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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

#931

Post by xyzelement »

rkozik1989 wrote: post #921
xyzelement wrote: post #902

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)…

You do understand these rules impact Americans who petition for the visas of their foreign spouses, right? Its not just people coming into this country for work purposes only. Its awfully heartless to assume that the only immigrants coming over here are doing so to solely make money.

This was not mentioned in the linked article so I wasn't specifically holding that (nor did I see this mentioned in a lot of comments?)

Without knowing much about it - that sounds likewise like a something to be sympathetic about but also makes sense that it's part of the overall visa process.

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

#932

Post by Georgelemental »

afavour wrote: post #700
Georgelemental wrote: post #502

Earlier quoted context omitted.

An H-1B is a temporary non-immigrant visa. You're not supposed to rely on it to build a life in the US with no backup plan; that was never the intent of the law. However, successive administrations ignored the intent of the law, for so long that people began to rely on assurances that the law never promised. Now that the law is getting applied properly, those people are facing the consequences. It sucks for them, but…

H1B is explicitly a dual intent visa. You are allowed to pursue a green card while in the country on an H1B. It has been an accepted, valid path for a very long time now. If the government wishes to change that of course they can. But the humane approach would be to let those who have already started the process finish it.

You are allowed to pursue one, but the government is allowed to say no. Hence the need for a backup plan

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

#933

Post by pjc50 »

dijksterhuis wrote: post #812
ifwinterco wrote: post #701

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

> illegal immigration is the type of immigration people are upset about here in the UK. most people have no problem with legal migration.

People claim that, but you can't read someone's immigration status from their face.

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

#934

Post by doc_ick »

ApolloFortyNine wrote: post #440
doc_ick wrote: post #406

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I see you trying to kick a field goal all the way from the school parking lot, good luck with that.

It's not popular to mention but the US is the most immigrated to country on the planet, almost 4x the next country. But really, immigrating to any country is quite complex. It's far from "just fill out a form" for pretty much every western country.

I’d like to see the data on that, as I wouldn’t be necessarily surprised but would like to verify first.

Though I may disagree on some for that, as now it seems the you should either mery someone from the admin or buy a gold 1million$ card and your good.

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

#935

Post by digitaltrees »

conductr wrote: post #217
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…

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.

And they may let you rot in a deportation facility for months “pending deportation proceedings” which they haven’t hired judges to handle? If we hired more judges with the money used to build and run the facilities we would work through the back log of cases in a humane and predictable way in line with our historical commitment to the rule of law. This is terror by design.

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

#936

Post by jpgvm »

vjvjvjvjghv wrote: post #837
aprilthird2021 wrote: post #735

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Trump supporters will be shocked when such people just start working from abroad for the company vs the company hiring unqualified American citizens

That’s what my company is doing. Instead of hiring more people in the US they are hiring almost exclusively in other countries. The tariffs seem to be backfiring in a similar way. More production is moved outside the US to avoid the tariffs.

Can't manufacture anything in America if all your inputs are tariffed out the wazoo.

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

#937

Post by Georgelemental »

fg137 wrote: post #804
Georgelemental wrote: post #502

Earlier quoted context omitted.

An H-1B is a temporary non-immigrant visa. You're not supposed to rely on it to build a life in the US with no backup plan; that was never the intent of the law. However, successive administrations ignored the intent of the law, for so long that people began to rely on assurances that the law never promised. Now that the law is getting applied properly, those people are facing the consequences. It sucks for them, but…

Your first sentence is factually wrong. I highly recommend that you refrain from commenting on any immigration related topics until you can get your facts correct.

https://www.uscis.gov/working-in-the-united-states/h-1b-spec...

> This nonimmigrant classification

https://www.dol.gov/agencies/whd/immigration/h1b

> The H-1B program applies to employers seeking to hire nonimmigrant aliens

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

#939

Post by jameshart »

mc32 wrote: post #162
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.

Recently[1] Microsoft laid off several thousand domestic employees while simultaneously hiring a couple thousand employer-sponsored-Visa workers. [1] https://www.newsweek.com/microsoft-layoffs-2026-xbox-h1b-vis...

That is not actually what that article says.

It’s a common pattern to say ‘company X laid off thousands of employees but then applied for thousands of H1B visas’ which very much gives the impression that the company has just fired a few thousand Americans and hired a few thousand foreigners.

What actually happens is: a company has a global workforce of 100000 or so. 50000 of them are in the US. 5000 of them are in the US on H1Bs, 45000 of them are Americans.

Company does a 10% layoff: 4500 Americans, 500 people who are in the us on visas, and 5000 people around the world.

Headline: “Company X lays off 10000”

Then the H1B renewal numbers come out and what do you know company X is applying for 4500 H1Bs, to retain their existing H1B staff who weren’t affected by the layoff.

Headline: “After laying off 10,000 staff company x applies for 4500 H1B visas”

Unstated in such a headline: 5500 of those layoffs were foreigners; the company still employs 40500 Americans.

To bring it back to your point: you cited this article as evidence for the claim that Microsoft laid off ‘thousands of domestic employees’; the article does not say where the thousands of layoffs were and explicitly contains a quote from an MS spokesperson that says “H-1B employees were also impacted by job eliminations in the U.S.”

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

#940

Post by afavour »

itake wrote: post #928
fg137 wrote: post #800

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This. The dude has no idea what they are talking about. It's amazing even on HN people are openly giving their opinions while being completely uninformed of the facts. Imagine the discussions elsewhere.

I’m informed on this topic… Can you correct the mistake? If I show up in China (or the USA) on a tourist visa with the plans to pursue a marriage and permanent residency, does that mean I get to backdate my permanent residency to the tourist visa because I’m able to pursue a marriage (PR)?

I don’t understand the relevance. No one is using a tourist visa in this scenario and a tourist visa definitely isn’t dual intent in the way an H1B is.
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