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U.S. State Department pauses immigrant visa applications

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

#751
post #15

So for those that don't know, it's quite common for a visa renewal to be required to leave the country. Depending on the visa, you might have to do this every year. So just imagine, having a normal job in the US and you're asked to leave to renew your visa and this stuff happens. That's no more appointment, not even a new date and you're now very likely unable to work and possibly can't even enter the country to get…

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

#752
post #566
post #561

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Right, the point isn't that "Leave to renew" is some kind of horrible policy. Such bad-fucking-faith on display everywhere. The point is maybe signal to people that we will soon be pausing all visa renewals so people who trivially have good jobs and good records know they ought to literally just plan on moving out of their apartment rather than have to deal with paying thousands of dollars to have someone else move t…

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This isn't hard: Just give a notice period if you're going to stop processing visas, so people can sell and ship their shit and break their leases before they go.

Just because temporary isn't indefinite doesn't mean we have to be absolute ghouls about how they leave the country

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

#753

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In which European countries?

All 29 countries in the Schengen Zone require exit to renew tourist visas Germany, Italy, France, Switzerland, Austria, and most EU nations generally require non-EU citizens to return to their home country to change visa types.

We're discussing immigration visas here.

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

#754

My company has a H-1B guy that travelled home to India a few months ago and since then can't come back because the next date he can get with the US embassy is next year. Seems he may get stuck even longer... I am to some degree on board with keeping a closer eye on immigration, but the way the current administration does it feels intentionally cruel. The guy at my company has a house, wife, and kids in the US; his vi…

Same for ICE. Clamping down on illegal immigration makes sense, but it doesn't make sense for ICE to behave like some unaccountable secret police that hires the biggest assholes they can find who can then do whatever they want.

To you.

But the existence of a secret police has a lot of upsides if you plan to not leave office.

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

#755

This is a response to the supreme court ruling on birthright citizenship. They're using the levers they do have, since that was removed. Anyone who agrees with the ruling should really read justice Thomas' dissent.

it’s a cut and dry constitutional amendment, it doesn’t matter if Thomas thinks the people that were in mind when it was drafted are not the same people it applies to now. if they want to change it, go ahead and get the states to ratify a new amendment. Supreme Court doesn’t get to throw out an amendment because it’s old.

It was one vote away from going Thomas's way, so I wouldn't say it doesn't matter what he thinks.

As a non-american, I would have enjoyed the precedent that the logical conclusion had to be that I would not be subject to the laws of the US, when visiting.

The Thomas interpretation must logically have given diplomatic immunity to anyone on an ESTA too.

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

#756
post #487

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm an American that lives abroad. I have first-hand experience how other countries treat 'immigrants'. H1B is a temporary non-immigrant visa. I could never imagine myself buying a home in a country where I don't have permanent access to that real estate. I am not opposed to voting to prevent non-PRs from owning real estate in order to keep housing prices lower for residents and prevent non-immigrants from shooting t…

I think one of the fundamental problem with h1b is that it is labeled as "non-immigrant" whereas for all practical purposes it is really an immigrant visa. Why would a person who is supposedly having rare skills come to a country and spend their best years here without reasonable guarantee of permanency? People buy homes because it is a reasonable belief that they are going to be living here permanently and it has hi…

> Why would a person who is supposedly having rare skills come to a country and spend their best years here without reasonable guarantee of permanency?

I agree with your overall point but the answer here is money. The earning potential in the US vs. e.g. India is drastic.

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

#757

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is sufficiently incoherent as to suggest you aren't interested in the serious discussion you are requesting in response. You could better refute this by starting with a policy you would consider cruel, and the in turn demonstrating how this one doesn't fit it. Historically i've tended to agree that "the cruelty is the point" was too dismissive for the policies in question. But with immigration policy of this admin…

>You could better refute this by starting with a policy you would consider cruel, and the in turn demonstrating how this one doesn't fit it. I actually don't think it is that common for policy to be cruel just for the sake of being cruel ("the cruelty is the point") >For a while they were deporting people to the equivalent of a Gulag, and literally suggested that if people were afraid of that outcome they should self…

Nobody is buying the analogy comparing deportation to Gulag equivalents to imperfect prison meals

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

#758

50% of all American unicorns were started by immigrants. This is sheer stupidity to prevent the best of what the world has to offer when they are knocking at your door.

And how many immigrants didn't start unicorns? How do we filter out the best and leave the rest out? Should we have automatic deportation for people that are not economically productive enough? Deportation if some of the best in the world is not so best anymore?

Wanting to tie economic performance to public support for immigration is risky gamble.

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

#759

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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?

He knows nothing about how anything in the world actually works.

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

#760
post #737

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Big cities are indistinguishable from other big cities in other countries. All big cities mostly have the same culture. That's why I liked the Japanese perspective on us. They saw cool things that they liked and included in their fiction that contained us. If you want to experience American culture I recommend https://www.youtube.com/@PeterSantenello America doesn't have one culture. It has 500 cultures. But the ones…

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