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

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

#341

Post by lancewiggs »

aineko wrote: post #287
explorer666 wrote: post #222

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why did you leave NZ? I ask because I was thinking about moving there.

Career opportunities mostly. The startup I was working in was acquired by a US tech company and they decided to close the NZ office and give us the option to relocate to San Francisco (or stay in NZ and find another job :). I was pretty happy with this situation though as there isn't much in the way of a tech industry in NZ, so there's much more interesting work available here, especially in the bay area (same goes f…

Things are getting better wrt companies granting options here. The law has improved slightly but still isn't perfect. At least it's simpler than the US.

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

#342

Post by hudibras »

pbhjpbhj wrote: post #323
tormeh wrote: post #285

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not really. Muslim immigrants are usually just socially conservative. It's their children that are radicalized in European society. It's a testament to the failure of current integration policies. The unpleasant fact is that proper integration costs money - they need to be taught the biggest official language and English, they need to be taught a profitable trade and they need to get up to speed on the domestic cultu…

>The unpleasant fact is that proper integration costs money // For those selecting to immigrate why not put the onus on them to integrate too? Why should the onus be on the established population to adapt? [That's obviously not appropriate for some classes of migrant like refugees, but I'm sure that's clear.] >The alternative is to create an underclass visibly different to the majority - that doesn't end well. // Mus…

>Pensions are basically a massive pyramid scheme; it's going to fail eventually. The only way it can continue is if there is no limit on availability of natural resources for the manufacture of new stuff on which Western Capitalism appears to depend.

This is a common misconception. You should do some research on what is known as "productivity growth" and then come back for a rational discussion.

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

#343

Post by dragonwriter »

diogenescynic wrote: post #329
saalweachter wrote: post #195

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Another frequently-cited benefit of opened borders is that -- for the most part -- current citizens own everything in this country, and stand to make a bit of cash if there's an influx of new faces looking to buy houses, used cars, rent rooms, etc etc etc.

Given that 50% of Americans have zero or a negative net worth, I think all it would do is further increase inequality.

Median net worth in the US, last I saw, was on the order of $45K -- since that value is > $0, its not the case that 50% of Americans have zero or a negative net worth.

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

#345

Post by adenot »

smutticus wrote: post #265

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.

Australia. I got my PR (green card equivalent) after working 3 years and applying for citizenship now (5 years since I arrived here). Spent less than AUD 10k total for immigration, including my partner visas. Processing times are reasonable and very transparent.

It's not a perfect system but way better than most countries.

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

#346

Post by [deleted] »

hudibras wrote: post #342
pbhjpbhj wrote: post #323

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>The unpleasant fact is that proper integration costs money // For those selecting to immigrate why not put the onus on them to integrate too? Why should the onus be on the established population to adapt? [That's obviously not appropriate for some classes of migrant like refugees, but I'm sure that's clear.] >The alternative is to create an underclass visibly different to the majority - that doesn't end well. // Mus…

>Pensions are basically a massive pyramid scheme; it's going to fail eventually. The only way it can continue is if there is no limit on availability of natural resources for the manufacture of new stuff on which Western Capitalism appears to depend. This is a common misconception. You should do some research on what is known as "productivity growth" and then come back for a rational discussion.

[deleted]

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

#347

Post by sirmarksalot »

golergka wrote: post #156
bane wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Part of the problem with improving the system is that there's simply no incentive. Immigration reform almost entirely centers on managing undocumented/illegal immigrants. Law Makers don't have to listen to petitions from people outside of the country let alone their own jurisdictions. The other part is that people who've suffered through the process don't turn around and try to fix it, I remember when my wife was goi…

> If people who finally made it in turned around and went into government service and tried to fix the hellscape they went through, it would probably be better. I suspect that people who are persistent and qualified enough to get through that legal system have opportunities to pursue better job opportunities. And at the other hand, I wouldn't expect them to be wealthy and successful enough to easily sacrifice their c…

Also, many of those government service jobs could require security clearances, making it harder for naturalized immigrants to apply.

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

#348

Post by rbcgerard »

Articles like this describe one of my biggest problems with proposed immigration reforms. How many countless people have left the U.S. due to losing their legal status - or been outright denied a visa to begin with? It seems to me that giving status to people that have already broken the law is downright unjust to those that have followed it...

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

#349

Post by thiagoperes »

diego_moita wrote: post #272

Disclaimer: I am a Canadian permanent resident. > I like it here. This is the real problem, you have a severe case of non-reciprocal love. In that case the answer is obvious: move over, find another love, come to Canada or go to Northern Europe. U.S. immigration is an American problem,since they are the ones loosing talent and entrepreneurial people. It is not an immigrant's problem, since they don't have the powers…

That's exactly what I did. I spent a lot of time and money on immigration lawyers trying to find a way to immigrate to the U.S. only because I don't have a degree.

After years of trying without any success I started looking into other options, only to find that it's significantly easier to immigrate into other countries (like Canada). Two months ago I got an offer from a Dutch company (even with them knowing about my degree issue), and I'm moving to Amsterdam next week.

Last month I spent two weeks in California, and, with this new reality, saw the whole place with new eyes. After the glamour wears off, you realize that the other options might be even better, specially after you see that some countries are much more welcoming to immigrants.

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