Visitors from most all West-European countries only need a valid passport to enter the US. The amount of time they can stay is limited though.
I got my greencard in the lottery, so it does happen. Dealing with the INS was one of the most demeaning experiences of my life.
“You’ve met me at a very strange time in my life” -Fightclub.
Amazing. Sounds like pretty blatant discrimination against Mexicans to me. Makes me wonder why they don’t just melt down the Statue of Liberty for scrap metal.
This isn’t sounding good. I appreciate all y’all’s input tho.
So, we have a relationship with Canada that we can go back and forth with a driver license, our phone systems work together (no international code), they can visit as long as they want (her last visit was 3 months), but you have to go thru hell if you want a part time job.
Seems the INS is the problem. So, how do these poor Mexicans seem to do it so easily. They obviously aren’t spending much money on lawyers, they can’t even speak English and the employers of minimum wage workers aren’t footing the bill. Is it like Mangeorge said earlier, that we have created a need for non-skilled minimum wage worker so that they can skate thru the INS.
I was under the impression that Mexicans had a very difficult time with the INS, especially in states like Texas and California which have large problems with illegal aliens. I don’t know how severe the problem actually is, but the perception of the problem has created several legal initiatives to deny health care to aliens, among other things.
Then again, there’s a flourishing trade in fake papers in the U.S.: apparently good-looking ones can be had for less than $100, and the INS is so swamped with paperwork that it can take years for a fake Social Security number to bubble up onto someone’s desk.
Never attribute to an -ism anything more easily explained by common, human stupidity.
I heard a radio news item just this morning about workers being deported for failure to have the proper paperwork. Ironically, it was a case of illegals being deported from Mexico. They were Eastern European women who had traveled to Mexico on tourist visas and were working as strippers. Their visas were therefore illegal because “tourists” are prohibited from working in the country they are supposedly visiting. I’m considering writing to officials and offering to host a refugee holding center for deported exotic dancers.
I can go for that idea Mike.
As for the mexican immigrants, it may be me that has the misconception. It just seems that there are an awful lot of them here and they have so little going for them just to survive, can’t speak the language, minimum wage jobs and so forth.
Yet, we are talking here about middle class people having to put out a thousand bucks or more and wait years. And I’ve heard the stories before of the US deporting the Canadians that came here to live with or marry Americans, and end up having to hassle INS for years while living in Canada,(they don’t seem to mind), just to get to a point to come back here and live. So I don’t think anything people have said here is out of line with what seems to go on.
Somehow the 2 issues don’t seem to go together. Or, is it a matter of working illegal during the process and if they don’t get caught before they get a green card then they are home free.
Many(if not most) Mexican nationals legally working in the USA today came here illegally over 15 years ago. Sometime in the '80s, they were all offered amnesty by the INS. Those who filed the proper paperwork were given green cards. This was a one-time thing. Don’t expect it to happen again in the current political climate.
Keep in mind that even the amnesty process usually required a lawyer. I don’t think a couple grand worth of legal service and advice is too great a price for the privilage of working in a country that is not your own.
I’m not a lawyer, but I do recognize the value of one when it’s necessary to negotiate with a faceless bureaucracy.
Elmer J. Fudd,
Millionaire.
I own a mansion and a yacht.
Maybe a case of too many old movies. Guy goes to another country, falls in love, gets married, brings the bride back to the States and lives happily ever after.
What you really need to do is read the newsgroup called:
alt.visa.us.marriage-based
Several thousand messages there to read.
You can use your newsreader or dejanews.com
to read thousands of people doing the same thing you are, married or not.
How long it takes depends on what part of the US you are in.
hansel, I don’t agree with you at all about the INS paying people visits. They don’t have the labor to do that.
Also, I covered immigration already it should be in the archives here.
Oh dear, see what happens when I go away for a few days.
Disclaimer - this is not legal advice - check with an attorney before making any decisions
Jim, your friend’s best bet is a TN visa. This is a new visa created under NAFTA which basically allows Canadians with any sort of job skill to work here legally for a year. I don’t do TNs so that’s really about all the information I can give you on that. But once you’re on a TN you can probably switch to an H-1B, which’ll give you another six years, and make applying for a green card a bit less of a hassle (it’s always a hassle).
Mexicans do not have an easier ride, just the opposite actually. Employment-based visas are given out in categories, including country of birth and skill level of the job. The backlog for visas for unskilled Mexicans is enormous. I would guess most of the workers you see there are either illegal; Mexican-Americans; or gained their green cards through a family member’s sponsorship.
Finally, about the green card process: in most cases it’s a three step process and each step must be completed before you can go on to the next step.
[ul][li]Step 1 is the labor certification process (mostly accurate description above - it’s getting the Dept of Labor to certify that the job offered is one for which there is a shortage of qualified American workers).[/li][li]Step 2, the I-140, is petitioning the INS to find that (a) you qualify for the job, (b) the company really does need someone with these qualifications and isn’t just inventing a position in order to hire you personally, and © the company can afford to pay your salary. Once the INS approves this, you are eligible to apply for a green card (as long as you aren’t in one of those backlogged categories listed above).[/li][li]Step 3 is the actual green card application. This is where you tell the INS your life history so they can make sure you aren’t a criminal or communist or what have you. Unless you’re applying for a green card through a consulate abroad, you do not have to submit police certificates - the FBI and CIA do their own background checks. Also, employment-based immigrants who apply from within the US do not have to go through an interview, unless the INS gets suspicious about something. You do have to get a medical exam though.[/ul][/li]
The entire process can take several years, so start early.