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Why I Will Never Go Back to the United States

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Re: Why I Will Never Go Back to the United States

#161

Post by cLeEOGPw »

alan_cx wrote: post #51
w_t_payne wrote: post #13

Beautiful country. Wonderful, creative, friendly people. Horrible, over-complex, hostile bureaucracy. I am pretty sure I'm not going back, either.

Problem there is that the US loudly and fundamentally claims to be a democracy. If we are to accept that, then we have to accept that the government embodies the will of its people. Or, seriously consider that the US is genuinely no longer a real democracy. It is a real shame, as you imply. American people have done incredible things which contribute to the world in general in a positive way, and the country its self…

> Problem there is that the US loudly and fundamentally claims to be a democracy. If we are to accept that, then we have to accept that the government embodies the will of its people. Or, seriously consider that the US is genuinely no longer a real democracy.

North Korea also claims to be a democratic. Self entitlement is meaningless.

Re: Why I Will Never Go Back to the United States

#162

Post by lingoberry »

tostitos1979 wrote: post #129
lingoberry wrote: post #7

Something similar happened to me recently. I voluntarily left my job at a US employer, planning to move back home (to Sweden). But first I wanted to spend some time preparing for the move and waiting for my wife to wrap things up. The rules say you have to leave the country the last day of work, so I left for Canada to stay with a friend, and planned to come back on the visa waiver program. I consulted with the compa…

Eep! I might be in a similar situation shortly. A couple of quick questions, if you don't mind? 1) Did you abandon your green card app? 2) How did you move your stuff out if you couldn't get back into the US again? Were the Canadians mean to you or were they understanding? 3) If you don't mind giving some info, I'm curious what motivated your family to leave? For us, the big reasons are we want to be close to family.…

Sure, no problem 1) Yes, I was on track for a green card within a year or two, but when I resigned I it was abandoned 2) I had some very nice friends who brought me some bags before I left Canada 3) The Canadian side of the border was immensely nicer. They tried to give advice, and let me back in after I explained what happened. The biggest difference is their demeanor. While the US people were extremely hostile from the start, the Canadian counterparts were nice and courteous. Talking to US officials was like being in a real interrogation, after this I'm much more sympathetic and get very uncomfortable watching people get interrogated on TV cop dramas etc... 3) Many reasons. Let me just also mention that we don't have children yet. Firstly, we felt our life would be better in Sweden in terms of work-life balance and family life. Especially having a family is much easier with longer vacations, maternity/paternity leave, heavily subsidized child care, socialized healthcare and a general safety net if anything goes wrong. Secondly, we're both immigrants, her being Chinese, so immigration would keep being a problem for many years, more so for her I think. Third, just like you, I have family and friends back home, which also adds a safety net, and of course I've missed them a great deal. Fourth, we're looking forward to doing traveling in Europe, there's just more to see in a smaller area, but that's not a major reason :).

All that said, we both had great jobs, earning probably 50% more than for the same job back home, while cost of living is lower in the US, and we don't have jobs lined up. The US is just great for having a career, and there are more numerous and interesting jobs in our fields, so it's not easy leaving that behind.

Re: Why I Will Never Go Back to the United States

#163

Post by xradionut »

CaptainZapp wrote: post #126
crusso wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

US immigration is broken on so many levels. A lot of our immigration problems stem from a political desire to increase voter rolls for one particular party. The Democrat party benefits greatly from illegal immigration from Mexico, so they refuse to do anything whatsoever to control that flow. That's great for Democrats to win elections and all, but it creates a backlash against immigration in general. Ironically, the…

The Democrat party benefits greatly from illegal immigration from Mexico Could you back up that assertion with proof, or at least with some sound reasoning. While I can accept that Latinos tend to vote democrat illegal immigrants can't vote to begin with. So it certainly doesn't follow that "The Democrat party benefits greatly from illegal immigration from Mexico" To me that sounds a bit like partisan mud slinging, I…

Both parties in the US benefit from illegal immigration from Mexico. Democrats have a huge Hispanic base which has interests in immigration reform. Republicans play both sides, one hand is bashing immigrants, while many of their supporters hire them for jobs to reduce costs.

Re: Why I Will Never Go Back to the United States

#164

Post by Anderkent »

yashodhan wrote: post #99
rheide wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe fix your country next time?

It's not my country, you assumptive douche. The author was rejected from entering the USA on arguably questionable, but still legal terms. Based on his account, I'm forced to believe he acted appropriately, and therefore I feel bad for him, but he doesn't have a given right to enter a foreign country. My advice remains. Custom officials in airports are much better equipped to handle foreigners. So, to hedge your safe…

> The author was rejected from entering the USA on arguably questionable, but still legal terms.

And no one was questioning the legality of this. Legal does not mean good.

>My advice remains. Custom officials in airports are much better equipped to handle foreigners. So, to hedge your safest bets for next time you go to the US, make the airport your first port of entry.

How is that not broken? Why should it matter if you enter via airport or train.

There was no reason to turn him away, other than misperceptions and bigocy by the border agents. That's what should be fixed.

Re: Why I Will Never Go Back to the United States

#165

Post by Jacqued »

techsupporter wrote: post #5
rheide wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe fix your country next time?

I honestly don't see what is broken here. No one has the unquestioned right to enter any country except one where they hold citizenship. This post documents one person who was turned away for what he felt was an unreasonable position but that's still up to the United States to decide. It may shock people on Hacker News to learn this, but many other countries turn people away for "frivolous" reasons or no reason at al…

On the other hand, one may contest the premise that a country has a right to refuse entrance to any individual.

I, for one, would rather live in a world where individuals are free to travel at will (protected by international agreements) than in one where only goods and money benefit from this kind of protection.

As someone who lives in a Schengen area country, I experience both, so maybe that influences my opinions : it seems quite retrograde and unbearable to forbid people to just travel as they wish.

Re: Why I Will Never Go Back to the United States

#166

Post by bobdvb »

Jacqued wrote: post #151
Fuxy wrote: post #102

Apparently traveling in a lot of countries is grounds for suspicion in the US. Well if you have multiple citizenship you can always just choose which passport you're going to use so how useful is that really?

I know I do, but that's not a solution for everyone. Even if you don't have multiple citizenship, it should probably be standard practice to get a fresh, stamp-less passport if you're planning on travelling to the US or any such hostile country.

I am due for a new passport soon, which is a shame because I will loose a few interesting stamps. But it is probably a good thing as my travel seems to be gravitating towards the US soon. I have avoided the US for >10 years now, but work might bring me there again for some visits next year.

Re: Why I Will Never Go Back to the United States

#167

Post by bighi »

Nrsolis wrote: post #111
alan_cx wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Problem there is that the US loudly and fundamentally claims to be a democracy. If we are to accept that, then we have to accept that the government embodies the will of its people. Or, seriously consider that the US is genuinely no longer a real democracy. It is a real shame, as you imply. American people have done incredible things which contribute to the world in general in a positive way, and the country its self…

I don't think it's fair to paint all of this as somehow originating with the US. This country doesn't exist in a vacuum and it is shaped by the political and economic forces that surround it. I think people forget that this nation is constantly under some form of "attack" by groups (nation-state and otherwise) who hope to destabilize it or mitigate the power it can wield. I'm an American and I'm fiercely proud of thi…

Your country is constantly under attack? It's as varied in culture and population as Europe? You can go from poor to billionaire?

Dude, I surely want to smoke what you're smoking.

Re: Why I Will Never Go Back to the United States

#168

Post by DennisP »

alan_cx wrote: post #51
w_t_payne wrote: post #13

Beautiful country. Wonderful, creative, friendly people. Horrible, over-complex, hostile bureaucracy. I am pretty sure I'm not going back, either.

Problem there is that the US loudly and fundamentally claims to be a democracy. If we are to accept that, then we have to accept that the government embodies the will of its people. Or, seriously consider that the US is genuinely no longer a real democracy. It is a real shame, as you imply. American people have done incredible things which contribute to the world in general in a positive way, and the country its self…

After getting deeply involved in politics for about five years, I'll pick "no longer a real democracy," at least at the federal level, and my state's pretty shaky. Local's still good.

Re: Why I Will Never Go Back to the United States

#169

Post by wrongc0ntinent »

davidcollantes wrote: post #78

Do, really, immigration officers ask "What the hell where you doing X?" "Aren't those countries Islamic?" There are parts on this writing that are hard to believe, like they were written to sound like a novel, but I have never been on a situation like the one described, not even close.

Some of their questions are there to gauge your response, not get information, but I still have a hard time believing they would call him "a Jew" instead of a version of "Jewish".

Re: Why I Will Never Go Back to the United States

#170

Post by busterarm »

ankushnarula wrote: post #70

This is disgusting. But then the more I think about I wonder if I was a CBP officer how would I behave if I didn't want to be the officer who allowed a terrorist into the US who manages to succeed with some plot. Far fetched perhaps, but I think that mentality has created a culture in CBP. With that said, I think there's a larger culture of militant xenophobia running rampant in federal, state, and local policing. It…

Some of the people who join CBP tend to be a bit xenophobic to begin with.

One of the most bigoted people I've ever met got a job with the CBP after a very brief and unsuccessful stint in the Army where he'd publicly announced to everyone that he was going to Afghanistan to 'kill towelheads'.

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