Borderwise: App and a lawyer for immigrants, for $1
washingtonpost.com
washingtonpost.com
You really need to make a Spanish language version available from the home page.
Nowhere do I see an easy way to translate the page, or an indication as to what languages the information has been translated to.
Your primary audience is going to be native Spanish speakers, they likely have English language skills, but will be much more comfortable in their first language.
Think about how this impediment is effecting your conversions, and your prospective customers ability to use your service.
The point I was trying to make is that it is in the interest of the company and it's users to make translated versions easily available.
When I applied for my green card I thought the whole process was pretty simple and straightforward. I do think it might be harder for someone with more complicated circumstances, or who doesn't speak english as a first language. But I do find it surprising how hard many people with (what seem to me to be) simple cases think it is...
So no, the process is not pretty simple and straightforward for a great many applicants.
I can only speak to the experience coming from the UK (and I confess to assuming that the experience from Canada is comparable), and that's where I find surprise: people from the UK who presumably went through the same experience as me often claim that it's impossible to navigate without a lawyer. That's just not true.
That read as a snarky criticism of a claim I never made.
The fact that you're supplying isn't really a contradiction of or great addition to anything I said in my narrow comment: I explicitly acknowledged it myself. I wouldn't mind that, but it isn't very nice to accompany it with snark and misrepresentation.
To expand on this, immigrant visas in most (but not all) categories are actually what is limited; for people that don't get in on a dual intent visa like the H-1B first (i.e., the vast majority of prospective legal immigrants), that means entry is limited on that basis, not the status transition to an LPR from some other legally-present status.
Maybe. US immigration law and the implementing regulation is complex and there's some confusing grey areas. This source seems to indicate that O-1 is (or was as of 2011) treated as dual intent in that you can apply for permanent residency while on it, but also seems to indicate that you still need to return to your country of origin rather than transition in place. [0]
> Also is there a rough estimate of how long wait times are for different countries of Origin?
This might help, though it's technically how long people now being admitted in each category/country have waited from establishing eligibility rather than how long people entering the queue now with wait. [1]
Could you share some examples. It would be valuable to learn about the reality of these issues on a personal level, rather than statistics.
> refugees, poors, whatever you call them
Let's call them people: People who are refugees, people who are poor, etc.
(It's a general point and not a criticism of the parent, which like any comment I don't think should be taken literally and dissected.)
So for example of a situation...
Immigrant I comes in my country. He's intercepted by the police, I is sick, so the police send him to hospital. As the guy as no social security number, the hospital gives him a temporary one. The hospital pays the bill (yes, my country is socially very advanced). Then guy is better but, because the hospital paid the bill, he now has a special "register number" (more or less a social security number). The guy now reaches a "social help center". They find him a place to sleep. At the same time the guy request a request for asylum. For that he needs a lawyer because, well, he doesn't speak our language and our administration is sometimes complex. Now the guy is interviewed, because the state wants to make sure he is in the condition for asylum. Problem, he'll have to wait 6 months before the first real interview. So the guy starts to run out of money (eating, paying lawyer,...) so he seeks friends. Ah, those friends are somewhere else in my country. So he moves. Ah, friends are in deep shit for some reason, so he moves again. Now he has to be tied to another center for social help, more papers, more complex administration. He now has his first interview. Not a good one, the guy didn't manage to offer all the proofs. So the lawyer will help him to gather some more proofs. Second interview, better this time, he's on track to be recognized as a political refugee; but that'll take a year or two. More lawyers, more money, more small job, more moves from place to place. And all of this is OK if the guy keeps sane (yes, they are people who try to abuse the weaks).
If this sound like a pile of facts, it is. But all those facts are gathered, analyzed, to determine what kind of help the person can receive from the state. And that makes my little database and rule model extremely complicated (or sophisticated, depending on your point of view).
Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,
With conquering limbs astride from land to land;
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name
MOTHER OF EXILES. From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.
.
"Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries she
With silent lips. "Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"
Having to adjust to a new culture is not really fun (unless you had an interest in that culture for some reason; but this did not apply to "poor"immigrants).
As an immigrant, let me tell you that immigration had a huge positive impact my family's lives. Of course fixing my country would be great... if it were even remotely possible.
The decision is very easy. Obtaining the citizenship, on the other hand, is not easy.
It's very easy to decide to give up citizenship in your native land and move to strange new place? I don't see that as true.
Okay, if you say so, but that's not what I was disputing.
> Most people just want to get a citizenship because their own country's passport sucks and their country's economy and education and health care sucks.
IMO, the economy, the education system, and the health care system are fundamental to society, and if these suck, then moving out and immigrating into a better country sounds like a perfectly reasonable choice to me. Immigrants are trying to secure the best futures for their families.
The U.S. culture is whatever the people make it. Italian immigrants brought Italalian food; Mexican immigrants brought Mexican food.
Regardless, the parent claim is made for all first generation immigrants, historically; you can read it over and over in history books: They keep to themselves, speak their own language, etc. The research I saw (long ago) said the second generation are part of the 'American' culture; the third generation intermarries at a rate of about 80% (based on vague recollection, but the number was of that order).
EDIT: It makes sense: I would say almost anyone in their 30s or older or even in their 20s, if they moved to a country with a different culture and language (e.g., U.S. to Russia or Japan), would continue to speak English at home, eat American food, read English books and watch English movies, and hang around other immigrants. Their kids would be Russian/Japanese, however.
What is this claim based on? It's very hard to believe that Somalis or Syrians, for example, or any of the hungry, tired and poor who emigrate to the U.S. aren't far better off.
It helped my ancestors immensely; our family is immeasurably better off than those left behind, who probably are wiped out and almost certainly not up to our standard of living.
I've seen good-willed people try to create their own apps, advice, etc. But without expertise, the best intentions may lead to very bad results. You wouldn't well-intentioned lawyers giving immigrants IT security advice.