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US embassy wants 'every social media username of past five years' for new visas

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Re: US embassy wants 'every social media username of past five years' for new visas

#131

Post by potato3732842 »

ujkhsjkdhf234 wrote: post #94
msgodel wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

What problems are you talking about? Be specific.

>What problems are you talking about? Be specific.

The one where these people don't have work papers, so they can't work the kind of above the table jobs you need to work to fully support yourself so they wind up being a drain on our social safety nets.

The average working American in my state can't even afford "good" healthcare but we're happy to let these people in sign these people up for state healthcare and benefits (at least in my blue state, perhaps the red states have stringent criteria that makes them ineligible) and doll out millions of dollars of contracts to all sorts of entities that facilitate this process. It's absolutely nonsensical policy. And this is without even examining the effects on supply and demand of labor, cheap housing, etc, which I'm sure aren't great.

I don't hate the immigrants. They're mostly fine people. But I would enact the most unspeakable horrors upon the people who actively created this situation were I given the opportunity.

And the people who really ought to be pissed are the people who are in favor of adjacent political policy (broad safety nets, permissive legal immigration policies, etc) because the peddlers of the illegal immigration situation cast shade upon all them.

Edit: Some of you really need to re-read that second to last sentence.

Re: US embassy wants 'every social media username of past five years' for new visas

#132

Post by mrtksn »

casenmgreen wrote: post #5

It seems to me one of the methods of control in oppressive States is to have a multitude of rules, which are impractical to actually adhere to, where failure to adhere provides leverage to State - a "justification" for State to then do whatever it is it decides to do with you (such as deportation without due process).

IMHO the new administration is aiming for full control, they don't need pretext to deny visa. Maybe they will iron out the process on foreign enemies before start chasing the enemies from within. IIRC they want to profile everyone and Palantir will handle that.

Re: US embassy wants 'every social media username of past five years' for new visas

#133

Post by casenmgreen »

jjcob wrote: post #60
osa1 wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Exactly. Another case where this happens is with credit/point based systems for things like settlement/citizenship that effectively allows governments to discriminate freely based on vague criteria.

I think point based systems are the most fair and not arbitrary, since points are usually awarded for things like age, degree, language proficiency. That's the least discriminating way to steer immigration.

From what I've read - but have not myself looked into - Australia has been using this system for some time, and wants very much to move on from it, as it has not worked well in practice.

Re: US embassy wants 'every social media username of past five years' for new visas

#134

Post by bananapub »

ghusto wrote: post #119
casenmgreen wrote: post #5

It seems to me one of the methods of control in oppressive States is to have a multitude of rules, which are impractical to actually adhere to, where failure to adhere provides leverage to State - a "justification" for State to then do whatever it is it decides to do with you (such as deportation without due process).

They're called "pretextual laws", and are prevalent in places like Russia and China. They always require proof though, since the whole point is an easy case in court. I can't see an easy way to prove someone supplied an incomplete list of online handles though. It would be trivial for me to look up all the places I've supplied my real e-mail address and make sure to include them in the list, and good luck finding my…

> I can't see an easy way to prove someone supplied an incomplete list of online handles though.

1. it doesn't matter - it's immigration, them simply asserting you lied is enough for them to decline your visa, and as of January 2025, enough for them to have masked goons kidnap you on the street and imprison you without charge or trial and/or deport you to some random country

2. the easy way is to just ask American Big Tech to rat you out - Elon obviously would do it for a kind glance, the rest will do it because they either support the actual end of democracy in the US or because they think it'll increase shareholder value

Re: US embassy wants 'every social media username of past five years' for new visas

#135

Post by msgodel »

mrtksn wrote: post #130
msgodel wrote: post #126

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No. It had nothing to do with RTO and PCR was not an alternative. There was a federal policy (not legislated btw, just an EO for all the people complaining about Trump using EOs to undo previous EOs) that said any company with federal contracts (which is nearly all tech companies in the US, not just defense contractors) must have 100% of its employees vaccinated. It had nothing to do with safety since there was no pr…

Where’s is the oppression in that? It’s pretty normal to have health procedures to the best understanding of the threat at the time. It’s pretty straightforward, all kind of professions have all kinds of rules. Can be argued that the understanding or the precautions weren’t right but I don’t see the personal or political aspect of this. Maybe hi-vis vest are also problematic, so what? Are you upset with the bureaucra…

[flagged]

Re: US embassy wants 'every social media username of past five years' for new visas

#136

Post by JumpCrisscross »

wizzwizz4 wrote: post #70
Cthulhu_ wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why's that? Doesn't tourism and business coming into the US benefit the country? Take student visas. Sure, you could have a student come to the US, finish their education, and go back to their home country, "stealing" knowledge from the US to benefit their own country. Or they could find a job in the US and/or start the next trillion dollar company since the opportunities in the US are better. Satya Nadella traveled…

Stocks going up doesn't actually improve things for anyone. To use Microsoft as a specific example: that stock price increase corresponds directly to a reduction in quality of life for many people. This is, of course, immaterial to your main point: we can point to many actual contributions from migrants, such as maintaining infrastructure, providing food and education, and technological advancements.

> Stocks going up doesn't actually improve things for anyone

Yes, it does, it’s called the wealth effect. This is beyond firm effects that stem from lower costs of capital.

Re: US embassy wants 'every social media username of past five years' for new visas

#137

Post by mrtksn »

msgodel wrote: post #135
mrtksn wrote: post #130

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Where’s is the oppression in that? It’s pretty normal to have health procedures to the best understanding of the threat at the time. It’s pretty straightforward, all kind of professions have all kinds of rules. Can be argued that the understanding or the precautions weren’t right but I don’t see the personal or political aspect of this. Maybe hi-vis vest are also problematic, so what? Are you upset with the bureaucra…

[flagged]

Yep, I never get a response when ask for specifics. Cheers.

Re: US embassy wants 'every social media username of past five years' for new visas

#138

Post by matwood »

msgodel wrote: post #124
roxolotl wrote: post #114

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Mass immigration has been a fake specter used by the right to get votes for decades now. How did it impact you, or even those close to you personally negatively? I can tell you some positive impacts: - Most western countries are concerned about economic cliffs around retirement benefits due to falling population. The US is not because so many people, used to(?), want to move here. - Our food is subsidized by those wi…

[flagged]

> Without freedom of association people stop socializing when you get a plurality population, you can see this everywhere in the US.

What does this mean? Why would people stop socializing?

> If the immigrants were a net benefit things like housing would be getting cheaper since we otherwise would have shrinking population. Because of the effect I mentioned the opposite is happening.

Of all the issues with housing, you think immigrants are the primary force driving prices up? That a farm worker is causing houses in my neighborhood to be $1M+? Once all the constructing workers are driven away, we're about to see a real supply shock likely to drive prices higher.

> Plus just replacing the population doesn't actually help them.

Help who? Fewer Americans are having kids. The US economic system is built on growth and that also means population growth. An aging and shrinking US is a dying US.

> None of us need or want more immigrants.

Why not, and be specific. More so than anywhere else in the world, the US was built on immigration. Even with all the problems in the US, its ability to attract people who want to work hard and create a better life has been its superpower. This mixing pot of ideas and cultures is one of the keys that turned the US into the economic powerhouse it is today. Unfortunately, Trump is doing his best to dismantle the institutions that made America great.

Yes, immigration needs to be fixed. The people already in the US need to be given straightforward paths to be legal. And people outside the US should be given straightforward ways to come live and work and contribute to the US.

Re: US embassy wants 'every social media username of past five years' for new visas

#139

Post by bitshiftfaced »

seanmcdirmid wrote: post #128
android521 wrote: post #127

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, other countries want US tourists money.US doens't need it as much.

US isn’t nearly as important to world tourism as it thinks it is. Maybe Mexico or Canada since they are so close, but otherwise Chinese tourist dollars are sought after more than American. Reciprocation is going to be more of the norm than not.

From what I can see, China, Germany, and USA are the big three. So it's probably pretty important to make it easy for citizens of these countries to get a visa if you care about tourism. Also, there are places in China where it's very hard to get a visa to travel.

Re: US embassy wants 'every social media username of past five years' for new visas

#140

Post by ethbr1 »

JumpCrisscross wrote: post #120
gwd wrote: post #13

Haven't these guys heard of the "reciprocity principle"? When I went to Brazil a few years ago, the basic price for a tourist visa was like $25 and could be done online. But, if you were a US citizen, it cost $150 and you had to schedule an attend an interview in person -- because , those were the costs and burdens placed on Brazilian citizens to apply for a US visa. Does the US want other countries inspecting our ci…

I’d guess this administration draws its power from voters who don’t have a passport and power brokers whose staff handle visas. (Or at least it operates as if it believes it does.)

That any US citizen doesn't have a passport is mind blowing, sad, and also indicative.

$18/yr for access to most of the world.

Yet people say "No thanks. I'm sure the US is great."

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