4 ms·

Many of my teammates are immigrants. Visa related uncertainty and progress are major parts of their lives. The H1-B renewal lottery colors all future plans. Fin

Many of my teammates are immigrants. Visa related uncertainty and progress are major parts of their lives. The H1-B renewal lottery colors all future plans. Finally getting a green card is like having a child or buying a house. When the President tweets about blowing up NAFTA, my colleagues on TN-1s can no longer be sure which country they'll live in six months from now. We tried to go for drinks and couldn't get into the bar: my work friend's driver license is expired and she can't get a new one while her visa application is in a queue somewhere at DHS. If we know each other at all as people, immigration policy certainly comes up.

thebruce87m 7y ago
They wouldn’t let her in to the bar because her license had expired? What do they care as long as it has the correct DOB on it?
- jazzyjackson 7y ago
  Eh I get where you're coming from but it comes down to the bouncer or whoever. You get people who say an expired license is not a valid ID and they require a valid ID to get in.
  - thebruce87m 7y ago
    Strange! “I’m not letting you drink unless you can drive”
    - magduf 7y ago
      >“I’m not letting you drink unless you can drive” Welcome to the US. Things are really wacky here. Another really wacky thing: you can't walk around or be in public with an alcoholic drink (e.g., you can't have a beer in a public park outside, on a picnic, etc.), even though drinking is such a huge, huge, huge part of our culture. Yet in most other developed nations, it's perfectly legal. You can even buy beer in vending machines in Japan.
scoobyyabbadoo 7y ago
>Many of my teammates are immigrants. Visa related uncertainty and progress are major parts of their lives. The H1-B renewal lottery colors all future plans. Finally getting a green card is like having a child or buying a house. Getting a Green Card shouldn't be that easy for H1B holders. An H1B visa is a temporary visa and in that time they should be transferring skill knowledge to American replacements.
- mirceal 7y ago
  sure buddy. and all the brains the US is importing every year are also just for knowledge transfer.
  - scoobyyabbadoo 7y ago
    Of course I agree with your sarcasm that it's more likely about population replacement and wage reduction, but I'm just saying the public political justification we were given for H1B was supposedly to temporarily cover our skills gap.
mixmastamyk 7y ago
> my work friend's driver license is expired Not a full solution of course, but when a proper ID is needed, a passport is the goto. I've seen tourists use them at bars.

thebruce87m 7y ago

They wouldn’t let her in to the bar because her license had expired? What do they care as long as it has the correct DOB on it?

jazzyjackson 7y ago
Eh I get where you're coming from but it comes down to the bouncer or whoever. You get people who say an expired license is not a valid ID and they require a valid ID to get in.
- thebruce87m 7y ago
  Strange! “I’m not letting you drink unless you can drive”
  - magduf 7y ago
    >“I’m not letting you drink unless you can drive” Welcome to the US. Things are really wacky here. Another really wacky thing: you can't walk around or be in public with an alcoholic drink (e.g., you can't have a beer in a public park outside, on a picnic, etc.), even though drinking is such a huge, huge, huge part of our culture. Yet in most other developed nations, it's perfectly legal. You can even buy beer in vending machines in Japan.

scoobyyabbadoo 7y ago

>Many of my teammates are immigrants. Visa related uncertainty and progress are major parts of their lives. The H1-B renewal lottery colors all future plans. Finally getting a green card is like having a child or buying a house. Getting a Green Card shouldn't be that easy for H1B holders. An H1B visa is a temporary visa and in that time they should be transferring skill knowledge to American replacements.

mirceal 7y ago
sure buddy. and all the brains the US is importing every year are also just for knowledge transfer.
- scoobyyabbadoo 7y ago
  Of course I agree with your sarcasm that it's more likely about population replacement and wage reduction, but I'm just saying the public political justification we were given for H1B was supposedly to temporarily cover our skills gap.

mixmastamyk 7y ago

> my work friend's driver license is expired Not a full solution of course, but when a proper ID is needed, a passport is the goto. I've seen tourists use them at bars.