My journey through the American immigration system as a computer engineer • Hacker News Board

Re: My journey through the American immigration system as a computer engineer

#161

Post by notch656a » Wed, May 11, 2022, 4:36 PM UTC

ddorian43 wrote: post #147

notch656a wrote: post #115

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>a border guard who is having a bad day. This is not to be understated. I was born a US citizen. Last time I entered the country, officers faked that a dog had alerted "on my anus", forcibly strip searched me, and fabricated a story that plastic baggies that they suspected 'could be drugs' were coming out of my ass. I was shackled and cuffed and dragged around the state of Arizona for 16 hours while publicly paraded…

Why did you deny an x-ray? I understand anal probing but don't understand x-ray?

"Why wouldn't you just consent to an intimate unwarranted and unjustified search of your body that is completely medically unnecessary, with the expectation that the hospital will probably send you the bill afterwards?"

Every single 'search' along the way was used to fabricate evidence against me. Remember these people are professional psychopathic liers so every inch you give them, they just use it to justify something even worse.

1) The dog -- never alerted -- they lied and said it alerted on my anus (WTF!?!). Used to justify a scan of my body with some x-ray looking machine at the border.

2) The "machine" (IDK what it was, but looked like a body scanner type thing) -- there was nothing, but then someone claims they "Saw something" which turned out to almost assuredly to have been my belt buckle.

3) The machine was used to justify strip searching me.

4) Fabricated evidence from the strip search was used to justify dragging me to hospitals for an x-ray.

Now what was to be expected next? It just doesn't end. I did nothing wrong.

Re: My journey through the American immigration system as a computer engineer

#162

Post by nisegami » Wed, May 11, 2022, 4:37 PM UTC

I haven't opened the article because I suspect I'm not in the right headspace for it, but I wanted to share my thoughts. I did my degree in the US and my experience with the immigration system was so traumatic that I just gave up entirely and didn't try to stay in the US after graduation. I wouldn't say I regret it, but it does feel wasteful at the end of the day to have put all that time/effort/energy in only to come back to my home country. But oh well.

Re: My journey through the American immigration system as a computer engineer

#163

Post by twofornone » Wed, May 11, 2022, 4:37 PM UTC

random314 wrote: post #149

twofornone wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are foreign peoples entitled to US citizenship? Where is the obligation to make the process easy and open to everyone coming from?

Were Europeans entitled to American land 500 years ago? What did Columbus' visa application look like?

So because this land was colonized 500 years ago (as it was before Europeans arrived as well by the way, native Americans were not pacifists), we shouldn't enforce borders?

How much time must pass after a land is conquered before nations are morally justified in enforcing sovereignty over borders? Particularly when the border belongs to a welfare state with finite resources and a host of internal issues that require fixing.

Re: My journey through the American immigration system as a computer engineer

#164

Post by robinsoh » Wed, May 11, 2022, 4:38 PM UTC

np- wrote: post #91

robinsoh wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Now i wouldn't want anyone to be discriminated but still it makes sense to limit green card based on nationality You're saying you want people to be discriminated by nationality. Correct?

Not the op, but to be pedantic, every single international border crossing in the world is an official government “nationality discrimination” department. That’s what passports are for. (Not saying I necessarily agree with this, but it is the world we live in)

I'm just trying to understand the meaning of "I wouldn't want anyone to be discriminated" in the context of "Now i wouldn't want anyone to be discriminated but still it makes sense to limit green card based on nationality". I just think it is unclear. If we want to discriminate by nationality then we should just admit it and say we're going to discriminate by nationality instead of being covert about it.

Re: My journey through the American immigration system as a computer engineer

#165

Post by daemoens » Wed, May 11, 2022, 4:40 PM UTC

nikanj wrote: post #46

ilrwbwrkhv wrote: post #9

That's why the real hack is to live in Canada and work remotely for an American company.

The real hack is getting a Canadian PR+citizenship (well under a decade), then entering the US as a TN2

Yep. A lot of Somali students I know are doing this by going to Uganda, than to Canada, and finally the US.

Re: My journey through the American immigration system as a computer engineer

#166

Post by twofornone » Wed, May 11, 2022, 4:40 PM UTC

chupkarkhotay wrote: post #141

twofornone wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are foreign peoples entitled to US citizenship? Where is the obligation to make the process easy and open to everyone coming from?

Quoted post unavailable.

>Written ‘in sorrow and anger,’ this is a brilliant and urgently necessary book, eloquently making the case against bigotry and for all of us migrants

If you have to hide your arguments behind accusations of bigotry, you don't have a very good argument. Border enforcement is about far more than blind xenophobia. Such accusations are reductive appeals to ethos over logos.

Re: My journey through the American immigration system as a computer engineer

#167

Post by cletus » Wed, May 11, 2022, 4:41 PM UTC

0xcafecafe wrote: post #35

cletus wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is an emotional subject. I've gone through this but come from a country that has a relatively easy path. The source of the huge delay for Indian-born people is these four facts: 1. India has a population exceeding one billion; 2. Green cards have a diversity rule that no more than 7% of applicants can come from a single country; 3. Your category is based solely on country of birth not country of citizenship; and…

Attributing all the problems to those bodyshops is a bit disingenuous IMO. Yes they are part of the problem. Even Chinese nationals face 5+ years backlog for their green cards. Limiting immigration from populous countries based on arbitrary country caps for employment based immigration makes no sense. As it is it is a small piece of the overall immigration pie (14% and if we count only primary applicants, ~5%). What…

All of the factors I listed apply to China. But even though both countries have similar populations, around two-thirds of H1B applicants are Indian nationals. Bodyshops are a big factor here. This flood of H1B applications is a big factor in everyone having to go through a lottery.

So if two-thirds of the H1B applicants are Indian nationals but the current system caps per-country green cards at 7% (per category), you see why Indian nationals have a much longer wait time than anyone else.

In saying that I'm not denying others (eg China, Mexico, the Phillipines) don't have long wait times too.

Re: My journey through the American immigration system as a computer engineer

#168

Post by rohith2506 » Wed, May 11, 2022, 4:47 PM UTC

One of the sane decisions I have made five years ago. Go to US for masters and stuck in the long immigration process with no uncertainty or move to Europe with a well paying job. I choose the latter and I couldn’t have been happier. In the last five years, I dealt with immigration twice and that too just renew my resident permit. Last year, I went through civic integration procedure and gonna get an European passport along with OCI card which makes me visa free travel to almost all parts of the world. It’s just a breeze and it’s not just me. Most of my friends have similar stories and we barely hear people complaining about immigration issues. So, anyone who’s looking for an alternative, Europe, especially Netherlands.

The salary barrier is also reducing a lot now a days. When I moved, I used to make high five figures which was quite good for European salaries but now, almost low to mid six figures.

Re: My journey through the American immigration system as a computer engineer

#169

Post by nivenkos » Wed, May 11, 2022, 4:50 PM UTC

Miraste wrote: post #109

someotherperson wrote: post #55

Even going to the US as a non-immigrant is totally broken at the moment. If you don't qualify[0] for an ESTA (visa waiver) then an appointment for a tourist visa in the US can be upwards of 200 days in some places (i.e Australia or Netherlands). An appointment at the consulate in Toronto is 429 days away if you were to book today. That's not the processing time, that's literally just the appointment you need to make…

It's probably working as designed. Most people in ESTA countries qualify. The list of country visits that disqualifies you is North Korea, Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen, all places where the US is hostile to the government or a major indigenous rebel/terrorist organization. The US government won't ban you outright for going there, but they're happy to deprioritize you. Compare with China, a non-…

There's a load of countries that don't qualify for the ESTA though.

It's stopped us having conferences in the US because non-EU nationals working in Europe can't get US tourist visas in time.

Re: My journey through the American immigration system as a computer engineer

#170

Post by geodel » Wed, May 11, 2022, 4:52 PM UTC

"Given that managers are a dime a dozen in any country, it seems odd to put managers in the same category as people of “extraordinary ability,” but I digress."

This is really important point in case anyone missed. The gross misuse of this rule to bring in project managers, account managers (L-1 based) and such have really made things worse for non L-1 immigrants by hogging most of green cards awarded per country basis.