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Green card interviews end in handcuffs for spouses of U.S. citizens

nytimes.com

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Re: Green card interviews end in handcuffs for spouses of U.S. citizens

#101

Post by Yizahi »

sam-cop-vimes wrote: post #58
aikinai wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Supply and demand. The US is by far the top place people want to be, so however poorly they treat applicants, there will still be an infinite supply of people willing to put up with it.

I get that, but the kind of white collar workers who are putting up with this have options all over the world. Why would even such people put up with it?

a) money make up for a lot of systemic deficiencies, adding here taxes, which are insanely high all across EU, salaries are several times lower here too

b) English language as a first class language. For example, while there are many job offers promising English only requirement, in reality a significant part of these unofficially presume you will speak local language at proficient level in the team, and hiring process filters for that.

c) EU countries have a lot of their own bureaucracy hell regarding immigration. For example I'm now on a Blue Card status in EU, that's a high skilled immigration program. I need to renew my card for the next 1 to 3 year period, I've started process in Sep 2025 and best case scenario will get card around next winter 26/27. Worst case scenario, add half a year more to that. If I want to get a passport, originally I had to dance through these hoops for at minimum 9 years. Just recently it increased to 11 year. And right now there is a law proposal in the parliament, increasing this term to minimum 17 years (among other inane requirements). If that passes, they may increase it even more in the future, making all immigrants live on the flimsy status for decades. USA at least makes the process faster, even if unpredictable.

tl;dr - EU is nice, just like USA is nice in it's own way, but in both countries immigrants have to put up with a lot of legal BS.

Re: Green card interviews end in handcuffs for spouses of U.S. citizens

#102

Post by mlrtime »

MandieD wrote: post #90
sam-cop-vimes wrote: post #46

I am surprised people are willing to put up with this sort inhumane treatment. A person I know has been waiting for 16+ years for his green card. They've very rarely traveled out of the USA together as a family because they were afraid they might be a problem getting back in. The people I know are not even desperate migrants where this sort of treatment is still better than the lives they are living - yet they still…

Everyone back home in Texas wondered why my husband (a German) wouldn’t “let” us move to the US. He was open to doing at least a few years over there; he’d enjoyed his exchange during university back in the 90s. I was the one who said no, having seen the hell my colleagues married to Germans and other western Europeans were going through with US immigration. Instead, I got a German residence permit without much fuss,…

For every anecdote here about a (very) bad experience with US immigration policy, there are 1000s daily that go on fine. It is a very large complex system that has issues, but for the majority it is working.

Find the specific issues and fix them.

Counter Anecdote: My wife won the Diversity Immigrant Visa Program, aka Green Card lottery. Came here with close to nothing and not speaking more than a sentence or two of English.

Re: Green card interviews end in handcuffs for spouses of U.S. citizens

#103

Post by mlrtime »

sys_64738 wrote: post #94
sam-cop-vimes wrote: post #46

I am surprised people are willing to put up with this sort inhumane treatment. A person I know has been waiting for 16+ years for his green card. They've very rarely traveled out of the USA together as a family because they were afraid they might be a problem getting back in. The people I know are not even desperate migrants where this sort of treatment is still better than the lives they are living - yet they still…

Despite the challenges with current government, the USA is still the best country in the world for most things. Some will disagree but they are in a minority. People who have never been or lived in the USA likely won't understand why this is. I stopped bothering to explain it to others a long time ago as their views are mostly influenced by biased media in their home country.

Replying as this is not satire, it is 100% true. Social media amplifies this, news regurgitates it and we fight online while advertisers get their clicks.

Re: Green card interviews end in handcuffs for spouses of U.S. citizens

#104

Post by mlrtime »

4gotunameagain wrote: post #82
aikinai wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Professional opportunity or quality of life, most likely. Nowhere else even comes close to the US in terms of professional and economic opportunity.

In terms of professional and economic opportunity, sure, but in terms of quality of life half of the European countries eclipse the US.

Then why don't EU countries have the same demand for citizenship as the US? (I don't have numbers, maybe there is?)

Re: Green card interviews end in handcuffs for spouses of U.S. citizens

#105

Post by mlrtime »

cherryteastain wrote: post #86
4gotunameagain wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In terms of professional and economic opportunity, sure, but in terms of quality of life half of the European countries eclipse the US.

Countries like Denmark, Switzerland or Netherlands indeed offer very good quality of life but the language barrier is substantial. Tons of people know English as a second language and almost no one knows, say, Danish as a second language.

And there is the fact that countries like Denmark are tightening up immigration even tighter than the US. The EU countries that tried a more open boarder quickly realized how it can spiral out of control.

Re: Green card interviews end in handcuffs for spouses of U.S. citizens

#106

Post by mlrtime »

4gotunameagain wrote: post #89
cherryteastain wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Countries like Denmark, Switzerland or Netherlands indeed offer very good quality of life but the language barrier is substantial. Tons of people know English as a second language and almost no one knows, say, Danish as a second language.

Oh I didn't mean americans should come over. Please don't. Deal with your mess instead of extending it here.

Oh I didn't mean [Mexicans] should come over. Please don't. Deal with your mess instead of extending it here [US].

Re: Green card interviews end in handcuffs for spouses of U.S. citizens

#107

Post by mlrtime »

aaronbrethorst wrote: post #7
Gabriel_Martin wrote: post #6

Truly brave feat of public service getting those criminals off the street.

Friendly reminder that it's often not possible to differentiate snark or sarcasm from cruel indifference towards fellow human beings on Hacker News.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poe%27s_law

Re: Green card interviews end in handcuffs for spouses of U.S. citizens

#108

Post by 0xy »

nxobject wrote: post #2

A note that it's easy to "overstay" a visa when waiting for a green card interview - the wait times are often in the 6-16 month range, and if you leave the country you'll be considered to have abandoned your "petition to adjust status". It's a catch-22, and it looks like the only recourse is for an immigration lawyer to file a habeas corpus petition in federal court.

This is a misrepresentation. Some of these people entered on the K1 which REQUIRES marriage within 3 months. They get married 18 months later and wonder why they're getting deported for a giant visa overstay. It's fraudulent, you enter on a visa, explicitly promise to marry quickly, do not do so and expect no repercussions.

Re: Green card interviews end in handcuffs for spouses of U.S. citizens

#109

Post by 0xy »

Gabriel_Martin wrote: post #6

Truly brave feat of public service getting those criminals off the street.

Enter on visa that requires marriage within 3 months, don't do it despite promising the government you would, then cry victim when you're deported for overstaying an entire year?

Why can't they just do what their visa REQUIRES by law?

Re: Green card interviews end in handcuffs for spouses of U.S. citizens

#110

Post by mlrtime »

iamflimflam1 wrote: post #76
aikinai wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe I'm too stiff, but even if they don't get around to updating the laws, I'd still prefer they enforce the ones that exist so it's clear, fair, and safe. And so upstanding citizens aren't spending years separated from their spouses while they keep getting skipped by people willing to cheat the system. It's not even a law that results in the years-long wait; it's just because the system is clogged up with other ju…

What would be your definition of “upstanding citizens”. I’ve found that people tend to respond as you have until the laws impact themselves or their friends. Then it’s very much a case of - I didn’t think this applied to us…

I've spent hours on immigrations forums trying to understand the law and have filed many US Federal forms (and have mad mistakes) taken years to get action done while following the law.

It really feels like a slap in the face to the people who do the "right thing" to allow others to be allowed in freely not following the law.

Fix the issues first.

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