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

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

#841

Post by tuesdaynight » Thu, Aug 27, 2026, 12:59 PM UTC

sensanaty wrote: post #236

UncleOxidant wrote: post #195

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Our birthrate has been below replacement for several years now. We need immigrants to mitigate that.

Or, crazy idea, we make life livable for the locals and then we incentivize them to have kids of their own? And before you say it, I'm an immigrant from the 3rd world myself. I'm not anti-immigratiom, but the birth rate talking point is a very poor one. Not to mention how unsustainable it is anyways, what happens a few years down the line when the immigrants stop having kids? There isn't an infinite ocean of people y…

I don't care about US immigration, but remember that people don't want to have more children. There's nothing related with costs or whatever. Norway have a lot of incentives and people still prefer to have less kids than USA. If these "livable conditions" were a true argument, rich countries would not need to incentivize people, because they would have more children willingly. Life is way more livable in a rich country than a poor country

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

#842

Post by yipinwong » Thu, Aug 27, 2026, 1:00 PM UTC

jmward01 wrote: post #659

This is cruel. This is stupid. But more broadly important to this group, this will continue to push skilled workers out of the US and into friendlier countries. It will continue to erode our soft power since countries will have fewer economic ties with the US and fewer personal ties to the US. There are no redeeming aspects to this that I can see. This is a bad move in the short term and the long term.

[flagged]

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

#843

Post by xyzelement » Thu, Aug 27, 2026, 1:01 PM UTC

As a relatively centrist American, I find this reasonable. I live in a very blue state (NY) and still 43% of my neighbors voted for Trump, with immigration cited as a key reason. So changes to immigration policy are to be expected.

With regard to temporary visas, the article cited a few types of issues. For example the scenario where someone obtain a temporary visa (promissing to return is a part of the application) and then files for asylum once here. This is broadly understood to be an abuse.

More broadly, because HN is a tech crowd we tend to understand that H1-B visas are often used to supplant American labor cheaper (vs - "filling jobs that Americans aren't willing to fill.") The same dynamic is seen outside of tech as well. Representative example: last year we stayed at two hotels in upstate New York. One was a family run operation that hired local teenagers and older people. It was awesome. The next place right next door, is owned by a larger operation and every single employee was central European - recruited over there and brought here to work the hotel for the summer. I don't think that's a reflection of lack of local labor (said teenagers and older folks) but a business strategy (ab)using temporary worker visas for cheap labor. I think Americans intuitively understand that this doesn't benefit Americans - except the business owners hiring the h1-bs and similar.

So because the system is perceived to be abused and not serving the people's benefit most people are fine with a pause and re-evaluation. Obviously there are sympathetic stories of people caught with uncertainty at the moment and we hope it resolved well for them. At the same time this is a sign of a problematic system in place - the fact that someone here on a temporary visa has an expectation of indefinite renewal means we have created and reinforced such expectation and that probably isn't right.

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

#844

Post by beanjuiceII » Thu, Aug 27, 2026, 1:01 PM UTC

godelmachine wrote: post #834

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…

This is for immigrant visa, not work visa. I think you got it all wrong.

they did get it wrong

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

#845

Post by catigula » Thu, Aug 27, 2026, 1:01 PM UTC

>AI will replace you ahahahahahaha!!!!! hahaahaha!

Seems like this policy is a long time coming? Why do we need workers?

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

#846

Post by tclancy » Thu, Aug 27, 2026, 1:02 PM UTC

motbus3 wrote: post #713

hvb2 wrote: post #517

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

when you treat immigrants like they were not people with lifes, you are just one step away from treating poor people as they were not people and then too treat all common people as they were not people. also it has been quite convenient explanation for adopting systems such as Flock and allowing all kinds of para-police actions which seems very similar to what happened in germany circla 1930-1934

> when you treat immigrants like they were not people with lifes

Thus the rebranding of humans as “illegals”.

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

#847

Post by jameshart » Thu, Aug 27, 2026, 1:02 PM UTC

klooney wrote: post #811

yodsanklai wrote: post #343

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

> As an interviewer, I don't even know if the person I interview is a US citizen I don't either, but my guess is almost none are

That seems like a bias you should work on.

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

#848

Post by ChrisRR » Thu, Aug 27, 2026, 1:02 PM UTC

simianparrot wrote: post #831

I am so jealous of the American people. You might not all understand it, but this is what putting your own people first looks like.

Putting you own people... You seem to be missing a word there

Your sentence could go one of two ways, but I suspect I already know what it is

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

#849

Post by y-curious » Thu, Aug 27, 2026, 1:03 PM UTC

orsenthil wrote: post #806

I see a lot of comments in this thread in support this stance, as if that is something good for Americans, and say it is not a political statement. One thing that changed my viewpoint was this book. Deaths of Despair and the Future of Capitalism by Anne Case, and Angus Deaton. In it, they make a point that, almost all US economists agree that immigration, both legal and Illegal Immigration, is not the cause for Ameri…

Do walk us through the spot checking path. Class warfare is hard to see, seeing your job go to a lower-paid foreign worker is not

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

#850

Post by yipinwong » Thu, Aug 27, 2026, 1:03 PM UTC

orsenthil wrote: post #806

I see a lot of comments in this thread in support this stance, as if that is something good for Americans, and say it is not a political statement. One thing that changed my viewpoint was this book. Deaths of Despair and the Future of Capitalism by Anne Case, and Angus Deaton. In it, they make a point that, almost all US economists agree that immigration, both legal and Illegal Immigration, is not the cause for Ameri…

> almost all US economists

Bold claim without artifacts: no artifacts to your claim.

> Hacker news crowd can easily verify this by spot-checking.

Nobody got time for this. You provide the verification for us or else your claim just doesn't mean jack.

You try to sound smart by saying words like `false narratives` or `divisive exploits` but they don't mean anything here. You just trying to sound smart.