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U.S. State Department pauses immigrant visa applications

wsj.com

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Re: U.S. State Department pauses immigrant visa applications

#411

Post by Razengan »

green_wheel wrote: post #363
Razengan wrote: post #109

Not just immigration, seems like travel in general is becoming difficult too. It's a real shame that just when we have the tech and infrastructure to allow people to travel anywhere in the world within a day, for a single person to be able to explore the entirety of this awesome planet for the first time in human history, that the worst among us have to enforce artificial borders and deny everyone this basic freedom.…

People aren't simply interchangeable units of economic output, and when they live together for long periods of time they develop unique and distinct cultures that are dear to them. Letting the entirety of the world into your country without stops is cultural suicide. If you put any a value in preserving culture you will find it ethical to put some limit on immigration. Assimilation is possible but there is a limit to…

> Letting the entirety of the world into your country without stops is cultural suicide.

The natives of the Americas, Australia, and the many nations previously colonized by European countries, know that better than any descendants of the colonizers.

Did they get to have any say?

Re: U.S. State Department pauses immigrant visa applications

#412

Post by doc_ick »

jimbob45 wrote: post #389
dzonga wrote: post #19

the current admin are working hard to destroy the U.S as if they're foreign agents. not only are they making it hard & unbearable for families of US citizens & PR holders to be together. while at the same time - discouraging talent to come to the US at a crucial time when talent is at a premium due to A.I development. last the backwards energy policy of banning renewable energy.

Do you think China should open their borders for everyone no questions asked? Kick out no one, even overstayed visas? If not, are you willing to equate the current Chinese regime’s quality to that of your perceived quality of the US?

I see you trying to kick a field goal all the way from the school parking lot, good luck with that.

Re: U.S. State Department pauses immigrant visa applications

#413

Post by wasabi991011 »

rayiner wrote: post #396
shostack wrote: post #308

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The cruelty is the point.

It’s not “cruelty” to have and enforce rules. The words “temporary” and “nonimmigrant” is plastered all over the laws that govern these visas. People shouldn’t have treated them as permanent immigration visas. And employers shouldn’t have mislead employees into thinking these were permanent immigration visas. It’s like saying that it’s “cruelty” to remove someone who uses a 2 hour parking spot as their permanent car…

This entire article is about immigrant visas.

Re: U.S. State Department pauses immigrant visa applications

#414

Post by ericmay »

weakfish wrote: post #232
jayGlow wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I looked it up there are a few articles. https://cis.org/Camarota/New-January-Data-Still-Shows-Most-J... https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2025/feb/7/immigrants-t... https://guestworkervisas.com/bls-a7-analysis.html

CIS is an anti immigration think tank and Washington times is pretty blatantly conservative outlet. I’d be wary of those sources.

Sure but don’t they quote BLS data? Or do you believe their interpretation of the data is incorrect?

Re: U.S. State Department pauses immigrant visa applications

#415

Post by arjie »

cheonc720 wrote: post #239
arjie wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, this is a pretty big risk. I'm similarly married to an American and we have an American child. Other country seems to have screwed the family, though. Mine (India) offers a fairly indefinite visa called an Overseas Citizen of India. And my wife's other nationality (Taiwan) also permits foreign spouses to live there after some straightforward paperwork. So, in theory, we could live in either of these other place…

> And my wife's other nationality (Taiwan) also permits foreign spouses to live there after some straightforward paperwork. Not really. Taiwan doesn’t like India either. There’s a reason out of the 1.1 million immigrants/foreigners in Taiwan, only 6,000 are from India.

I’ve never had any trouble going to Taiwan. One of the easier places to go as an Indian who lives here in the US since you have an online form and you get 6 visits of 14 days each and you can do that while you wait for your visa application. My parents also found it quite easy and they live in India.

Also, even with NWOHR it’s not that hard. What trouble did you encounter? Might be useful for me to be aware.

Re: U.S. State Department pauses immigrant visa applications

#416

Post by ryandrake »

wildzzz wrote: post #379
ryandrake wrote: post #204

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Or they do have a clue, actually want the cruelty, and assume that somehow, some nebulous "good ones" will be exempt from the cruelty. I was at a gathering and someone's garbage uncle was on one of those MAGA-rants about immigration and how we need to kick foreigners out of the country and how they don't deserve to be here and so on. I chimed in that my wife is an immigrant and you're telling me that my family should…

I have a conservative family friend that would always speak his mind at social gatherings about immigration Well he ended up meeting a woman who was an illegal immigrant and they wanted to get married. Luckily she only overstayed a student visa and didn't enter unlawfully but it still took several years for her to eventually gain naturalization. Now all he does is complain about how difficult it is for immigrants ("t…

Yup. It's always "hey, rules are rules" until it personally affects them, and then suddenly it's not fair.

Re: U.S. State Department pauses immigrant visa applications

#417

Post by consensus1 »

maest wrote: post #340
jimbo808 wrote: post #313

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's clear you are not considering the long-term effects of labor policy. If we want a stronger domestic workforce, the answer is to incentivize Americans to develop the skills we need and to train them when they do not already have those skills. Mass importing foreign labor is not a substitute for building and investing in the domestic workforce.

Btw, this is analogous to the argument for positive discrimination: Preferentially treat one group of people (non-white/women/Americans) even if in the short term the revealed preference of businesses is to hire a different group of people (white/men/immigrants), such that, in the long term, the first group of people can develop the necessary skills to compete with the second group. Short term pain for long term gain…

No it's really not the same because we have laws against racial discrimination, but it is the entire purpose of the state to represent the interests of its citizens above all others.

Re: U.S. State Department pauses immigrant visa applications

#418

Post by djeastm »

copper-float wrote: post #374
nekusar wrote: post #324

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

Don't forget Nazism! (AKA, anyone who isn't left-wing.) There's nothing inherently wrong with pausing immigration visas. These commenters act like anything less than fully open borders and unlimited immigration quotas makes you Satan reincarnate. They intentionally over-dramatize everything he does to spread fear and alarmism cause that's all they can do. It's so tiring and nonsensical.

In a vacuum the immigration pause might be innocuous. But put into context the other actions and statements from this administration and it tells a deeper story.

Just think of it as the return of the 19th-century Know Nothings or the 1920s nativists if the Nazi comparison makes you squeamish.

Re: U.S. State Department pauses immigrant visa applications

#419

Post by wasabi991011 »

sinecure wrote: post #97
dzonga wrote: post #19

the current admin are working hard to destroy the U.S as if they're foreign agents. not only are they making it hard & unbearable for families of US citizens & PR holders to be together. while at the same time - discouraging talent to come to the US at a crucial time when talent is at a premium due to A.I development. last the backwards energy policy of banning renewable energy.

This was never about talent. It's about companies hiring foreigners on h1b visas at below market wages where their life in the USA is contingent on their job performance forcing them to work harder and longer than their peers to remain in the country. It's a situation that only benefits companies, while harming US citizens who have to compete with the lower wages of foreigners.

How does companies hiring h1b-holders (a non-immigrant visa) relate to a pause on immigrant visa applications?

Re: U.S. State Department pauses immigrant visa applications

#420

Post by krapp »

stale2002 wrote: post #403
krapp wrote: post #399

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But America is a capitalist system. The market has determined that not all Americans deserve jobs. Are Americans willing to work a 996 schedule for 2.00/hr to compete with labor overseas?

Nothing in capitalism prevents a country from prioritizing its own citizens. And it is uncontroversial in most countries that a country should do this. So this isn't a contradiction. Indeed america is capitalist. And it is also prioritizing its own citizens. There is nothing weird about that.

Most capitalist countries have 100% employment for their citizens and little to no immigration? No. "Every citizen who can work having a job" is not something capitalist countries do. They all take ample advantage of foreign labor, they all have corporations that prioritize their own profits and outsource.
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