Comment by rayiner
18 hours ago
> Applying for a greencard while working on an H, J or O-class visa is extremely common.
But it’s not supposed to be extremely common to apply for a green card on an H or J visa. Those visas are explicitly “nonimmigrant” visas for people “temporarily” in the U.S. who have “no intention of abandoning” their foreign residence. Read the statute: https://uscode.house.gov/view.xhtml?req=(title:8%20section:1.... It’s subsections (a)(15), (a)(15)(H)(i)(b) and (a)(15)(J).
The people who thought of this are trying to return the practice to the actual intent of the law. The law was sold to the American public as a temporary worker program. It was not billed as a pathway for permanent residency.
Sure, it’s temporary. But what if you’ve been working in the US for a while, like your job, and want to go permanent? Does it make sense to have to give up your job, move back home where there may not be a US consulate, and then apply from there? Or just apply for permanent residency? Why does your physical location matter if you’re in the country legally already?
If the intention was to limit the number of people becoming permanent residents, then they could have done that explicitly. But by doing it this way, they are just fucking with people. And the talent that built our tech will take all their knowledge and skills back to their home country.
If the intention is to strengthen other countries by stopping their brain drain, then this would be a good move.
Why are you looking at the law from the viewpoint of the foreign worker? Obviously what they want is a quick and easy path to citizenship. But they don’t get a vote.
The question is what was the intention of the H1B program when the law was enacted by duly elected legislators? It was never sold to the public as a path to permanent residency. It certainly wasn’t sold to the public as a system where each H1B granted would lead to citizenship, followed by bringing several family members with them through uncapped family reunification visas.
Can't answer for others, but I look at this law from the viewpoint of foreign workers, cause I am a foreigner worker. In Canada. Decided to absolutely never immigrate to the US due to the US blatant rise in xenophobia.
And the US has proven me correct over and over again in that assessment. Will watch with great pleasure the brain drain your country will face, and I honestly hope your economy will completely collapse.
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No, the question really is what is best for the country. Making it easier for bright, hard working people to naturalize as US citizens has been proven for centuries to be great for our country. As others have pointed out, the original intent is not relevant. The current program grew out of a need for more outstanding citizens to grow our economy and help drive innovation. These sorts of slow changes of intent and effect grow out of pragmatic needs. The current administration has suddenly decided decades of precedent and practical needs must be reversed simply to accommodate an odd hatred of anyone who doesn't fit their perverted idea of "American." It is hate born out of a bizarre fear of "foreign," despite the fact that almost all of us came from somewhere else at some point in the past and that has been the key to US strength, leadership, and growth.
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OK, then why has there always been the ability to adjust your immigration status for someone like an H1B since 1952, and and why was it expanded in the 90's to allow categories - like overstayed visits - pay a fee and apply to convert without leaving? It was an acknowledgement that millions of people are already embedded in U.S. families and labor markets, and Congress preferred a penalty-fee legalization path over forcing departure because that was in the best interest of the country. It's that last part that Trump ignores.
The US is a common law system, where the law is a combination of statutes and precedent. The statutes alone are insufficient for interpreting the law.
Your approach would be more correct in a civil law system, but there are no pure civil law systems anywhere in the world. In actual civil law countries, once there is an established interpretation of the law, it usually cannot be changed without legislative action.
People change their minds. Is that illegal? Maybe they had the intention to only be in the US temporarily at first, but now they'd like to get permanent residence. Why shouldn't they be able to apply for it, from the US, while still on the temporary visa?
Then the administration can say yes or no, in the same way that they can say yes or no to someone applying from abroad.
BS!! H is a dual intent visa. Do you have any idea how the law works?