Here's the thing, your grandfather has a green card, which indicates permanent residence. And that for Mr. Austria (got it right) has been here for 50+ years, as you say. Also, I am highly suspect about the leaving part as I have a couple of close friends who have green cards, are both Latina, and travel on non-business trips out of the country at least once a year. One is married, one is not. That does not mesh with your story. Perhaps there is something you are not explaining, but as stated, your story does not sound right. As for Mr. Austria, he does not have a green card. He does not have permanent residence. He has not lived here for 50+ years (that time frame also suggests a integration/employment/obviously kids/etc.). His life in the US, at this point, is dependent on his studies. He has no other connection which would be legally recognized. There is the possibility he could have some business/intellectual relationship with Austria which necessitates he stay in the US, but that is non-typical, and being from Europe, having a lower likeliness of importance than if somebody was from Africa or Central/South America or SE Asia. There is also the issue of citizenship. Your grandfather has turned town the option, but Mr. Austria presumably does have have that as an option (based on length of stay).
Maybe you should put your bias aside and understand what you are reading. My father, not my grandfather, has an official status of resident alien and was issued a green card. This card needs to be renewed every 10 years. He also carries a German passport. When he accidentally let both lapse, like forgetful 77 year old men with some memory issues tend to do, the only way to reinstate is to go through the German Consulate in Chicago. Without having both a valid German passport AND a valid Resident Alien card he would not be allowed to return to the US without going through a separate visa process. How do I know this? Well, considering I was the one that went with him to Chicago three years ago I kinda have first hand experience. I know you love to pick apart my posts for some reason but you should get your facts straight. How did my father attain his Resident Alien status? He served in the US Army for 4 years. That's right, a German national served in the US Army not long after WWII. I bet that was fun considering he spoke almost no English. Maybe Mr. Austria should try that route. Point is, the system is cumbersome. For my Resident Alien father and for Mr. Austria. A point you both would have understood if you put your bias to my posts away before you started to read them.
I think anyone that has traveled internationally has been treated poorly by customs agents. My wife was detained in Puerto Rico because a pen she was given as a trinket gift from her company looked like a piece to a bomb. We were the first from her company to depart the trip and watched 4 other of her colleagues get searched for the same reason. What was so disturbing was how helpless I was. She was detained, taken to a room in the back and questioned while her bags were searched by hand. I was also detained but simply placed in a back room with no contact with anyone. I can imagine how your wife felt considering her life experience to that point.
Yeah, there is something inherently assholish about a lot of people in authority positions. One time I got home from a trip overseas. I was waiting in line at customs and gave my wife a quick call to let her know I got in OK and would be home soon. A customs agent got in my face, yelled at me that there was no cell phone use allowed, so I qucikly hung up and apologized. End of story, right? No, he was like "Don't say you're 'sorry' because you're really not! If you were really sorry, you wouldn't have done it to begin with!" I'm thanking my lucky stars I didn't say "soar-ee" in Canadian, then he wooda thrown me in jail for having a fake passport!
Sorry, it is your father, and he is old and forgetful (as old people get), but that really is beside the point. He has spent over 50 years in this country, and served in the military, yet has chosen to not have citizenship. He has chosen to take the path he went for 50+ years. He had the opportunity to avoid that path, but for some reason he chose to stay on it. That is in no way comparable to Mr. Austria. The only fact I missed was father v. grandfather. Nobody has dismissed this point. You have your story, and it is a story about the messed up immigration system. We are taking issue that it is comparable, which you made it. It is not comparable, it has two similarities: 1) that the immigrant is from Central Europe; 2) that the example shows how messed up the immigration system is. That is it.
The whole reason I posted anything was to agree the system is broken. For people like mr. Austria and even people that have been here 50+ years. But you are so intent on taking a dig at me you totally missed it. I couldn't bevas big of an ass as you are if I tried.
I think your GF's travails are emblematic as to how the system actively discourages people from doing things the right way and why a lot of people skirt it. My old man is an immigrant who did things the right way, and it was incredibly costly and time-consuming for him to get his green card, then for him to get naturalized.
This is so not true. Of course, I'm a white male, born in America, and speak English. Isn't that how it's intended to work?
You can probably add "older" to that list. But yeah. I've traveled outside this country about 50 times over the past two decades, and I've never run even a hint of an issue. Just waved on through, even in Israel.
Then you haven't traveled enough. I have been searched in both Frankfurt and London. I have been taken aside and had my vehicle searched driving into Canada. I understand the biases but skin color and dress certainly aren't the only factors of being treated poorly by police/border agents.
For one thing, "race" is a social construct and racial hierarchies are socially, culturally, and legally specific to certain places. Assuming that white males will always be automatically deferred to everywhere ignores that.
We had a friend years back whose husband had come here illegally, and the hard way, crossing the desert as a teenager with a group of people, not all of whom made it. At the time we met them they'd been married a few years and had a two-year-old daughter. He decided to try to do things "the right way," and at the government's instruction went back to Oaxaca to begin the process officially. This ended a few years later with him still in Oaxaca nowhere closer to being able to come back, the couple divorced, and the daughter growing up in the USA without a father. Yay family values?
For hardcore Trump supporters, that's the desired outcome. Broken families are a feature, not a bug, if the families are partially brown.
How is immigration laws with Trump ? Smaller I perhaps know. But the size after eight months in job ?
Perhaps Trump's philosofy is 350,000 new Americans from foreigns nations or minimum pride of 170,000 new Americans to USA ?
I assumed this is the best place for this, but if anyone is familiar with immigration law regarding marriage, and appropriate visas, timetables to acquire such licenses, and overstaying, please PM me. I am trying to figure out what we are up against down the line, if that is a choice we decide to make... I know it varies state to state, but I contacted an immigration lawyer to try to get some basic answers , and he didn't want to discuss over the phone and wanted to charge me $200, which I am not willing to do as we aren't close to that point yet. I just need general info on timetables so we wouldn't be caught off guard too close to her date she has to leave. I would rather not clog the thread with details, so a PM would be awesome.
sorry in advance about the bump, but I thought this worthy of discussion: https://www.npr.org/2018/01/23/580037717/what-the-latest-immigration-polls-do-and-dont-say What The Latest Immigration Polls Do (And Don't) Say January 23, 2018 3:34 PM ET Gallup has asked Americans if they think the level of legal immigration should be "kept at its present level, increased, or decreased." In recent years, Americans have been closely split between holding steady (38 percent as of June 2017) and decreasing (35 percent). The remainder, around 1 in 4, want to increase legal immigration. While the clear majority want to decrease or hold legal immigration steady, these numbers represent a longer-term pro-immigration shift — as of the mid-1990s, two-thirds of Americans wanted to decrease legal immigration, and only 6 or 7 percent wanted to increase it.”
This is showing up on Facebook. The problem with immigration: John Legal vs Juan Illegal. Notice John Legal's family is depicted as having lighter skin, and his wife as having blonde hair. Juan Illegal's family is shown as, errr, well tanned. Not a very subtle way to illustrate what - for some people- is the real problem with immigration.
Woow... It is like a total lie every other line... but I guess that’s how some whitelandians see us immigrants...
For starters, we can point out how many billions of dollars are paid in taxes every year by "Juan Illegals" and their families.