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I spent the last 15 years trying to become an American and failed

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Re: I spent the last 15 years trying to become an American and failed

#161

Post by bane »

madars wrote: post #153
bane wrote: post #72

I sympathize with the author, the path to a green card is ridiculous. [1] But that's where my sympathies stop. It's not a hidden process either. If staying here matters to you better work tirelessly to put yourself on a path to permanent residency and you better be the one to push it daily or it won't happen. Here we have a highly educated, Ivy Leaguer with a LAW DEGREE , who didn't. But about 500,000 people a year d…

I think you overestimate the straight-forwardness of this. Option #2 means including economic incentives in your relationship ("I better rush towards marrying someone, lest I get kicked out!"). Option #3 is very restricted -- if you are on a non-immigrant visa (e.g. student visa), then the simple fact of applying for the lottery (and thus signalling immigration intent) will likely make you ineligible for a renewal.

But you see, that's it. Those are the options. Option #4: treat people who want to immigrate with decency, isn't available.

I think it's fair to complain that this option doesn't exist, I'd like it to exist. But it doesn't and options #1-3 are what the author had to work within, yet chose not to pursue any of them.

If he still wants to get in, once he's back in New Zealand, he's free to continue pursuing permanent residency. Going back to New Zealand doesn't prevent him from continuing to pursue these options. But he simply doesn't have the tenacity to do it, not while he was in the U.S. and probably not once he returns home.

Re: I spent the last 15 years trying to become an American and failed

#162

Post by babatong »

ryandrake wrote: post #126
jmorphy88 wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In fact, it's downright oppressive that the government of the United States treats its own citizens differently than citizens of foreign countries.

You're missing the point. Birthright citizens have nothing but "geographic location of birth" to qualify them as citizens of their country. They literally (in the real meaning of 'literally') did nothing to become citizens. Their children will also likely have to do nothing to become citizens, as long as they're born within the same borders. What motivation do people who expended zero effort to become citizens curren…

Just fyi: most countries do not operate a jus soli-based citizenship system. Probably because of the reasons you outline.

Re: I spent the last 15 years trying to become an American and failed

#163

Post by jacquesm »

hluska wrote: post #125
geebee wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Any chance you'd be willing to write a bit more about your support for open borders? In particular, I'm interested in knowing whether you think this is a situation where it would be both moral and beneficial, or if you feel that it is simply wrong to limit where people can live and work based on where they were born (or even where their grandparents were born) even if the overall effect on current citizens of some re…

I'm not the OP, but I mostly support the idea of open borders and I'm from Canada. Canada has many of the same issues that New Zealand has. We are the second largest country (by landmass) in the world, yet our population is slightly smaller than California. Much of our land is quite rugged, or very cold but our country is still capable of supporting more than the 35 million we currently have. The best argument that I…

Opening the Canadian border would not magically bring jobs back that have been moved to low wage countries.

Re: I spent the last 15 years trying to become an American and failed

#164

Post by eax_ »

hyperion_ wrote: post #47
pkaye wrote: post #41

Is it much easier in the EU? For example, can I go to Switzerland or France and easily get permanent residency?

Switzerland is not a part of the EU.

Right, but it's part of the Schengen area, which also covers most of the EU countries, so once you got a visa to e.g. France, you're free to work and live in Switzerland as well.

Re: I spent the last 15 years trying to become an American and failed

#165

Post by zzalpha »

sigzero wrote: post #65
zzalpha wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Damaging in what sense?

A problem being, if you open the door, you don't control who comes through. I am totally against an open borders policy.

You didn't answer the question.

The claim was "countries that are based on a unique language, ethnicity and culture, [immigration] is damaging."

Again, I ask the question: damaging in what sense?

Re: I spent the last 15 years trying to become an American and failed

#167

Post by crimsonalucard »

vezzy-fnord wrote: post #103
crimsonalucard wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Moral imperatives do not always correlate with survival imperatives. I'm not going to say whether or not I believe in immigration, but there are two things I will say: 1. Arguments against immigration stem not from moral imperatives, but from survival instinct. 2. If we open up immigration, America as we know it will change dramatically, in either a good or bad way. I think what we have now is already pretty good, so…

Firstly, America as we know it has been changing dramatically and continuously since its inception. I don't see anyone mourning the loss of the Bourbon Democrats or tariff acts, but suffice to say they aren't here anymore. Secondly, what are you referring to by "what we have now"? Immigration law in particular, or U.S. policy on a macro level?

>Firstly, America as we know it has been changing dramatically and continuously since its inception. I don't see anyone mourning the loss of the Bourbon Democrats or tariff acts, but suffice to say they aren't here anymore.

It's been changing, sure, but the change you address is different from the change of say dropping a nuclear bomb on all our major cities or discovering sources of unlimited, zero-emission energy. The change I'm talking about, which is eliminating immigration law completely by making ANYONE able to come here is entirely different from the "continuos change since inception" that you're addressing.

By "what we have now" I mean the state of everything as it is today. The economy, the people, our values, our resources. When you increase the population and let ANYONE in, all of these things will change.

Re: I spent the last 15 years trying to become an American and failed

#168

Post by crusso »

zerr wrote: post #157
crusso wrote: post #147

Earlier quoted context omitted.

assuming the culture of the host country is respected That's a huge and unfounded assumption, though.

Lets say there are lot of would-be-immigrants willing to respect the culture of prospective host country, become "American person", "NZ person" etc... (this doesn't necessary mean assimilation), but they are denied to do so. We need to fix this.

I agree with you, but unfortunately, the real problem with immigration is that it's a war between traditional views that value the indigenous culture vs multicultural forces that consider the host culture to be irrelevant.

Poor souls like the author of this article are caught in the middle. They don't have representatives in the traditional views camp and the multicultural views camp considers them to be secondary since they're not as likely a voting block once they come in.

Re: I spent the last 15 years trying to become an American and failed

#169

Post by crimsonalucard »

Flimm wrote: post #86
crimsonalucard wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Moral imperatives do not always correlate with survival imperatives. I'm not going to say whether or not I believe in immigration, but there are two things I will say: 1. Arguments against immigration stem not from moral imperatives, but from survival instinct. 2. If we open up immigration, America as we know it will change dramatically, in either a good or bad way. I think what we have now is already pretty good, so…

You seem to be talking exclusively about the survival of the American economy, rather than then the survival of humankind.

Let me make it utterly clear: I am absolutely talking only about the survival of the American economy.

I'm a descendent of immigrants born to poor circumstances. I'm lucky to be here as a result of getting past strict immigration policies. But I gotta be real, If America tried to "save" every one on the face of the earth by letting everyone in need into this country, we'd probably triple our population, and change the state of everything.

Re: I spent the last 15 years trying to become an American and failed

#170

Post by JoeAltmaier »

zzalpha wrote: post #165
sigzero wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A problem being, if you open the door, you don't control who comes through. I am totally against an open borders policy.

You didn't answer the question. The claim was "countries that are based on a unique language, ethnicity and culture, [immigration] is damaging." Again, I ask the question: damaging in what sense?

Just guessing here: instability, differing expectations, increased costs to everybody thru inefficiencies. It becomes hard to predict what folks will consider fair, adequate government services. Result is a lowering of standard of living for those in the dominant cultural group.
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