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U.S. State Department pauses immigrant visa applications

wsj.com

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

#891

Post by account42 »

MrVandemar wrote: post #887
account42 wrote: post #871

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So? No one is entitled to immigrate to the US. It is very much supposed to not be achievable for literally everyone but only for those where it will be a net positive for the country. And it's perfectly normal that the country where the most people want to immigrate to will also have higher barriers.

> And it's perfectly normal that the country where the most people want to immigrate to will also have higher barriers. In my country, I've not heard a lot of people expressing the wish to visit, let alone immigrate to the US for quite some time now. And as a reminder of what country we're all talking about here, that'd be the one with the highest number of school shootings in the world, and the least political actio…

What sheltered well off ideologues say in their bubbles is irrelevant when it comes to determining what country people from around the world want to immigrate to. Historically, the US has been THE country where people want to be and I have yet to see any evidence that that has changed. If people would no longer want to come to the US then these changes to the immigration policies would also not affect anyone.

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

#892

Post by skinfaxi »

mlazos wrote: post #825
alphabeta3r56 wrote: post #728

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The reason it is a weasel's move is because decisions at the consulate are made by consular officers who are career public workers and won't deny visas for arbitrary reasons. No? Visa can be denied for arbitrary reasons based on what executive branch of US. there have been multiple cases where it has been clear that visas are a privilige not a right. Visa needs a reason to be granted, by default it is denied.

Laws should not be executed on the whim of the executive branch.

It's not always a bad thing though is it? Like when Obama stopped federal enforcement of weed laws.

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

#893

Post by CSMastermind »

yodsanklai wrote: post #357
sinecure wrote: post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This was never about talent. It's about companies hiring foreigners on h1b visas at below market wages where their life in the USA is contingent on their job performance forcing them to work harder and longer than their peers to remain in the country. It's a situation that only benefits companies, while harming US citizens who have to compete with the lower wages of foreigners.

I work in a global company. As an interviewer, I don't even know if the person I interview is a US citizen. I don't even know if they live in the US or another country, and I'm probably not allowed to ask. I just rate their performance. And everybody is paid the same. I think the situation is quite simple. Companies want the best candidates they can get, and the larger the recruitment pool, the better. If tomorrow yo…

> Companies want the best candidates they can get

Every global company I've worked at has had extensive ethnic networks and sometimes teams of only one ethnicity.

It's painfully obvious that they're not just taking the most qualified candidates.

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

#894

Post by tialaramex »

cosmicgadget wrote: post #509
BatFastard wrote: post #14

What will be next in Trump's destruction of the American Economy? So far he has driven away allies, put huge tariff on our most loyal allies. Driven away manufacturing by tariff policies. Driven away immigrants and academics. Pushed a last century oil based economy. Shown us how our exquisite weapon tech will fail (this might actually be good in the long run). Along with crippling our cybersecurity and state departme…

Replacing Lisa Cook or Jerome Powell and cutting rates to 0.

It's funniest if the economic collapse begins with Republicans still in power everywhere to pretend that things are fine. Once Democrats are elected, even if they're not actually doing anything yet and so couldn't plausibly have any role in the problem the US media will insist it's their fault which is very boring to watch.

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

#895

Post by simonw »

avazhi wrote: post #884
hvb2 wrote: post #605

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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. That is how it's designed, and that's fine. But make a decision... They're pausing the decision making for an indefinite amount of time. That's not how it was designed, but it sure does look like that's on purpose.

Of course it’s on purpose. That’s the point: to get temp migrants to leave. There’s nothing inhumane about that, and the government is acting within the scope of its authority. In the end this is 100% a political issue and who knows why it is on the HN front page.

I imagine it's on the HN front page because it directly affects the technology careers of a large number of the people who are members of this community - or are coworkers of or employees/employers of members of this community.

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

#896

Post by dijksterhuis »

ifwinterco wrote: post #770
pjc50 wrote: post #689

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> That’s how it’s designed. On purpose. The cruelty is the point. (The UK system requires initial applications from overseas but I believe doesn't require you to leave for renewals)

Not at the moment, but the result of the current UK system has been huge uncontrolled levels of immigration leading to deep public resentment, so that may change in the future

couple of notes —

1a. Illegal immigration has nothing to do with visa based, legal immigration. illegal immigration is the type of immigration people are upset about here in the UK. most people have no problem with legal migration.

1b. anyone claiming the UK’s legal migration is any sort of problem right now, or in the past, should probably not be listened to in any way shape or form for anything they have to say on the matter.

2. a lot of the folks who have illegally entered the country end up asking for asylum, and by law their claims must be processed

3. the dublin convention states something along the lines of “asylum requests must be processed in the first EU country the person entered into”, ie it’s possible to remove people claiming asylum if they initially arrived in a different EU member state country

4. most people get to the uk having traveled through EU member states, because geography.

5. we left the EU, we cannot do 3 anymore. so we have a bunch of people stuck in hotels waiting for asylum claims to be processed.

illegal immigration got worse because we left the eu.

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

#897

Post by m3rc »

itake wrote: post #484
vjvjvjvjghv wrote: post #345

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…

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…

Genuinely how are people like you still around and semi-concious after the past 8 years

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

#899

Post by 15155 »

foltik wrote: post #608
15155 wrote: post #563

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

Do you have anything constructive to say about the merits of the leave to renew policy itself? Or the zero notice halt of visa processing? Or just vague gesturing about how immigrants aren’t entitled to anything? (but you presumably are!)

> Do you have anything constructive to say about the merits of the leave to renew policy itself?

I've discussed this thoroughly in sibling threads: forcing people to leave every once in a while is an extremely useful tool in ensuring that they are maintaining a residence and ties to their home country (where they agreed they would return.)

B-1/B-2 are the quintessential examples of visas requiring "leave to renew" - and note: these folks are granted no permission to work or remain in the United States.

> immigrants aren’t entitled to anything? (but you presumably are!)

I don't feel entitled to anything whatsoever in other countries. As a citizen of the United States, however, our law does indeed entitle me to things that foreign guests have zero expectation or entitlement to.

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

#900

Post by the_real_cher »

hvb2 wrote: 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…

The hundreds of thousands of unnemployed tech workers who were laid off over the past few years and replaced by immigrants in the USA are probably not the saddest about this news.

The fresh grads who can't find a job in the US aren't the saddest about this news.

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