Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Green card seekers must leave U.S. to apply, Trump administration says

nytimes.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

961–970 of 1001 posts

Re: Green card seekers must leave U.S. to apply, Trump administration says

#961

Post by rayiner »

canyp wrote: post #952
rayiner wrote: post #906

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Essentially they're trying to change the rules by aggressive re-interpretation of the existing legal framework, and not actually changing any laws or regulations. If you want to make that argument, you have to confront the fact that H1 is by its terms a “nonimmigrant” visa for people who are “temporarily” in the U.S. 8 USC 1101(a)(15)&(a)(15)(H). While adjustment of status was possible, it was never intended to be…

H1-B (I think H1 generally) is dual intent. https://fam.state.gov/FAM/09FAM/09FAM040210.html

You have to think about what "dual intent" actually means. The relevant provision is 8 USC 1184(h):

> (h) Intention to abandon foreign residence > The fact that an alien is the beneficiary of an application for a preference status filed under section 1154 of this title or has otherwise sought permanent residence in the United States shall not constitute evidence of an intention to abandon a foreign residence for purposes of obtaining a visa as a nonimmigrant described in subparagraph (H)(i)(b) or (c), (L), or (V) of section 1101(a)(15) of this title or otherwise obtaining or maintaining the status of a nonimmigrant described in such subparagraph, if the alien had obtained a change of status under section 1258 of this title to a classification as such a nonimmigrant before the alien's most recent departure from the United States.

What does the text in italics mean? It's there because having an intention to abandon your foreign residence makes you ineligible for a nonimmigrant visa, including H1B. All 1184(h) says is that a petition for permanent residency cannot by itself be used as "evidence of an intention to abandon a foreign residence" for purposes of renewing your H1 visa.

That's all "dual intent" means. It's a fiction where you can keep saying "I intend to go back home after my temporary work in the U.S."--which remains a fundamental requirement of H1B status--and the government can't point to a permanent residency petition as evidence that you are intending to stay in the U.S. permanently. The law doesn't give the H1B holder any right or expectation of being granted permanent status.

The law does have immigrant visas for people who can come here and say "I want to work here and seek permanent residency. I'm not intending to go back." H1B isn't like that.

Re: Green card seekers must leave U.S. to apply, Trump administration says

#962

Post by JuniperMesos »

HPMOR wrote: post #959
JuniperMesos wrote: post #956

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The most important immigration reform that the US ought to do is a constitutional amendment eliminating the birthright citizenship clause of the 14th amendment. The children of people who are not citizens or even permanent residents of the US should not be allowed to become US citizens just because they were born on US soil. Foreigners should not be able to reside in the US for so long that they have kids, and then u…

Holy shit, I cannot believe this is an actual belief people currently hold. We fought a war for this amendment.

I think that if you went back in time to 1868 and told Senator Jacob M. Howard that a century and a half in the future, the primary consequence of the citizenship clause of the 14th amendment would be that foreigners from all over the world would attempt to immigrate to the US, even on temporary work visas or explicitly contrary to federal immigration law, with the intent of bearing or begetting a child on US soil who would be legally counted as a fellow-citizen who, upon coming of age, would go to the polls and vote with all other citizens; and that further the parents of this child and their political sympathizers would use the very presence of that child as a justification for why it was immoral to restrict the federal government's lawful authority to control immigration to the United States - that he would've spent a bit more time considering the exact wording of the text.

Re: Green card seekers must leave U.S. to apply, Trump administration says

#963

Post by commandersaki »

I'm dumb, can someone give me an objective take as to why leaving the country is a good thing for applying a green card? In Australia usually you apply when you already have an existing visa, and if that's going to expire you usually apply for what is known as a bridging visa while your PR application is being processed.

Re: Green card seekers must leave U.S. to apply, Trump administration says

#964

Post by 999900000999 »

culopatin wrote: post #804
seshagiric wrote: post #301

This is just reckless without any responsibility. A number of people, especially in tech sector, legally stay in US while their GC is being processed. They have kids born in the USA. If such people were to leave USA to seek green card: - the kids must first get visas to their parent's countries - once reaching the other country, consular offices now have multi year wait lines for getting an appointment with a office…

Look, I’m an immigrant. You know the risks you take when you come to the US on a non immigrant visa. We all choose to play the game and nothing is guaranteed. I would’ve considered reckless to have a kid in the US knowing that my status is not stable without having an alternative plan. We need to face the facts and stop acting like we immigrants were victims of some bait and switch and must be protected from any fall…

But Republicans also don’t believe in abortion and have made it illegal in half the country.

So what’s a pregnant immigrant to do ?

Re: Green card seekers must leave U.S. to apply, Trump administration says

#965

Post by troad »

commandersaki wrote: post #963

I'm dumb, can someone give me an objective take as to why leaving the country is a good thing for applying a green card? In Australia usually you apply when you already have an existing visa, and if that's going to expire you usually apply for what is known as a bridging visa while your PR application is being processed.

It's not. The US green card process takes years, and being forced to be outside the country while the process is ongoing makes it very hard to continue working for a US employer, which is how most people are actually sponsored for a GC in the first place.

If you're looking for some objective rationale for this change, you're not going to find one. This is simply designed to make GCs much, much harder to get and dissuade prospective immigrants. That's the only goal.

Re: Green card seekers must leave U.S. to apply, Trump administration says

#966

Post by thelastgallon »

swat535 wrote: post #951
thelastgallon wrote: post #865

Earlier quoted context omitted.

India has the largest backlog of applicants, this will help Indians (and to some extent Chinese) get GCs quickly.

The quota per country isn't being adjusted. I'm not sure what you're referring to?

U.S. Pause on Immigrant Visas for 75 Countries Could Add 50,000 Employment Green Cards—Big Win for Indian Professionals: https://www.visahq.com/news/2026-01-24/in/us-pause-on-immigr...

Re: Green card seekers must leave U.S. to apply, Trump administration says

#968

Post by thelastgallon »

Synthetic7346 wrote: post #924
thelastgallon wrote: post #865

Earlier quoted context omitted.

India has the largest backlog of applicants, this will help Indians (and to some extent Chinese) get GCs quickly.

How so?

unused family-based immigrant visas ‘spill over’ to the employment categories the following fiscal year, see link above

Re: Green card seekers must leave U.S. to apply, Trump administration says

#969

Post by triceratops »

protortyp wrote: post #917
jmward01 wrote: post #752

I personally can't understand anyone wanting to move to the US anymore except for extreme reasons. And, yes, I have actually lived in several other countries so I know how green the grass can be in different places. So with how ugly the US is being right now, what is holding back the remote worker from turning truly remote, at least in tech? For clarity here, I don't think this is a great direction. A massive strengt…

> I personally can't understand anyone wanting to move to the US anymore except for extreme reasons. I am German and honestly can't wait to move to the US once I get a suitable H-1B offer. I already spent 8 months in Boston for a research stay, and back then the doomer mentality among natives was wild to me. From an outsider's perspective it’s crazy to watch. Life, and especially the ceiling for what you can achieve,…

> if you want to work hard and actually capture the upside of what you build

But not if you want to build solar or wind energy. Then you get rekt, no matter what the law says.

Re: Green card seekers must leave U.S. to apply, Trump administration says

#970

Post by DiogenesKynikos »

rayiner wrote: post #925
skeeter2020 wrote: post #633

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Adjustment of Status has been on the books since the start in the 1950's, and was greatly expanded leading into what might turn out to be the high point of the country in the late 90's and early 2000's.

What “the books” say is that H1B is a “nonimmigrant” visa for people “temporarily” in the U.S. It’s right there in 8 USC 1101(a)(15)(H). “Adjustment of status” is an option at the discretion of the administration (8 USC 1255(a)): > The status of an alien who was inspected and admitted or paroled into the United States … may be adjusted by the Attorney General, in his discretion and under such regulations as he may pr…

This interpretation makes the entire immigration system extremely arbitrary and capricious. It's almost as if Trump supporters just want to give non-citizens a hard time for no reason. The cruelty is the point.
Post reply on HN