Presidents Barack Obama, George Bush and William Clinton couldn't get a visa if they were aliens trying to visit the United States.
I hadn't thought of that.
They all admitted to smoking pot. "Yet," says Immigration Attorney Carl Shusterman, "U.S. immigration laws do not provide for forgiveness for would be immigrants who have admitted to smoking marijuana, even in the distant past."
It only comes up in the press when some rock star or other celebrity near the top of the fame food chain is denied a tourist visa.
How many people do silly things when they are young? They trespass, they vandalize, they drink to excess (sometimes leading to other silly things) and they vote for candidates I really, really don't like.
I wouldn't blame the immigration folks. They're probably handcuffed by a statute defining 'moral turpitude' to include substances which are illegal because they are listed in Schedule such-and-such of another law.
Shusterman brought this up to discuss a person whose green card was denied because they told a doctor at St. Lukes in the Philippines that they'd had a toke or two. That was overturned on appeal because the nature of the crime hadn't been explained (check the link for details).
Just a word of warning to my friends looking for any sort of U.S. visa. Don't admit the slightest drug use, even casual.
Oh, don't lie about it either. Bill Clinton could tell you about the problems that could cause.
BTW: What kind of doctor asks about marijuana use in a medical examination?
Showing posts with label visa. Show all posts
Showing posts with label visa. Show all posts
Friday, December 4, 2009
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
Holes in the umbrella
Okay, Over 80 percent of guest workers to get umbrella permit, according to the Marianas Variety.
How about 'almost 20 percent of guest workers won't get umbrella permits', instead? That's a lot of slippage.
Some of those presently in the system may have already departed the Commonwealth, Deanne Siemer is supposed to have explained to the reporter. Well, that certainly makes me feel better. They're in control.
Somebody is. Siemer is described as "Labor’s part-time hearing officer" in this story; it's usually "volunteer legal adviser". Why is this part-time volunteer so often the 'spokesperson'? (It's not the newspapers' fault. Has anyone seen her business card to clear this up?)
It bothers me that the percentage is that high. Are one-in-five guest workers here illegally? Are they going to try to hang on illegally for a few more years? Maybe that many people have given up on trying to find work and just want to go home. And, yes, I'm sure some have already left.
Urban legend visas
Or maybe they're the people Jaime R. Vergara was talking about in his opinion piece Stragglers under the Commonwealth umbrella. It's a must-read for anyone in denial about the very large group of exploited workers.
Yes, they're "incredibly gullible", he says, "a docile population of foreigners exploited by their own kind, oblivious of any political rights, and reliant on fortune tellers and fast-buck schemes..."
They're about to pay for their mistakes, or pay later if they go back underground for awhile. A lucky few might find an advocate and take their exploiters down with them. The people who gamed the system will move on, looking for another scam. The people who created the system will try to rewrite history: 'Not Our Fault.'
I've still been hearing about 'tourist' and 'sponsor' schemes this year. It hasn't stopped. Vergara says "I saw copies of identical pleadings for a waiver addressed to no less than Labor’s celebrated volunteer asking that the waiver be granted to an overstaying tourist and a jobless consort so that they may be allowed time to seek other partners, apply for an Immediate Relative status, and qualify for the umbrella permit!"
According to Vergara, "Shanty dwellings with their ubiquitous satellite dishes house many aliens who expect the feds to start handing out urban legend visas come December." Sad, but I have to agree with him.
I was pulling up to YCO Hardware this morning and saw a flyer for a Black Friday Sale on Nov. 27. Wow, I thought, they really don't like the feds. Oops, the day after Thanksgiving is supposed to be the start of the Christmas shopping season. My bad, I hadn't seen anybody use it out here
How about 'almost 20 percent of guest workers won't get umbrella permits', instead? That's a lot of slippage.
Some of those presently in the system may have already departed the Commonwealth, Deanne Siemer is supposed to have explained to the reporter. Well, that certainly makes me feel better. They're in control.
Somebody is. Siemer is described as "Labor’s part-time hearing officer" in this story; it's usually "volunteer legal adviser". Why is this part-time volunteer so often the 'spokesperson'? (It's not the newspapers' fault. Has anyone seen her business card to clear this up?)
It bothers me that the percentage is that high. Are one-in-five guest workers here illegally? Are they going to try to hang on illegally for a few more years? Maybe that many people have given up on trying to find work and just want to go home. And, yes, I'm sure some have already left.
Urban legend visas
Or maybe they're the people Jaime R. Vergara was talking about in his opinion piece Stragglers under the Commonwealth umbrella. It's a must-read for anyone in denial about the very large group of exploited workers.
Yes, they're "incredibly gullible", he says, "a docile population of foreigners exploited by their own kind, oblivious of any political rights, and reliant on fortune tellers and fast-buck schemes..."
They're about to pay for their mistakes, or pay later if they go back underground for awhile. A lucky few might find an advocate and take their exploiters down with them. The people who gamed the system will move on, looking for another scam. The people who created the system will try to rewrite history: 'Not Our Fault.'
I've still been hearing about 'tourist' and 'sponsor' schemes this year. It hasn't stopped. Vergara says "I saw copies of identical pleadings for a waiver addressed to no less than Labor’s celebrated volunteer asking that the waiver be granted to an overstaying tourist and a jobless consort so that they may be allowed time to seek other partners, apply for an Immediate Relative status, and qualify for the umbrella permit!"
According to Vergara, "Shanty dwellings with their ubiquitous satellite dishes house many aliens who expect the feds to start handing out urban legend visas come December." Sad, but I have to agree with him.
I was pulling up to YCO Hardware this morning and saw a flyer for a Black Friday Sale on Nov. 27. Wow, I thought, they really don't like the feds. Oops, the day after Thanksgiving is supposed to be the start of the Christmas shopping season. My bad, I hadn't seen anybody use it out here
Sunday, September 13, 2009
The sound of one shoe dropping
USCIS* seems to be plodding away at regulations to begin the transition to U.S. immigration control in the CNMI as (re)scheduled beginning Nov. 28, 2009.
According to Immigration Daily, USCIS will publish proposed rules for nonimmigrant investors in the Sept. 14, 2009 Federal Register. The questions and answers on their website (It's a PDF) certainly look like an official document. I roamed about the USCIS site for a bit, but couldn't find it. That doesn't mean much; it's 1:00 a.m. and I gave up easily.
Expect some howling. Evidently the "E-2 CNMI nonimmigrant Investor" category will grandfather "eligible long-term foreign investors" who have that status before Nov. 28. They get two years initially, renewable until Dec. 31, 2014. After that they have to find another status under U.S. Immigration law.
As proposed, the E-2 visa is CNMI-only; travel elsewhere in the United States would have to be under another status. And... anybody with this status who leaves the Commonwealth would have to get an E-2 visa from a U.S. Embassy or Consulate before re-entering.
The document estimates about 500 long-term investors would be affected. In a recent story the Marianas Variety reported "514 long-term business permit holders and 92 foreign investment certificate holders". As proposed, retiree investors and "Short- and Regular-Term Business Entry Permit" holders would not be eligible.
They're coming, aren't they?
This whole transition to federal control has had a somewhat surreal quality, like a community theater production of Waiting for Godot under the palms. Endless debates about What It All Means while the main character never appears onstage.
Washington Delegate Gregorio C. Sablan got so frustrated that he's suggesting yet another delay because nothing seems to be happening. This is something, I suppose, though it seems like short notice. Comments can be made until October 14, 2009.
Oh, note the date on the PDF: 9/11
* (That's "The U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services")
Duly chastised, I blog. I used to write letters infrequently, and when I did they were multi-page productions because I had so much *stuff* backed up. Similar situation, this.
According to Immigration Daily, USCIS will publish proposed rules for nonimmigrant investors in the Sept. 14, 2009 Federal Register. The questions and answers on their website (It's a PDF) certainly look like an official document. I roamed about the USCIS site for a bit, but couldn't find it. That doesn't mean much; it's 1:00 a.m. and I gave up easily.
Expect some howling. Evidently the "E-2 CNMI nonimmigrant Investor" category will grandfather "eligible long-term foreign investors" who have that status before Nov. 28. They get two years initially, renewable until Dec. 31, 2014. After that they have to find another status under U.S. Immigration law.
As proposed, the E-2 visa is CNMI-only; travel elsewhere in the United States would have to be under another status. And... anybody with this status who leaves the Commonwealth would have to get an E-2 visa from a U.S. Embassy or Consulate before re-entering.
The document estimates about 500 long-term investors would be affected. In a recent story the Marianas Variety reported "514 long-term business permit holders and 92 foreign investment certificate holders". As proposed, retiree investors and "Short- and Regular-Term Business Entry Permit" holders would not be eligible.
They're coming, aren't they?
This whole transition to federal control has had a somewhat surreal quality, like a community theater production of Waiting for Godot under the palms. Endless debates about What It All Means while the main character never appears onstage.
Washington Delegate Gregorio C. Sablan got so frustrated that he's suggesting yet another delay because nothing seems to be happening. This is something, I suppose, though it seems like short notice. Comments can be made until October 14, 2009.
Oh, note the date on the PDF: 9/11
* (That's "The U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services")
Duly chastised, I blog. I used to write letters infrequently, and when I did they were multi-page productions because I had so much *stuff* backed up. Similar situation, this.
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