5 ms·

In the US you can begin the naturalization process after five years of permanent residency. A green card is what establishes permanent residency. (I don't thin

In the US you can begin the naturalization process after five years of permanent residency. A green card is what establishes permanent residency. (I don't think we have permanent visas, but I could be wrong.) I can only speculate how your friend was allowed to live in this country that long without ever obtaining permanent residency, but regardless, it's an example of the system failing, and that's a really terrible thing to happen to someone.

drinchev 10y ago
Well as far as I can remember the story, their parents were there with a working VISA ( extended through time ) and she got at one point ( I think at 18? ) a study VISA until it all expired after university.
- parineum 10y ago
  Forgive me if this sounds harsh but shouldn't she have applied for a green card as soon as she turned 18? I don't know the ins and outs of immigration but that's because I'm a citizen. If I wasn't, I'd sure as hell know what I needed to do in order to stay in the only country I'd ever known as home.
  - tarikjn 10y ago
    It's not harsh, but your reply just proved the point of either how little Americans know about their immigration system or how it much nonsensical it is. According drinchev, I can assume that when his/her friend turned 18 she would have had to go through the process to apply for green card just as if she never lived in the US. I know someone who was in a similar situation, grew up in America, his parents were diplomats, when he turned 21 he could not longer be a dependent of his parents' status, and the amount of time he lived legally had no benefit in giving him eligibility to apply for a green card.
    - michaelbuddy 10y ago
      Brought over an immigrant myself. The fact is you MUST ensure you've done everything correctly. You don't trust, you verify. Diplomats should have known better. People who adopt from overseas need to know. You can't just do whatever you want in terms of bringing new bodies from foreign lands. That's the administrative reality and there's no reason to have exceptions when these people should have been responsible. If you don't have consequences, then people don't follow administrative rules. If you don't have administrative rules and laws, good luck having order, good luck managing. Good luck collecting taxes, good luck having a country. Why are we so quick to blame the USA, or blame our own country when these things actually aren't all that difficult. There are forms for everything. And where there are challenges, there are lawyers. Can't afford a lawyer or figure it out yourself? Guess what you just proved you're not prepared to bring over an immigrant regardless of their age.
  - SapphireSun 10y ago
    It's okay to foist an injustice upon someone because they were ignorant or lazy? We should be making our social systems fail-safe when the consequences are so severe. It shouldn't be possible to eject someone like that without round after round of appeals and second chances to get good paperwork, and if they were eligible for citizenship, and in good faith relied on the idea that they were citizens, then by all rights they should be one.
    - peyton 10y ago
      I think that's how it works today. In my personal experience, USCIS goes above and beyond to get citizenship for citizens. It's possible the above comment leaves out some crucial detail.
      - justinlardinois 10y ago
        Or things just fall through the cracks. It's not surprising to me that tragedies like the one in the original comment happen sometimes.
    - michaelbuddy 10y ago
      You're actually calling justice / rules 'injustice.' You clearly have never done any of this type of paperwork. It's not actually that hard for one. And there are consequences for things you don't do, whether you're a nice guy, whether you didn't realize something was prohibited. Sucks for some yes because they don't take care of business. But it also sucks when we don't have protective measures in place. And it's both unfair and extremely difficult to have exceptions for everything subjectively. Are we also expected to pass with an A+ everyone who had good faith that they knew course material? Are we supposed to loosen up all regulation as well because we 'trust' a company will handle things fine because somebody's cousin owns the company? You know when somebody leaves the scene of an accident, they sometimes do it because they don't realize they are supposed to stay, sometimes they don't even realize they knocked a cyclist down nearly killing them. Guess what, they still get charged with leaving the scene of an accident even if they were completely oblivious.
  - klipt 10y ago
    How exactly are you going to apply for a green card at 18? It's not like most 18 year olds have the necessary university degrees to qualify for an employment based green card. And 18 is a bit young to be getting married to qualify for a marriage based green card.
  - Broken_Hippo 10y ago
    Part of the problem is more that she might not have had grounds for a green card. Study gets her through school, but afterwards? She'd have to have a job or marry or something similar to be in the programs. And things can go wrong with all of this. The system just doesn't have much to deal with this sort of situation. And sometimes, these sentiments are easy to say when you are 30, but not so easy to see these things when one is 18, not so easy during the next 4 years as they are in college... and suddenly, crisis.
intended 10y ago
Its more than that - the thing is that America was the place where things "just worked". Thats why lots of people in the 80s immigrated. This stuff is common sense for most agencies to deal with. Lived over 24 years here, born a baby - lets solve this. Its tragic to be honest. More than anything else, seeing that crumble is disheartening. More than wars, more than Trump.

drinchev 10y ago

Well as far as I can remember the story, their parents were there with a working VISA ( extended through time ) and she got at one point ( I think at 18? ) a study VISA until it all expired after university.

parineum 10y ago
Forgive me if this sounds harsh but shouldn't she have applied for a green card as soon as she turned 18? I don't know the ins and outs of immigration but that's because I'm a citizen. If I wasn't, I'd sure as hell know what I needed to do in order to stay in the only country I'd ever known as home.
- tarikjn 10y ago
  It's not harsh, but your reply just proved the point of either how little Americans know about their immigration system or how it much nonsensical it is. According drinchev, I can assume that when his/her friend turned 18 she would have had to go through the process to apply for green card just as if she never lived in the US. I know someone who was in a similar situation, grew up in America, his parents were diplomats, when he turned 21 he could not longer be a dependent of his parents' status, and the amount of time he lived legally had no benefit in giving him eligibility to apply for a green card.
  - michaelbuddy 10y ago
    Brought over an immigrant myself. The fact is you MUST ensure you've done everything correctly. You don't trust, you verify. Diplomats should have known better. People who adopt from overseas need to know. You can't just do whatever you want in terms of bringing new bodies from foreign lands. That's the administrative reality and there's no reason to have exceptions when these people should have been responsible. If you don't have consequences, then people don't follow administrative rules. If you don't have administrative rules and laws, good luck having order, good luck managing. Good luck collecting taxes, good luck having a country. Why are we so quick to blame the USA, or blame our own country when these things actually aren't all that difficult. There are forms for everything. And where there are challenges, there are lawyers. Can't afford a lawyer or figure it out yourself? Guess what you just proved you're not prepared to bring over an immigrant regardless of their age.
- SapphireSun 10y ago
  It's okay to foist an injustice upon someone because they were ignorant or lazy? We should be making our social systems fail-safe when the consequences are so severe. It shouldn't be possible to eject someone like that without round after round of appeals and second chances to get good paperwork, and if they were eligible for citizenship, and in good faith relied on the idea that they were citizens, then by all rights they should be one.
  - peyton 10y ago
    I think that's how it works today. In my personal experience, USCIS goes above and beyond to get citizenship for citizens. It's possible the above comment leaves out some crucial detail.
    - justinlardinois 10y ago
      Or things just fall through the cracks. It's not surprising to me that tragedies like the one in the original comment happen sometimes.
  - michaelbuddy 10y ago
    You're actually calling justice / rules 'injustice.' You clearly have never done any of this type of paperwork. It's not actually that hard for one. And there are consequences for things you don't do, whether you're a nice guy, whether you didn't realize something was prohibited. Sucks for some yes because they don't take care of business. But it also sucks when we don't have protective measures in place. And it's both unfair and extremely difficult to have exceptions for everything subjectively. Are we also expected to pass with an A+ everyone who had good faith that they knew course material? Are we supposed to loosen up all regulation as well because we 'trust' a company will handle things fine because somebody's cousin owns the company? You know when somebody leaves the scene of an accident, they sometimes do it because they don't realize they are supposed to stay, sometimes they don't even realize they knocked a cyclist down nearly killing them. Guess what, they still get charged with leaving the scene of an accident even if they were completely oblivious.
- klipt 10y ago
  How exactly are you going to apply for a green card at 18? It's not like most 18 year olds have the necessary university degrees to qualify for an employment based green card. And 18 is a bit young to be getting married to qualify for a marriage based green card.
- Broken_Hippo 10y ago
  Part of the problem is more that she might not have had grounds for a green card. Study gets her through school, but afterwards? She'd have to have a job or marry or something similar to be in the programs. And things can go wrong with all of this. The system just doesn't have much to deal with this sort of situation. And sometimes, these sentiments are easy to say when you are 30, but not so easy to see these things when one is 18, not so easy during the next 4 years as they are in college... and suddenly, crisis.

intended 10y ago

Its more than that - the thing is that America was the place where things "just worked". Thats why lots of people in the 80s immigrated. This stuff is common sense for most agencies to deal with. Lived over 24 years here, born a baby - lets solve this. Its tragic to be honest. More than anything else, seeing that crumble is disheartening. More than wars, more than Trump.