Live data from Hacker News

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

nytimes.com

121–130 of 191 posts

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

#121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What I'm hearing about CA and NY is 10hr work days if you're lucky, 2/3 jobs to make ends meet if you're not, and absurd rents. It is true that it is probably better in the US if you're privileged, but then again it's good everywhere if you're privileged. The difference is in the quality of life of the average person.

> What I'm hearing about CA and NY is 10hr work days if you're lucky, 2/3 jobs to make ends meet if you're not, and absurd rents. All these things can be said about most countries you'd want to live in nowadays.

Nope, not for half of Europe and that's my entire point.

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

#122

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

I don’t know that this reply was warranted, it’s clearly sarcasm.

any lay-up for that Poe's Law reference is probably welcome ;) Much more fun context than just /s

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

#123
post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think fraudulent entry makes sense, because that would have to be the case at the time of entry.

Read my other comment. It’s fraudulent based on intent, which they don’t know until you apply for change of status.

I read your other comment; it just doesn't stand muster.

Fraudulent entry can only happen on entry. If they had no intent to be married on entry, then there's no fraud on entry, and therefore it doesn't apply.

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

#124

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I remember reading that depending on which country you’re from, the waiting time can be years or even decades. Is that true? If so that’s crazy and cruel.

Only if you think it is crazy and cruel to disallow someone from another country to become a legal resident and then eventually a citizen of the US.

You are demanding that their American spouse either divorce them or spend the rest of their life in another country. Of course it’s crazy and cruel.

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

#126
post #125

Why does the spouse of an American citizen not automatically gain permanent residence permit?

Probably because the government wants to make sure the spouse does not have an extensive criminal record and is not currently being sanctioned by the government.

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

#127
post #23

While I personally find no objection to these spouses remaining here, I don't see what is really supposed to concern me from a legal perspective. There is no right to residency of migration in general. I do agree we ought to change the law to be make it easier for spouses of citizens, but if you overstay a visa you should expect detention. However from a moral standpoint I find the infant child separation abhorrent a…

I think this was explained before. But basically the processing takes so long (over a year) that you are guaranteed to overstay most visas and leaving the US is considered as abandoning your petition for a green card. So you are in this limbo state where you are given some kind of status while the application is pending and you absolutely can’t leave the country. But that’s not the issue here nor why people are being…

Green cards are not rights. If your date is set a year out and you don't have a visa for a year, you got unlucky. This is how migration works.

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

#128
post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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,…

Makes sense - and I have interacted with bureaucracy in a lot of countries. The FUD that US immigration seem to install in immigrants seems uncalled for.

It's certainly less FUD now that we have secret police and a psuedo-monarch dedicated to ruining the lives of immigrants.

If I were an immigrant, or someone wanting to immigrate to the US, I would consider it carefully.

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

#129
post #23

While I personally find no objection to these spouses remaining here, I don't see what is really supposed to concern me from a legal perspective. There is no right to residency of migration in general. I do agree we ought to change the law to be make it easier for spouses of citizens, but if you overstay a visa you should expect detention. However from a moral standpoint I find the infant child separation abhorrent a…

>but if you overstay a visa you should expect detention. I really dont get this view. Like you could substitute detention with a 1 dollar a day fine, or community service. Why does the punishment for this particular crime, have to be detention. Why is it worse than making your local council mad for not taking out the bins. The severity of the punishment is just ludicrous compared to the crime of participating in a co…

Because this is immigration and there is no right to be in another country. I've been detained for irregularities in other countries while just doing tourism. This is a normal and expected part of travelling to foreign countries.

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

#130

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Except it's not an overstay--you're automatically in status while there is an application pending.

I've found that it's quite futile to expect American citizens to actually understand how their own visa and immigration laws work. Unfortunately it doesn't stop them from having strong opinions about them.

My entire family migrated here. No one broke any of these laws. People went home and we figured it out eventually. Spare me. You probably read about this in a book somewhere. I lived it.

Again. I'm sorry for these people. But the law is easy to follow

Post reply on HN