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Immigrant entrepreneur arrested to meet quotas

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Re: Immigrant entrepreneur arrested to meet quotas

#141

Post by mc32 »

shin_lao wrote: post #65
rdtsc wrote: post #19

An interesting factoid. There is no legal way for anyone to just come to US and make it their home country. Say someone from Africa or South America. They can't simply save enough money, get on a plane, land at JFK and then after 10 years or whatever time become citizens. They would have to be persecuted in a terrible way before being granted asylum, have to marry a US citizen, find a company that would hire them. I…

If you invest at least $ 1,000,000 in a company, you can get a visa. This gets down to $ 500,000 for some areas. The investment must create or maintain at least 10 jobs. It's the EB-5 visa.

Many countries have this asset requirement -New Zeeland, for example, Canada. It's nothing new or extra-ordinary. It's sort of insurance against draining the state in the event one were to become non-productive.

Re: Immigrant entrepreneur arrested to meet quotas

#142

Post by rrhm »

blahedo wrote: post #70
rdtsc wrote: post #19

An interesting factoid. There is no legal way for anyone to just come to US and make it their home country. Say someone from Africa or South America. They can't simply save enough money, get on a plane, land at JFK and then after 10 years or whatever time become citizens. They would have to be persecuted in a terrible way before being granted asylum, have to marry a US citizen, find a company that would hire them. I…

> There is no legal way for anyone to just come to US and make it their home country. Are there countries where this is possible? This is a real question, I'm not snarking---is there some country X where I could just up and say, "I want to move to X" and just go there and make it my permanent residence? (I know that there are some countries that in practice don't enforce their requirements, but I thought all countrie…

Every country has their requirements, and to a greater extent they enforce them. However, some countries make it downright impossible for a foreigner to become a resident or a citizen, while others make it exceedingly easy.

For instance, if you wanted to become a permanent resident or a citizen to the Dominican Republic, all you would have to do is get there (via sea or air), go through the motions, submit the paperwork and pay the taxes.

You would start by buying a US$10 tourist card, as a permit to enter the country, which will be approved unless you are obviously wanted by Interpol.

This will give you 60 days, during which you can apply for your provisional resident visa. For the resident visa you will need to provide, aside from the usual forms and tax payments, proof of solvency, defined as about 13k dollars in assets (cash and property) at the current exchange rate, and a letter of sponsorship from any good-faith Dominican citizen with in-country legal residence.

Within the first two months after this visa you can apply for a provisional residency card. About four months after the application, you receive your provisional residency card, which lasts a year. At about the year mark, it does not matter much if it happens before or after, you can apply for your permanent residency card. That last one lasts 3 years and is indefinitely renewable (as long as you do not commit a horrible crime).

After two years of uninterrupted legal residency in the country (i.e. at least six months and one day per year) you can apply for naturalization.

All the while, you are free to engage in productive business from day one. You would be taxed differently, on account of not being a citizen, but you would be allowed to work for a profit. If you happen to aquire assets in-country, there is leeway to have the sponsorship requirements waived.

Legal translations, medical examinations and notary public fees carry the burden of the cost of the process. Taxes will run you up less than $100 in total. The entire process is fairly inexpensive and could probably be done with less than $1000 dollars.

Re: Immigrant entrepreneur arrested to meet quotas

#143

Post by [deleted] »

jbooth wrote: post #101
Duff wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's "get tough" politics. Unions donate billions to Democrats, and they are unhappy with immigration in many industries. (ie. Meat packing, whose union membership has declined dramatically as a result of companies being allowed to exploit undocumented labor.) On the other side, you have conservatives, who are always up in arms about the immigration "crisis". These folks are balanced by the business-focused republica…

Plenty of blame for both sides here, I've heard a whole bunch of immigrant bashing at, well... every Republican event in the last 5 years. Way more than Obama typically does. My read on it was Obama stepped up enforcement for political cover when he gets accused of things like that by the Republicans, which is still plenty of stupid and weak on his part. Especially since they'll never agree to actually do comprehensi…

[deleted]

Re: Immigrant entrepreneur arrested to meet quotas

#144

Post by colkassad »

compay wrote: post #121
colkassad wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I married my wife overseas in 2007. In 2008 we applied for immigration at a US embassy (I sponsored her as my spouse), waited a couple of months, and received an appointment date. My wife was granted a visa at the appointment. I made a comment during the interview on how the process was so painless and the consulate basically said, "well, you guys are married". 3 years later, she is a US citizen. I think the fiancee…

Glad to hear you had such a better experience. There are definitely a lot of factors to consider. Luckily since our initial terrible experience, we've had nothing but good ones with the US Consulate in Buenos Aires. So I'm hopeful that if we ever decide to move back to the USA, being married for 5 years and having a child will count in our favor and make the process much easier like it was for you. As it is though, I…

That's great to hear. I know how you feel, I miss living overseas sometimes :)

Re: Immigrant entrepreneur arrested to meet quotas

#145

Post by llcoolv »

krookoo wrote: post #122
llcoolv wrote: post #36

Shame is that this guy is most probably Bulgarian and he holds the burgundy passport, which enables him to do his trade almost all over Europe (except for Belarus, Moldova, etc) without having to deal with any bureaucracy or the 'you dirty outsider' attitude. I really don't get it what so many people see in the US.

A sense of home. The US is now his home. This is a very valuable thing.

Yes, but before that another country has been his home and he has ultimately left it for being slightly harassed during the totalitarian rule. Could you compare some harassment (which unfortunately has been something quite usual during those times) with the arrest of one's entire family and being treated like garbage that has to be taken out?

Re: Immigrant entrepreneur arrested to meet quotas

#146

Post by mbesto »

felideon wrote: post #27
stupandaus wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

He wasn't a legal immigrant. His status never changed.

From the post, that is not clear. It opens with "After living legally in the United States for over 20 years [...]" From the case file, however, it seems like they entered with a J-1 visa and before their authorization to stay expired, they applied for asylum.

Ya I was going to say the same thing... I'm sorry but why would I donate to this without more details? Maybe he did actually do something illegal and isn't articulated here in this article.

Re: Immigrant entrepreneur arrested to meet quotas

#147

Post by colkassad »

mc32 wrote: post #136
colkassad wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I married my wife overseas in 2007. In 2008 we applied for immigration at a US embassy (I sponsored her as my spouse), waited a couple of months, and received an appointment date. My wife was granted a visa at the appointment. I made a comment during the interview on how the process was so painless and the consulate basically said, "well, you guys are married". 3 years later, she is a US citizen. I think the fiancee…

Yes. Marry over-seas then apply for the visa at over-seas consulate --should take about 3-months or so. I know a handful of couples like that. It was pretty painless --so long as they married prior to coming to the US. So they were legally married overseas, then applied at overseas consulate and green card was granted --citizenship can be applied for a year after arrival, and (I'm under the impression) most have been…

Actually, after a year you apply to have "conditional permanent residence" removed. Then after three years you can apply for citizenship. It may be less for members of the military though.

Re: Immigrant entrepreneur arrested to meet quotas

#148

Post by mikeryan »

rhplus wrote: post #135
bluekite2000 wrote: post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is this a personal experience that you are generalizing or it is actually faster to get a wife to the US vs a fiancee? Any link to actual law is appreciated.

Does "fiancee" even have any legal defintion in the US? Nobody signs anything when they propose and I'm pretty sure that states don't recognise it as a legal status, at least not until various common-law cohabitation conditions comes into play.

It's a particular type of immigration Visa the K-1 is a "Fiancee Visa". Note that you are required to get married within 90 days. The point of it is to allow US Citizens to get married within the US to non-US Citizens.

http://travel.state.gov/visa/immigrants/types/types_2994.htm...

Re: Immigrant entrepreneur arrested to meet quotas

#149

Post by tomgruner »

krookoo wrote: post #123
tomgruner wrote: post #37

This seems extremely harsh to me. And also stupid not to value this man's contribution to the U.S. In 2004 I arrived in Spain as an American and found a programming job at the international division of a sizable U.S. company. But everything was under the table, and that company did not want to sponsor a visa for me. But even when I was illegal in Spain I still had access to better free health care than the uninsured…

Why would an American want to live illegally in spain?

A few reasons:

I had free healthcare, even though I only used it for one or two checkups.

I was enjoying making art and the art scene in Barcelona, at least for the first few years I was here.

The first job was potentially better than what I could get in the U.S. It was my first programming job and I am not a cs major, I have a liberal arts degree which doesn't get you many jobs in the U.S. So it was a professional opportunity for me. I just wanted to live in Spain, and never had issues any serious issues being illegal that really impacted my life. I was very fortunate in that I had a well paid part time job. The biggest inconvenience I suffered was not being able to sign contracts for mobile phones or apartments. Trivial compared to what most illegal immigrants go through.

Now, as I get a bit older (I am 34), and have substantial programming experience, the jobs and opportunities available in the U.S. are looking very attractive. At the moment I stay in Barcelona for personal reasons and a desire to finish the current contract I have with the research group. I do have my eye on moving back to the U.S. next year.

Re: Immigrant entrepreneur arrested to meet quotas

#150

Post by unreal37 »

huhtenberg wrote: post #41

> ... our 18-year immigration ordeal I wonder what this is referring to and how it reconciles with > ... living legally in the United States for over 20 years Something tells me there's more to the story than what's in the linked post.

He came to the US on an exchange visa. And then he brought his family. And then his visa expired. And then he applied as a refugee. And clearly he is not a true refugee, he just likes living in the US. And he should have left in 1997 but he's been fighting that order in the courts ever since.

I think it might be an unpopular opinion, but in reading the legal doc, he doesn't have much of a case to stay. He should have been deported 14 years ago. The real tragedy is that it took so long.

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