to the abuse in their lives. Many immigrant women further contend with limited access to services due to language barriers, institutional racism within domestic violence and other social services, and pressure not to seek help outside their cultural community (Acevedo ; Bui and Morash ; Raj and Silverman a). In addition, immigration history and residency status powerfully shape an immigrant woman’s responses to abuse, as these determine her eligibility for public benefits, options to maintain a legal presence in the United States, and the right to seek legal employment. Although federal legislation through the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) provides substantial immigration relief to some battered immigrants, the safety net it erects remains permeable and leaves out many groups of immigrant women who have few, if any, options to find relief from abuse. This essay discusses the barriers to safety encountered by South Asian victims /survivors of domestic violence who reside in the United States on temporary dependent visas. The most recent wave of immigration from South Asian countries occurred as a direct result of the boom in the computer industry in the s and early s. Under the auspices of U.S. economic growth, thousands of South Asians, primarily Indians, were granted H-B or temporary work visas, allowing them to enter the U.S. workforce for up to six years if sponsored by an employer. However, the conditions of immigration under the H-B program potentially exploit temporary workers and their families while exacerbating power dynamics, which contribute to women’s vulnerability to domestic violence. The dependent nature of the H- status enables abusers to maintain control through financial and legal means with severe consequences for the safety of victims/survivors of battering. For example, while the 16 bbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbb Navigating Gender, Immigration, and Domestic Violence Advocacy with Work Visa Holders RUPALEEM BHUYAN 229 Ch016.qxd 11/3/06 5:16 PM Page 229 H-B visa program permits individuals to sponsor their spouses and children on H- visas, it reinforces dependence by allowing the sponsor control over his family’s immigration status. This chapter is a critique of current legal and social policies from the intersections of gender, immigration, and domestic violence. It combines analysis of national reports on immigration and violence against women policies with information gathered from interviews with advocates of South Asian battered women. Because domestic violence advocacy in the United States has become nearly synonymous to legal advocacy, options explored here are mainly based on legal redress. Furthermore , the essay addresses how current trends in economic growth and immigration influence the makeup of the South Asian community in the United States and illustrates some of the contexts in which H- visa holders experience domestic violence. Given the heterosexual bias in immigration laws, H- visas are only offered to legal spouses, which in the United States refers to heterosexual couples (i.e., samesex marriage and domestic partnership are not yet recognized by U.S. immigration law). While the temporary visa program for H-B and H- is technically gender neutral , nearly three-quarters of all H-Bs are issued to men, while H-s are issued primarily to women and children. Lastly, although I principally discuss the H- visa, other nonimmigrant dependent visas—namely, spouses of student visa holders (F) and intracompany transfers (L)—face similar issues when experiencing domestic violence. In this essay, I have drawn from my professional knowledge of domestic violence and sexual assault prevention work, volunteer services with Chaya, and my own experiences as a second-generation immigrant woman from Assam, India. Here I elaborate some of the strategies used by Chaya’s advocates to support women on temporary visas and the struggles in advocating for the well-being of women on H- visas, given the current social and political context. Responding to a Growing South Asian Community Over the last fifteen years, Seattle and other parts of the United States have experienced a dramatic increase in the South Asian population, in part due to the technology boom of the s. Similar to other periods in U.S. history, this wave of immigration reflects both limited economic opportunities in postcolonial South Asian countries, as well as demands from the U.S. technology industry for highly skilled workers. Between  and , Seattle’s King County...

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