Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

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

vox.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

261–270 of 615 posts

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

#261

Post by Someone »

danielweber wrote: post #179
Nadya wrote: post #139

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>It is not unreasonable for people to want to preserve culture. It has sentimental and historical value, but I don't think it's particularly important. We can argue cultural identity, but that's only important so long as there are various cultures. In a monoculture world, the idea of cultural identity would be a lost concept. Cultural anthropology, which while highly interesting and informative of human relations, is…

The reason people want to move to the US is the US's culture. The people share a wide agreement for rule of law, want to resolve issues through the political process, can usually be shamed into supporting freedom of speech, and don't want to kill their neighbors for having the wrong religion. It's not something magical about the soil that makes people want to move to the US. It's the culture. The more people that can…

Certainly, that is not all of it. For example, I would think that many, many Mexicans mainly try to move to the US for the money.

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

#262

Post by oblio »

iLemming wrote: post #235

There a lot of things "broken" in this country: healthcare system, elementary/middle school education, guns out of control, racial issues, etc. Still probably the best place in the world.

Have you loved for a longer period in another country? :)

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

#263

Post by high5ths »

legohead wrote: post #260

The article mentions we kick out the brightest, but there's actually a way to specifically immigrate using your educational prowess [1]. Basically, you need a masters of higher. You got 2 degrees, were here for ~15 years.. surely research was done to find out how to immigrate? If you spent the time to get 2 degrees, I'd figure getting a masters would have been the more obvious choice... [1]: http://www.workpermit.com…

He says he got a law degree (J.D.) and actually links to the Columbia class of 2009 where he is listed. So that's a "professional doctorate," definitely greater than a masters.

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

#264

Post by exelius »

mc32 wrote: post #236
exelius wrote: post #227

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Only slightly related, but for as much as Americans consider ourselves inextricably linked with Europe, we're much more similar both economically and culturally to South America. The average American's life looks a lot more like that of an office worker in Colombia or Brazil than it does someone in Berlin or London. This is likely because South American countries developed using the USA as a model, but it's interesti…

Culturally the US is protestant leaning. Latam is culturally catholic. Latams see Spain as a cultural beacon, whereas the the U.S. now a beacon in its own right, used to have Britain and France as their cultural beacons --yes France was nominally catholic, but they culturally leaned protestant in many ways. They are more northern European than Mediterranean. Also, while in the U.S. the so called 'old boys net' helps…

Historically you are right, but as far as things like food, music, business attitudes, etc. there's a lot more common ground. Spain has also lost a lot of its cultural cache in recent years; many South American countries are better places to live at this point (well, unless you have enough money that you don't need a job, in which case Spain is one of the best places on earth).

If I had to pick one thing though, it's the outspoken gregariousness. Europeans are generally pretty reserved; you would never approach someone you didn't know and try to strike up a conversation. A European might tiptoe around a sensitive subject, while people from the USA or South America would be very opinionated and launch into an argument -- even if they don't know you very well.

Also, it doesn't hurt that everyone in South America basically shops at Wal-Mart (seriously, they are freaking everywhere; even more so than in the US).

And not so long ago, corruption was inextricable from business in the US and Europe as well. Trust-busting in the US in the early 1900s broke down the networks here, and WW2 smashed them across Europe, but similar rule-of-law revolutions haven't happened yet in other parts of the world. But they are starting to as the education level rises and the middle-class expands and demands a clean-up.

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

#265

Post by smutticus »

As an American who immigrated to The Netherlands I would like to know of this mythical country in the world with a working immigration system. AFAICT they're all rather broken.

US immigration might be broken in different ways than some other countries, but from the many stories I've heard of friends moving all over the world, they all pretty much suck.

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

#266

Post by refurb »

hackerboos wrote: post #119
jacquesm wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I spent many years waiting to get my Canadian paperwork sorted out and spent a small fortune doing so. In the end I gave up and moved back to NL.

I was awarded Permanent Residency to me and my wife without either of us ever having visited Canada or a firm job offer(s). No other country does that. The Canadian immigration system is one of the most generous around.

The Canadian immigration system is one of the most generous around.

It's easy to be "generous" when you have fewer people trying to immigrate to your country. I can remember maybe a decade ago Canada had an immigration target of 1% of population (~250K) and that many people didn't even apply.

Compare that to the US where there are 20 year waiting lists for some visa categories. The US has lower, but not that lower, immigration targets compared to Canada.

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

#267

Post by makeitsuckless »

kuschku wrote: post #114
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…

The debate the politicians in my state (Schleswig-Holstein, a state in Germany) had about this was really interesting, sadly it’s in German. Essentially, it boils down to two issues: Morally, we all are descendants of immigrants, or at least most. Economically, most immigrants are willing to work hard. Combined with the fact that our society has a birth rate below replacement rate (1.3 vs. 2.1) we need immigrants jus…

How about the third, conveniently ignored issue: that there is a considerable number of immigrants that bring with them an ideology (also referred to as "religion" because it's founded on supernatural believes) that is hellbent on destroying the very fabric of the society they immigrate to?

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

#268

Post by cosmolev »

eax_ wrote: post #164
hyperion_ wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Wrong. You can enter Switzerland with a Schengen visa as a tourist. Finding work in Switzerland is difficult (employer has to prove it can't hire Swiss citizen for this position).

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

#269

Post by [deleted] »

lutorm wrote: post #240
bane wrote: post #161

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 re…

It seems you're contradicting yourself. You say "I think it's fair to complain that this option doesn't exist, I'd like it to exist." But then you go on to disparage the author for doing just that. You can't simultaneously say that it's fair to complain and argue that people are "just complaining". Or is it only fair for people not affected by these laws, who have no incentive to complain, to do so?

[deleted]

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

#270

Post by cosmolev »

semigroupoid wrote: post #257
avz wrote: post #237

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nope. There are many different types of Schengen visa [1] and it generally does not allow you to work. For this you need a national visa from a specific member state [2]. So, no, if you get a work permit in France, you are not free to live and work in Switzerland. In fact, EU citizens generally need a residency and work permit if they wish to live and work there. [1] http://www.schengenvisainfo.com/schengen-visa-type…

EU citizens have the right to move to and work in any country within the EU. See here: http://ec.europa.eu/social/main.jsp?catId=457

Switzerland is not in EU.
Post reply on HN