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Comment by throwaway082729 | Hacker News Reader

I've been here for 17+ years, earn $650k/yr and I'm still in the same boat. I'm at the mercy of the govt. if I want to change jobs. Moreover, I need to restart the labor certification process and reapply for my green card though I get to keep the same priority date. There's no end in sight i.e. I cannot predict when I'll get my green card due to the per-country cap and backlog. Worse, I cannot quit and take time off even for a day.

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Surprised this is getting downvoted. These types of salaries are somewhat common in FANG companies for senior engineers and it is common for some of them (depending on their nationality) to still wait for the green card for 15+ yrs. I know people here won't like the truth but this is the current reality for Indian citizens legally immigrated in US.

On the other hand, it is actually easier to get a green card if you are an illegal immigrant - which is the real thing that boggles my mind. I was talking to an Uber driver the other day who was from Congo but came illegally to US and got his green card within 2 yrs. Not saying that the Congo folks shouldn't get green cards but a high skilled legal immigrant, who is able to command $300k+ in salary (which is sufficiently high to categorize them out of the IT body shop type work), is someone US should try to value at least as much (if not more) vs. an illegal immigrant.

Most highly skilled legal immigrants would have also invested time and money for a US graduate education, often taking out big education loans. So if an illegal immigrant is getting a permanent residency within 2 years and a highly skilled legal immigrant is waiting 10+ years, the system is severely broken and unfair.

So the rich are more entitled to get a green card?

Highly skilled people should be more entitled to a green card (and that often corresponds to highly paid)

The rich also get the protection from competition from abroad. There is an unlimited visa for nannies, but limited for doctors, lawyers and software engineers.

This is not true - in your Congo example, the driver claimed asylum, won his case, and then was able to apply for his green card. You cannot go from illegal immigrant to green card directly. Many people don't win their asylum cases and are deported.

He wouldn't qualify if he'd been here illegally. Probably he came without a visa and applied for asylum (basically anybody in Congo who's not a warlord surely is in danger of life and limb), was granted asylum and then got leave to remain via GC. Which sounds reasonable.

throwaway082729, I'm so sorry you're getting downvoted. You are the kind of person who deserves to have gotten permanent residence a long time ago.

Why not get an investor visa? It's easily convertible to green card according to several people I know who did it. You only need $500K or so for the whole thing. And investment money were returned even with some profit.

As I recall it doesn't even need to be $500k upfront, you have to (show/prove) you'll invest that and generate jobs in a couple of years.

You have to prove you'll create jobs for a minimum of 10 U.S. citizens, which sounds somewhat nontrivial.

https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/us-visas/immigrat...

Not really. Most such investments are in hotels/hospitals etc with large number of low paid employees.

You can just provide the money without actually doing any leg work in hiring or managing the business itself. As far as I know you get a list of businesses that require funding and you will pick which one you will fund

You just get roped into a big development project like Hudson Yards in NYC which was an excuse to sell thousands of EB5 visas. The bonus is your investment in "blight" redevelopment turns into luxury housing you can purchase to park your excess funds.

https://www.citylab.com/equity/2019/04/hudson-yards-financin...

It's a million dollars now. They changed it.

It says $500,000 investment in a rural area will do it: https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/us-visas/immigrat...

Too risky to put so much of my hard-earned money into it. I wouldn't be able to sleep at night.

Huh, wouldn't putting 1 million dollar investment get you EB5 green card in very short time?

It takes 2 years and a lot of lawyers and maybe you might get it.. (it's not guaranteed at all) but if you've earned the 500k the hard way you're not very inclined to gamble it on the slim chance. Besides.. there's better places to retire on 500k

Honestly, with that kind of salary - it feels like you could save up enough to get to an EB-5 investors category, which have far shorter waiting times, correct?

Or am I mistaken?

EB-5 for Indians has a 3+ yr timeline now and you have to shell out at least $500k. And there is no guarantee you will get approved.

Even O-1 seems like it could be a good possibility (I wrote a reference letter for a colleague seeking the O-1 via a few years ago, and I only had to describe his work as open source project lead).

You mean EB-1. The O-1 is a temporary visa. Approvals of EB-1 are unfortunately highly subjective. It's like winning a lottery (based on who looks at your application).

O-1 is extensible, isn't it? You can get it first instead of H-1B, and then apply for a green card once you move to the US.

Yes, it can be extended any number of times. But each and every O-1 approval is also highly subjective and discretionary.

The standard is somewhat lower than EB-1. While EB-1 requires what Congress calls "extraordinary ability", the O-1 requires "exceptional ability".

Again, the way things work is that whichever officer looks at the case, subjectively decides if it qualifies (in his/her opinion).

Nothing like the highly-objective points-based skilled immigration system you have in some countries.

Considering the average US citizen has a median income of $50K, it's kind of hard to feel sorry for you.

OP is not stopping anyone from pursuing higher education or working hard or getting a high paying job, they are merely describing their experience of the broken system and not asking for your sympathy.

Why stop at immigration restrictions then, just jail and confiscate all the goods from immigrants.

Please don't post unsubstantive comments to HN. Perhaps you don't owe the GP better, but you owe this community better if you want to post here.

https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

Noted, but I didn't feel my comment unsubstantive.

The OP comes to America as an immigrant (as did I), makes more money in one year than most American's make in 20. My comment simply put his "problem" into perspective.

There was no information in it other than that the GP makes more money than others, which was missed by no one, and a vague expression of resentment about it. I'm afraid that's completely unsubstantive by HN standards.

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