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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

#131

Post by array_key_first »

anon291 wrote: post #127
jackjeff wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Yes the point is that sucks. Saying "well that's how it is" is true, but also not useful.

It was a choice to design it this way, and a poor choice. We should demand better. Since when have Americans become so spineless?

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

#132

Post by anon291 »

protocolture wrote: post #66
filleduchaos wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

I remember talking to a britisher about the US border situation on a forum that also included yanks. He had asked for advice, and I relayed a bunch that was evergreen, but was passed around during the first trump admin. The yanks all got confused, like I was making up a problem. And would not stop pretending like there are no border issues even after I presented multiple instances as evidence. Like if you can drive y…

I am intimately familiar with the immigration system as my entire family came to this country by applying for green cards and waiting. Not your average yank lol.

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

#133

Post by LorenPechtel »

aikinai wrote: post #52
nxobject wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> if you overstay a visa you should expect detention Again, though, there's a catch-22. Wait times until you're even notified about your interview appointment date are long and unpredictable.

The article strongly misrepresents this, and they were almost certainly not detained for over-staying, but likely for fraudulent entry. See my other comment.

Except there has been no determination of a fraudulent entry. This is skipping directly from accusation to punishment.

And it is definitely possible to have entered without an intent to marry. The day the woman I married entered the US she did not know of my existence. We met here.

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

#134

Post by queenkjuul »

crystal_revenge wrote: post #48
jmyeet wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Errors happens on immigration forms all the time. Many of them aren't a big deal and can be corrected but there's a right and wrong way to do it. Fixable errors include things like failing to mention all your employers that you worked unauthorized or your name having a different spelling in certain cases. Since unauthorized work is forgiven if marrying a US citizen, the omission of employment is a correctable error.…

It had nothing whatsoever to do with the divorce itself, I'm a US citizen and was (legally) divorced for several years before the interview (and my marriage). The error was a typo that the interviewer was informed about well in advance of our interview, and could have been corrected by changing a value in a field which our lawyer informed us had been done many times in the past for other couples.

Nah surely this guy on HN knows more than you and you lawyer, right?

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

#135

Post by metadope »

tpmoney wrote: post #60
jackjeff wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So the right process is to request for a K1 fiancé visa which takes over a year?! I can see why people were tempted to cut corners, especially given past tolerance…

> I can see why people were tempted to cut corners, especially given past tolerance… Which is one of the reasons that the pre-trump executive orders that granted leniency and amnesty at times were all terrible terrible things to do. We really have a problem in this country where we've decided that the laws suck, but we don't want to do the hard part of changing the law, so we just decide to ignore it. Until at some p…

> The feds could raid every marijuana dispensary in the country

This is not a realistic scenario, but does seem to present the argument, that Federal law and the power to enforce it is inherently and legally superior to individual State laws?

> fix the laws and roll back the abuses of executive power

Perhaps we could start with the federal law that made marijuana a Schedule One controlled substance: so that ordinary residents of responsible and responsive states would not have to rely on "arbitrary non-enforcement of the law" in order to get their smoke on.

Think about it! Every one of those citizen-puffers are in violation of federal law! Send in the troops!

The argument seems to be that federal laws overrule states', and that underlying idea justifies sending military forces into cities, because, you know, federal laws are being violated, everywhere, like, all the time, man.

Sheesh.

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

#136

Post by queenkjuul »

kaashif wrote: post #55
mcphage wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

Why is that ghoulish? I disagree with the policy, but it's fundamentally different to force someone to leave and to force them to stay. People are being forced to leave.

And being compelled to stay

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

#137

Post by queenkjuul »

JuniperMesos wrote: post #18
SilverElfin wrote: post #4

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.

When they're married to an American? When they have kids that are American? It's not crazy nor cruel, to you, to separate a mother from her infant?

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

#138

Post by queenkjuul »

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?

Propaganda

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

#139

Post by queenkjuul »

sys_64738 wrote: post #95
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.

That's entirely subjective for sure. The USA is a continent sized country and not a one-size-fits-all like most European countries. Each state should be viewed as its own European sized country with its own warts and all. You will have some backwater, inbred states like AL, MS and GA but places like CA or New England or NY are just eons above anything Europe has to offer. Again, it's all subjective.

This is frankly somewhat ludicrous. Federal law applies everywhere. The national economy affects everyone.

I've lived in many states, the differences are minor.

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

#140

Post by mktk1001 »

dmitrygr wrote: post #73
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.

> it's easy to "overstay" a visa Many laws are easy to break.

Slavery was legal as well. I'm glad there were people with enough common sense to see for what it is.
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