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Comment by Etheryte | Hacker News Reader

The O-1 visa is appealing otherwise, but the fact that it doesn't give your spouse a right to work is an absolute no starter as far as I'm concerned. So it only really makes sense if you're single or if your other half qualifies for a separate visa.

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That’s ridiculous. So if your SO doesn’t qualify for their own work visa, they can immigrate but not work? Or they can’t join you at all?

If you have an O-1 visa, your significant other can get an O-3, which allows them to join you, but not work. Their whole presence is tied to your visa, if you lose your O-1, they lose their O-3 too. I was looking into getting an O-1 at one point, but stopped once I came to learn this.

Gives the impression of it being by design: They want talent but only for so long, they don't want the talent to "overstay their welcome" thus they complicate things, like not allowing the spouse to work

Exactly. It’s designed to allow you to work for a time and then return. They’re nice enough to allow a spouse to accompany, but not to work or remain.

nice enough, wow

I think they'll gladly keep the holders of these visas as long as they're desperate. It's not about length of time, it's about keeping them tied to a single employer, working like a rented mule, afraid to speak up. These visas make people good, docile employees because if they aren't they get removed from the country. It's kind of wild that they are so casually accepted.

I think if you make it a moral violation to give people nice things with attached conditions, this will not result in more people having nice things.

You're proposing the alternative "let people live in the US without being tied to a specific employer." But realistically, the alternative on offer is "don't let people live in the US at all."

Why wouldn't we just let them live in the US?

Not just a US thing, Ireland did this to critical skills employment holders for years. Worse, they pretended your spouse could work, but then made the process so cumbersome it was almost impossible to comply.

They can work in your country's consular offices if one is nearby.

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