Go wait in line, Vargas. You ain't special. You think because we should feel sorry for you, that you deserve a greencard or legalization or whatever? Do you know the shit LEGAL immigrants have to go through to get and stay here? What makes you so damn special to skip the fucking line? I waited 7 fucking years for my greencard - all the while working and paying more taxes than you and any goddamn teabagger alive. I was stuck in h1B hell as a modern day indentured servant. I actually gave up and decided to go back home. I decided that America wasn't a place where hardworkers who followed the rules could make it. I told myself that as soon as I finished grad school, which I was putting myself through part time, I was out of here. Fuck this. Then it happened. Some fucked up debacle in 2007 at immigration where the waiting lists all became "current" for a month. I yelled at the company lawyer to get my shit done and ran around getting all my docs. 90 days later, I had a greencard. Things changed. I could do shit. I applied to techstars in Boulder in 2008 with my idea for syncing browsing sessions between desktop and mobile (I got rejected - David Cohen told me it was too easy to knock off and too hard to make money. He was right. I couldn't execute anyway, and then instapaper showed up like a month later anyway).
You think I have sympathy for you, Vargas? I married my wife, who was on H1B while I was on Greencard. She got laid off. Were we permitted to live together as a family in the USA? Nope. Even though she'd been here close to 10 years herself - doing grad school and then working. Yes, legally, and paying taxes all the long. You would think America would try to make it easy for english speaking, educated (in the US, no less), LEGAL immigrants who waited in line. Nope. Our son was even born in America. Proof to all the stupid republicans and teabaggers that there's no such thing as "anchor babies", not like we gave a fuck about that. Kids can't sponsor their parents till 21 years of age. So my wife and son had to go to Canada, to live with my parents, while I sorted shit out. I'm sponsoring her - but the waiting list is fucking what, 4 years long?!! Ya, the short wait times for sponsoring a spouse only applied to citizens. I have to wait till sept 2012 before I can apply for that. Jesus christ. America rocks. So now my wife visits on a vistor visa, with our American son, good for only 3 months at a time. Each time she's interrogated for an hour when she crosses the border because of this fucked up situation (US immigration are supposed to keep out visitors who they think are trying to live in america). She's been warned to not push it and not to come back too often. This is fucked up. I'm ready to fucking give up if it wasn't for all the shit we've been through to get here. I've always got my eye on potential opportunities back in Canada or abroad. I've got a good gig here that I actually like, but fuck, is it worth all the hurdles and bool shit of being separated from family and crossing borders every other weekend? Just to be LEGAL? My wife could have stayed here illegally. But we're not like that. We followed the fucking law and basically got fucked. So screw off vargas. No tears for you.
Did I say I wanted him to suffer? No. I told him he has to wait his turn and that he ain't special. I think he should get a greencard. But after my wife does. And after everyone who's waited years legally for one - especially if they're paying taxes like us.
gdilla, by pointing Vargas to the end of the line you are shooting yourself in the foot.
You are imagining that if Vargas would get green card your wait time would be longer. It's not the case.
If it would be easier for illegal immigrants to get green cards, it would be even easier to make a compelling case for you and your wife.
Why do you think that number of granted green cards per year is a fixed amount? It's not. It can change any time when society is ready for that. Help the society to make that change.
There's a finite amount of bandwidth any society can spend on immigration, not an infinite amount (and hint: it's negligible).
At the moment, so-called liberals whatever reason are more concerned about ILLEGAL immigrants than legal immigrants.
Do you know how many legal immigrants' green cards got delayed the last time there was an amnesty program for illegals? Do you think the US govt. will hire more immigration dept. workers if illegals start getting legalized. They don't even hire people in the patent office! Every legal immigrant in the green card queue hopes that an amnesty program won't get passed until he/she gets the green card.
IMHO, there are practical reasons why gdilla is concerned about illegals getting preferential treatment.
Exactly. The bw issues are tremendous. How do you process 10m + illegals whose cases are all so varied, documentation are various levels of sketchy, while there are millions waiting in line LEGALLY, and somehow think 1) it's fair and 2) it's more efficient than now.
Maybe you've heard of something called time. That is a problem. If you think you can get it down to some kind of automated algorithm, good luck. Like I said, the input will be crap. Have fun proving Mr. Martinez is Mr. Martinez. People like us, who are waiting in line, have already provided the nec input. And paid up too. That's where you solve problems. Not by catering to the dudes at Home Depot who dont trust you, can't afford the fees, and have documentation you can understand if you're lukcy.
See my previous point. Patent cases pay for themselves too. But the federal govt. is so strapped for money that it takes money from these depts. And Congress is notorious for passing unfunded mandates. Unless you address specifics like this, I'm afraid what you are saying is just wishful thinking.
"Wishful thinking" is when you hope that government would process legal immigrants' cases faster if government spends some extra resources on prosecuting illegal immigrants.
I'm so very sorry to hear this story. It reminds me of another one about Indian engineers looking for brides back home - I heard on NPR a few years back. It was heart breaking to hear that the order of preference for the potential brides was citizen, h1b applying for green card, green card holders. You see, if you are on h1b your spouse can stay with you (but cannot work), and if you get a green card while already married, she gets one too. But, if you already have a green card, you are in worst possible case from family point of view, as explained above. It really, really sucks.
You think I have sympathy for you, Vargas? I married my wife, who was on H1B while I was on Greencard. She got laid off. Were we permitted to live together as a family in the USA? Nope. Even though she'd been here close to 10 years herself - doing grad school and then working. Yes, legally, and paying taxes all the long. You would think America would try to make it easy for english speaking, educated (in the US, no less), LEGAL immigrants who waited in line. Nope. Our son was even born in America. Proof to all the stupid republicans and teabaggers that there's no such thing as "anchor babies", not like we gave a fuck about that. Kids can't sponsor their parents till 21 years of age. So my wife and son had to go to Canada, to live with my parents, while I sorted shit out. I'm sponsoring her - but the waiting list is fucking what, 4 years long?!! Ya, the short wait times for sponsoring a spouse only applied to citizens. I have to wait till sept 2012 before I can apply for that. Jesus christ. America rocks. So now my wife visits on a vistor visa, with our American son, good for only 3 months at a time. Each time she's interrogated for an hour when she crosses the border because of this fucked up situation (US immigration are supposed to keep out visitors who they think are trying to live in america). She's been warned to not push it and not to come back too often. This is fucked up. I'm ready to fucking give up if it wasn't for all the shit we've been through to get here. I've always got my eye on potential opportunities back in Canada or abroad. I've got a good gig here that I actually like, but fuck, is it worth all the hurdles and bool shit of being separated from family and crossing borders every other weekend? Just to be LEGAL? My wife could have stayed here illegally. But we're not like that. We followed the fucking law and basically got fucked. So screw off vargas. No tears for you.