New York I Love You, But US Immigration Policy Is Bringing Me Down

http://blog.untogether.co.uk/post/10730864649/new-york-i-love-you-but-us-immigration-policy-is

by untog • 15 years ago

33 19 15 years ago

blog.untogether.co.uk

mattmanser4• 15 years ago

Come back to your own country where every one else paid for your education, your healthcare, your safety and your opportunities.

Start business. Employ people.

Pay it forward.

Problem solved.

potatolicious• 15 years ago

As a Canadian in the US I've had to accept that this most of this country just doesn't want me to be here - every dealing I've had with DHS and the State Department has reinforced this point.

Your suggestion doesn't really work though - for me, the Canadian software industry is woefully lacking compared to what's out here in the Bay Area (or really, the rest of the USA). The talent pool is dramatically smaller (lower wages means a lot of the good hackers are in the US), investors more risk averse, and the startup ecosystem/community extremely limited.

Living in SF now, I cannot imagine doing a startup anywhere else. Can I try anyways? Sure, but why would I sabotage myself trying to force a business down the gullet of a city/country that doesn't support it?

garethsprice5• 15 years ago

Go and try to start a company in the UK, and then see if you're quite as enthusiastic about repatriating smart people.

Nothing about British society and culture is receptive to startups and entrepreneurs - it's an uphill struggle (both ways! in the snow!) to even get something simple started, let alone fully explore new ways of doing business.

The net result is that the entrepreneur has produced less value for the world than if they'd been able to build their idea in America, where there's far less friction in getting new ideas off the ground.

The US is (still) a unique and wonderful place for smart people to try to realize their potential. As a country in a global competition for talent, we should be doing everything in our power to attract and retain the smartest people in the world.

(UK emigrant)

markng2• 15 years ago

Do you mean start a company, or build a product? As another UK expat in America, starting my first company here (and having run a company back home), the process for starting a company in the UK is slightly more efficient than in the US.

If you're talking about finding investment, that's a different matter. But finding investment is only "easy" in a few places in America. It's certainly no easier to find investment in the city in which I am based than it is in London.

Edit: (and I'm not so sure we should all be building companies that need hundreds of thousands of dollars to get off the ground. That places exist where we can do that in the world is great, but bootstrapping creates different types of worthwhile businesses.)

mattmanser4• 15 years ago

My original comment was tongue in cheek, but if you seriously believe this than you are cuckoo.

I know people who have started a video company, another who's started a money saving card, another who's selling phone apps, another who's started a social musician site, another who's doing a website monitoring service. All living within 1/2 hour of me.

I also know people who have started more traditional businesses, trying to disrupt mortgage brokers and the like.

No-one's ever said 'oh noes, woe is me, the government is out to get me'. They're all 'dammit find customers, find customers, find customers'. Which is normal.

And on. And on. There's even some bio startup centre near me which I only heard about last week, http://www.biocity.co.uk/.

Yesterday I was sitting round a table with 5 others for a 'launch it' club.

As another commentor has said, perhaps funding's what you're talking about, I wouldn't know as I've not tried, but for actually creating and running a business? What are you on about? In the end the new paradigm is low cost startup using incubators and surprise, they're in the UK too.

I don't even live in London/Cambridge/Bristol which are the known cities for startups in the UK.

littlegiantcap• 15 years ago

Welcome to Bureaucracy.

jisaacstone• 15 years ago

'Guilty until proven innocent' is the method applied by US immigration.

I remember applying for a visa for my wife and it said so in plain words.

The government is basically saying to you: 'prove that you are not a terrorist/spy/fraud'

chx• 15 years ago

I am a Canadian permanent resident. I am also an open source developer. Somewhat high in our (non)organization ladder. So I travel quite some to this and that conference, meet, code sprint, whatever. My chances of getting Canadian citizenship with a lifestyle like that? Naught :/

bigwally• 15 years ago

US immigration is just like a Monty Python sketch and contains some Yes/No questions, such as;

Have you ever committed Genocide?

Are you coming to the United States to practice Polygamy?

Are you coming to the United States to use or deal in illegal Drugs?

Have you ever been a part of a Terrorist organization?

Are you planning to overthrow the US government?

US immigration policy brings everyone down except maybe those from the Ministry of Silly Walks.

srdev• 15 years ago

I found those questions fairly amusing when filling out forms. In retrospect, though, I'm guessing that they expect people who meet those criteria to lie. They're there to give them a legally simple way to throw undesirable people out of the country (you perjured on your entry application), should it come up in retrospect.

mcos• 15 years ago

As someone currently going through my second H1B transfer in three years, I hope it works out quickly for you.

I'm in the process of drafting a letter to the Rep from my district about the nightmare that this process has been. I know its not going to change any overarching policy, but I'd at least like for the USCIS to keep the documentation I've already provided for my current visa on file so that I don't need to send them paperwork they've already seen for my first three applications.

Unfortunately, I suspect that somewhere at the heart of the USCIS system an entity relationship is enforced such that there is a one to one relationship between candidates and cases/visas and, thus, no interchange of information between one case/visa and the next. One advantage of this is that there is not likely to be much carryover of any errors between cases. This is purely speculation though.

A better model might result in a one to many relationship between candidates and cases/visas, where only one can be active at a time. This might result in an easier way for the immigration service to query each visa and tell me exactly what documentation is necessary for a transfer. However, this would also involve me trusting USCIS to actually manage and keep my data safe and secure. It would also involve me trusting them not to make any errors when inputting data to their system and for there to be an easy way to correct their data when they do make a mistake.

The one unfortunate thing that I'm sure about regarding immigration issues is that things are not going to change anytime soon. The lawyers who assemble and file visa applications at a very high cost for companies are not going to be happy if the system is made accessible for people to do by themselves. They, unfortunately, have a vested interest in keeping things as complicated as possible.

As for me, I'm going to do the same thing I've done with all my visa applications, I'm going to assemble everything associated with the application into one place (all paperwork, forms, emails, communications etc) and make a digital copy which will be encrypted and stored on a backup drive as well as a physical copy which will sit in my personal safe. Then, I'm going to start my new job and forget everything about the process and hope that I don't have to go through it again for a long time.

Good luck with everything!

New York I Love You, But US Immigration Policy Is Bringing Me Down

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