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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

#851

Post by nutjob2 »

xyzelement wrote: post #733

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're suspiciously credulous. There is no practical reason to do this and the idea you have to shut down immigration for training staff suggests that the relevant US agency is merely incompetent.

Moreover, this administration has a track record which makes it clear its not being reasonable on purpose.

I don't think centrism is about leaving logic behind and splitting the difference.

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

#852

Post by jandrese »

NeutralWanted wrote: post #386
testbjjl wrote: post #381

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think there are a lot of inhumane things happening around the world right now to label this inconvenient, at best. We need better leadership through higher voter participation and an informed electorate to stop these inhumane and inconvenient policies.

Speak for yourself, I voted for exactly these policies.

This feels like one of those times where it is easy to vote for a policy when the effects are on a vaguer or populational level, but when you actually meet or make friends with someone affected it takes on an entirely new light.

I mean this is how gay marriage flipped, enough people got to know their homosexual friends, neighbors, or even family members and realized that the policy was hateful against someone they cared about and the stated harms were clearly rediculous when put in the context of that real person you know.

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

#853

Post by mikewarot »

sinecure wrote: post #849

Educated, young Americans are pissed off because the life they were promised when they went to college is not attainable for a majority of them. Inflation caused by the government's pandemic response has devastated US consumer buying power and increased the cost of everything in life, while simultaneously Americans are being forced to compete with the entire world of professionals for US jobs, driving down wages. Eve…

This boomer would be quite happy if the price of his home went back to it's purchase price, the cheapest house in town by far. I just hope Social security holds out.

We were promised socialized medicine, we got socialized insurance oligarchy instead. I'll never forgive Obama and especially Rahm Emmanuel, his chief of staff, for that.

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

#854

Post by newswasboring »

Georgelemental wrote: post #439
yodsanklai wrote: post #319

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…

> Companies want the best candidates they can get, and the larger the recruitment pool, the better. Yes, at the lowest wages they can get. Increase supply -> lower prices (wages) -> more corporate profits! However, there are those who believe that corporate profits are not the highest good. Some of us also care about the earnings of American workers. Also, "best candidates" alone does not "best company" make. You nee…

Your entire comment assumes people of different cultural backgrounds cannot collaborate on technical challenges. As someone who manages a team where almost everyone is from a different country I don't see where you got this from. A Laplace transform is a Laplace transform, whether you learn it in a school in India or Nigeria or Lichtenstein.

Your comment is veering uncomfortably close to bigotry.

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

#855

Post by zem »

mportela wrote: post #752
zem wrote: post #336

Earlier quoted context omitted.

the "only in your home country" change happened very recently, late 2025 or early 2026

Not really… Theoretically, you could get it issued in a third country under very restrict conditions (renewing to the same class, in Mexico or Canada, force majeure, etc). However, the likelihood of it being denied was considerably higher, so basically all immigration lawyers strongly recommended going back to the home country. The recent policy change ended that possibility altogether.

at least for Indians, going to Mexico/Canada and renewing to the same class were both very large use cases. consulate appointments in the home country are super backed up.

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

#856

Post by mattnewton »

rayiner wrote: post #838
motbus3 wrote: post #628

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

You treat them like they are people without personal agency. Temporary worker programs are a deal offered on open terms: people can come to work, but they have to leave afterward. The laws are plastered with the word “temporary.” People take advantage of the deal knowing the terms and there is nothing wrong holding people to the deal.

This is not that, these are people seeking to immigrate to the United States legally getting jerked around instead of a process that approves or denies them on a set timeline.

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

#857

Post by dcow »

motbus3 wrote: post #690
dcow wrote: post #631

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are you talking about general immigration or asylum? If general, what country do you live in? I’m going to plan an extended visit.

I won't dox myself, but you'd be welcome if you needed to. Following World War II, we took in European immigrants who had lost everything. More recently, we have welcomed individuals from countries in the Middle East and South America. Within a few days, you would receive your citizenship and be integrated into the system. I believe there are some initial advantages, but based on what I've heard, the expectation is t…

> the expectation is that you'll need to become self-sufficient very quickly because the financial support diminishes rapidly

The US has this same expectation. It’s the long and short of what this reaction of pausing visas is about: bickering over how to make sure the expectation is being met during visa screening.

I don’t see anybody anywhere even remotely implying that hard working immigrants shouldn’t be given the benefit of the doubt and be allowed to make their own way in the US. I do see people rightly upset that when given the benefit of the doubt a Somali fraud ring setup to extract money from the welfare programs we’ve set up to provide children with education and generally people with healthcare runs rampant. Stopping that indeed involves more “public-charge” scrutiny during the visa process.

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

#858

Post by cute_boi »

LeifCarrotson wrote: post #742
donohoe wrote: post #729

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"feels intentionally cruel" They are intentionally cruel. Its the point. They aren't even trying to hide it. The posts on official Whitehouse X account are borderline gleeful on topics of deportation and immigration. I'm in dis-belief at times.

The intentional cruelty must be visible because they're doing it to gain support from those who want to see immigrants mistreated. They're not trying to change the rate of immigration, they're just looking to score political points.

This is the issue with low trust society. Consulting companies and H1B have abused things so much, people don't show any empathy even for genuine candidate.

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

#859

Post by anthonypasq »

jpadkins wrote: post #828
mcmcmc wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The first responsibility is to protect the rights of all people in the country. Citizenship is not required for protected rights

If citizenship is not required for protected rights, what is? If myself and 10,000 of my friends migrate to Greenland illegally, does the Greenland government have a duty to protect our rights?

[dead]

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

#860

Post by apercu »

jbm wrote: post #180
kashunstva wrote: post #168

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Really? My spouse and I lived in Canada on work permits and were not required to leave in order to achieve PR status; nor to achieve citizenship status.

Prior to Covid, my wife had to exit the country to get photos taken as part of the permanent resident process. We took a trip to Montana for that purpose. This seems to have changed in the past 3-4 years, but as the GP said, the original process did involve leaving.

Thanks. And yea, my PR was in 2004. Citizen now but living in the US again.
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