Immigrant entrepreneur arrested to meet quotas • Hacker News Board

Re: Immigrant entrepreneur arrested to meet quotas

#91

Post by rdtsc » Thu, Oct 20, 2011, 2:39 PM UTC

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…

I was under the impression that before people used to just get on a ship and sail to America. Land on Ellis Island, get processed and move on to build a new life in US. Isn't that true?

Re: Immigrant entrepreneur arrested to meet quotas

#92

Post by rdtsc » Thu, Oct 20, 2011, 2:41 PM UTC

gujk wrote: post #72

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…

Is that surprising or peculiar to the USA? Is it easy to become a citizen of Japan, or Germany? It is a general pattern that highly desirable destinations to live eventually fill up (by some metric chosen by the insiders) and close borders or are made undesirable.

Germany and Japan don't spew propaganda about them being built by immigrants or being a melting pot or something like that. US is, while at the same time having draconian immigration policies. I think that disconnect is interesting.

Re: Immigrant entrepreneur arrested to meet quotas

#93

Post by aiham » Thu, Oct 20, 2011, 2:45 PM UTC

eis wrote: post #7

As a kid I always wanted to go to the USA, maybe even live there. So many things to see, the business opportunities and the propagated freedom were very attractive. During the last decade though, the USA have done a fantastic job of eradicating every bit of what was left of this dream. Nowerdays all you hear from them is how Hollywood is destroying little guys' lifes for downloading a bunch of songs, exporting those…

You might want to look into the immigration procedure here in Japan first. The people are great; almost all that I've met are fine with foreigners. But not so much the government and companies. You need a fair amount of patience to make it here (especially in the work place), unless you already have a contact. Good luck.

Re: Immigrant entrepreneur arrested to meet quotas

#94

Post by yeahsure » Thu, Oct 20, 2011, 2:46 PM UTC

eis wrote: post #7

As a kid I always wanted to go to the USA, maybe even live there. So many things to see, the business opportunities and the propagated freedom were very attractive. During the last decade though, the USA have done a fantastic job of eradicating every bit of what was left of this dream. Nowerdays all you hear from them is how Hollywood is destroying little guys' lifes for downloading a bunch of songs, exporting those…

Same here. When I was a kid I pictured myself living "the american dream" when I grew up, maybe move to the States when I became a successful entrepreneur (haven't made it yet!).

A few years ago I visited the USA for the first time -and have a been there a few times since- and didn't like what I saw. I like Americans, and I like a lot of things about the US, but wouldn't live there at all.

I think the problem was what Hollywood movies made me believe the US was, and what it really is.

EDIT: Not sure why, but this is being downvoted. If you find it offensive or inaccurate, please let me know why. I don't care about the votes, I just would like to know why.

Re: Immigrant entrepreneur arrested to meet quotas

#95

Post by mikeash » Thu, Oct 20, 2011, 2:47 PM UTC

davidw wrote: post #45

eis wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree it was worded a bit harshly but on the other hand, that dream I had honestly is gone. So it's not hyperbolic, just maybe not worded perfectly I admit. Some people may understand my initial comment as bashing against the USA. I want to clearly state that I didn't mean that at all. The last sentence was to express that I'm sad to see such things happen and I'll be the first to cheer if the USA can restore what…

What it used to be when? When black people couldn't vote? When the US was propping up various dictators by virtue of them being "not communists"? There have always been ugly things about the country - just like pretty much every other country, if you dig some. Not to say people shouldn't point out the defects and work to improve them, just that hand-waviness isn't part of the solution, IMO.

I think the best sentiment is that we should go back to how things used to be in areas where we've regressed (immigration, human rights, limits on the power of government, etc.) but stay where we are in areas where we've progressed (racial integration, voting rights, overall prosperity, cleaner industry, etc.).

Re: Immigrant entrepreneur arrested to meet quotas

#96

Post by [deleted] » Thu, Oct 20, 2011, 2:48 PM UTC

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.

[deleted]

Re: Immigrant entrepreneur arrested to meet quotas

#97

Post by RyanMcGreal » Thu, Oct 20, 2011, 2:52 PM UTC

ecopoesis wrote: post #25

steve8918 wrote: post #20

I hate to say it but from a brief reading of the information, it sounds like their asylum was first denied back in 1997, and they've been fighting it ever since. They certainly have the right to fight it, but it's been an uphill battle for almost 15 years, so the outcome certainly doesn't seem like a surprise. The person is obviously a great entrepreneur, he probably should have just left on his own accord instead of…

The point is there are rules. To come to the US you can either: 1) Apply to INS, wait in line, enter the lottery and follow the law. 2) Hop on a plane and hope they don't catch you. He chose route 2, and is now paying the consequences. Just because he's an entrepreneur doesn't give him any more right to be here then any other would be immigrant, and it certainly doesn't give him the right to jump the line

The point is: there's something wrong with the rules.

Re: Immigrant entrepreneur arrested to meet quotas

#98

Post by bluekite2000 » Thu, Oct 20, 2011, 2:58 PM UTC

colkassad wrote: post #71

compay wrote: post #32

I'm American. My wife is Argentine. We live in Argentina in large part because when we wanted to marry in 2006, we couldn't get her a permanent visa to live in the USA. Her fiancee visa was in fact quickly approved, pending an interview at the US consulate in Buenos Aires. We waited and waited, called, had our lawyers call, and the response was always "when the consulate is ready to make an appointment, they will cal…

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…

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.

Re: Immigrant entrepreneur arrested to meet quotas

#99

Post by baabuu » Thu, Oct 20, 2011, 3:01 PM UTC

I really feel sorry for him and his family.One more victim of the stupid, time-consuming US immigration laws.I completed this immigration ordeal and witnessed many of my friends in immigration limbo.It is an extremely difficult, frustrating and time-consuming experience, not to mention it sucks whatever you earn.

There seems to be some confusion related to his legal status.He entered US legally and applied asylum for him and his family.During this period, they are in legal status. After they apply for asylum, they have no control or information over that process.If the immigration process was fast enough, none of this would have happened.When the immigration rejected their application after a long time, they filed an appeal which was rejected again.Now they have run out of attempts via the asylum option and are being kicked out. I hope they can try some other category.

The immigration process, with so many different categories and quotas, is a huge bureaucratic mess. The are still using papers and just recently started using online documents for some processing. It is the second highest profitable government agency minting money out of immigrants. The process can be streamlined and made faster even with the current policies. But who cares about legal immigration anyway? Let those "aliens" stand in line and wait forever. I personally know many friends and families living with constant fear and uncertainty for almost a decade or more.

The policies and rules are just too confusing and inconsistent.Two identical immigrant families can go through completely different process, duration and rules depending on whether a knowledgeable or ignorant immigration agent processing their files.

Re: Immigrant entrepreneur arrested to meet quotas

#100

Post by delackner » Thu, Oct 20, 2011, 3:02 PM UTC

bluekite2000 wrote: post #98

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…

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.

I've spoken with several couples in Tokyo that were told by the US Embassy here that they should get married before trying to move to the US, since marrying afterwards would be a nightmare.