U.S. State Department pauses immigrant visa applications • Hacker News Board

Re: U.S. State Department pauses immigrant visa applications

#581

Post by 15155 » Thu, Aug 27, 2026, 4:30 AM UTC

hvb2 wrote: post #574

15155 wrote: post #566

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

> The terms were clear, visas are a privilege and not a right or automatic entitlement. They are. Yet can you tell me why you would need to pause all processing in order to retrain your people? Surely they do training all the time without pausing processing. Your passport is a right too, you wouldn't mind if they paused that request with no indication of when they might resume? And that's including when you're abroad…

> They are.

United States Code plainly disagrees with you, as do the laws of basically every developed nation in the world. Visas are not a right, by definition.

> Your passport is a right too,

I am a citizen, so this isn't a good faith comparison. Citizens naturally have higher priority than visitors, otherwise what's the purpose of citizenship as a concept at all?

Re: U.S. State Department pauses immigrant visa applications

#582

Post by itake » Thu, Aug 27, 2026, 4:30 AM UTC

nostrebored wrote: post #563

itake wrote: post #544

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are 2 issues: 1/ Employment provides training and experience. If the h1bs are given access to the jobs (training and experience), then is it the American's fault that they are no longer considered "best"? 2/ h1b increases labor supply, not the demand. More supply, means lower wages for everyone.

1/ Training is only effective if you can fill the function of the job and learn from it. Many software engineering jobs people claim are stolen by H1B hires are filled by human beings more likely to meet the bar. Many American candidates just don’t. Filling a software role is hard. 2/ Demand for software is not static. Good software drives demand for more engineers in many cases, intra or extra-company. There is prob…

1/ Training goes all the way down the pipeline to colleges. If x% of students are foreign, then Americans didn't have the opportunity to get the education.

Again... the skill issue falls apart when you consider teams at tech companies having 1 non-American national origin or caste. I'm very skeptical that, between two foreign candidates with the same U.S. education and experience but different national origins, the fact that the candidate whose nationality matches the current team composition is selected can be explained purely as a matter of skill.

2/ Great, lets train up more American engineers to push the demand higher.

Re: U.S. State Department pauses immigrant visa applications

#583

Post by wat10000 » Thu, Aug 27, 2026, 4:30 AM UTC

unselect5917 wrote: post #497

wat10000 wrote: post #188

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just how many people are being born through birth tourism and end up claiming more in welfare than they pay in taxes?

Estimates vary from 40-80%. Not just birth tourism, but all sorts of government handouts (your tax dollars). Especially under Mayorkas.

40-80% of what?

Re: U.S. State Department pauses immigrant visa applications

#584

Post by [deleted] » Thu, Aug 27, 2026, 4:30 AM UTC

debatem1 wrote: post #575

rayiner wrote: post #490

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The moral issue is defined by the nature of the rule, not the stakes for someone who has transgressed. Enforcing the rule doesn’t become less legitimate just because someone has invested more in breaking it.

Why is that how the moral issue is defined? Seems to me the moral issue is the stakes, and I have no idea why I would cede that judgement to you. What's your basis for claiming moral authority? If you don't, please show your homework: what strange anticonsequentialism underlies your claims, and why should I agree with it?

[deleted]

Re: U.S. State Department pauses immigrant visa applications

#585

Post by GeneralMayhem » Thu, Aug 27, 2026, 4:31 AM UTC

unselect5917 wrote: post #54

miltonlost wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'd say it's on the Trump administration being full of racists and white nationalists and wanting to deport immigrants. Why do you wonder if it's economic instead of the Trump administration's announced policies of stopping immigration, including unconstitutionally removing birthright citizenship?

Conflating not wanting to compete with foreigners for jobs in your own country with racism is bad faith bullshit. Foreigners of the exact same race are equally unwanted competition.

They say it out loud. The people writing these policies are vocally proud of being white nationalists. Defending them with "well maybe they have a good reason!" is evidence that you're either on board with their actual agenda (i.e., evil) or incomprehensibly naive (i.e., stupid).

Re: U.S. State Department pauses immigrant visa applications

#586

Post by hvb2 » Thu, Aug 27, 2026, 4:32 AM UTC

rayiner wrote: post #448

baby_souffle wrote: post #442

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It’s like saying that it’s “cruelty” to remove someone who uses a 2 hour parking spot as their permanent car parking. That's a very weak analogy for the moral issue here. The consequences are radically different; losing a parking space is a minor inconvenience; losing immigration status can/does involve relocation and upends employment, family, property, and years of life planning / general stability.

The moral issue is the same in both cases: there’s a big sign that says “temporary.” People have chosen to ignore the sign.

No, people are following the rules and politely asking for a renewal in a different country.

The issue here is that they're not being denied, the government is basically refusing to make a decision for an indefinite amount of time.

I'm assuming most normal cases will get their visas eventually, the question is when. In the meantime the applicant can pay rent in the US, find some place to live abroad and maybe continue working from overseas? All so the state department can retrain a few people?

Re: U.S. State Department pauses immigrant visa applications

#587

Post by 15155 » Thu, Aug 27, 2026, 4:33 AM UTC

GeneralMayhem wrote: post #577

15155 wrote: post #481

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> defending this administration "Leave to renew" has been policy for decades.

First, that's not what this is talking about. "Leave to renew" becoming "leave, and you will not be renewed" on a whim is insane, self-destructive cruelty. But also, it's only been "the policy" since 2004. That's technically "decades", but only just, and it was also introduced for idiotic pretextual reasons. The ostensible reason is that domestic State Department offices don't have the equipment to capture biometric…

> "Leave to renew" becoming "leave, permanently" is insane, self-destructive cruelty.

Which visas legally come with renewal guarantees? Isn't that called permanent residency?

Re: U.S. State Department pauses immigrant visa applications

#588

Post by aikinai » Thu, Aug 27, 2026, 4:34 AM UTC

tclancy wrote: post #235

tclancy wrote: post #231

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I used to think things like this as an American. But let's simplify. What if they're just fucking idiots and they realized they could rally a bunch of other fucking idiots to the polls? So if you were essentially having a spasm about how no one understands how perfect the world was when you had all the advantages, I mean, we don't need a fancy theory at that point. It's literally old people spewing up acid about why…

Like if your racist grampa got put in charge of US Treasuries, tell me how things would be worse.

How is Scott Bessent like a racist grandpa?

Re: U.S. State Department pauses immigrant visa applications

#589

Post by TimorousBestie » Thu, Aug 27, 2026, 4:35 AM UTC

rayiner wrote: post #565

lanstin wrote: post #547

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I know a lot of people that support these cruel and chaotic changes to our immigration laws and they are mostly xenophobic - they don’t like people speaking languages other than English at the store, they don’t like religions different than their own, they don’t like family traditions different than their own.

Xenophobia is about assuming that people are different because of their national origin. It's not "xenophobia" if there are actual differences, especially if there are actual changes to someone's society. Treating all cultural differences as equally desirable is cultural relativism. Not everyone who rejects cultural relativism is xenophobic. You're allowed to prefer your own culture and to live in a society that refl…

You’ve successfully mangled the definition of xenophobia.

“A strong aversion, antipathy, or fear of foreigners.” Simple as.

It wouldn’t be wrong if you admitted that you want some degree of xenophobia. But I suppose that sounds even less convincing than your preferred abuse of terminology.

Re: U.S. State Department pauses immigrant visa applications

#590

Post by conductr » Thu, Aug 27, 2026, 4:35 AM UTC

hvb2 wrote: post #567

conductr wrote: post #223

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not trying to make a political point at all and perhaps a controversial take. But, it’s specifically and maybe implicitly by design. Meaning they made this way precisely so you have to reapply so they can change their mind or block you out later. Nothing about getting a visa is permanent and you’re fully at risk when you move here with that type of status. If you evaluate the situation that’s always been the case.

The leaving part is not the issue, as you try to immigrate into a country you're subject to the rules that country sets. You're always free to not immigrate into that country (this is not about asylum). The issue here is that, if you just left the country to do everything the country asked you, you are now in limbo. For how long? No one can tell. Does this mean you lose your job? Maybe. And when you decide it's no lo…

> The issue here is that, if you just left the country to do everything the country asked you, you are now in limbo.

I feel like I’ve said it a few times but - Yes, exactly. The country wants you to leave and then get’s to decide if you can come back. That’s how it’s designed. On purpose.

You’re approaching it from a perspective where you’re being asked to leave and your reentry is a right. It’s not. They never said, if you leave you can come back. They said, leave and we’ll see. The risk of being blocked out is inherent by anyone residing in a country that has this similar process; there are many.