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I'm a bit amazed by the panic here on HN about the blocked Visa's. I mean, I do agree that the initiative is retarded, but it's not like under Obama residents f

I'm a bit amazed by the panic here on HN about the blocked Visa's. I mean, I do agree that the initiative is retarded, but it's not like under Obama residents from Iran or Sudan could get in an out of the USA whenever they wanted. In my last job in the Netherlands I had an Iranian colleague who tried for seven years in a row to get a Visum to go to the USA, without success. The situation was already very difficult under Obama, Trump's recent initiative is not as big a change as some make it appear.

semi-extrinsic 10y ago
I agree this is overlooked. I know of a research group at a high-profile university in Europe that had to hide the fact they had a key team member from Iran when they applied for using a large US supercomputer. IIRC this was back in 2013. So they got a user account for one European-born team member, who gave the login details to the Iranian person who then did the actual work on the supercomputer.
- Neliquat 10y ago
  You should not post details of international fraud in public forums buddy.
  - semi-extrinsic 10y ago
    Meh. I have no relation to the university in question, I don't know any names of those involved; the story was told to me by a casual acquaintance some years back, who had heard it from someone else etc. so it's hardly substantive details. If the CIA want to investigate every Iranian who used to be in some undisclosed European university half a decade ago (probably tens of thousands of people, with no central records to tap; said person might just be visiting for some months and not registered anywhere), on the basis of internet hearsay, they can be my guest.
Jare 10y ago
Situation A: it's hard for me to get a VISA. Situation B: I have been a permanent resident for years, own a house and a cat, my family are citizens, I went to Europe for a few days and now the border authorities detain me and want to send me to Iran. How big does it have to be?
- harlanlewis 10y ago
  Horrible as B is, it's even worse than that: > Even though they were ignorant of the termination [of their visas while in transit], they were still charged with violating U.S. immigration law and given a five-year ban to future admission. https://theintercept.com/2017/01/29/trumps-muslim-ban-triggers-chaos-heartbreak-and-resistance/ https://theintercept.com/2017/01/29/trumps-muslim-ban-trigge...
watson 10y ago
My colleague is from Iran but live and work in my country (in the EU). Last year my company were sponsoring a tech conference in the US and him and a few of my other colleagues were going to attend the conference (he's the lead engeener on a product that we were going to publicise at the conference). He was denied entry to the US simply because he was from Iran, so it hasn't been all roses. But now it has just reached insane levels.
baby 10y ago
Even coming from Europe it can be hard getting in the US (source: romanian gf).
nodamage 10y ago
The uproar is not about blocked visas.
- imron 10y ago
  That's right, surely the uproar is about all the bombing and killing that the US has been doing in 5 of the 7 countries listed on the visa ban list. I mean human lives are worth more than visas right? And if that bombing had never happened, we wouldn't have the humanitarian crisis that led to so many refugees coming from those countries. Well, at least that's what I wish more people were concerned about, but where were the protests when the Nobel peace prize winning president was doing those things? It was met largely with silence, and definitely not large scale protests.
  - pessimizer 10y ago
    Clearly because the bombing didn't negatively affect the type of people that middle-class professionals know. In fact, quite the opposite; the profits made from selling weapons to the US government to bomb everywhere, or to the Saudis to bomb Yemen, one of the poorest countries in the world, or to various dictators to pacify their own populations, those profits provide that middle-class professional lifestyle for many. And often, our middle-class friends from other countries are actually connected to those dictatorial regimes, because those regimes choose who gets to be middle-class in those countries.
    - themgt 10y ago
      Ding ding, there's the cynical and at least partly correct answer - Obama bombing poor Muslims while acting like it's a pained #LesserEvil choice was a-OK with liberals: shrug & grimace and let's go back to a craft beer at Moral HighGround Cafe. Trump gleefully doing a 90 day transit suspension on Ivy-league/Silicon Valley Muslim PhDs?! A Hitlerian crime against humanity! Don't get me wrong, I think this order, especially applied to LPRs, is crap. But having been deported from a country before for what I considered an unjust cause, I'll take that over being drone bombed to death any day of the week. And yes your average citizen of Yemen likely already had a better chance having a US (via Saudi) weapon dropped on their head than being granted a visa.

semi-extrinsic 10y ago

I agree this is overlooked. I know of a research group at a high-profile university in Europe that had to hide the fact they had a key team member from Iran when they applied for using a large US supercomputer. IIRC this was back in 2013. So they got a user account for one European-born team member, who gave the login details to the Iranian person who then did the actual work on the supercomputer.

Neliquat 10y ago
You should not post details of international fraud in public forums buddy.
- semi-extrinsic 10y ago
  Meh. I have no relation to the university in question, I don't know any names of those involved; the story was told to me by a casual acquaintance some years back, who had heard it from someone else etc. so it's hardly substantive details. If the CIA want to investigate every Iranian who used to be in some undisclosed European university half a decade ago (probably tens of thousands of people, with no central records to tap; said person might just be visiting for some months and not registered anywhere), on the basis of internet hearsay, they can be my guest.

Jare 10y ago

Situation A: it's hard for me to get a VISA. Situation B: I have been a permanent resident for years, own a house and a cat, my family are citizens, I went to Europe for a few days and now the border authorities detain me and want to send me to Iran. How big does it have to be?

harlanlewis 10y ago
Horrible as B is, it's even worse than that: > Even though they were ignorant of the termination [of their visas while in transit], they were still charged with violating U.S. immigration law and given a five-year ban to future admission. https://theintercept.com/2017/01/29/trumps-muslim-ban-triggers-chaos-heartbreak-and-resistance/ https://theintercept.com/2017/01/29/trumps-muslim-ban-trigge...

watson 10y ago

My colleague is from Iran but live and work in my country (in the EU). Last year my company were sponsoring a tech conference in the US and him and a few of my other colleagues were going to attend the conference (he's the lead engeener on a product that we were going to publicise at the conference). He was denied entry to the US simply because he was from Iran, so it hasn't been all roses. But now it has just reached insane levels.

baby 10y ago

Even coming from Europe it can be hard getting in the US (source: romanian gf).

nodamage 10y ago

The uproar is not about blocked visas.

imron 10y ago
That's right, surely the uproar is about all the bombing and killing that the US has been doing in 5 of the 7 countries listed on the visa ban list. I mean human lives are worth more than visas right? And if that bombing had never happened, we wouldn't have the humanitarian crisis that led to so many refugees coming from those countries. Well, at least that's what I wish more people were concerned about, but where were the protests when the Nobel peace prize winning president was doing those things? It was met largely with silence, and definitely not large scale protests.
- pessimizer 10y ago
  Clearly because the bombing didn't negatively affect the type of people that middle-class professionals know. In fact, quite the opposite; the profits made from selling weapons to the US government to bomb everywhere, or to the Saudis to bomb Yemen, one of the poorest countries in the world, or to various dictators to pacify their own populations, those profits provide that middle-class professional lifestyle for many. And often, our middle-class friends from other countries are actually connected to those dictatorial regimes, because those regimes choose who gets to be middle-class in those countries.
  - themgt 10y ago
    Ding ding, there's the cynical and at least partly correct answer - Obama bombing poor Muslims while acting like it's a pained #LesserEvil choice was a-OK with liberals: shrug & grimace and let's go back to a craft beer at Moral HighGround Cafe. Trump gleefully doing a 90 day transit suspension on Ivy-league/Silicon Valley Muslim PhDs?! A Hitlerian crime against humanity! Don't get me wrong, I think this order, especially applied to LPRs, is crap. But having been deported from a country before for what I considered an unjust cause, I'll take that over being drone bombed to death any day of the week. And yes your average citizen of Yemen likely already had a better chance having a US (via Saudi) weapon dropped on their head than being granted a visa.